The Bs are the form teams

Last updated : 16 February 2012 By Tony Scholes

All three are doing well and have shot up the table in recent weeks. The first two are now very much in the play off positions whilst Brighton are pushing ever closer towards them.

Birmingham could only draw 0-0 with Hull on Tuesday but that was probably no surprise for two of the league's meanest defences alongside Reading, and it was Reading who benefited with their win taking them into the top six in Hull's place.

The top three haven't changed. Third place Cardiff easily beat Peterborough and the top two, West Ham and Southampton, fought out a draw at the Boleyn Ground despite West Ham being forced to play with ten men for all but the first 18 minutes after Matty Taylor was sent off.

Taylor was one of three Championship players sent off on Tuesday and to add to that there were a staggering 47 yellow cards. It's always going to be a high number when Darren Deadman is involved in the Championship but even he was overshadowed this week.

Deadman collected an almost standard six cards in the game between Portsmouth and Ipswich but he was well and truly outdone by Lee Collins. The Bristol City v Crystal Palace game was his first ever at this level and he produced a grand total of nine yellow cards including seven for the home side.

Bristol City are still fourth from bottom but that might change before they kick off again. It's all dependent on whether Portsmouth, currently 18th, go into administration and earn themselves a ten point penalty. if they do they'll be 21st and out of the drop zone on goal difference only.

Otherwise that drop zone won't be changing soon. Coventry beat Leeds (and that was an enjoyable result) but Nottingham Forest and Doncaster both lost. Well done though to Forest. Despite losing they did score a goal.

That means they've scored in successive games, and it's the first time they've done that since October.

Scoring goals hasn't proved to be a massive problem for us. We've scored in all but three of our last nineteen league games. We've currently got 47 points from 31 games too, and that's exactly the same as last season and indeed the promotion season of 2008/09. A 2009 finish rather than a 2011 finish and who know?

The midweek results and stats are below along with the leading goalscorers, each club's disciplinary record, the highest and lowest attendances and the next fixtures.

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

 

The Week's Stats
Biggest Win Blackpool 3-1 v Doncaster Rovers (away)
Burnley 2-0 v Barnsley (home)
Cardiff City 3-1 v Peterborough United (home)
Total Goals Scored 33 (18 home - `5 away)

Player Scoring Most Goals

2

Gary McSheffrey (Coventry City>
David Nugent (Leicester City)
Brett Pitman (Bristol City)
Gary Taylor-Fletcher (Blackpool)
Highest Attendance 32,875 - West Ham United v Southampton
Lowest Attendance 8,319 - Doncaster Rovers v Blackpool
Total Yellow Cards 47
Total Red Cards 3
Most Cards in a Game Bristol City v Crystal Palace (9Y) Ref: Lee Collins

 

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

Michael Chopra (Ipswich Town)
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 40 1 43 1 Ipswich Town 37 4 38 4
Birmingham City 40 1 43 1 Leeds United 49 5 55 5
Blackpool 39 1 41 2 Leicester City 45 7 52 7
Brighton and Hove Albion 72 6 85 6 Middlesbrough 49 5 52 5
Bristol City 52 4 54 4 Millwall 53 2 58 2
Burnley 42 2 50 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 49 3 56 3
Crystal Palace 41 1 45 2 Reading 43 0 46 0
Derby County 42 1 42 1 Southampton 39 4 42 4
Doncaster Rovers 43 2 45 2 Watford 43 2 45 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) 7,550 Peterborough United v Portsmouth (28/01)
33,465 West Ham United v Portsmouth (10/09) 7,650 Doncaster Rovers v Watford (26/11)
33,010 Derby County v Southampton (15/10) 7,778 Doncaster Rovers v Bristol City (27/08)
33,010 Derby County v Leeds United (26/12) 7,901 Peterborough United v Burnley (17/09)
32,875 West Ham United v Southampton (14/02) 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) 8,319 Doncaster Rovers v Blackpool (14/02)
31,718 West Ham United v Nottingham Forest (21/01) 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)

 

The Next Fixtures
Friday 17th February
Reading v Burnley (20:00)  
Saturday 18th February
Barnsley v Portsmouth Nottingham Forest v Coventry City
Crystal Palace v Watford Peterborough United v Bristol City
Ipswich Town v Cardiff City Southampton v Derby County
Leeds United v Doncaster Rovers