Gayle, who signed for Peterborough from Dagenham & Redbridge recently, had scored the perfect hat trick - left foot, head, right foot, to lift his side off the bottom of the Championship again, dropping Bristol City once more into that bottom position.
A nightmare for Steven CaldwellThe fact that he'd done it at Ewood Park probably had a lot to do with it. It was a result that saw us go back above our East Lancashire rivals and it was a result that brought an astonishing condemnation of some of his players from manager Michael Appleton.
Appleton has now spent longer at Ewood than he did in his last job at Blackpool and he was not happy with the performances from some of his players in the first half. "There's certain a lot of players in that dressing room that are hurting at the minute but I'm not convinced it's all of them," he said.
He added: "There weren't players in that first half, that, for me, looked as if they were motivated to try and win a game of football. If th rules had allowed I'd have made six or seven changes at the break rather than the three I did make."
So who were the three? Who were the players he publicly said weren't motivated? One was Bradley Orr, another was Danny Murphy who has long been accused of being there for the big wage packet, but amazingly the third was one of Appleton's own signings David Bentley.
As for Peterborough, they are off the bottom because Bristol City could only draw 0-0 at Blackpool. On a pitch that is getting progressively worse, it was not a classic at Bloomfield Road. So much so that City boss Sean O'Driscoll said after the game: "The most important moments of the game were a corner and a throw. The rest of it you could probably forget."
Wolves are still with them in the bottom three. They got a point with a late goal against Watford but, had Watford taken their chances, it would have been another defeat for Wolves and their manager Dean Saunders who is still looking for his first win since taking over.
That result also saw the Italian franchise lose second place to Hull who, in beating Birmingham 5-2. It wasn't the sort of afternoon that our former captain Steven Caldwell will want to remember. He had a nightmare in the visiting team's defence.
Not only as that result taken Hull back into the automatic promotion positions but it has taken them within five points of Cardiff who went down at Middlesbrough. This is the time Cardiff usually begin to wobble and they've now lost their last two away games. Who knows? Could they do the same again? I suspect not, I think this might just be the year that the Dragons (and what a joke that is) make it to the Premier League.
We've got a full midweek programme this week. Those fixtures can be found below last week's results and stats, the leading goalscorers, each club's disciplinary record and the highest and lowest attendances.
The Results Tuesday 26th February Bolton Wanderers 1 Peterborough United 0 Leicester City 3 Blackburn Rovers 0 Burnley 0 Huddersfield Town 1 Friday 1st March Derby County 0 Crystal Palace 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 Watford 1 Saturday 2nd March Barnsley 2 Bolton Wanderers 3 Hull City 5 Birmingham City 2 Blackburn Rovers 2 Peterborough United 3 Ipswich Town 1 Leicester City 0 Blackpool 0 Bristol City 0 Leeds United 1 Millwall 0 Brighton & Hove Albion 4 Huddersfield Town 1 Middlesbrough 2 Cardiff City 1 Charlton Athletic 0 Burnley 1 Sheffield Wednesday 0 Nottingham Forest 1The Stats Biggest Win Brighton & Hove Albion 4-1 v Huddersfield Town (home)Hull City 5-2 v Birmingham City (home) Total Goals Scored 37 (22 home - 15 away)
Player Scoring Most Goals3
