It’s a fact. Nobody wants to go up. Stoke are failing to seriously threaten teams who are reduced to ten men, Bristol City are losing at home, Watford are missing penalties for fun and West Brom are losing 4-1 at home to a relegation threatened team. Just what is going on!
Let’s look at what happened over the weekend:
RESULTS
(Graham’s predictions)
Blackpool 0 v 0 Preston (1-1)
Preston keeper Andy Lonergan secured another valuable point for Preston with a string of fine saves. Both of these sides should be safe but neither can totally relax just yet.
Bristol City 1 v 2 Plymouth (1-1)
Two goals from Rory Fallon gave Plymouth a great win in Bristol. Lee Trundle replied with a penalty for City but it wasn’t enough to prevent them dropping another three points.
Plymouth come back into a play-off place and City just hang on to the second of the automatic promotion slots.
Burnley 1 v 3 Wolves (2-1)
Wolves rekindled their dwindling play-off hopes and put a large dent in Burnley’s with this excellent victory. Wolves scored through Olofinjana, Gray and Ebanks-Blake and Burnley pulled one back through Akinbiyi.
Colchester 1 v 1 Cardiff (0-1)
Paul Parry gave Cardiff the lead with a fine strike but following the sending off of Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, Johnny Jackson fired home the equaliser for the bottom club.
Cardiff are to appeal against Hasselbaink’s sending off. I’ve seen it. Don’t waste your time. Hasselbaink didn’t mean to hurt the keeper but he managed to kick him in the head whilst the keeper was jumping in the air! That’s dangerous play in anyone’s book.
Coventry 0 v 0 Sheffield Wednesday (0-1)
Both keepers made good saves to prevent their sides suffering a damaging defeat. Wednesday fall in to the drop zone with Coventry just one point and one place above. Wednesday will be the happier side after this one.
Crystal Palace 2 v 0 Barnsley (2-0)
Tom Soares and James Scowcroft scored the goals which took Palace to seventh place just one point off the play-offs.
Barnsley will be looking over their shoulder as the drop zone sits just three points below them.
Hull 5 v 0 Southampton (2-1)
Hull remain on course for the play-offs and Southampton slipped deeper into trouble after this horror show by the Saints at Hull. Goals from Campbell, Pedersen, Turner, Marney and Hughes, left Saints manager Nigel Pearson saying, “I thought we were awful all the way through and we never got to grips with the game. We showed no real spark and they took full advantage. I don’t think we worked hard enough to get things going. I take full responsibility as I pick the team, but unfortunately we couldn’t cope with them.”
Ipswich 2 v 0 Charlton (0-0)
Ipswich went above Charlton with this win. Both teams remain outside the play-off positions and it will be hard for either to get back in. Garvan scored the first with a cross that deceived Nicky Weaver in the Charlton goal and Haynes volleyed home the second.
QPR 3 v 1 Scunthorpe (3-1)
A simple enough win for QPR (What a prediction by the way!) against the second from bottom club. This defeat may just have condemned Scunny to relegation. A Rowlands penalty, Agyemang and Vine scored for Rangers after McCann had given Scunny the lead.
Sheffield United 2 v 0 Norwich (2-1)
Goals from Sharp and Kilgallon were enough to see Sheffield United to almost certain safety. Norwich however are now only three points from the drop zone and are in an alarming spell of form. They might just be in a bit of trouble.
Watford 0 v 0 Stoke (3-0)
Big Darius Henderson has had a fine season for Watford but he is pushing the fans’ love for him to the bloody limit! His second penalty miss in five days cost us another two points.
Watford had former Stoke player John Eustace sent off in the 23rd minute but continued to dominate most of the game with ten men.
West Brom 1 v 4 Leicester (2-0)
I don’t think anyone could have predicted this one. All was going according to plan when Koren gave West Brom a first half lead but things went wrong for the home side when Luke Moore was sent off after 35 minutes. McAuley equalised before half time and a second half hat-trick from Steve Howard saw Leicester to an unlikely win and escape from the drop zone.
Five correct results with two of them being absolutely right. I’m getting better at this!
LEAGUE TABLE
1 Stoke 39 67
2 Bristol City 39 67
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3 Watford 38 64
4 West Brom 37 62
5 Hull 38 59
6 Plymouth 39 58
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7 Crystal Palace 39 57
8 Ipswich 38 56
9 Charlton 39 56
10 Burnley 39 55
11 Wolverhampton 37 54
12 QPR 39 51
13 Sheff Utd 38 50
14 Cardiff 37 49
15 Blackpool 39 48
16 Preston 39 47
17 Barnsley 38 46
18 Norwich 39 46
19 Southampton 39 45
20 Leicester 39 44
21 Coventry 38 44
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22 Sheff Wed 37 43
23 Scunthorpe 38 38
24 Colchester 38 33
MIDWEEK GAMES
Only two games in the Championship this week, but both have some effect on the top and bottom of the table.
Colchester (24) v Hull (5)
Colchester are doomed and Hull are looking good for the play-offs. The way things are in this league, that almost certainly means a Colchester win!
Graham’s prediction: 1-0
Wolves (11) v Scunthorpe (23)
Wolves got a rare win on Saturday but they’re nervous in front of their own fans. Scunny are probably down but they won’t give up without a fight.
Graham’s prediction: 1-1
The form table in the Championship tells it’s own story. Hull are the only team from the top eight in the league who feature in the top three in the form table. I’m sure nobody wants to go up!
Come on you Hornets, it’s there for the taking.
Graham writes at Views of a fan
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