|
In the Championship – you don't need to be Einstein
LBJ’s new loan signing from Portsmouth David Unsworth scored on his debut to give them the lead and leading scorer Shefki Kuqi got the second. The win was not without a price though, Darren Bent limped off and will miss the Under-21 international this week whilst Kuqi suffered a broken nose.
That’s better than it is for Wigan despite their three successive wins recently. Even with those results their record since the beginning of November is not much better than a point a game and is very much bottom half of the table stuff.
In front of another four figure crowd in the Concrete Jungle they became the first side to concede a league goal to Stoke since mid-December with Gifton Noel-Williams scoring the only goal of the game.
They were six points clear of Ipswich when this bad run started and eight points clear of Sunderland but now the Mackems are also on their trail and are behind them on goal difference.
They picked up a point in a 1-1 draw at Wolves. They took an early lead with a superb goal from Stephen Elliott but then conceded a soft one just over thirty seconds later when keeper Thomas Myhre got nowhere near a cross to allow Seol to head home easily.
Those three have pulled further away with Reading only able to draw 0-0 at home to Plymouth, and the Royals are becoming a side who are finding it increasingly difficult to score goals.
Coppell’s team have scored just once in six games, and that by a defender, shows what happens to a club when they lose their main striker.
There’s no change at the bottom of the league where the bottom two met and couldn’t muster a goal between them. For Rotherham it was a new era without Ronnie Moore but they needed more than a draw to try to pull themselves closer to Forest who remain five points clear of them.
|
He’s not the player he was, or even close to it, and his recent attitude won’t help persuade other clubs to take a chance on him.
Just above them Gillingham fell to their twelfth away league defeat of the season, they are bottom of the league on away results, have won only at Burnley, and doesn’t their manager know about it.
“We have played sixteen games away from home, we have won one and drawn three – you don’t need to be Einstein,” said manager Stan Ternent. “If I was manager of another club I would want Gillingham to come to my place, it’s a guaranteed three points.”
This week they fell to a 2-0 defeat at Watford and even scored the first goal for the Hornets with Barry Ashby putting through his own goal. Ironically it was a Manchester United player on loan who completed the scoring with Chris Eagles scoring his first Watford goal in his second appearance.
Coventry remain just above that bottom three and were unable to pull clear despite going a goal in front at Deepdale with Claus Jorgensen getting his first of the season. Preston were soon in front with two dubious looking goals and by the time Coventry scored a second it was all over with the home side running out 3-2 winners.
Preston are in the top six and it is all down to their home form. They have the second best home record in the league but would be placed 21st if the league was decided on away form.
There’s no stopping Derby once they get on the team coach. Their 3-2 win at Brighton was their fifth successive away win and their seventh in nine. They led three times with Marcus Tudgay getting two of them and even won it with ten men off the field after Ian Taylor was sent off in somewhat strange circumstances.
Leicester earned a point in a 1-1 home draw against Crewe and this pulled in the biggest crowd of the weekend – the sheer pulling power of Dario Gradi’s Crewe – whilst down at the Den they had to suffer a less than entertaining 0-0 draw against QPR.
|
This week has seen a few transfers with Richard Chaplow’s departure from Turf Moor the biggest deal to go through. All the incoming moves have been either on frees or loans.
Michael Gray moved from Blackburn to Leeds on loan and made his debut against the Clarets. Southampton striker Dexter Blackstock has gone to Plymouth on loan, whilst similar transfers have seen Slovakian goalkeeper Dusan Kuciak join West Ham from Zilina, Portsmouth’s Chris Clarke sign for Stoke and Andy Melville move to Forest from West Ham.
Forest have also signed John Curtis on a permanent deal from Portsmouth and Gillingham have signed Michael Flynn from Wigan.
One other deal saw Mark McCammon turn his loan deal from Millwall to Brighton into a permanent signing and he celebrated with both Brighton’s goals although they lost 3-2 to Derby.
The fixtures for next week are shown below the weekend stats. Some of the clubs are out of action because of FA Cup replays.
The Weekend Results | |
Friday 4th February | |
Wolves 1 Sunderland 1 | . |
Saturday 5th February | |
Brighton 2 Derby 3 | Reading 0 Plymouth 0 |
Burnley 0 Leeds 1 | Rotherham 0 Nott'm Forest 0 |
Leicester 1 Crewe 1 | Sheffield Utd 0 Ipswich 2 |
Millwall 0 QPR 0 | Watford 2 Gillingham 0 |
Preston 3 Coventry 2 | Wigan 0 Stoke 1 |
Sunday 6th February | |
West Ham 1 Cardiff 0 | . |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | Ipswich 2-0 v Sheffield Utd (away) |
Total goals scored | 21 |
Player scoring most goals | 2 - Mark McCammon (Brighton) |
Highest Attendance | 27,011 - Leicester v Crewe |
Lowest Attendance | 6,587 - Brighton v Derby |
Total Yellow Cards | 34 |
Total Red Cards | 2 |
Most cards in a game | Wigan v Stoke (7Y) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
18 | Dean Ashton (Crewe) - now with Norwich |
17 | Nathan Ellington (Wigan) |
15 | Darren Bent (Ipswich) |
14 | Paul Furlong (QPR) Shefki Kuqi (Ipswich) |
13 | Jason Roberts (Wigan) |
12 | Richard Cresswell (Preston) Stephen Elliott (Sunderland) Heidar Helguson (Watford) Dave Kitson (Reading) Kenny Miller (Wolves) |
11 | David Healy (Leeds) - 5 with Preston Grzegorz Rasiak (Derby) Teddy Sheringham (West Ham) |
10 | Robbie Blake (Burnley) - now Birmingham Marlon Harewood (West Ham) Lee McCulloch (Wigan) Danny Webber (Watford) |
9 | Tommy Smith (Derby) Peter Thorne (Cardiff) |
8 | Carl Cort (Wolves) Andy Gray (Sheffield Utd) Barry Hayles (Millwall) Paul Shaw (Sheffield Utd) - 2 with Rotherham Marcus Stewart (Sunderland) |
7 | Ade Akinbiyi (Stoke) Mark Rivers (Crewe) Marcus Tudgay (Derby) Paul Wotton (Plymouth) |
The Week's Fixtures | |
Saturday 12th February | |
Cardiff v Brighton | Leeds v Reading |
Coventry v Burnley | Plymouth v Rotherham |
Crewe v Wigan | QPR v Preston |
Gillingham v Millwall | Sunderland v Watford |
Ipswich v Leicester | . |