It's home rule in the Championship

Last updated : 20 February 2012 By Tony Scholes

Doncaster really looked as though they were going to upset the home team applecart at Leeds who were playing in front of new manager Neil Warnock. Donny led 2-0 with a brace from Mamadou Bagayoko before Leeds produced one of those comebacks they usually reserve for us.

The first goal came within a minute of Doncaster's second and then they equalised with ten minutes to go. The winner came in the ninth minute of stoppage time to ensure that all games ended in home wins.

Two of those home wins switched things round at the bottom of the league. On Friday, just before I left home for the trip to Reading, the news came through that Portsmouth had gone into administration.

The Pompey Chimes really should be changed to 'Pay Up Pompey', something they continually fail to do. The inevitable ten point deduction took them to the brink of the bottom three, hovering above only on goal difference.

They are there now though. Once they'd lost at Barnsley it was just a matter of who went above them with Nottingham Forest playing Coventry City. It was Forest who won to go three points clear of the drop zone and I'm sure even Steve Cotterill's fiercest critics would prefer to see Pompey sink rather than Forest get chopped down.

Our defeat has seen us drop to 11th but the three points have taken Reading into third place, a point above Cardiff who were beaten at Ipswich. It doesn't seem so long since Ipswich were doing nothing but lose. That's four successive wins now with twelve goals in those games.

One of Saturday's goals came from Michael Chopra. He didn't follow the modern pattern of not celebrating a goal against a former club. Maybe he felt he should have done because he's since apologised. Maybe he had a bet on scoring and celebrating.

The other two goals came from Lee Martin and that was a popular name on Saturday. Chris Martin also scored twice, getting his in Crystal Palace's 4-0 win against Watford, and Aaron Martin scored for Southampton as they too won 4-0, their win coming at home to Derby County.

Peterborough won the other game against Bristol City, and that's one point in fifteen for Derek McInnes' team who are still very much in a relegation battle. The inspired run just after he took over is now a distant memory.

This week we have some midweek games before the weekend games. Now we've started losing away from home maybe we can keep up the recent better run at home which has seen us go unbeaten in five games.

The results, the stats, the league's leading scorers, each club's disciplinary record, the highest and lowest attendances are all below with this week's fixtures.

The Week's Results
Friday 17th February
Reading 1 Burnley 0  
Saturday 18th February
Barnsley 2 Portsmouth 0 Nottingham Forest 2 Coventry City 0
Crystal Palace 4 Watford 0 Peterborough United 3 Bristol City 0
Ipswich Town 3 Cardiff City 0 Southampton 4 Derby County 0
Leeds United 3 Doncaster Rovers 2  

 

The Week's Stats
Biggest Win Crystal Palace 4-0 v Watford (home)
Southampton 4-0 v Derby County (home)
Total Goals Scored 24 (22 home - 2 away)

Player Scoring Most Goals

2

Mamadou Bagayoko (Doncaster Rovers)
Chris Martin (Crystal Palace)
Lee Martin (Ipswich Town)
Lee Tomlin (Peterborough United)
Highest Attendance 24,536 - Southampton v Derby County
Lowest Attendance 7,004 - Peterborough United v Bristol City
Total Yellow Cards 27
Total Red Cards 1
Most Cards in a Game Reading v Burnley (8Y) Ref: Darren Deadman

 

Leading Goalscorers (League Only)
16 Rickie Lambert (Southampton) - includes 6 penalties
15 Ross McCormack (Leeds United)
12 Michael Chopra (Ipswich Town)
Darius Henderson (Millwall) - includes 2 penalties
David Nugent (Leicester City)
Jay Rodriguez (Burnley) - includes 1 penalty
11

Billy Sharp (Southampton) - includes 1 penalty - (10 with Doncaster Rovers)
Robert Snodgrass (Leeds United) - includes 1 penalty

