Title for Cardiff but nothing else decided

21 April 2013 14:32
Cardiff won the point they needed at Burnley yesterday to confirm they will end the season as champions, but there is no one joining them as yet in the Premier League and it is still just Bristol City who have been relegated.

Hull would have been within a point of a Premier League return had they beaten bottom club Bristol City on Friday but had to settle for just a point and that still leaves the door open for Watford, the Italian franchise in Hertfordshire.

In beating Blackburn they went within four points but they will probably need to win their last two games to have a chance of taking that second place.

Brighton are all but in the play offs with either Hull or Watford and the other two places will go to two from Crystal Palace and Bolton, currently in the top six, and Leicester and Nottingham Forest who are just outside.

Two of those clubs, Crystal Palace and Leicester, fought out a 2-2 draw yesterday and that would have been enough to see both in the top six but for the intervention of referee Darren Deadman in the game between Bolton and Middlesbrough.

The game stood at 1-1 when this appalling referee handed the points to Bolton with the most ridiculous of penalty awards. He compounded it by yellow carding Jonathan Woodgate and then sending him off for a second yellow minutes later.

Middlesbrough boss Tony Mowbray said after the game: "I thought we deserved more than that and we needed a better official to referee the game because there were some bewildering decisions out there today. The penalty was one of them and the sending off was certainly one of them.

"I thought we were the better team but the history books will show that we lost. They won't show that we conceded a lucky goal and then a penalty, which having seen half a dozen times was never a penalty kick, but that sums up the referee's performance."

Despite a disastrous run, Middlesbrough are mathematically safe on 58 points. Ipswich, one point behind, would have to suffer some seriously big defeats if they were to go down, but below that it is still possible for any of the other eight clubs to be in the two to join Bristol City.

I'm not even going to hazard a guess who it might be other than to say I'm relieved to be one of the four clubs on 55 points right now than one of the three on 51 points.

It's going to be a very interesting last two weeks of the season. One way or another we will drop a place on Tuesday when Millwall and Blackburn meet, but hopefully in two weeks time there will be a huge sigh of relief in Burnley.

Let's just hope we don't get Deadman. We've had him once before at Wolves and he cost us the game that day. Some poor club will likely suffer the country's worst referee this coming weekend.

The latest results and stats are below along with the week's Championship fixtures.

The Results Friday 19th April Hull City 0 Bristol City 0   Saturday 20th April Birmingham City 1 Leeds United 0 Derby County 3 Peterborough United 1 Bolton Wanderers 2 Middlesbrough 1 Huddersfield Town 3 Millwall 0 Brighton & Hove Albion 6 Blackpool 1 Nottingham Forest 0 Barnsley 0 Burnley 1 Cardiff City 1 Sheffield Wednesday 1 Ipswich Town 1 Charlton Athletic 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 Watford 4 Blackburn Rovers 0 Crystal Palace 2 Leicester City 2  

 

The Stats Biggest Win Brighton & Hove Albion 6-1 v Blackpool (home) Total Goals Scored 33 (25 home - 8 away)

Player Scoring Most Goals2

Ashley Barnes - Brighton & Hove Albion v BlackpoolJermaine Beckford - Huddersfield Town v MillwallTroy Deeney - Watford v Blackburn Rovers Highest Attendance 28,499 - Brighton & Hove Albion v Blackpool Lowest Attendance 12,415 - Huddersfield Town v Millwall Total Yellow Cards 30 Total Red Cards 3 Most Cards in a Game Watford v Blackburn Rovers (5Y 1R) Ref: Nigel Miller

 

