No changes - top or bottom

Last updated : 16 January 2012 By Tony Scholes

Four of that top six won; Cardiff and Middlesbrough were the two that didn't. Cardiff picked up a point at Doncaster, the only team in the bottom three to win a point, whilst we took all three points from the Riverside.

The game of the day was probably at Millwall where the home side suffered a 6-0 against Birmingham City. The result doesn't quite tell the story with Millwall having been reduced to nine men after referee Jon Moss sent off both Shane Lowry and Alan Dunne.

By the time of the second red card they were already 1-0 down and then the floodgates opened with three of the goals coming in the last nine minutes.  It all ended with further problems as one of the assistant referees was pelted, according to reports, with plastic bottles.

Needless to say I'd referred to Moss as the biggest homer only this weekend and then he sends off two home players. They were two of five players sent off in the Championship this week and all five were playing for home teams.

So Moss is a homer and I predicted recently that Middlesbrough and Leicester might be the promotion threats for promotion alongside West Ham with Southampton fading. That looks good now. Southampton won 3-0 at Forest with both Middlesbrough and Leicester losing at home.

There will be big changes at Leicester. They'll throw more money at it to get out the current run which has seen them win just once in the last seven league games. They were in the top six at the end of November but now sit in 15th place and are now seven points behind those play offs.

These gaps can be quickly closed. It doesn't seem long since I reported that we were the same number of points from the play off positions as we were from the relegation places. That's certainly not the case now. We are 15 points clear of the drop zone and only three points from that top six.

If we can continue the way we did against Middlesbrough then the only gap that will be closing for us is the one with that top six. A play off position was a wild dream just a few weeks ago, but 21 points from 9 games helps and no team in the league can better that current form.

The results and stats from the weekend are below along with the leading goalscorers, high and low attendances, each club's disciplinary record and next week's fixtures.

The Week's Results
Wednesday 11th January
Birmingham City 2 Ipswich Town 1  
Saturday 14th January
Brighton & Hove Albion 2 Bristol City 0 Leicester City 1 Barnsley 2
Crystal Palace 1 Leeds United 1 Middlesbrough 0 Burnley 2
Derby County 1 Coventry City 0 Millwall 0 Birmingham City 6
Doncaster Rovers 0 Cardiff City 0 Nottingham Forest 0 Southampton 3
Hull City 1 Peterborough United 0 Portsmouth 0 West Ham United 1
Ipswich Town 2 Blackpool 2 Watford 1 Reading 2

 

The Week's Stats
Biggest Win Birmingham City 6-0 v Millwall (away)
Total Goals Scored 31 (11 home - 20 away)

Player Scoring Most Goals

2 - Andy Gray (Barnsley)
Highest Attendance 24,126 - Derby County v Coventry City
Lowest Attendance 8,834 - Doncaster Rovers v Cardiff City
Total Yellow Cards 38
Total Red Cards 5
Most Cards in a Game Millwall v Birmingham City (5Y 2R) Ref: Jon Moss

 

Leading Goalscorers (League Only)
15 Rickie Lambert (Southampton) - includes 5 penalties
11 Ross McCormack (Leeds United)
10 Guly Do Prado (Southampton)
Billy Sharp (Doncaster Rovers) - includes 1 penalty
Ricardo Vaz Te (Barnsley)
9 Keith Andrews (Ipswich Town)
Charlie Austin (Burnley)
Craig Davies (Barnsley) - includes 1 penalty
Matty Fryatt (Hull City) - includes 1 penalty
Darius Henderson (Millwall) - includes 1 penalty
Lukas Jutkiewicz (Middlesbroughy) - includes 1 penalty - (9 with Coventry City)
Marlon King (Birmingham City) - includes 2 penalties
Robert Snodgrass (Leeds United)
Chris Wood (Bristol City) - (9 with Birmingham City)
8 Carlton Cole (West Ham United)
Robert Koren (Hull City)
Nicky Maynard (Bristol City)
Grant McCann (Peterborough United) - includes 2 penalties
Kenny Miller (Cardiff City)
David Nugent (Leicester City)
Jay Rodriguez (Burnley) - includes 1 penalty
Marvin Sordell (Watford) - includes 2 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

 

Disciplinary Record (League and Cup)
Club Y R Y R Club Y R Y R
  League   Total   League  Total 
Barnsley 34 1 37 1 Ipswich Town 32 3 33 3
Birmingham City 34 1 36 1 Leeds United 39 5 45 5
Blackpool 35 1 36 2 Leicester City 37 5 43 5
Brighton and Hove Albion 60 5 69 5 Middlesbrough 43 2 44 2
Bristol City 41 1 43 1 Millwall 42 2 45 2
Burnley 38 2 46 2 Nottingham Forest 36 3 39 3
Cardiff City 32 0 44 0 Peterborough United 31 2 34 2
Coventry City 31 2 33 2 Portsmouth 44 3 51 3
Crystal Palace 35 1 37 1 Reading 38 0 41 0
Derby County 35 1 35 1 Southampton 33 3 34 3
Doncaster Rovers 42 1 44 1 Watford 34 1 35 1
Hull City 45 1 46 1 West Ham United 42 3 45 4

 

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) 7,650 Doncaster Rovers v Watford (26/11)
33,465 West Ham United v Portsmouth (10/09) 7,778 Doncaster Rovers v Bristol City (27/08)
33,010 Derby County v Southampton (15/10) 7,901 Peterborough United v Burnley (17/09)
33,010 Derby County v Leeds United (26/12) 7,928 Peterborough United v Ipswich Town (20/08)
32,150 Southampton v West Ham United (18/10) 8,062 Peterborough United v Coventry City (17/12)
31,812 Southampton v Brighton & Hove Albion (19/11) 8,320 Peterborough United v Barnsley (03/12)
31,524 Southampton v Crystal Palace (26/12) 8,426 Doncaster Rovers v Coventry City (29/10)
31,448 West Ham United v Blackpool (15/10) 8,500 Peterborough Utd v Doncaster Rovers (01/10)
30,410 West Ham United v Leicester City (29/10) 8,685 Peterborough United v Hull City (10/09)

 

The Next Fixtures
Saturday 21st January
Barnsley v Millwall Coventry City v Middlesbrough
Birmingham City v Watford Leeds United v Ipswich Town
Blackpool v Crystal Palace Peterborough United v Brighton & Hove Albion
Bristol City v Doncaster Rovers Reading v Hull City
Burnley v Derby County West Ham United v Nottingham Forest
Cardiff City v Portsmouth  
Monday 23rd January
Southampton v Leicester City