Source: FOOTYMAD
A day of first defeats and first wins
It was a day when Burnley, Coventry and Watford all suffered their first defeats of the season and both Reading and Sheffield United recorded their first wins. Coventry, like us, suffered that first defeat on the road, going down 3-1 at Millwall and they, like us, ended the game with ten men. For them though it was unfortunate and it looks as though referee Jon Moss has totally misread the situation as he gave Carl Baker a second yellow for kicking the ball away. Baker was only been on the pitch for fourteen minutes as a substitute, getting those cards in double quick time.Watford, the other first time losers, were beaten 1-0 at home against Leeds. Simon Grayson hinted at a less than pleasing style to Watford's play while Malky Mackay hinted at a less than pleasing style to Leeds' play. I bet that was a classic.Reading won the tea time televised game at Leicester but were hanging on in the end. Matt Mills proved to be the hero, first he headed what proved to be the winner and then he somehow got his head to a Steve Howard header on the line to prevent Leicester getting a point.Sheffield United had started the day in bottom place, but that's not the case now after they beat Preston 1-0 at Bramall Lane. And what a goal it was from debutant Jean Calve who had only signed this week from AS Nancy. It was a stunning strike from distance and incredibly it was his first ever goal in professional football after well over a hundred games.He was immediately substituted after his goal celebration brought on cramp. What on earth he did during the celebration is anyone's guess. Blades' new boss Gary Speed expects him to be fit for the next game, as he does the other debutant Stephen Jordan who is still waiting to celebrate his first goal in professional football.That Calve goal could well have been the goal of the day but there were certainly two other contenders. Lloyd Dyer's strike for Leicester was up there with Calve's effort but for me it was Adam Hammill's goal for Barnsley, their second against Middlesbrough.It was a fantastic solo effort by Hammill who picked the ball up a good twelve yards inside his own box and went on a run down the left hand side of the pitch. Middlesbrough couldn't even foul him as he shrugged off the challenges before finishing.Performance of the day? Perhaps David James of Bristol City. He has a new haircut, one that is slightly more sensible than the previous one, but it did him no favours and he was badly at fault with both Ipswich goals.Ipswich are third now behind leaders QPR and Cardiff, all on ten points, QPR scoring twice in stoppage time yesterday to rescue a point at Derby.Bottom are Portsmouth, and I'm delighted to see that. How on earth that club is still around is difficult to believe and I'd love to see them go down again.The week's stats are below along with the leading goalscorers in the league (or anyone with two or more), each club's disciplinary record and the next set of fixtures for two week's time.The Week's ResultsSaturday 28th AugustBarnsley 2 Middlesbrough 0Nottingham Forest 1 Norwich 1Derby 2 QPR 2Portsmouth 0 Cardiff 2Doncaster 3 Hull 1Scunthorpe 3 Crystal Palace 0Ipswich 2 Bristol City 0Sheffield United 1 Preston 0Leicester 1 Reading 2Swansea 1 Burnley 0Millwall 3 Coventry 1Watford 0 Leeds 1The Week's StatsBiggest winScunthorpe 3-0 v Crystal Palace (home)Total goals scored29 (19 home - 10 away)Player scoring most goals2 - Jonathan Forte (Scunthorpe)Highest Attendance25,874 - Derby v QPRLowest Attendance5,292 - Scunthorpe v Crystal PalaceTotal Yellow Cards28Total Red Cards3Most cards in a gameSwansea v Burnley (6Y 2R) - Steve TannerThe leading scorers (league only)4Jay Bothroyd (Cardiff)3Jamie Mackie (QPR)Steve Morison (Millwall) - includes 1 penalty2Dexter Blackstock (Nottingham Forest) - includes 1 penaltyChris Burke (Cardiff)Kris Commons (Derby) - includes 1 penaltyAndrew Crofts (Norwich)Freddy Eastwood Coventry)John Eustace (Watford)Jonathan Forte (Scunthorpe)Danny Graham (Watford)Andy Gray (Barnsley) - includes 1 penaltyAdam Hammill (Barnsley)Heidar Helguson (QPR)Chris Iwelumo (Burnley)Lukas Jutkiewicz (Coventry) - includes 1 penaltyTamas Priskin (Watford)Lloyd Sam (Leeds)Bill Sharp (Doncaster) - includes 2 penaltiesGylif Siggurdsson (Reading)Davide Somma (Leeds)Adel Taarabt (QPR) - includes 2 penaltiesLiam Trotter (Millwall)Disciplinary Record (all domestic games)ClubYRClubYRBarnsley80Middlesbrough100Bristol City71Millwall41Burnley112Norwich30Cardiff20Nottingham Forest90Coventry71Portsmouth70Crystal Palace72Preston130Derby80QPR80Doncaster51Reading60Hull90Scunthorpe61Ipswich91Sheffield United71Leeds80Swansea91Leicester50Watford50The Next FixturesSaturday 11th SeptemberBurnley v Preston (17:15)Nottingham Forest v MillwallCardiff v HullPortsmouth v IpswichCoventry v Leicester (12:30)QPR v MiddlesbroughDerby v Sheffield United (13:00)Reading v Crystal PalaceLeeds v SwanseaScunthorpe v Bristol CityNowich v BarnsleyWatford v Doncaster
