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It really was a surprise result. Watford are not expected to do well but they've moved into the top six with this win and remain unbeaten away from home which is a real contrast to their form at Vicarage Road where they are still to win.
They'd six different goalscorers and, in contrast to the midweek games, only one player in the league scored more than one goal, QPR's Jamie Mackie. It's four this week for him and takes him three goals clear of Chris Iwelumo at the top of the goalscorers chart.
The best goals of the day were scored at Ipswich and Middlesbrough. At Ipswich it was the home team's opener against Cardiff. From a ball played in by Carlos Edwards, Cardiff defender Adam Matthews, under no pressure at all, rose unchallenged to head into his own goal.
The best 'intentional' goal was probably Jimmy Kebe's for Reading at Middlesbrough. Other than that, it wasn't the best of days for the Berkshire side. Boro scored their quickest ever goal, Barry Robson after 24 seconds, and their second was an incredible effort from former Reading forward Leroy Lita.
Amazingly Lita had two clear opportunities to go down but for some strange reason opted to stay on his feet and score, something he certainly wasn't interested in doing four days earlier. The game had the only red card of the day with Brian Howard dismissed by referee Graham Salisbury who had a nightmare when we played Morecambe recently.
The most unexpected goals of the day both came in South Yorkshire. Dean Leacock scored Derby's goal at Barnsley, and for the 26-year-old defender it was a first ever goal in professional football. Over at Bramall Lane, Ched Evans scored the only goal against Portsmouth. When you sign a £3 million striker at Championship level you expect him to score goals yet this was Evans' first goal at Bramall Lane since August - August 2009 that is.
Sheffield United had been the better side when they lost 4-0 against Scunthorpe on Tuesday yet here they were second best against bottom club Portsmouth but won 1-0.
Portsmouth remain one point behind Preston who lost in front of a big £5 crowd at home to Norwich. Seats were at a premium but Darren Ferguson managed to find a new one with his usual place out of bounds for the next three games. 'We had no energy, no tempo and we had too many players below par," he said from his new view.
It's going well then at Preston.
It's Carling Cup week this week; I think we've got a game. The next league fixtures are next weekend and they are shown below along with this weekend's stats, the league's leading goalscorers and each club's disciplinary record.
The Weekend Results | |
Friday 17th September | |
Doncaster 0 Leeds 0 | . |
Saturday 18th September | |
Barnsley 1 Derby 1 | Middlesbrough 3 Reading 1 |
Bristol City 1 Coventry 2 | Millwall 1 Watford 6 |
Crystal Palace 0 Burnley 0 | Preston 0 Norwich 1 |
Hull 0 Nottingham Forest 0 | Sheffield United 1 Portsmouth 0 |
Ipswich 2 Cardiff 0 | Swansea 2 Scunthorpe 0 |
Leicester 0 QPR 2 | . |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | Watford 6-1 v Millwall (away) |
Total goals scored | 24 (11 home - 13 away) |
Player scoring most goals | 2 - Jamie Mackie (QPR) |
Highest Attendance | 22,968 - Leicester v QPR |
Lowest Attendance | 12,089 - Barnsley v Derby |
Total Yellow Cards | 38 |
Total Red Cards | 1 |
Most cards in a game | Crystal Palace v Burnley (7Y) - James Linington |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
8 | Jamie Mackie (QPR) |
5 | Chris Iwelumo (Burnley) |
4 | Jay Bothroyd (Cardiff) James Coppinger (Doncaster) Danny Graham (Watford) Adam Hammill (Barnsley) Heidar Helguson (QPR) - includes 3 penalties Andy King (Leicester) Steve Morison (Millwall) - includes 1 penalty Marvin Sordell (Watford) |
3 | Dexter Blackstock (Nottingham Forest) - includes 1 penalty Stephen Dobbie (Swansea) John Eustace (Watford) Jimmy Kebe (Reading) Scott Sinclair (Swansea) Davide Somma (Leeds) Ben Turner (Coventry) Liam Trotter (Millwall) James Vaughan (Crystal Palace) |
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 |
Disciplinary Record (all domestic games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Barnsley | 12 | 0 | Middlesbrough | 13 | 0 |
| Bristol City | 10 | 1 | Millwall | 11 | 1 |
| Burnley | 19 | 2 | Norwich | 7 | 0 |
| Cardiff | 4 | 0 | Nottingham Forest | 10 | 0 |
| Coventry | 15 | 1 | Portsmouth | 9 | 0 |
| Crystal Palace | 16 | 2 | Preston | 19 | 1 |
| Derby | 13 | 0 | QPR | 10 | 0 |
| Doncaster | 8 | 1 | Reading | 11 | 1 |
| Hull | 12 | 0 | Scunthorpe | 9 | 1 |
| Ipswich | 13 | 1 | Sheffield United | 11 | 1 |
| Leeds | 14 | 0 | Swansea | 15 | 1 |
| Leicester | 8 | 0 | Watford | 10 | 0 |
The Next Fixtures | |
Friday 24th September | |
Portsmouth v Leicester | . |
Saturday 25th September | |
Burnley v Bristol City | Nottingham Forest v Swansea |
Cardiff v Millwall (12:00) | QPR v Doncaster |
Coventry v Preston | Reading v Barnsley |
Derby v Crystal Palace | Scunthorpe v Ipswich |
Leeds v Sheffield United | Watford v Middlesbrough |
Norwich v Hull | . |