Leading Goalscorers (League Only) 29 Glenn Murray (Crystal Palace) - includes 7 penalties 26 Jordan Rhodes (Blackburn Rovers) - includes 4 penalties, 2 with Huddersfield Town 25 Charlie Austin (Burnley) - includes 4 penalties 20 Matej Vydra (Watford) - includes 2 penaltiesChris Wood (Leicester City) - includes 1 penalty, 11 with Millwall 18 Try Deeney (Watford) - includes 2 penaltiesTom Ince (Blackpool) - includes 3 penalties 15 Luciano Becchio (Leeds United) - includes 4 penalties 14 Sylvan Ebanks-Blake (Wolverhampton Wanderers) - includes 3 penaltiesDavid Nugent (Leicester City) - includes 1 penalty 13 Steven Davies (Bristol City) - includes 2 penaltiesDwight Gayle (Peterborough United)Marlon King (Birmingham City) - includes 3 penalties 12 Jamie Ward (Derby County) - includes 4 penalties 11 Almen Abdi (Watford) - includes 2 penaltiesCraig Davies (Bolton Wanderers) - includes 2 penalties, 8 with BarnsleyJohnnie Jackson (Charlton AthleticScott McDonald (Middlesbrough)Craig Mackail-Smith (Brighton & Hove Albion) - includes 2 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 05/03/13 3: Kevin Phillips - CRYSTAL PALACE v Hull City

 

Disciplinary Record (League and Cup) Club Y R Y R Club Y R Y R   League   Total   League  Total  Barnsley 64 3 73 4 Huddersfield Town 89 5 98 5 Birmingham City 63 3 67 3 Hull City 57 1 60 2 Blackburn Rovers 74 1 88 1 Ipswich Town 52 2 55 2 Blackpool 56 3 58 3 Leeds United 68 3 78 3 Bolton Wanderers 79 4 82 4 Leicester City 48 2 52 2 Brighton & Hove Albion 64 3 69 3 Middlesbrough 55 2 65 2 Bristol City 50 0 53 0 Millwall 81 3 96 3 Burnley 85 3 93 4 Nottingham Forest 78 5 78 6 Cardiff City 73 2 76 2 Peterborough United 54 1 57 1 Charlton Athletic 59 2 60 3 Sheffield Wednesday 92 2 98 2 Crystal Palace 60 2 71 2 Watford 73 5 76 5 Derby County 58 3 59 3 Wolverhampton Wanderers 61 3 65 3

 

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) 29,697 Sheffield Wednesday v Barnsley (30/03) 5,633 Peterborough United v Blackpool (01/12) 28,707 Nottingham Forest v Derby County (30/09) 5,997 Peterborough Utd v Blackburn Rovers (17/11) 28,595 Wolverhampton W v Ipswich Town (29/12) 6,050 Peterborough Utd v Charlton Athletic (05/03) 28,582 Sheffield Wednesday v Leeds United (19/10) 6,188 Peterborough United v Millwall (21/08) 28,499 Brighton & HA v Crystal Palace (17/03) 6,214 Peterborough United v Hull City (19/01) 28,499 Brighton & HA v Blackpool (20/04) 6,348 Peterborough Utd v Huddersfield Town(23/10) 28,493 Brighton & HA v Leicester City (06/04) 6,600 Peterborough Utd v Bolton Wand (23/12) 28,229 Middlesbrough v Sheffield Wednesday (09/11) 6,612 Peterborough Utd v Middlesbrough (08/12) 28,124 Nottingham Forest v Brighton & Hove A (30/03) 6,648 Peterborough Utd v Burnley (02/02)

 

The Next Fixtures Tuesday 23rd April Millwall v Blackburn Rovers   Friday 26th April Leicester City v Watford   Saturday 27th April Barnsley v Hull City Leeds United v Brighton & Hove Albion Blackburn Rovers v Crystal Palace Middlesbrough v Charlton Athletic

Blackpool v Derby County

Millwall v Nottingham Forest Bristol City v Huddersfield Town Peterborough United v Sheffield Wednesday Cardiff City v Bolton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers v Burnley Ipswich Town v Birmingham City  

Source: Clarets Mad

Source: FOOTYMAD