Chris Iwelumo - two goals for Watford at Leeds |
Reading's run since the last Saturday in January has been brilliant, so much so that it still makes it difficult to believe they recently went to Peterborough and lost 3-1. They took their current form to West Ham on Saturday knowing that defeat would see their hosts replace them in the top two.
Apparently they should have lost too. West Ham were better than them, much better according to that fine judge Sam Allardyce, but having gone behind they stormed back and went on to win the game 4-2.
It's taken them four points clear of West Ham and there was further good news for Brian McDermott's team a couple of hours later when Southampton took a hammering at Blackpool. It leaves the Royals only two points away from top place and who would argue against them in their current form?
The top three are sorted and nothing is going to change that. It's just a matter of which one will have to go through the play offs to try and win promotion. Currently the other three teams in there with West Ham are Birmingham, Blackpool and Brighton with Middlesbrough outside on goal difference.
Add Cardiff to the mix and I suspect that might be it now with Hull dropping further behind after a shock home defeat to Coventry City who are outside the bottom three since the first Saturday in November.
They lost at Leicester at the beginning of March but since they've drawn four and then followed that up with two 2-0 wins against Portsmouth and now Hull.
Doncaster and Portsmouth are beginning to look doomed and Bristol City, a team that would be sunk by now but for their honeymoon period when Derek McInnes returned, are the other occupants of the bottom three.
They still have a chance of getting out with Coventry and perhaps Millwall now the only candidates to replace them. Nottingham Forest, who have 18 points from their last 10 games, look to have more than enough to get out of it now and are six points clear.
Finally, this week a word of congratulations to former Claret Chris Iwelumo. After a prolific goalscoring start for us he's found goals difficult to come by since the beginning of 2011. He scored for us on New Year's Day and before Saturday had scored just twice since, for Burnley at Watford and for Watford at Hull.
Well done to him for scoring twice on Saturday at Leeds. I couldn't think of a better place for him to have returned to goalscoring form.
The results and stats are below along with the league's leading goalscorers, each clubs red and yellow card count, the highest and lowest attendances and the next fixtures.
The Week's Results | |
Friday 30th March | |
Doncaster Rovers 1 Birmingham City 3 | |
Saturday 31st March | |
Blackpool 3 Southampton 0 | Ipswich Town 1 Barnsley 0 |
Brighton & Hove Albion 1 Middlesbrough 1 | Leeds United 0 Watford 2 |
Bristol City 1 Derby County 1 | Peterborough United 1 Leicester City 0 |
Cardiff City 0 Millwall 0 | Portsmouth 1 Burnley 5 |
Crystal Palace 0 Nottingham Forest 3 | West Ham United 2 Reading 4 |
Hull City 0 Coventry City 2 |
The Week's Stats | |
Biggest Win | Burnley 5-1 v Portsmouth (away) |
Total Goals Scored | 32 (11 home - 21 away) |
Player Scoring Most Goals 3 |
Charlie Austin (Burnley) Radi Majewski (Nottingham Forest) |
Highest Attendance | 33,350 - West Ham United v Reading |
Lowest Attendance | 8,656 - Doncaster Rovers v Birmingham City |
Total Yellow Cards | 40 |
Total Red Cards | 1 |
