Source: FOOTYMAD
First change in top six for three months
Reading have stormed into the top six in the Championship with two wins in four days and brought about the first change in the top six since Watford dropped out in mid-January. Those wins have made things much more difficult for Burnley. The gap between us and the top six has now increased to six points with a game in hand, somewhat different than three weeks ago when we were just three points behind with two games in hand.Reading beat Portsmouth on Saturday followed that up with a victory against Preston last night and that's also left Nottingham Forest floundering. Little Billy has a good record regards getting teams into the play offs but his Forest side have hit a poor run of form at just the wrong time.They've picked up just four points from their last eight games and have now slipped from second in the table to seventh and, unless they can find that form again, will have a difficult task in getting back into that top six.QPR are surely just about there. They are now 13 points clear of Cardiff in third place and only a massive change in fortune can prevent them going back to the Premier League for the first time since 1996.There is just one cloud on the QPR horizon and that's the contractual problems surrounding Alejandro Faurlin. There are seven charges of breach of FA rules and they will be heard by an independent commission on 3rd May.On the field, they were far too good for Sheffield United on Monday and I don't think I can ever recall seeing a 3-0 winning manager look so dejected at the final whistle. The days of Bryan Robson, Kevin Blackwell and now Micky Adams have certainly changed the club Neil Warnock managed for so long and the club he supports.Sheffield United now have a major battle to stay up, as do both Preston and Scunthorpe. Of the three, Preston are the one putting some results together, but it looks as though any one of them would have to win at least four of their remaining seven games to have any hope of staying up.We reaching the point where predictions get that little bit easier and right now I can't see there being too many changes. I think, given current form, Norwich will join QPR in the Premier League and I think Cardiff, Swansea, Leeds and Reading are likely to contest the play offs whilst down below those bottom three will leave us.Then of course, everything can change in this league. We might just recapture the winning habit we had just a few weeks ago and those above us might start losing again.The recent results and stats are below along with the league's leading goalscorers, each club's disciplinary record and the next fixtures.The Weekend ResultsSaturday 2nd AprilBristol City 1 Doncaster 0Leeds 4 Nottingham Forest 1Burnley 1 Ipswich 2Middlesbrough 3 Leicester 3Cardiff 4 Derby 1Norwich 6 Scunthorpe 0Coventry 2 Watford 0Preston 2 Swansea 1Crystal Palace 2 Barnsley 1Reading 2 Portsmouth 0Hull 0 Millwall 1Monday 4th AprilQPR 3 Sheffield United 0Tuesday 5th AprilReading 2 Preston 1The Weekend StatsBiggest winNorwich 6-0 v Scunthorpe (home)Total goals scored43 (32 home - 11 away)Player scoring most goals3Grant Holt (Norwich)Simeon Jackson (Norwich)Yakubu (Leicester)Highest Attendance29,524 - Leeds v Nottingham ForestLowest Attendance11,791 - Preston v SwanseaTotal Yellow Cards47Total Red Cards4Most cards in a gameMiddlesbrough v Leicester (7Y 1R) - Andy HainesThe leading scorers (league only)22Danny Graham (Watford) - includes 1 penalty20Shane Long (Reading) - includes 5 penalties19Grant Holt (Norwich) - includes 3 penalties17Luciano Becchio (Leeds)16Jay Bothroyd (Cardiff) - includes 1 penaltyMax Gradel (Leeds) - includes 2 penaltiesScott Sinclair (Swansea) - includes 5 penalties15Bill Sharp (Doncaster) - includes 4 penaltiesAdel Taarabt (QPR) - includes 6 penalties14Steve Morison (Millwall) - includes 1 penalty13Kris Commons (Derby) - includes 2 penaltiesAndy King (Leicester)12Heidar Helguson (QPR) - includes 5 penaltiesJay Rodriguez (Burnley)11Chris Iwelumo (Burnley)Lewis McGugan (Nottingham Forest) - includes 2 penaltiesDavid Nugent (Portsmouth)Brett Pitman (Bristol City) - includes 3 penaltiesDavide Somma (Leeds)Hat Tricks (league only)11th Sep3 - Chris Iwelumo - BURNLEY v Preston14th Sep3 - James Coppinger - DONCASTER v Norwich14th Sep3 - James Vaughan - CRYSTAL PALACE v Portsmouth28th Sep3 - Jon Parkin - Leeds v PRESTON30th Oct3 - Jonny Howson - Scunthorpe v LEEDS13th Nov3 - Luciano Becchio - LEEDS v Bristol City27th Nov3 - Grant Holt - NORWICH v Leeds28th Dec3 - Wes Hoolahan - NORWICH v Sheffield United1st Jan3 - Jason Puncheon - MILLWALL v Crystal Palace5th Feb3 - Matt Fryatt - Scunthorpe v HULL15th Feb3 - Connor Wickham - Doncaster v IPSWICH2nd Apr3 - Grant Holt - NORWICH v Scunthorpe2nd Apr3 - Simeon Jackson - NORWICH v Scunthorpe2nd Apr3 - Yakubu - Middlesbrough v LEICESTERDisciplinary Record (all domestic games)ClubYRClubYRBarnsley582Middlesbrough541Bristol City492Millwall595Burnley724Norwich633Cardiff521Nottingham Forest622Coventry625Portsmouth727Crystal Palace706Preston805Derby672QPR606Doncaster423Reading634Hull692Scunthorpe463Ipswich624Sheffield United6410Leeds764Swansea582Leicester493Watford462The Next FixturesSaturday 9th AprilBarnsley v Bristol CityNottingham Forest v ReadingDerby v CoventryPortsmouth v PrestonDoncaster v CardiffScunthorpe v QPRIpswich v Crystal PalaceSheffield United v MiddlesbroughLeicester v BurnleySwansea v Norwich (17:20)Millwall v LeedsWatford v Hull
