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In the Championship – Derby go top
Heath made four changes but much of the interest was on the new strikers in the Plymouth squad. Kevin Gallen made an early impact, scoring the first goal of the game. He's moved from QPR where he played previously for Holloway. Their most recent signing, £300,000 capture from Swansea Rory Fallon, was introduced as a late substitute.
The weather helped Derby replace Birmingham at the top. Last week Brum had their home game postponed because the new pitch wasn't ready, this week it was because of falling debris from a nearby hotel at Leicester and the game was called off for safety reasons.
That meant Derby would go top should they not lose at Southend. They once again they won 1-0, a goal from Steve Howard clinching the points just after the half hour. That defeat came close to taking Southend off the bottom, but they remain there on goals scored after fellow relegation battlers Leeds were also beaten by one goal.
Leeds actually went in front against West Brom with a goal from Tore Andre Flo whilst another new signing Alan Thompson scored the last goal of the game with a free kick from outside the box. The only problem for the Yorkshire team was that West Brom scored three times in between these goals, and that included two more from Diomansy Kamara who was to be at the centre of a late incident.
He was substituted and decided to take some time leaving the field which didn't please the obnoxious Leeds boss Dennis Wise. Recently he saw his assistant Gus Poyet ordered to the stands for kicking a spare ball onto the pitch to break up an attack against his side, but Wise decided to push the player as he finally reached the touchline.
Of course he thinks he can take the law into his own hands, he always has done, but this time referee Swarbrick sent him to the stands and the manager will now rightly face an FA charge. Maybe the FA could cut costs and deal with both him and Poyet at the same time.
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Then Wednesday came back with goals from Chris Brunt and Wade Small and they came so, so close to an equaliser as Keane's team faltered. But it wasn't to be and Carlos Edwards scored his first goal for his new club to ensure victory with a couple of minutes to go.
If that was nearly a comeback then there definitely was one at Deepdale. You set yourselves a difficult task when you go behind early at home, you set yourselves a very difficult task when it is 2-0 with only seven minutes gone.
That's how it was for Preston when Stoke scored through Liam Lawrence and Mamady Sidibe and there was no immediate response from North End, in fact the score remained at 2-0 past the hour. Then they got back into their stride, scored twice in nine minutes to draw level and then won it with a last minute goal from the £6 million striker David Nugent.
Wolves went spending yesterday, they've paid up to £850,000 for Scunthorpe's Andy Keogh. He's their sixth signing in this transfer window, although four of them had been with the club on loan. On Saturday they managed to do what no other club has done since Burnley, they lost to Cardiff.
This was the game that was played without away fans in the ground, and those responsible for that decision should be hanging their heads in shame, it really was an appalling decision and one that national supporters' organisations fought to the end.
The Cardiff fans missed their club's first win since mid-November and they also missed Michael Chopra, he who has played for Newcastle, scoring for only the second time since early November. They also missed new signing Jason Byrne from Shelbourne grab the winner with just two minutes to go in his first appearance.
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The surprise for home fans was that the returning Matthew Spring was on the bench, and remained there for the entire game as an early goal from Brian Howard and a late second from Martin Devaney saw the Yorkshire side move within two points of them.
Some things never change, Colchester got a penalty. I think they must take their own referee with them who just stands there and points to the spot. This time it did them no good as Ipswich gained revenge for their defeat at Layer Road in September. Karl Duguid gave them an early lead but by the time Chris Iwelumo put the ball on the spot in stoppage time they were beaten.
That just leaves one game where the Legend of the Palace played host to his former club Hull and as at the KC Stadium earlier in the season it finished all square at 1-1. Again Hull scored an equaliser but not anything like as late as the last minute goal they had got in the previous meeting. The point was enough to take Hull to nineteenth in the table, their highest position all season.