Dwight Gayle - Peterborough United v Blackburn Rovers (away)Leonardo Ulloa - Brighton & Hove Albion v Huddersfield Town (home) Highest Attendance 25,831 - Brighton & Hove Albion v Huddersfield Town Lowest Attendance 10,862 - Barnsley v Bolton Wanderers Total Yellow Cards 46 Total Red Cards 0 Most Cards in a Game Burnley v Huddersfield Town (6Y) Ref: Mark HalseyLeading Goalscorers (League Only) 27 Glenn Murray (Crystal Palace) - includes 7 penalties 22 Charlie Austin (Burnley) - includes 3 penaltiesJordan Rhodes (Blackburn Rovers) - includes 2 penalties, 2 with Huddersfield Town 20 Matej Vydra (Watford) - includes 2 penalties 18 Chris Wood (Leicester City) - 11 with Millwall 17 Tom Ince (Blackpool) - includes 3 penalties 15 Luciano Becchio (Leeds United) - includes 4 penalties 14 Troy Deeney (Watford) - includes 2 penaltiesDavid Nugent (Leicester City) - includes 1 penalty 13 Marlon King (Birmingham City) - includes 3 penalties 11 Steven Davies (Bristol City) - includes 2 penaltiesCraig Mackail-Smith (Brighton & Hove Albion) - includes 2 penaltiesJamie Ward (Derby County) - includes 4 penalties 10 Almen Abdi (Watford) - includes 2 penaltiesDJ Campbell (Blackburn Rovers) - 10 with Ipswich TownCraig Davies (Bolton Wanderers) - includes 2 penalties, 8 with BarnsleySylvan Ebanks-Blake (Wolverhampton Wanderers) - includes 2 penaltiesDwight Gayle (Peterborough United)Scott McDonald (Middlesbrough)Billy Sharp (Nottingham Forest) - includes 3 penalties
Hat Tricks Date Player & Game 01/09/12 3: Pete Whittingham - CARDIFF CITY v Wolverhampton Wanderers 15/09/12 3: Charlie Austin - BURNLEY v Peterborough United 22/09/12 3: Glenn Murray - CRYSTAL PALACE v Cardiff City 22/09/12 4: Craig Davies - Birmingham City v BARNSLEY 23/09/12 3: David Nugent - LEICESTER CITY v Hull City 29/09/12 3: Emile Sinclair - Hull City v PETERBOROUGH UNITED 02/10/12 3: Charlie Austin - BURNLEY v Sheffield Wednesday 23/10/12 3: Marlon King - Millwall v BIRMINGHAM CITY 06/11/12 3: Glenn Murray - CRYSTAL PALACE v Ipswich Town 17/11/12 3: Jordan Rhodes - Peterborough United v BLACKBURN ROVERS 12/01/13 3: Chris Wood - Bristol City v LEICESTER CITY 19/02/13 3: Radoslaw Majewski - NOTTINGHAM FOREST v Huddersfield Town 02/03/13 3: Dwight Gayle - Blackburn Rovers v PETERBOROUGH UNITED 02/03/13 3: Leonardo Ulloa - BRIGHTON & HOVE ALBION v Huddersfield Town
Disciplinary Record (League and Cup) Club Y R Y R Club Y R Y R League Total League Total Barnsley 43 1 51 2 Huddersfield Town 66 4 75 4 Birmingham City 48 3 52 3 Hull City 41 1 44 2 Blackburn Rovers 53 0 62 0 Ipswich Town 40 0 42 0 Blackpool 41 1 43 1 Leeds United 48 2 58 2 Bolton Wanderers 66 2 70 2 Leicester City 35 1 39 1 Brighton & Hove Albion 51 2 56 2 Middlesbrough 46 1 56 1 Bristol City 44 0 47 0 Millwall 66 3 73 3 Burnley 68 2 76 3 Nottingham Forest 54 4 54 5 Cardiff City 59 2 62 2 Peterborough United 45 1 48 1 Charlton Athletic 47 2 48 3 Sheffield Wednesday 62 1 68 1 Crystal Palace 48 2 59 2 Watford 61 4 64 4 Derby County 47 2 48 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers 43 2 47 2
Highest and Lowest Attendances Highest Lowest Att Fixture Att Fixture 33,010 Derby County v Nottingham Forest (19/01) 5,435 Peterborough United v Bristol City (18/09) 28,707 Nottingham Forest v Derby County (30/09) 5,633 Peterborough United v Blackpool (01/12) 28,595 Wolverhampton W v Ipswich Town (29/12) 5,997 Peterborough Utd v Blackburn Rovers (17/11) 28,582 Sheffield Wednesday v Leeds United (19/10) 6,188 Peterborough United v Millwall (21/08) 28,229 Middlesbrough v Sheffield Wednesday (09/11) 6,214 Peterborough United v Hull City (19/01) 27,437 Derby County v Sheffield Wednesday (18/08) 6,348 Peterborough Utd v Huddersfield Town(23/10) 26,938 Nottingham Forest v Huddersfield Town (19/02) 6,600 Peterborough Utd v Bolton Wand (23/12) 26,727 Brighton & Hove Albion v Watford (29/12) 6,612 Peterborough Utd v Middlesbrough (08/12) 26,684 Brighton & HA v Nottingham Forest (15/12) 6,648 Peterborough Utd v Burnley (02/02) 26,670 Nottingham Forest v Leeds United (26/12) 7,339 Peterborough Utd v Barnsley (01/01)
The Next Fixtures Tuesday 5th March Birmingham City v Blackpool Huddersfield Town v Middlesbrough Bolton Wanderers v Blackburn Rovers (20:00) Leicester City v Leeds United Bristol City v Brighton & Hove Albion Millwall v Wolverhampton Wanderers Burnley v Barnsley Nottingham Forest v Ipswich Town Cardiff City v Derby County Peterborough United v Charlton Athletic Crystal Palace v Hull City (20:00) Watford v Sheffield Wednesday
Source: Clarets Mad
Source: FOOTYMAD
