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Burnley fans will have noted that Marek Saganowski was the Southampton scorer, he pulled it back to 2-1 just before half time. George Burley was far from happy. "The goals were horrendous," he said. "It was never a 4-1 game but we gave the goals away. They were shocking and that is what cost us." He's responded too and has made offers for two central defenders, both playing currently outside of England.
Barnsley had drawn level in their home game against Coventry but they just fell apart in the second half. Simon Davey has been busy in the summer, signing a host of foreign players mostly unknown in this country and he was happy enough in the first half.
"We were pleased with our performance in the first half," he said, but added: "It is disappointing but we fell to pieces a little in the second half. That is unacceptable really and we have to make sure it doesn't happen again. We caved in after the second goal. We made too many bad decisions."
And then there was Sheffield Wednesday, beaten 4-1 at Ipswich where former Claret Alan Lee scored twice. The first was from the spot but the second was so similar to a vital goal scored by Graham Branch in our crucial win against Derby in April 2004.
It was similar in that the keeper was Lee Grant, who played one game for us on loan two seasons ago, and although from the other side of the pitch was also similar in that it showed Grant again struggling to get down quickly enough.
A former Claret scoring past a former Claret, and a third former Claret admitting to being dismayed at Wednesday's performance. "We gifted the goals to Ipswich and it was almost kamikaze stuff," manager Brian Laws said. "There were costly individual mistakes which were just not good enough and the only positive to come from the game was that we drew the second half."
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It's all rather childish and petty from McCabe, and his fellow director Sean Bean was another to take a dig at Warnock. Could you imagine had Barry Kilby and another Burnley director spoken out about Stan Ternent like that, it would have been downright out of order, and that's what McCabe and Bean have been here.
Robson, in his first game in charge of the relegated Blades, saw his side twice go in front before Colchester fought back to earn a draw. The Championship's most expensive player James Beattie got the first but Colchester were level within seconds. Their second equaliser came deep into stoppage time.
Charlton and Watford were the others to be relegated last season and they had mixed fortune. Watford earned themselves probably the result of the day with a 2-1 win at Wolves. They looked to be heading for defeat when Seyi Olofinjana gave Wolves the lead, a lead they held until three minutes from time. But Watford came back due to some awful mistakes by Wolves defenders. Firstly they gave away a needless free kick which was converted, via a deflection, by Jordan Stewart. Then Neill Collins inexplicably gave away a penalty in stoppage time and Marlon King made no mistake, hitting his spot kick past young goalkeeper Wayne Hennessey who was making his league debut for Wolves.
Charlton meanwhile should probably have beaten Scunthorpe but the new boys, celebrating their first ever game at this level, came away from the Valley with a point after an equaliser from Izzy Iriekpen, a new signing from Swansea.
Marcus Bent had given Charlton the lead despite the assistant flagging for offside. Referee, our old friend Trevor Kettle, was right on the boil for the first game and spotted that the ball had gone to Bent from a Scunthorpe player. He went over to his assistant and overruled him.
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Should Premiership referee Andy D'Urso have stopped the game at the Crisp Bowl when Leicester's James Chambers went down in his own penalty box? He thought not, Blackpool thought not and whilst he was down netted the only goal of the game through Keith Southern.
Leicester weren't happy, they protested, but I can't honestly see the problem. One man down, can't Milan go and sign another three or four to replace him?
As for Blackpool, they just keep on winning. That's eleven successive games all won now, eight in the league and the three play off games. No worries for Leicester, those new players won't be long now with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink one of those linked with a move there.
It's not a bad start for Scunthorpe and Blackpool, a draw and a win away from home. The third promoted team Bristol City also earned themselves a point but were probably disappointed that's all it was. Twice they led against QPR, and twice they lost the lead within seconds.
It happened just past the half hour but when Scott Murray rifled in the second in stoppage time they were celebrating the win only for QPR's Damion Stewart to head home an equaliser. It reminded me of our first two home games after promotion in 1994 when we conceded late goals in both, ironically the second of them against Bristol City, and only getting draws. And we know what happened to us that season.
Cardiff were without Robbie Fowler, now there's a surprise, and we all know they don't scored goals without their leading scorer. With the other one, who used to play for Newcastle and now plays for RK Sunderland, no longer there it was no surprise to see they failed to score.
They should have done, they missed a penalty, and that after Ryan Shawcross, Stoke's young loanee from Manchester United, had scored for the visitors. It proved to be the only goal of the game.
There was a missed penalty at Hull. Dean Windass had given the home side an early lead but by the time he stepped up to take the spot kick they were 2-1 down. Despite his effort being saved Dean Marney hit home the rebound. Even so it wasn't enough and Plymouth got themselves a winner from Ebanks-Blake.
Only one game ended without a goal, between Preston and Norwich at Deepdale. No Nugent, no Earnshaw, no goals. Both managers were apparently satisfied with the point.
We're all in Carling Cup action this week before returning to league action this weekend. The fixtures are shown below.
The Weekend Results | |
Saturday 11th August | |
Barnsley 1 Coventry 4 | Ipswich 4 Sheffield Wed 1 |
Bristol City 2 QPR 2 | Leicester 0 Blackpool 1 |
Burnley 2 West Brom 1 | Preston 0 Norwich 0 |
Cardiff 0 Stoke 1 | Sheffield Utd 2 Colchester 2 |
Charlton 1 Scunthorpe 1 | Southampton 1 Crystal Palace 4 |
Hull 2 Plymouth 3 | Wolves 1 Watford 2 |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | Coventry 4-1 v Barnsley (away) |
Total goals scored | 38 |
Player scoring most goals | 3 - James Scowcroft (Crystal Palace) |
Highest Attendance | 26,650 - Leicester v Barnsley |
Lowest Attendance | 12,616 - Barnsley v Coventry |
Total Yellow Cards | 29 |
Total Red Cards | 0 |
Most cards in a game | Cardiff v Stoke (6Y) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
3 | James Scowcroft (Crystal Palace) |
2 | Alan Lee (Ipswich) |
Hat Tricks (league only) | |
11th Aug | 3 - James Scowcroft - Southampton v CRYSTAL PALACE |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Barnsley | 0 | 0 | Norwich | 2 | 0 |
| Blackpool | 0 | 0 | Plymouth | 1 | 0 |
| Bristol City | 0 | 0 | Preston | 2 | 0 |
| Burnley | 1 | 0 | QPR | 3 | 0 |
| Cardiff | 3 | 0 | Scunthorpe | 1 | 0 |
| Charlton | 1 | 0 | Sheffield Utd | 1 | 0 |
| Colchester | 0 | 0 | Sheffield Wed | 2 | 0 |
| Coventry | 2 | 0 | Southampton | 2 | 0 |
| Crystal Palace | 0 | 0 | Stoke | 3 | 0 |
| Hull | 3 | 0 | Watford | 1 | 0 |
| Ipswich | 0 | 0 | West Brom | 1 | 0 |
| Leicester | 0 | 0 | Wolves | 0 | 0 |
The Week's Fixtures | |
Saturday 18th August | |
Blackpool v Bristol City | QPR v Cardiff |
Crystal Palace v Leicester | Scunthorpe v Burnley |
Colchester v Barnsley | Stoke v Charlton |
Coventry v Hull | Watford v Sheffield Utd |
Norwich v Southampton | West Brom v Preston |
Plymouth v Ipswich | . |
Sunday 19th August | |
Sheffield Wed v Wolves | . |