In the Championship – Worthington on the brink

Last updated : 07 November 2005 By Tony Scholes
Ki-Hyeon Seol - put an end to Worthington's demands with an early goal for Wolves
Things have not gone according to plan at Norwich this season following relegation but they ended a run of four games without a win in midweek by beating Cardiff at home. That prompted a rallying call from the manager that was not accepted by the players.

He demanded his players come out at Molineux and show some fight but they didn’t take up the challenge and that can only suggest the former Northern Ireland international has lost the dressing room. As it stands right now I would be very surprised to see him continue as manager much longer.

It was all too easy for Wolves who were in front within two minutes from Ki-Hyeon Seol when the Norwich defenders made life just a little bit too easy for him. Vio Ganea added the second and this time didn’t bother taking a seat in the stand to celebrate his goal.

It was Wolves’ first home win since August and it lifts them to 7th in the table, just ahead of the Clarets on goal difference. And just to think, they were fifteen places above us in the table when we kicked off at Molineux five weeks ago.

Nothing has changed at the top of the table and everyone is now beginning to wonder whether the top two of Sheffield United and Reading can be caught or whether they are destined for the Premiership.

Both won away from home in London with the Blades coming out on top in the game of the day at Palace. They were never behind in the 3-2 win that had without doubt some controversy. Neil Shipperley scored against his old club but the assistant must have incredible eyesight to have seen whether it had crossed the line, although Neil Warnock had spotted it from the half way line. Palace meanwhile had a blatant penalty turned down but got one that was somewhat harsh.

The result was about right, and they are now twelve points clear of third place with Reading just three points behind them. Reading won 2-1 at QPR with the winning goal coming from Ivar Ingimarsson scoring the winner. The Icelandic defender played in a shirt with no number or name on it, surely they have not run out of money for such niceties at the Madejski Stadium.

Stuart Green - blazed his penalty high over the bar
Watford fell behind at Hull to a Nick Barmby goal after the former England international was recalled to the side by the Legend. They looked up though and came back to win it with goals from Gavin Mahon and Matt Spring. The home side should have won a point in the end when they won a late penalty but Stuart Green has been reading the Gifton Noel-Williams penalty taking guide and last heard they were still looking for the ball.

It’s all going wrong for Derby who have won just once in their last fourteen games. They were a goal up at half time at Hillsborough through Marcus Tudgay but it all went wrong in the second half as the home side won it 2-1, Chris Brunt and David Graham getting the goals.

Life’s not good for Derby fans right now and one supporter said this weekend, “We are not Derby County anymore, we are Anytown United plc with a team of loan players, a manager on work experience and a bunch of cuckoos in the board room.” They don’t sound happy.

Neither are the Millwall fans who demonstrated at the end of their 3-1 home defeat against Crewe. The chants were aimed at Theo Paphitis but in all likelihood the partially deaf acting chairman, who is keen to get out himself, didn’t even hear them.

No one likes them apparently and they don’t care – and things got worse as they were well and truly left adrift at the bottom as fellow strugglers Crewe won comfortably with Steve Jones netting two of the goals.

The Millwall squad was obviously reduced in numbers with the three sent off at Burnley all suspended. To stop Ben May from playing was ridiculous; this should clearly have been held back until there has been some investigation. If he is guilty then the ban should be in months rather than games but if innocent, and he strongly pleads his innocence, then action should be taken against the accuser. Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?

This was the week that all of the Preston players really did go to Leeds, for those of them who haven’t already joined the Elland Road club they were lining up against them, although their former captain Sean Gregan had to settle for a place on the subs bench alongside the two former Clarets.

Dave Nugent - back for Preston but there were no goals
There were no goals for either side despite the two managers introducing the likes of Blake, Moore and Nugent, and both had to settle for a point. It was the same at the Crisp Bowl where Southampton youngster Theo Walcott came closest to breaking the deadlock but he ended the game without a goal for the first time since he got into Harry Redknapp’s starting line up.

There was a third goalless draw as Cardiff and Coventry picked up a point each in a game played on Sunday. Cardiff recently hit Crewe for six but have now failed to score in the three games since. Had they won they would have sneaked above us, so well done Coventry.

Stoke’s million pound striker Sambegou Bangoura was amongst the goals, scoring twice in their 3-0 win against Brighton. That’s three in four games for the player signed last month from Standard Liege.

That just leaves Ipswich and Plymouth. Ipswich went into the game on the back of five games without a win whilst Plymouth hadn’t lost in five. Both records came to an end as the Tractor Boys won it comfortably. Our former loan player Jay McEveley opened the scoring for Ipswich but the best goal of the game came from Akos Buszaky who hit a free kick into the top corner.

On another day it could have been the goal of the day but we’d witnessed that at around 3:30 at Kenilworth Road. Ade’s goals mean he is leading scorer in the division again and the only player to have reached double figures.