10 Charlie Austin (Burnley)
Guly Do Prado (Southampton)
Matty Fryatt (Hull City) - includes 1 penalty
Lukas Jutkiewicz (Middllesbrough) - includes 1 penalty - (9 with Coventry City)
Ricardo Vaz Te (West Ham United) - (10 with Barnsley)
Chris Wood (Bristol City) - (9 with Birmingham City)
9 Keith Andrews (Ipswich Town)
Carlton Cole (West Ham United)
Craig Davies (Barnsley) - includes 1 penalty
Marlon King (Birmingham City) - includes 2 penalties
Robert Koren (Hull City)
Scott McDonald (Middlesbrough)
Kenny Miller (Cardiff City)
Kevin Phillips (Blackpool)
Pete Whittingham (Cardiff City) - includes 3 penalties

 

Hat Tricks
 Date Player & Game
20/08/11 3: Lee Tomlin - PETERBOROUGH UNITED v Ipswich Town
10/09/11 3: Rickie Lambert - SOUTHAMPTON v Nottingham Forest
11/09/11 3: Chris Wood - BIRMINGHAM CITY v Millwall
12/10/11 3: Darius Henderson - Leicester City v MILLWALL
02/11/11 3: Jonjo Shelvey - Leeds United v BLACKPOOL
19/11/11 3: Rickie Lambert - SOUTHAMPTON v Brighton & Hove Albion
26/12/11 3: Matthew Phillips - Barnsley v BLACKPOOL
31/12/11 3: Ricardo Vaz Te - BARNSLEY v Leeds United
21/01/12 3: Darius Henderson - Barnsley v MILLWALL
31/01/12 4: Nikola Zigic - Leeds United v BIRMINGHAM CITY

 

Disciplinary Record (League and Cup)
Club Y R Y R Club Y R Y R
  League   Total   League  Total 
Barnsley 41 1 44 1 Ipswich Town 39 4 40 4
Birmingham City 40 1 44 1 Leeds United 51 5 57 5
Blackpool 39 1 42 2 Leicester City 45 7 53 7
Brighton and Hove Albion 72 6 86 6 Middlesbrough 49 5 52 5
Bristol City 55 4 57 4 Millwall 53 2 60 2
Burnley 47 2 55 2 Nottingham Forest 41 3 46 3
Cardiff City 38 0 52 0 Peterborough United 35 2 38 2
Coventry City 39 2 41 2 Portsmouth 52 4 59 4
Crystal Palace 41 1 45 2 Reading 46 0 49 0
Derby County 43 1 43 1 Southampton 40 4 43 4
Doncaster Rovers 47 2 49 2 Watford 45 2 47 2
Hull City 48 1 52 1 West Ham United 49 5 52 6

 

Highest and Lowest Attendances
Highest Lowest
Att Fixture Att Fixture
34,936 West Ham United v Coventry City (02/01) 6,351 Peterborough United v Cardiff City (18/10)
34,749 West Ham United v Barnsley (17/12) 7,004 Peterborough United v Bristol City (18/02)
33,465 West Ham United v Portsmouth (10/09) 7,555 Peterborough United v Portsmouth (28/01)
33,010 Derby County v Southampton (15/10) 7,650 Doncaster Rovers v Watford (26/11)
33,010 Derby County v Leeds United (26/12) 7,778 Doncaster Rovers v Bristol City (27/08)
32,875 West Ham United v Southampton (14/02) 7,901 Peterborough United v Burnley (17/09)
32,150 Southampton v West Ham United (18/10) 7,928 Peterborough United v Ipswich Town (20/08)
31,812 Southampton v Brighton & Hove Albion (19/11) 8,062 Peterborough United v Coventry City (17/12)
31,718 West Ham United v Nottingham Forest (21/01) 8,319 Doncaster Rovers v Blackpool (14/02)
31,524 Southampton v Crystal Palace (26/12) 8,320 Peterborough United v Barnsley (03/12)

 

The Next Fixtures
Tuesday 21st February
Barnsley v Birmingham City Millwall v Middlesbrough
Blackpool v West Ham United (20:00)  
Wednesday 22nd February
Hull City v Brighton & Hove Albion  
Thursday 23rd February
Derby County v Leicester City  
Saturday 25th February
Birmingham City v Nottingham Forest Doncaster Rovers v Peterborough United
Brighton & Hove Albion v Ipswich Town Middlesbrough v Reading
Bristol City v Blackpool Portsmouth v Leeds United
Burnley v Millwall Watford v Southampton
Coventry City v Barnsley West Ham United v Crystal Palace (12:45)