Most Cards in a Game | Brighton & Hove Albion v Middlesbrough (6Y) Ref: Darren Deadman Portsmouth v Burnley (6Y) Ref: Stuart Attwell |
Leading Goalscorers (League Only) | |
24 | Rickie Lambert (Southampton) - includes 9 penalties |
16 | Ross McCormack (Leeds United) |
15 | Darius Henderson (Millwall) - includes 2 penalties Kevin Phillips (Blackpool) Jay Rodriguez (Burnley) - includes 3 penalties |
14 |
Michael Chopra (Ipswich Town) |
13 |
Charlie Austin (Burnley) |
12 |
Marvin Emnes (Middlesbrough) |
11 |
Craig Davies (Barnsley) - includes 1 penalty |
10 | Ashley Barnes (Brighton & Hove Albion) - includes 3 penalties Luciano Becchio (Leeds United) Carlton Cole (West Ham United) Guly Do Prado (Southampton) Robert Koren (Hull City) Adam Lallana (Southampton) Kevin Nolan (West Ham United) Chris Wood (Bristol City) - (9 with Birmingham City) Nikola Zigic (Birmingham City) |
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 |
26/02/12 | 3: Rickie Lambert - Watford v SOUTHAMPTON |
17/03/12 | 3: Rickie Lambert - Millwall v SOUTHAMPTON |
20/03/12 | 4: Garath McCleary - Leeds United v NOTTINGHAM FOREST |
31/03/12 | 3: Radi Majewski - Crystal Palace v NOTTINGHAM FOREST |
31/03/12 | 3: Charlie Austin - Portsmouth v BURNLEY |
Disciplinary Record (League and Cup) | |||||||||
Club | Y | R | Y | R | Club | Y | R | Y | R |
League | Total | League | Total | ||||||
Barnsley | 53 | 2 | 56 | 2 | Ipswich Town | 52 | 5 | 53 | 5 |
Birmingham City | 51 | 3 | 56 | 3 | Leeds United | 64 | 6 | 70 | 6 |
Blackpool | 50 | 1 | 53 | 2 | Leicester City | 57 | 9 | 65 | 9 |
Brighton and Hove Albion | 83 | 8 | 97 | 8 | Middlesbrough | 70 | 7 | 73 | 7 |
Bristol City | 73 | 6 | 75 | 6 | Millwall | 69 | 2 | 76 | 2 |
Burnley | 57 | 2 | 65 | 2 | Nottingham Forest | 55 | 4 | 60 | 4 |
Cardiff City | 47 | 0 | 63 | 0 | Peterborough United | 48 | 2 | 51 | 2 |
Coventry City | 50 | 2 | 52 | 2 | Portsmouth | 66 | 4 | 73 | 4 |
Crystal Palace | 50 | 2 | 54 | 3 | Reading | 53 | 0 | 56 | 0 |
Derby County | 53 | 1 | 53 | 1 | Southampton | 47 | 4 | 50 | 4 |
Doncaster Rovers | 67 | 2 | 69 | 2 | Watford | 55 | 2 | 57 | 2 |
Hull City | 61 | 1 | 66 | 1 | West Ham United | 59 | 6 | 61 | 7 |
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) |
34,900 | West Ham United v Crystal Palace (25/02) | 6,392 | Peterborough United v Millwall (06/03) |
34,749 | West Ham United v Barnsley (17/12) | 6,717 | Peterborough United v Reading (20/03) |
34,650 | West Ham United v Doncaster Rovers (10/03) | 7,004 | Peterborough United v Bristol City (18/02) |
33,465 | West Ham United v Portsmouth (10/09) | 7,540 | Peterborough United v Blackpool (10/03) |
33,366 | Leeds United v West Ham United (17/03) | 7,555 | Peterborough United v Portsmouth (28/01) |
33,350 | West Ham United v Reading (31/03) | 7,572 | Doncaster Rovers v Millwall (20/03) |
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) |
33,010 | Derby County v Nottingham Forest (17/03) | 7,901 | Peterborough United v Burnley (17/09) |
The Next Fixtures | |
Tuesday 3rd April | |
Burnley v Birmingham City | |
Friday 6th April | |
Barnsley v West Ham United (17:20) | Reading v Leeds United (14:00) |
Burnley v Brighton & Hove Albion | Watford v Blackpool |
Saturday 7th April | |
Birmingham City v Crystal Palace | Middlesbrough v Cardiff City |
Coventry City v Peterborough United | Millwall v Hull City |
Derby County v Ipswich Town | Nottingham Forest v Bristol City (17:20) |
Leicester City v Doncaster Rovers | Southampton v Portsmouth (13:00) |