There were a flurry of loan signings on Friday ahead of the games and four of the five made their debuts on Saturday. The odd one out was young Liverpool goalkeeper Paul Harrison who signed for Wolves who had to settle for a place on the bench.

Not so for Manchester City keeper Nicky Weaver who made the move to Sheffield Wednesday and went straight into the starting line up, as did central defender Sam Collins who moved from Port Vale to Hull. Collins will make the move permanent in January when the window opens.

Bruce Dyer joined Millwall from Stoke and covered for the suspended Ben May whilst Liam Miller, who has failed to establish himself at Manchester United, became yet another signing for Kevin Blackwell at Leeds.

I suspect there will be at least one more loan signing before the Championship gets underway again in a couple of weeks, there will be a goalkeeper heading from somewhere to Turf Moor, perhaps from Portsmouth.

Those next fixtures are shown below and also we include the average league attendances so far this season for each club. Crewe, Leicester, Preston and Watford have all had their highest attendances against us, and we have attracted the lowest crowds so far at Reading and Wolves.

The Weekend Results

Saturday 5th November

Crystal Palace 2 Sheffield Utd 3

Millwall 1 Crewe 3

Hull 1 Watford 2

QPR 1 Reading 2

Ipswich 3 Plymouth 1

Sheffield Wed 2 Derby 1

Leeds 0 Preston 0

Stoke 3 Brighton 0

Leicester 0 Southampton 0

Wolves 2 Norwich 0

Luton 2 Burnley 3

.

Sunday 6th November

Cardiff 0 Coventry 0

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The Weekend Stats

Biggest win

Stoke 3-0 v Brighton (home)

Total goals scored

32

Player scoring most goals

3 - Ade Akinbiyi (Burnley)

Highest Attendance

26,334 - Sheff Wed v Derby

Lowest Attendance

8,120 - Millwall v Crewe

Total Yellow Cards

34

Total Red Cards

1

Most cards in a game

Leeds v Preston (5Y)
Stoke v Brighton (5Y)

The leading scorers (league only)

10

Ade Akinbiyi (Burnley)

9

Carl Cort (Wolves)
Ashley Young (Watford)

8

Rob Hulse (Leeds)
Cameron Jerome (Cardiff)
Steven Kabba (Sheffield Utd)

7

Steve Howard (Luton)
Marlon King (Watford)
Clinton Morrison (Crystal Palace)

6

Dele Adebola (Coventry)
Dean Ashton (Norwich)
Mark de Vries (Leicester)
Inigo Idiakez (Derby)
Andy Johnson (Crystal Palace)
Garreth O'Connor (Burnley)
Neil Shipperley (Sheffield Utd)

5

Chris Brunt (Sheffield Wed)
Warren Feeney (Luton)
David Healy (Leeds)
Phil Jagielka (Sheffield Utd)
Leroy Lita (Reading)
Sam Parkin (Ipswich)

Disciplinary Record (all games)

Club

Y

R

Club

Y

R

Brighton

30

0

Millwall

38

8

Burnley

30

3

Norwich

27

2

Cardiff

31

0

Plymouth

30

0

Coventry

39

3

Preston

35

2

Crewe

18

0

QPR

35

5

Crystal Palace

34

0

Reading

22

0

Derby

34

3

Sheffield Utd

27

0

Hull

21

2

Sheffield Wed

24

1

Ipswich

28

3

Southampton

36

2

Leeds

28

1

Stoke

30

5

Leicester

35

1

Watford

32

1

Luton

22

1

Wolves

20

1

Average Attendances (league only)

Avge

Club

High

Low

25,133

Sheffield Wednesday

29,986

21,187

25,120

Norwich City

27,470

23,838

24,159

Southampton

26,331

20,792

24,023

Ipswich

29,184

22,551

23,290

Derby

25,292

21,598

23,266

Wolves

24,745

21,747

21,682

Leicester

23,326

20,148

21,471

Sheffield United

25,533

17,739

21,187

Coventry

24,438

16,617

20,960

Leeds

23,600

18,353

19,386

Hull City

22,201

17,698

19,309

Crystal Palace

22,400

17,291

17,574

Reading

22,068

14,027

15,496

Stoke

18,744

12,240

14,862

Watford

16,802

12,152

13,974

QPR

15,976

11,741

13,855

Preston

17,139

12,453

12,951

Plymouth

16,534

10,460

11,478

Cardiff

15,231

9,196

11,185

Burnley

16,174

10,431

9,064

Luton Town

10,248

7,815

8.951

Millwall

10,759

7,674

6,981

Crewe

8,006

5,958

6,527

Brighton

6,867

6,132

The Next Fixtures

Friday 18th November

Derby v Wolves

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Saturday 19th November

Burnley v Leicester

Preston v Cardiff

Coventry v Ipswich

Reading v Hull

Crewe v Stoke

Sheffield Utd v Millwall

Norwich v Luton

Southampton v Leeds

Plymouth v QPR

Watford v Sheffield Wed

Sunday 20th November

Brighton v Crystal Palace

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