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In the Championship – We've all won away
It was Coventry’s first away win of the season, they were the only side not to have recorded at least one victory on their travels, but they will consider themselves very fortunate to have won it. The penalty was their only shot on target all night.
For QPR, it is a sixth red card of the season, but that pales into insignificance when you look at Millwall’s record. They had defender Tony Craig sent off on Saturday as bottom met top and he became the tenth Millwall player to be sent off this season.
Bottom started quite brightly, they were the better side for most of the first half. But they fell behind to a Steve Sidwell goal just a few minutes before half time, then lost Craig after the break and they were never coming back from that.
Manager Colin Lee has said he will need to bring in about five new players during the transfer window to avoid the drop. A slide into League One must surely not be in Peter de Savary’s plans given that he is trying to turn Millwall into one of the top fifteen clubs in the country.
The win saw Reading extend their lead at the top of the league to six points after Sheffield United picked up just a point in a goalless draw at Preston. In a game between the moaning managers it was Neil Warnock who had the grievances at the end.
With just a couple of minutes to go, Phil Jagielka was clearly fouled in the box by Adam Nowland. It was not a difficult decision for referee Brian Curson to make but he got it wrong, and the Blades had to settle for a point. Billy Davies, who spends most of his time criticising the referees and coming up with the hard done to stories, strangely failed to even comment on the massive stroke of luck his side were given.
Chef Gordon Ramsay, talking on Soccer AM, told the story of the Chelsea fans referring to Delia Smith as a drunken bitch last season. Norwich have not done as well as expected this season but if Delia was sober enough to see it on Saturday they came right back to form with what in the end was a convincing win against Southampton.
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As for the Saints, there is still no news on their new manager so the dream team of Bassett and Wise continue for now. Whoever it is, he will become the eighth Southampton manager this millennium. And that at a club who from 1955 to 1991 had just three managers.
Leicester are getting a goal or two these days and the credit has to go to manager Craig Levein. The tactically astute Levein has worked it all out, he doesn’t play Mark de Vries any longer.
Iain Hume is getting a starting role right now and he earned them a point against struggling Crewe with a second half equaliser after Dario G’s boys had gone in front just before half time. A win would not have seen them climb out of the bottom three but would have brought them level with Brighton who did climb out after their win against Hull.
They were a goal down after just four minutes at the Withdean but came back quickly and were in front by half time. Charlie Oatway got the second and winning goal, which at least made up somewhat for his own goal a week earlier at Reading.
If any Plymouth fans turned up late and also had to leave early then they missed all the action at Home Park as Tony Pulis’ team surprisingly beat Crystal Palace 2-0. The first goal, from Nick Chadwick, came after just eleven seconds and it can come as no surprise that it is the quickest goal in the league this season. So the late comers missed that one and those looking for a quick getaway missed the second when Tony Capaldi scored in the last minute of stoppage time.
Aidy Boothroyd has signed a new deal at Watford with Southampton hovering around, he’s committed himself to the club until 2010. And despite the heavy defeat they hung on to third place in the league when Leeds were beaten at Molineux.
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None of the Yorkshire clubs scored a goal this weekend and a 1-0 home defeat at the hands of Ipswich keeps Sheffield Wednesday in the bottom three. It was a late goal from Nicky Forster that defeated them but it was the usual problem for Wednesday, a lack of goals.
They have done all they can to bring in a striker. Nathan Tyson turned them down in favour of Nottingham Forest whilst Lee Trundle turned them down in favour of waiting for Everton. But there may yet be light at the end of this particular tunnel. Although they are refusing to comment, it is believed that it is Wednesday who have had a £750,000 bid accepted by Kilmarnock for striker Kris Boyd. The 22 year-old has already scored 17 goals in 20 appearances in Scotland this season.
Stoke were without three suspended players at Luton – Marlon Broomes, John Halls and Sam Bangoura (sadly they are all available and will return against the Clarets next week) – but it made no difference as they became the second club to win at Luton this season. Now I wonder who was the first.
It was their seventh victory on the road and came deep into stoppage time with an own goal from Luton’s Chris Coyne. That was the second time Stoke have beaten Luton this season with a goal in time added on.
That leaves Cardiff v Derby and a game that ended without a goal, in the main due to the outstanding goalkeeping of Lee Camp. I bet his dad was pleased. Cardiff were unlucky not to win it and when they did beat Camp they were twice denied by the woodwork.
There are no games this Saturday, Christmas Eve, but we have four games in eight days starting on Boxing Day. All the Christmas and New Year fixtures are shown below.
