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In the Championship – Wins at top and bottom
The home side were back in it by half time through Billy Jones and it all looked to be heading for a draw when Crewe netted twice in the last two minutes. The first of them came from a Kenny Lunt header and Luke Varney followed that up with his first goal since August to see his side climb three places and out of the bottom three.
That left Brighton in bottom spot after they were beaten 2-1 at home against Cardiff City who according to some sources have now gone eight games without defeat, somewhat surprising given that they were beaten in their last game at home to Luton.
Jason Koumas gave the Welshmen an early lead but Paul McShane, who scored for Brighton recently at the Turf, drew the home side level on the hour. The winner must have come as a big shock for the scorer Alan Lee, the former Burnley striker scored a league goal for the first time since November of last year, having gone 32 games without a goal.
Jason Koumas gave the Welshmen an early lead but Paul McShane, who scored for Brighton recently at the Turf, drew the home side level on the hour. The winner must have come as a big shock for the scorer Alan Lee, the former Burnley striker scored a league goal for the first time since November of last year, having gone 32 games without a goal.
Millwall must have made one amazingly bad start to the season. They have now gone six games without defeat and are still next to bottom and much of this game centred on goalkeeper Andy Marshall returning to Carrow Road to a reception worse than the one Robbie Blake received at the Turf and worse than the one Ian Moore deserved.
He was at fault for the Norwich goal scored by Dean Ashton, this equalising a first half goal from Millwall, but he more than redeemed himself with a penalty save that caused Millwall further problems. The arguments against the award of the penalty went on too long and to vociferously leading to referee Taylor sending off Barry Hayles.
Still in the bottom three but this time a good reception. Sheffield Wednesday made the long trip to Plymouth and their manager Paul Sturrock received a standing ovation from the home fans on his first return to Home Park since leaving for Southampton.
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Up at the top of the league, and with Luton losing, it gave the top two the chance to pull further away and they made no mistake. Sheffield United had a difficult task against Wolves, still smarting from the ‘hammering’ they took against the Clarets. There was to be no return for them at Bramall Lane where a Neil Shipperley goal was enough to win it for the home side.
Yesterday at the Madejski there was never any danger of Reading not beating Ipswich. They cruised to a 2-0 win with Glen Little showing some of the form that used to make him such a crowd favourite at the Turf. A Richard Naylor own goal and a fourth of the season from Kevin Doyle was enough for the home side but again Ipswich looked well short of being a side capable of mounting anything like a promotion challenge this season.
Leeds and Palace have now sneaked into 4th and 5th places with Palace recording the win of the day in front of the highest crowd yet at the Ricoh Stadium. It was all too easy for them with even Jonathan Macken scoring in a 4-1 win.
What happened on 16th April and hasn’t happened since? You’ve probably guessed it, on that date Preston won at home in the league. It was against Cardiff but there’s been no sign of a Deepdale league win since and they were somewhat fortunate even to get a point on Saturday against Queens Park Rangers.
They were a goal down, and deservedly so, to a Danny Shittu goal, and as all looked lost, and as Billy Davies came close to a cardiac arrest on the touchline, they rescued a point with a fortunate goal from Youl Mawene in the very last minute of stoppage time.
Davies and his disciples still think they are promotion candidates – the Scotsman needs to forget it. They are well and truly ensconced in the bottom half of the league and there is nothing to suggest there will be any change.
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They went in front with the goal of the day from Matt Oakley but Kevin Ellison’s equaliser earned a point for Hull. That’s eight successive draws from the Saints, equalling a record held by Torquay. I think Harry would rather win this week than go for the record outright.
Derby fans turned on manager Phil Brown at the end of their last game against Leicester which ended in a 1-1 draw. The Pride Park fans have not taken to Mr Fake Tan, but they at least got a win on Saturday, beating Stoke 2-1 with a late winner from Mr Karren Brady.
Finally, if you are looking upwards, then two points from five games is not exactly what’s required, but that’s what Boothroyd’s win at all costs Watford have got. They were beaten again on Saturday at home to Leicester, this their third home defeat of the season and sees them heading in the opposite direction to the way they are looking.
