Ipswich pay the penalty as weather hits Championship

Last updated : 05 December 2010 By Tony Scholes

The game at Pride Park looked to have been the game of the day. Norwich were 2-0 within 13 minutes, meaning Derby had conceded four goals in just around 25 minutes play with our two goals last week.

Derby pulled one back very quickly through Kris Commons but the talking points were two penalty shouts, one for each side, neither of which were given by referee Keith Stroud. They both looked good shouts to me but Norwich boss Paul Simpson couldn't do too much about it has he'd been banished to the stands for his recent querying of referee Michael Oliver.

If they were penalties then the one Ipswich could have had a few minutes from time in their home game against Swansea was as bang to rights a spot kick as you'll ever see. Swansea had dominated the first half hour without creating anything but Ipswich had stormed back and created a good few chances, taking one of them.

Two horrible defensive mistakes saw them fall behind but then came the spot kick as Carlos Edwards went down. Referee Andy D'Urso incredibly waved play on and exactly 31 seconds later Swansea had got a second. This time Roy Keane didn't lead a charge at D'Urso.

Coventry's win against Middlesbrough was a game of penalties. Leroy Lita took one for 'Boro and saw it saved before former Middlesbrough striker Marlon King converted one for Coventry. It was his first goal since he scored for Middlesbrough 18 months ago and was enough to give the Sky Blues all three points.

Leeds came from behind to beat Crystal Palace with two Luciano Becchio goals whilst down at Watford it was a Danny Graham goal that finally won it for the home side. It was only his second goal since September and another striker ending a lean streak was Steve Morison who scored two for Millwall against a woeful Scunthorpe side for whom Kevin McDonald played the last few minutes.

The one remaining game surprisingly ended in an unlikely point for bottom club Preston. They led Cardiff 1-0 for a long time in this game before conceding an equaliser in the fourth minute of stoppage time.

Leeds are back in the top six at the expense of Derby but it is much the same as before although Swansea have now reduced the gap on second place Cardiff to one point.

Hopefully the weather will relent during the next few days and allow us a full programme next week. This week's results and stats are below along with the league's leading scorers, each club's disciplinary record and the next fixtures.

The Weekend Results

Saturday 4th December

Cardiff 1 Preston 1

Leeds 2 Crystal Palace 1

Coventry 1 Middlesbrough 0

Millwall 3 Scunthorpe 0

Derby 1 Norwich 2

Nottingham Forest v Bristol City - PP

Doncaster v Barnsley - PP

Portsmouth v Burnley - PP

Hull v QPR - PP

Sheffield United v Reading - PP

Ipswich 1 Swansea 3

Watford 3 Leicester 2

The Weekend Stats

Biggest win

Millwall 3-0 v Scunthorpe (home)

Total goals scored

21 (12 home - 9 away)

Player scoring most goals
2

Craig Beattie (Swansea)
Luciano Becchio (Leeds)
Paul Gallagher (Leicester)
Steve Morison (Millwall)

Highest Attendance

26,134 - Derby v Norwich

Lowest Attendance

8,937 - Millwall v Scunthorpe

Total Yellow Cards

27

Total Red Cards

0

Most cards in a game

Derby v Norwich (7Y) - Keith Stroud

The leading scorers (league only)

13

Jay Bothroyd (Cardiff)

11

Kris Commons (Derby) - includes 2 penalties

10

Luciano Becchio (Leeds)

9

Chris Iwelumo (Burnley)
Lewis McGugan (Nottingham Forest) - includes 1 penalty
Adel Taarabt (QPR) - includes 4 penalties

8

Danny Graham (Watford)
Andy King (Leicester)
Jamie Mackie (QPR)
Steve Morison (Millwall) - includes 1 penalty
Scott Sinclair (Swansea)

7

Andy Hammill (Barnsley)
Grant Holt (Norwich)
Jon Parkin (Preston)

6

James Coppinger (Doncaster)
James Hayter (Doncaster)
Liam Lawrence (Portsmouth) - includes 4 penalties
Billy Sharp (Doncaster) - includes 3 penalties
Davide Somma (Leeds)
Marvin Sordell (Watford)
Jonathan Stead (Bristol City)

Hat Tricks (league only)

11th Sep

3 - Chris Iwelumo - BURNLEY v Preston

14th Sep

3 - James Coppinger - DONCASTER v Norwich

14th Sep

3 - James Vaughan - CRYSTAL PALACE v Portsmouth

28th Sep

3 - Jon Parkin - Leeds v PRESTON

30th Oct

3 - Jonny Howson - Scunthorpe v LEEDS

13th Nov

3 - Luciano Becchio - LEEDS v Bristol City

27th Nov

3 - Grant Holt - NORWICH v Leeds

Disciplinary Record (all domestic games)

Club

Y

R

Club

Y

R

Barnsley

31

0

Middlesbrough

31

1

Bristol City

21

1

Millwall

30

2

Burnley

39

4

Norwich

32

2

Cardiff

25

1

Nottingham Forest

28

0

Coventry

33

1

Portsmouth

31

3

Crystal Palace

32

5

Preston

47

5

Derby

34

1

QPR

32

2

Doncaster

25

1

Reading

34

3

Hull

35

1

Scunthorpe

22

1

Ipswich

34

3

Sheffield United

25

4

Leeds

38

2

Swansea

43

1

Leicester

23

2

Watford

23

0

The Next Fixtures

Friday 10th December

QPR v Watford

Swansea v Millwall

Saturday 11th December

Barnsley v Sheffield United

Middlesbrough v Cardiff

Bristol City v Derby

Norwich v Portsmouth

Burnley v Leeds

Preston v Ipswich

Crystal Palace v Hull (17:20)

Reading v Coventry

Leicester v Doncaster

Scunthorpe v Nottingham Forest