In the Championship – Wigan finally lose

He’ll after get used to the pitch – it’s crap as we saw last season and might just prove to halt their progress.

That allowed Ipswich to climb within three points of them after their win on the Turf and they are just five points clear of the play offs where Reading moved into third place with a 1-0 home win against Stoke. It was Dave Kitson again with the goal and he now becomes joint top scorer in the league with Jason Roberts.

For Stoke it is a worrying time, after leading the division they are now placed right in the middle after winning just one of their last ten games. Despite the ridiculous rantings of Pulis when they drew on the Turf, they looked anything but a good team.

Ade Akinbiyi hasn’t scored since, in fact Stoke have only scored two goals since that match, one each for Carl Asaba and Chris Greenacre. Let’s face it there are never going to be a lot of goals in a side that starts with Akinbiyi and Noel-Williams up front.

Did anyone see sacked Weymouth boss Steve Claridge on Friday on television? Apparently he finds it funny that Kevin Muscat, Millwall’s Australian thug, plays the game with raised arms.

It is anything but funny and he was at it again in their 2-0 win against Sunderland with Dennis Wise in wind up mode and conning the referee. They deserved the win, of that there is no doubt, but Theo Paphitis must be having problems with his eyes as well as hearing problems if he allows that sort of football to be played.

David Healy - two goals AGAINST Preston

There was nothing more certain on Saturday than David Healy scoring his first goal for Leeds on his return to Deepdale. He wound up the North Enders even more by hitting two as Leeds found some sort of form at hit Preston for four. Two Richard Cresswell goals made the scoreline flattering for the home side.

It was no surprise to see that a 2-0 scoreline had been turned into 2-2 at Rotherham but this time it was the home team who fought back to earn a point.
Ronnie Moore’s Millers must have really thought they were going to be on the end of another defeat when Joe Ledley gave Cardiff the lead with just twenty minutes to go.

It went worse when Paul Parry doubled the lead four minutes later but Rotherham came storming back to earn a point with goals from Paul McLaren and Michael Proctor.

Wolves have turned home matches into a bus service, no wins from the first five and then three on the run. This time it was Nottingham Forest who went down to a 2-1 Molineux defeat that takes Wolves up to 17th place.

It leaves Forest next to bottom and a confused managerial situation. Mick Harford has come in to assist Joe Kinnear but many judges believe he is really there to take over from the Forest manager.

"Warnock Out!" screamed the Blades fans as they failed to beat Gillingham at home. It ended 0-0 but Sheffield United are still sat just one place outside the play offs and only a point behind Sunderland.

Maybe it was Stan who had taken a couple of coaches over to support Gillingham – it sounds harsh but is still music to the ears of football fans.

Dario G wasn’t happy with the Crewe performance at the Withdean though they did actually come away with a 3-1 win with two of the goals scored by Dean Ashton. The match was a triumph for the Brighton fans who objected to the allocation of Phil Prosser as match referee.

Referee Phil Prosser - moved from Brighton after the police intervened

Prosser had made unsubstantiated allegations against the Brighton fans on his last visit and after the police stepped in last week the Football League were forced to make a chance of officials.

Mind you it was frying pan into fire as they were lumbered with Brian Curson whilst Prosser turned up at the Wigan v Plymouth game.

Derby’s run of wins came to an end. They led 2-1 at Watford but had to settle for a point after a late Brynjar Gunnarsson goal gave the Hornets a point.

And lastly at West Ham, Marlon Harewood scored twice as they beat QPR 2-1. After that fantastic run of seven wins QPR have now won just one in five – I wonder who that was against.

There are three transfers to report from Friday and all three players made their debuts with their new clubs on Saturday.

Tottenham’s Dean Marney and Sunderland wide man John Oster have moved to Gillingham and Leeds respectively on loan whilst West Ham’s Adam Nowland, recently on loan at Gillingham, made a £250,000 move to Nottingham Forest.

Leicester take on Coventry tonight and some of the clubs in the division are involved in mid-week Carling Cup action. There’s a full fixture list this weekend (with all twelve games on Saturday).

The weekend results
Friday 5th November
Millwall 2 Sunderland 0	.
Saturday 6th November
Brighton 1 Crewe 3	Sheffield Utd 0 Gillingham 0
Burnley 0 Ipswich 2	Watford 2 Derby 2
Preston 2 Leeds 4	West Ham 2 QPR 1
Reading 1 Stoke 0	Wigan 0 Plymouth 2
Rotherham 2 Cardiff 2	Wolves 2 Nottm Forest 1

The weekend stats
Biggest win	Five teams all won by two goals
Total goals scored	31
Player scoring most goals 2	Dean Ashton (Crewe) Darren Bent (Ipswich) David Healy (Leeds)
Highest Attendance	31,365 - West Ham v QPR
Lowest Attendance	5,093 - Rotherham v Cardiff
Total Yellow Cards	39
Total Red Cards	0
Most cards in a game 5	Millwall v Sunderland Preston v Leeds West Ham v QPR

The leading scorers (league only)
11	Nathan Ellington (Wigan) Dave Kitson (Reading)
10	Paul Furlong (QPR) Jason Roberts (Wigan)
9	Dean Ashton (Crewe) Danny Webber (Watford)
8	Darren Bent (Ipswich) Shefki Kuqi (Ipswich)
7	Richard Cresswell (Preston) Stephen Elliott (Sunderland) Marlon Harewood (West Ham) David Healy (Leeds) - 5 with Preston Heidar Helguson (Watford) Kenny Miller (Wolves) Teddy Sheringham (West Ham)
6	Andy Morrell (Coventry) Paul Shaw (Sheff Utd) - 2 with Rotherham Marcus Stewart (Sunderland)

This week's fixtures
Monday 8th November
Leicester v Coventry	.
Saturday 13th November
Burnley v Nottm Forest	QPR v Wigan
Coventry v Plymouth	Reading v Cardiff
Gillingham v Derby	Rotherham v Wolves
Ipswich v Leeds	Sheffield Utd v Watford
Leicester v Sunderland	Stoke v Crewe
Preston v Millwall	West Ham v Brighton