It's a fight for second and sixth

Last updated : 25 April 2011 By Tony Scholes
With QPR all but up, Norwich have now got pole position for the second automatic spot after their 5-1 win at rivals Ipswich last Thursday. They also have the fantastic advantage of going in to today's game having had two days longer between games than some of their rivals as Cardiff have been so quick to point out.

I don't think there is much the FAW can do for Cardiff this time and they sit a point behind Norwich with the outsiders now Reading and Swansea who are three and five points behind. Cardiff are also the one team in that group who have just the one home game remaining.

Now down to that last play off place and such is this league that ourselves, totally out of the running nine days ago, are in with a good shout although our goal difference, destroyed in that recent run of one point from six games, could work against us.

Nottingham Forest are currently in the play off positions and probably have the easiest of the run ins. They are ahead of Leeds and then us on goal difference whilst Millwall, big 4-0 winners over Preston on Saturday are just two points behind.

Am I right to discard Hull who are now three points behind? Probably not given the way things go in the Championship but I do think it will be very difficult for them.

In terms of home and away games remaining, all but us have one at home and two away and we need to make the most of that.

Down at the bottom things are not so simple. You wouldn't bet on either Preston or Sheffield United surviving and it would be a brave bet to suggest Scunthorpe would stay up. But Crystal Palace still need a win and Doncaster could get dragged in if all the results went against them. Derby are the only other team who could be relegated but that would now take a freak set of results for both them and Scunthorpe.

The weekend results are below along with the stats, the leading goalscorers, each club's disciplinary record and today's fixtures.

The Weekend Results

Thursday 21st April

Ipswich 1 Norwich 5

Friday 22nd April

Coventry 1 Scunthorpe 1

Nottingham Forest 3 Leicester 2

Doncaster 0 Crystal Palace 0

Leeds 0 Reading 0

Saturday 23rd April

Cardiff 2 QPR 2

Portsmouth 0 Swansea 0

Derby 2 Burnley 4

Sheffield United 3 Bristol City 2

Hull 2 Middlesbrough 4

Watford 1 Barnsley 0

Millwall 4 Preston 0

The Weekend Stats

Biggest win

Milwall 4-0 v Preston (away)
Norwich 5-1 v Ipswich (away)

Total goals scored

39 (19 home - 20 away)

Player scoring most goals

3 - Scott McDonald (Middlesbrough)

Highest Attendance

29,258 - Ipswich v Norwich

Lowest Attendance

10,426 - Millwall v Preston

Total Yellow Cards

29

Total Red Cards

3

Most cards in a game

Portsmouth v Swansea (7Y) - Darren Deadman

The leading scorers (league only)

23

Danny Graham (Watford) - includes 1 penalty

21

Shane Long (Reading) - includes 5 penalties

20

Grant Holt (Norwich) - includes 3 penalties

19

Luciano Becchio (Leeds)

18

Jay Bothroyd (Cardiff) - includes 1 penalty
Adel Taarabt (QPR) - includes 6 penalties

17

Max Gradel (Leeds) - includes 2 penalties

16

Scott Sinclair (Swansea) - includes 5 penalties

15

Bill Sharp (Doncaster) - includes 4 penalties
Steve Morison (Millwall) - includes 1 penalty

14

Andy King (Leicester)

13

Kris Commons (Derby) - includes 2 penalties
Jay Rodriguez (Burnley)

12

Heidar Helguson (QPR) - includes 5 penalties
Marlon King (Coventry) - includes 3 penalties
Scott McDonald (Middlesbrough)
Lewis McGugan (Nottingham Forest) - includes 3 penalties
Brett Pitman (Bristol City) - includes 4 penalties

11

Matt Fryatt (Hull) - includes 3 penalties & 2 with Leicester)
Iain Hume (Preston)
Chris Iwelumo (Burnley)
David Nugent (Portsmouth)
Davide Somma (Leeds)

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

28th Dec

3 - Wes Hoolahan - NORWICH v Sheffield United

1st Jan

3 - Jason Puncheon - MILLWALL v Crystal Palace

5th Feb

3 - Matt Fryatt - Scunthorpe v HULL

15th Feb

3 - Connor Wickham - Doncaster v IPSWICH

2nd Apr

3 - Grant Holt - NORWICH v Scunthorpe

2nd Apr

3 - Simeon Jackson - NORWICH v Scunthorpe

2nd Apr

3 - Yakubu - Middlesbrough v LEICESTER

23rd Apr

3 - Scott McDonald - Hull v MIDDLESBROUGH

Disciplinary Record (all domestic games)

Club

Y

R

Club

Y

R

Barnsley

63

3

Middlesbrough

60

1

Bristol City

58

3

Millwall

62

6

Burnley

82

5

Norwich

69

3

Cardiff

55

1

Nottingham Forest

65

3

Coventry

64

5

Portsmouth

84

9

Crystal Palace

80

8

Preston

87

5

Derby

74

3

QPR

64

6

Doncaster

48

3

Reading

67

4

Hull

73

2

Scunthorpe

56

4

Ipswich

66

5

Sheffield United

71

11

Leeds

83

4

Swansea

64

2

Leicester

54

3

Watford

52

2

The Next Fixtures

Monday 25th April

Barnsley v Doncaster

Norwich v Derby

Bristol City v Nottingham Forest

Preston v Cardiff

Burnley v Portsmouth

QPR v Hull

Crystal Palace v Leeds

Reading v Sheffield United

Leicester v Watford

Scunthorpe v Millwall

Middlesbrough v Coventry

Swansea v Ipswich