Our re-arranged game against Stoke goes ahead tonight, there is one game being played on Saturday that would otherwise have been a week tonight and the next full round of fixtures is next midweek. They are all shown below:
The Weekend Results | |
Saturday 20th January | |
Burnley v Norwich - Postponed | Preston 3 Stoke 2 |
Crystal Palace 1 Hull 1 | QPR 0 Southampton 2 |
Ipswich 3 Colchester 2 | Sheffield Wed 2 RK Sunderland 4 |
Leeds 2 West Brom 3 | Southend 0 Derby 1 |
Leicester v Birmingham - Postponed | Wolves 1 Cardiff 2 |
Luton 0 Barnsley 2 | . |
Monday 22nd January | |
Plymouth 3 Coventry 2 | . |
The Weekend Stats | |
Biggest win | RK Sunderland 4-2 v Sheffield Wed (away) |
Total goals scored | 36 |
Player scoring most goals | 2 - Diomansy Kamara (West Brom) |
Highest Attendance | 29,103 - Sheffield Wed v RK Sunderland |
Lowest Attendance | 7,441 - Luton v Barnsley |
Total Yellow Cards | 29 |
Total Red Cards | 1 |
Most cards in a game | Plymouth v Coventry (7Y) |
The leading scorers (league only) | |
17 | Robert Earnshaw (Norwich) Grzegorz Rasiak (Southampton) |
15 | Chris Iwelumo (Colchester) |
14 | Diomansy Kamara (West Brom) |
13 | Michael Chopra (Cardiff) Jamie Cureton (Colchester) Gary McSheffrey (Birmingham) |
12 | Rowan Vine (Birmingham) - all 12 goals with Luton |
11 | Steve Howard (Derby) Alan Lee (Ipswich) |
10 | Andy Gray (Burnley) Barry Hayles (Plymouth) David Nugent (Preston) Kevin Phillips (West Brom) |
9 | Chris Brunt (Sheffield Wed) |
8 | Nicklas Bendtner (Birmingham) Iain Hume (Leicester) |
7 | Dexter Blackstock (QPR) David Connolly (RK Sunderland) Carlos Edwards (RK Sunderland) - 6 with Luton Freddy Eastwood (Southend) David Healy (Leeds) Brian Howard (Derby) Kenwyne Jones (Southampton) Jason Koumas (West Brom) Marcus Tudgay (Sheffield Wed) |
Hat Tricks (league only) | |
26th Aug | 3 - Jamie Cureton - COLCHESTER v Derby |
12th Sep | 3 - Gifton Noel-Williams - BURNLEY v Barnsley |
14th Oct | 3 - Kevin Phillips - Ipswich v WEST BROM |
29th Oct | 3 - Alan Lee - IPSWICH v Luton |
28th Nov | 4 - Chris Iwelumo - COLCHESTER v Hull |
9th Dec | 3 - Gary McSheffrey - BIRMINGHAM v Preston |
Disciplinary Record (all games) | |||||
| Club | Y | R | Club | Y | R |
| Barnsley | 48 | 4 | Luton | 40 | 4 |
| Birmingham | 54 | 5 | Norwich | 48 | 3 |
| Burnley | 48 | 6 | Plymouth | 61 | 3 |
| Cardiff | 42 | 5 | Preston | 47 | 3 |
| Colchester | 31 | 1 | QPR | 53 | 1 |
| Coventry | 59 | 1 | Sheffield Wed | 56 | 4 |
| Crystal Palace | 35 | 0 | Southampton | 39 | 1 |
| Derby | 63 | 2 | Southend | 45 | 3 |
| Hull | 59 | 3 | Stoke | 49 | 2 |
| Ipswich | 77 | 4 | RK Sunderland | 43 | 4 |
| Leeds | 64 | 3 | West Brom | 73 | 3 |
| Leicester | 55 | 3 | Wolves | 43 | 2 |
The Week's Fixtures | |
Tuesday 23rd January | |
Burnley v Stoke | . |
Saturday 27th January | |
Cardiff v Leicester | . |
Tuesday 30th January | |
Barnsley v QPR | Hull v Leeds |
Birmingham v Southend | Norwich v Wolves |
Colchester v Preston | Stoke v Ipswich |
Coventry v Luton | RK Sunderland v Crystal Palace |
Derby v Burnley | West Brom v Plymouth |
Wednesday 31st January | |
Southampton v Sheffield Wed | . |