The Weekend Results | |
Friday 16th December | |
Brighton 2 Hull 1 | Preston 0 Sheffield Utd 0 |
Saturday 17th December | |
Burnley 4 Watford 1 | Norwich 3 Southampton 1 |
Cardiff 0 Derby 0 | Plymouth 2 Crystal Palace 0 |
Leicester 1 Crewe 1 | Sheffield Wed 0 Ipswich 1 |
Luton 2 Stoke 3 | Wolves 1 Leeds 0 |
Millwall 0 Reading 2 | . |
Monday 19th December | |
QPR 0 Coventry 1 | . |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | Burnley 4-1 v Watford (home) |
Total goals scored | 26 |
Player scoring most goals | 3 - Dean Ashton (Norwich) |
Highest Attendance | 26,821 - Wolves v Leeds |
Lowest Attendance | 6,929 - Brighton v Hull |
Total Yellow Cards | 37 |
Total Red Cards | 4 |
Most cards in a game | Plymouth v Crystal Palace (7Y) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
12 | Marlon King (Watford) |
11 | Ade Akinbiyi (Burnley) |
10 | Cameron Jerome (Cardiff) |
9 | Dean Ashton (Norwich) Carl Cort (Wolves) Kevin Doyle (Reading) Steven Kabba (Sheffield Utd) Ashley Young (Watford) |
8 | Sam Bangoura (Stoke) David Healy (Leeds) Rob Hulse (Leeds) Dave Kitson (Reading) Gary McSheffrey (Coventry) Neil Shipperley (Sheffield Utd) |
7 | Dele Adebola (Coventry) Paul Gallagher (Stoke) Steve Howard (Luton) Andy Johnson (Crystal Palace) Jason Koumas (Cardiff) Clinton Morrison (Crystal Palace) |
6 | Mark de Vries (Leicester) Inigo Idiakez (Derby) Leroy Lita (Reading) Garreth O'Connor (Burnley) Danny Webber (Sheffield Utd) |
5 | Ahmet Brkovic (Luton) Chris Brunt (Sheffield Wed) Warren Feeney (Luton) Dougie Freedman (Crystal Palace) Joey Gudjonsson (Leicester) Phil Jagielka (Sheffield Utd) Leon Knight (Brighton) Glen Little (Reading) Dean Morgan (Luton) Dave Nugent (Preston) Sam Parkin (Ipswich) Michael Ricketts (Cardiff) Matthew Spring (Watford) |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Brighton | 44 | 2 | Millwall | 51 | 10 |
| Burnley | 39 | 3 | Norwich | 37 | 2 |
| Cardiff | 43 | 1 | Plymouth | 40 | 0 |
| Coventry | 51 | 3 | Preston | 44 | 2 |
| Crewe | 23 | 1 | QPR | 55 | 6 |
| Crystal Palace | 47 | 0 | Reading | 26 | 0 |
| Derby | 41 | 3 | Sheffield Utd | 37 | 1 |
| Hull | 23 | 3 | Sheffield Wed | 28 | 1 |
| Ipswich | 34 | 4 | Southampton | 46 | 4 |
| Leeds | 44 | 2 | Stoke | 46 | 6 |
| Leicester | 48 | 3 | Watford | 38 | 2 |
| Luton | 31 | 3 | Wolves | 29 | 1 |
The Christmas and New Year Fixtures | |
Monday 26th December | |
Brighton v QPR | Leeds v Coventry |
Burnley v Stoke | Leicester v Millwall |
Cardiff v Plymouth | Preston v Sheffield Wed |
Crewe v Hull | Sheffield Utd v Norwich |
Derby v Luton | Watford v Southampton |
Ipswich v Crystal Palace | Wolves v Reading |
Wednesday 28th December | |
Coventry v Crewe | Plymouth v Preston |
Crystal Palace v Derby | QPR v Cardiff |
Hull v Ipswich | Reading v Leicester |
Luton v Brighton | Sheffield Wed v Wolves |
Millwall v Watford | Southampton v Shefield Utd |
Norwich v Burnley | Stoke v Leeds |
Saturday 31st December | |
Brighton v Millwall | Leeds v Hull |
Burnley v Sheffield Wed | Leicester v Norwich |
Cardiff v Southampton | Preston v Coventry |
Crewe v QPR | Sheffield Utd v Stoke |
Derby v Reading | Watford v Crystal Palace |
Ipswich v Luton | Wolves v Plymouth |
Monday 2nd January | |
Coventry v Wolves | QPR v Burnley |
Crystal Palace v Leicester | Reading v Cardiff |
Luton v Watford | Sheffield Wed v Crewe |
Millwall v Derby | Southampton v Brighton |
Norwich v Preston | Stoke v Ipswich |
Plymouth v Leeds | . |
Tuesday 3rd January | |
Hull v Sheffield Utd | . |