Championship fixtures tonight

therecklessone

In non-Champions/runners-up/Tom Dick and Harry League related action tonight...

Brighton 0 - 2 Reading

Burnley 1 - 2 Sheff Utd

Cardiff 2 - 1 Leeds

Leicester 4 - 2 Stoke

Luton 3 - 2 Southampton

Millwall 0 - 0 Coventry

Norwich 1 - 1 Crewe

Plymouth 3 - 3 Watford

QPR 2 - 1 Ipswich

Sheff Wed 1 - 1 Hull

Wolverhampton 2 - 1 Crystal Palace

Of note is Palace and Southampton losing, 2nd time for Palace. Norwich drawing shows that all three relegated teams are finding the transition to Championship football a little bit tougher than many would have assumed. Sheff Utd appear to have hit the ground running, 6 goals in 2 matches and 2 wins under the belt. A very good win for Glenn Hoddle's Wolves, I expect them to push for the top 6 this season. A good away win for Reading at Brighton as well.

Good news for the Irish? David Connolly hits a hat-trick for Leicester, making it 4 in 2 games for him. Another purple patch for the pint-sized striker?

PHB

Quite disappointed with the Brighton result, thought we could get a draw vs. Reading

eirebhoy

PHB wrote:

Quite disappointed with the Brighton result, thought we could get a draw vs. Reading

Forgot you were a fan of Brighton. They love Paul McShane already:
http://northstandchat.biz/showthread.php?threadid=52907

kensutz

Another 2 points dropped from us. Just back from the game and pretty disappointed not to come away with a win after hitting the crossbar and post again. Saturday is a big one for us.

Kingp35

Final score Cardiff 2-1 Leeds.

Very disappointing result after a good start against Millwall. I have been listening to the commentary on radio Leeds and the after match analysis with Eddie Gray. It seems that Leeds were very good in the first half and we looked very good indeed and extremely comfortable. Sadly Paul Butler had to go off and it is suspected that he mayhave a fractured foot. This will be a serious blow to Leeds if it is confirmed. Butler is such an important player for us. Kilgallan came on for him.

Koumas scored an excellent goal in the second that Leeds could do nothing about, then a controversal penalty was awarded for a supposed hand ball by Kilgallen. It was converted and Cardiff took the lead.

Leeds had an excellent chance to equalise but it was scrambled off the line. All in all it was a poor second half performance which may or not have been caused by Butlers injury.

A very disappointing second game for Leeds. Lets just hope that Butlers injury is not as bad as feared and that we can bounce back against Luton at the weekend. Im gutted right now though I really am

kensutz

Luton will be no pushovers. They're surprising the "big" teams that came down already and are no pushovers. I think the clubs are raising their games when playing the likes of us, Palace and Soton.

eirebhoy

eirebhoy wrote:

Forgot you were a fan of Brighton. They love Paul McShane already:
http://northstandchat.biz/showthread.php?threadid=52907

Just seen the first comment on McShane since the match finished on that board:

"The back four actually played ok tonight, 2-0 flattered Reading and Dodd and McShane linked up well together with McShane being my Man of the match."

I really hope he keeps this up. He could be the top class all round centre half we haven't had since McGrath.

kensutz

PHB I have my ticket for us against you lot at that supposed football ground you got. Should be fun.

MrJoeSoap

kensutz wrote:

Luton will be no pushovers. They're surprising the "big" teams that came down already and are no pushovers. I think the clubs are raising their games when playing the likes of us, Palace and Soton.

Luton are doing very well so far, Mike Newell has been excellent since he took over there and they'll be there or therabouts for a playoff place by the end of the season.

As for my bunch, the less said the better.

Zaph

Gutted that we lost to Cardiff. Can't stand that shower.

Kingp35

MrJoeSoap wrote:

Luton are doing very well so far, Mike Newell has been excellent since he took over there and they'll be there or therabouts for a playoff place by the end of the season.

As for my bunch, the less said the better.

Your right. Mike Newell has done an excellent job at Luton and they have had a very good start but I think you are exagerating a bit by saying they will be in the playoffs. They have only played two games and you cant judge a team on two games. I think mid-table would be a very good season for Luton.

As for Leeds against Luton this weekend it will be very tough for us. Butler is almost certainly out, Harding is having a hard time so far, not for lack of trying though but he needs to up it a bit. The problem we have is we dominate for long spells in a game because we are a better passing side than most teams in the championship but we fail to capitalise on our possesion and defensive blips let the opposition back in the game. We need to cut that out if we are to win this weekend. I think the Kevin Blackwell will give the team hell for their second half performance and thus I expect Leeds to do alot better. I hope they can grab the win but it will be very tough. I can't see us losing the game though as long as he takes the next few days to sort out the defence without Butler

MrJoeSoap

I dont think 7th/8th will be beyond Luton, and with a bit of luck they could make it into 6th. I'm sure the odds on them reaching the playoffs wouldn't be too much different to the odds for them beating both Palace and Southampton, they'll do well with Newell in charge. Remember he took over under very tricky circumstances, brought them to a decent position in the league, then won it the following season by 12 points (ahead of an excellent Hull outfit)

Kingp35

MrJoeSoap wrote:

I dont think 7th/8th will be beyond Luton, and with a bit of luck they could make it into 6th. I'm sure the odds on them reaching the playoffs wouldn't be too much different to the odds for them beating both Palace and Southampton, they'll do well with Newell in charge. Remember he took over under very tricky circumstances, brought them to a decent position in the league, then won it the following season by 12 points (ahead of an excellent Hull outfit)

You wouldnt be a Luton fan would you?

This league is a hell of a lot tougher than League One and its very hard to get out of. All the teams are capable of beating each other but in the long run I feel Luton will struggle. Look at QPR they had a fantastic start to life in the championship last season but once teams copped on to their tactics they started getting beaten and were shown for the team they really are.

Newell has a very good organised team but thats it. They are no great side and will eventually be shown up for the team they are. They have won two games against good sides and I congratulate them but you are jumping the gun alot and they are a mid-table side at best.

Raskolnikov

Former Cork City man Kevin Doyle did well for Reading in their 2-0 win over Brighton. I really hope that he can knock in a few and fight for a place on the Ireland squad.

therecklessone

Raskolnikov wrote:

Former Cork City man Kevin Doyle did well for Reading in their 2-0 win over Brighton. I really hope that he can knock in a few and fight for a place on the Ireland squad.

He came on with 8 minutes to go, with Reading winning 2-0.

I'd like to see him do well, but he's third choice behind Kitson and Lita so unless Copell reverts to the 4-3-3 formation I read he's been trying, or one of the other two gets injured, he'll have to bide his time.