Snow joke for Sven

19 December 2010 13:08
Queens Park Rangers are the Christmas Number One in the Championship, sitting three points clear of Leeds who have gone into second place after beating the leaders yesterday at Elland Road. The Championship did well overall with only four games called off. That was better than any division but there was certainly a big surprise that one game reached its conclusion, that between Ipswich and Leicester at Portman Road.It really was a throw back with the blue lines, the orange ball (after initially starting with a yellow ball) a pitch covered in snow and the game twice held up supposedly to clear the lines. Ipswich won it 3-0, and deservedly so, but the spotlight was on referee Stuart Atwell. He should have refereed our game at Portsmouth two weeks ago but this was his first Championship game of the season.I was mystified as to how he allowed play to continue in the first half when it wasn't possible to see the lines. It would have been impossible to give a penalty anywhere near close to the edge of the box. A 28 minute half time cleared the lines and then astonishingly, just thirteen minutes into the second half, he took the players off for a further 18 minutes.It looks as though he'd decided to abandon the game but once Roy Keane came storming over he seemed to backtrack and ask for the lines to be cleared, even though they were clear.Leicester boss Sven Goran Eriksson didn't believe the game should have been played but joked afterwards: "I have found out that my players can't play on snow." He also confirmed that both his central defenders had suffered injuries caused by the conditions and they did finish the game with ten men.On the theme of referees and that game at Elland Road. Visiting manager Neil Warnock wasn't too happy at the end and blasted at Scott Mathieson in the tunnel area. Incredibly Mathieson retaliated, something you just wouldn't expect of a referee.Leeds won it and that's nine without defeat for them now. What a shame the television coverage last night was blighted by the presence of Johnny Giles, one of the nastiest pieces of work I've ever seen set foot on a football pitch.Leeds, along with Barnsley, are the form teams in the division right now, but at the other end of the scale it's all gone wrong at Derby in the last few weeks. Despite being the better side yesterday against Reading they suffered a fourth successive defeat, conceding a late Shane Long winner that looked even beyond our defence to concede.Hopefully the weather will improve in the next few days and we can get a full fixture list played on Boxing Day, that's if we actually want to play at Barnsley. Just a reminder that our last win there came on 16th April 1932 when John Hall scored the only goal of the game in the first minute of the second half. Since then it's been five draws and nine defeats.The weekend results are below with the stats, the leading scorers, each club's disciplinary record and the next fixtures.The Weekend ResultsFriday 17th DecemberDoncaster 2 Middlesbrough 1.Saturday 18th DecemberCardiff v Burnley - PostponedMillwall v Barnsley - PostponedCoventry 1 Norwich 2Nottingham Forest 3 Crystal Palace 0Derby 1 Reading 2Portsmouth v Scunthorpe - PostponedHull 2 Bristol City 0Sheffield United 1 Swansea 0Ipswich 3 Leicester 0Watford v Preston - PostponedLeeds 2 QPR 0.The Weekend StatsBiggest winIpswich 3-0 v Leicester (home)Nottingham Forest 3-0 v Crystal Palace (home)Total goals scored20 (15 home - 5 away)Player scoring most goals2Max Gradel (Leeds)Grant Holt (Norwich)Shane Long (Reading)Jay Simpson (Hull)Jason Scotland (Ipswich)Highest Attendance29,426 - Leeds v QPRLowest Attendance9,543 - Doncaster v MiddlesbroughTotal Yellow Cards18Total Red Cards1Most cards in a gameCoventry v Norwich (4Y 1R) - Chris SarginsonHull v Bristol City (5Y) - Colin WebsterThe leading scorers (league only)13Jay Bothroyd (Cardiff)12Kris Commons (Derby) - includes 2 penalties11Luciano Becchio (Leeds)10Danny Graham (Watford)9Chris Iwelumo (Burnley)Grant Holt (Norwich)Lewis McGugan (Nottingham Forest) - includes 1 penaltyAdel Taarabt (QPR) - includes 4 penalties8Andy King (Leicester)Jamie Mackie (QPR)Steve Morison (Millwall) - includes 1 penaltyScott Sinclair (Swansea)7Andy Hammill (Barnsley)James Hayter (Doncaster)Jon Parkin (Preston)Billy Sharp (Doncaster) - includes 3 penaltiesJason Scotland (Ipswich)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 LeedsDisciplinary Record (all domestic games)ClubYRClubYRBarnsley340Middlesbrough341Bristol City261Millwall322Burnley394Norwich343Cardiff271Nottingham Forest280Coventry402Portsmouth333Crystal Palace325Preston495Derby381QPR352Doncaster261Reading363Hull401Scunthorpe221Ipswich353Sheffield United294Leeds422Swansea431Leicester242Watford250The Boxing Day FixturesSunday 25th DecemberBarnsley v BurnleyMiddlesbrough v Nottingham ForestCardiff v CoventryPortsmouth v Millwall (13:00)Crystal Palace v Norwich (13:00)QPR v Swansea (13:00)Derby v DoncasterReading v Bristol CityIpswich v WatfordScunthorpe v PrestonLeicester v LeedsSheffield United v Hull

Source: FOOTYMAD