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| The tax man's after them again |
The weekend started with Southampton ahead of West Ham on goal difference but the Hammers knew they would go top on Saturday night provided they avoided defeat in their home game against struggling Nottingham Forest with Southampton sat waiting until Monday night to play their fixture at home to Leicester.
It didn't look too difficult a game for West Ham against a Forest side that had been wiped away by Leicester in the FA Cup days earlier amidst reported problems in the dressing room at half time when their players didn't take too kindly to criticism from Steve Cotterill.
They are not quite the league's crisis club just now but they are running Portsmouth, of whom there will be more shortly, a close second.
The game went as expected but it took two penalties from Mark Noble to win the points for West Ham and the three point lead it gave them is still intact as Leicester, who are seemingly all set to buy up another set of players, went to St. Mary's and won 2-0.
It leaves Southampton only one point ahead of Carling Cup finalists Cardiff. They beat the crisis club Pompey 3-2 on Saturday. League table wise, Portsmouth are reasonably comfortable. They are in 17th place but a safe seven points clear of the relegation positions.
However, the latest owner, and they change owners more often than most other clubs play games, has scarpered, Andrew Andronikou the administrator is back and they've just been served with the latest winding up order by HMRC.
This saga seems to have been running longer than Eastenders and just when they thought it couldn't get any worse, former chairman and manager Milan Mandaric and Harry Redknapp turn up at court on tax evasion charges.
Meanwhile, the more honest clubs in the league continue to battle it out for points. Birmingham, the only team unbeaten at home, moved into the bottom six along with Cardiff, Middlesbrough (who have now lost their last three games) and Hull.
Down at the bottom it is still, working up from the bottom, Coventry, Doncaster and Nottingham Forest.
And we're down to 12th again which is incredible given we've just picked up four points from our last two games. I'd have thought that would have brought about a climb in the table not a two place drop.
Still, we're now 16 points from the bottom three and only two points from the play offs. We've also got 40 points which is only 10 short of the point where Stan Ternent said it was time to crack on and see where it took us.
The results from the weekend are below along with the stats, the leading goalscorers, each club's disciplinary record, the highest and lowest attendances and the next fixtures.
| The Week's Results | |
| Saturday 21st January | |
| Barnsley 1 Millwall 3 | Coventry City 3 Middlesbrough 1 |
| Birmingham City 3 Watford 0 | Leeds United 3 Ipswich Town 1 |
| Blackpool 2 Crystal Palace 1 | Peterborough United 1 Brighton & HA 2 |
| Bristol City 2 Doncaster Rovers 1 | Reading 0 Hull City 1 |
| Burnley 0 Derby County 0 | West Ham United 2 Nottingham Forest 1 |
| Cardiff City 3 Portsmouth 2 | |
| Monday 23rd January | |
| Southampton 0 Leicester City 2 | |
| The Week's Stats | |
| Biggest Win | Birmingham City 3-0 v Watford (home) |
| Total Goals Scored | 35 (20 home - 15 away) |
|
Player Scoring Most Goals |
3 - Darius Henderson (Millwall) |
| Highest Attendance | 31,718 - West Ham United v Nottingham Forest |
| Lowest Attendance | 9,185 - Barnsley v Millwall |
| Total Yellow Cards | 30 |
| Total Red Cards | 4 |
| Most Cards in a Game | Coventry City v Middlesbrough (5Y 2R) Ref: Gary Sutton |
| Leading Goalscorers (League Only) | |
| 15 | Rickie Lambert (Southampton) - includes 5 penalties |
| 12 | Darius Henderson (Millwall) - includes 2 penalties Ross McCormack (Leeds United) |
| 10 | Guly Do Prado (Southampton) Billy Sharp (Doncaster Rovers) - includes 1 penalty Robert Snodgrass (Leeds Uniited) Ricardo Vaz Te (Barnsley) Chris Wood (Bristol City) - (9 with Birmingham City) |
| 9 | Keith Andrews (Ipswich Town) Charlie Austin (Burnley) Craig Davies (Barnsley) - includes 1 penalty Matty Fryatt (Hull City) - includes 1 penalty Lukas Jutkiewicz (Middlesbrough) - includes 1 penalty - (9 with Coventry City) Marlon King (Birmingham City) - includes 2 penalties Kenny Miller (Cardiff City) |
| 8 | Carlton Cole (West Ham United) Robert Koren (Hull City) Nicky Maynard (Bristol City) Grant McCann (Peterborough United) - includes 2 penalties Scott McDonald (Middlesbrough) 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 |
| 21/01/12 | 3: Darius Henderson - Barnsley v MILLWALL |
| Disciplinary Record (League and Cup) | |||||||||
| Club | Y | R | Y | R | Club | Y | R | Y | R |
| League | Total | League | Total | ||||||
| Barnsley | 36 | 1 | 39 | 1 | Ipswich Town | 33 | 4 | 34 | 4 |
| Birmingham City | 35 | 1 | 37 | 1 | Leeds United | 40 | 5 | 46 | 5 |
| Blackpool | 35 | 1 | 36 | 2 | Leicester City | 39 | 5 | 45 | 5 |
| Brighton and Hove Albion | 62 | 5 | 74 | 5 | Middlesbrough | 46 | 4 | 47 | 4 |
| Bristol City | 41 | 1 | 43 | 1 | Millwall | 43 | 2 | 48 | 2 |
| Burnley | 40 | 2 | 48 | 2 | Nottingham Forest | 37 | 3 | 42 | 3 |
| Cardiff City | 34 | 0 | 48 | 0 | Peterborough United | 34 | 2 | 37 | 2 |
| Coventry City | 31 | 2 | 33 | 2 | Portsmouth | 45 | 3 | 52 | 3 |
| Crystal Palace | 36 | 1 | 40 | 2 | Reading | 39 | 0 | 42 | 0 |
| Derby County | 37 | 1 | 37 | 1 | Southampton | 33 | 3 | 34 | 3 |
| Doncaster Rovers | 43 | 2 | 45 | 2 | Watford | 35 | 1 | 36 | 1 |
| Hull City | 46 | 1 | 47 | 1 | West Ham United | 43 | 3 | 46 | 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) |
| 31,718 | West Ham United v Nottingham Forest (21/01) | 8,426 | Doncaster Rovers v Coventry City (29/10) |
| 31,524 | Southampton v Crystal Palace (26/12) | 8,500 | Peterborough Utd v Doncaster Rovers (01/10) |
| 31,448 | West Ham United v Blackpool (15/10) | 8,685 | Peterborough United v Hull City (10/09) |
| The Next Fixtures | |
| Saturday 28th January | |
| Peterborough United v Portsmouth | Reading v Bristol City |
| Tuesday 31st January | |
| Barnsley v Derby County | Leeds United v Birmingham City |
| Blackpool v Coventry City | Millwall v Watford |
| Crystal Palace v Brighton & Hove Albion | Nottingham Forest v Burnley |
| Hull City v Doncaster Rovers | Southampton v Cardiff City |
| Ipswich Town v West Ham United | |
| Wednesday 1st February | |
| Leicester City v Middlesbrough | |