They have slipped out of the top six now and I suspect that won’t be a short term thing either. They went down to goals from the unlikely duo of Mark de Vries and Patrick Kisnorbo on Saturday.
There were a couple of new players involved on Saturday as clubs had to make emergency loan deals. Ipswich agreed a deal to take bad boy Adam Proudlock from Sheffield Wednesday pending his appeal against his sacking whilst another player out of Sheffield was Lilian Nalis who has rejoined his former Leicester boss Micky Adams at Coventry. Neither of them got off to the best of starts.
We’ve a full midweek fixture list this week followed by the weekend games, they are all shown below:
The Weekend Results | |
Saturday 15th October | |
Brighton 1 Cardiff 2 | Plymouth 1 Sheffield Wed 1 |
Burnley 1 Leeds 2 | Preston 1 QPR 1 |
Coventry 1 Crystal Palace 4 | Sheffield Utd 1 Wolves 0 |
Crewe 3 Luton 1 | Southampton 1 Hull 1 |
Derby 2 Stoke 1 | Watford 1 Leicester 2 |
Norwich 1 Millwall 1 | . |
Sunday 16th October | |
Reading 2 Ipswich 0 | . |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | Crystal Palace 4-1 v Coventry (away) |
Total goals scored | 32 |
Player scoring most goals | no player scored more than one goal |
Highest Attendance | 25,533 - Sheffield Utd v Wolves |
Lowest Attendance | 6,485 - Brighton v Cardiff |
Total Yellow Cards | 46 |
Total Red Cards | 2 |
Most cards in a game | Norwich v Millwall (8Y 1R) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
9 | Carl Cort (Wolves) |
7 | Cameron Jerome (Cardiff) Steven Kabba (Sheffield Utd) Rob Hulse (Leeds) |
6 | Andy Johnson (Crystal Palace) Marlon King (Watford) Garreth O'Connor (Burnley) Ashley Young (Watford) |
5 | Dele Adebola (Coventry) Ade Akinbiyi (Burnley) Dean Ashton (Norwich) Inigo Idiakez (Derb) Steve Howard (Luton) Leroy Lita (Reading) Clinton Morrison (Crystal Palace) Neil Shipperley (Sheffield Utd) |
4 | Morten Bisgaard (Derby) Ahmet Brkovic (Luton) David Connolly (Leicester) Mark de Vries (Leicester) Kevin Doyle (Reading) David Healy (Leeds) Darius Henderson (Watford) Dean Morgan (Luton) Dave Nugent (Reading) Sam Parkin (Ipswich) |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Brighton | 24 | 0 | Millwall | 27 | 4 |
| Burnley | 21 | 2 | Norwich | 22 | 1 |
| Cardiff | 24 | 0 | Plymouth | 25 | 0 |
| Coventry | 29 | 3 | Preston | 24 | 2 |
| Crewe | 12 | 0 | QPR | 31 | 4 |
| Crystal Palace | 28 | 0 | Reading | 16 | 0 |
| Derby | 26 | 2 | Sheffield Utd | 20 | 0 |
| Hull | 15 | 2 | Sheffield Wed | 19 | 1 |
| Ipswich | 21 | 3 | Southampton | 29 | 2 |
| Leeds | 20 | 1 | Stoke | 21 | 3 |
| Leicester | 28 | 1 | Watford | 22 | 1 |
| Luton | 18 | 1 | Wolves | 15 | 0 |
The Week's Fixtures | |
Tuesday 18th October | |
Cardiff v Preston | Luton v Norwich |
Crystal Palace v Brighton | Millwall v Sheffield Utd |
Hull v Reading | QPR v Plymouth |
Ipswich v Coventry | Sheffield Wed v Watford |
Leeds v Southampton | Stoke v Crewe |
Leicester v Burnley | Wolves v Derby |
Saturday 22nd October | |
Cardiff v Crewe | Luton v Plymouth |
Crystal Palace v Burnley | Millwall v Southampton |
Hull v Derby | QPR v Norwich |
Ipswich v Watford | Stoke v Reading |
Leeds v Sheffield Utd | Wolves v Preston |
Leicester v Coventry | . |