Source: FOOTYMAD
Watford's day in the Championship
I think it is fair to say that Watford were the stars of the show this weekend in the Championship with a remarkable 6-1 win at Millwall. It really was a surprise result. Watford are not expected to do well but they've moved into the top six with this win and remain unbeaten away from home which is a real contrast to their form at Vicarage Road where they are still to win.They'd six different goalscorers and, in contrast to the midweek games, only one player in the league scored more than one goal, QPR's Jamie Mackie. It's four this week for him and takes him three goals clear of Chris Iwelumo at the top of the goalscorers chart.The best goals of the day were scored at Ipswich and Middlesbrough. At Ipswich it was the home team's opener against Cardiff. From a ball played in by Carlos Edwards, Cardiff defender Adam Matthews, under no pressure at all, rose unchallenged to head into his own goal.The best 'intentional' goal was probably Jimmy Kebe's for Reading at Middlesbrough. Other than that, it wasn't the best of days for the Berkshire side. Boro scored their quickest ever goal, Barry Robson after 24 seconds, and their second was an incredible effort from former Reading forward Leroy Lita.Amazingly Lita had two clear opportunities to go down but for some strange reason opted to stay on his feet and score, something he certainly wasn't interested in doing four days earlier. The game had the only red card of the day with Brian Howard dismissed by referee Graham Salisbury who had a nightmare when we played Morecambe recently.The most unexpected goals of the day both came in South Yorkshire. Dean Leacock scored Derby's goal at Barnsley, and for the 26-year-old defender it was a first ever goal in professional football. Over at Bramall Lane, Ched Evans scored the only goal against Portsmouth. When you sign a £3 million striker at Championship level you expect him to score goals yet this was Evans' first goal at Bramall Lane since August - August 2009 that is.Sheffield United had been the better side when they lost 4-0 against Scunthorpe on Tuesday yet here they were second best against bottom club Portsmouth but won 1-0.Portsmouth remain one point behind Preston who lost in front of a big £5 crowd at home to Norwich. Seats were at a premium but Darren Ferguson managed to find a new one with his usual place out of bounds for the next three games. 'We had no energy, no tempo and we had too many players below par," he said from his new view.It's going well then at Preston.It's Carling Cup week this week; I think we've got a game. The next league fixtures are next weekend and they are shown below along with this weekend's stats, the league's leading goalscorers and each club's disciplinary record.The Weekend ResultsFriday 17th SeptemberDoncaster 0 Leeds 0.Saturday 18th SeptemberBarnsley 1 Derby 1Middlesbrough 3 Reading 1Bristol City 1 Coventry 2Millwall 1 Watford 6Crystal Palace 0 Burnley 0Preston 0 Norwich 1Hull 0 Nottingham Forest 0Sheffield United 1 Portsmouth 0Ipswich 2 Cardiff 0Swansea 2 Scunthorpe 0Leicester 0 QPR 2.The Weekend StatsBiggest winWatford 6-1 v Millwall (away)Total goals scored24 (11 home - 13 away)Player scoring most goals2 - Jamie Mackie (QPR)Highest Attendance22,968 - Leicester v QPRLowest Attendance12,089 - Barnsley v DerbyTotal Yellow Cards38Total Red Cards1Most cards in a gameCrystal Palace v Burnley (7Y) - James LiningtonThe leading scorers (league only)8Jamie Mackie (QPR)5Chris Iwelumo (Burnley)4Jay Bothroyd (Cardiff)James Coppinger (Doncaster)Danny Graham (Watford)Adam Hammill (Barnsley)Heidar Helguson (QPR) - includes 3 penaltiesAndy King (Leicester)Steve Morison (Millwall) - includes 1 penaltyMarvin Sordell (Watford)3Dexter Blackstock (Nottingham Forest) - includes 1 penaltyStephen Dobbie (Swansea)John Eustace (Watford)Jimmy Kebe (Reading)Scott Sinclair (Swansea)Davide Somma (Leeds)Ben Turner (Coventry)Liam Trotter (Millwall)James Vaughan (Crystal Palace)Hat Tricks (league only)11th Sep3 - Chris Iwelumo - BURNLEY v Preston14th Sep3 - James Coppinger - DONCASTER v Norwich14th Sep3 - James Vaughan - CRYSTAL PALACE v PortsmouthDisciplinary Record (all domestic games)ClubYRClubYRBarnsley120Middlesbrough130Bristol City101Millwall111Burnley192Norwich70Cardiff40Nottingham Forest100Coventry151Portsmouth90Crystal Palace162Preston191Derby130QPR100Doncaster81Reading111Hull120Scunthorpe91Ipswich131Sheffield United111Leeds140Swansea151Leicester80Watford100The Next FixturesFriday 24th SeptemberPortsmouth v Leicester.Saturday 25th SeptemberBurnley v Bristol CityNottingham Forest v SwanseaCardiff v Millwall (12:00)QPR v DoncasterCoventry v PrestonReading v BarnsleyDerby v Crystal PalaceScunthorpe v IpswichLeeds v Sheffield UnitedWatford v MiddlesbroughNorwich v Hull.
