League Round Up – Weekend 19. March 2017

The Championship leaders appear to be slipping up as Huddersfield in third were well and truly stuffed on Friday night by lowly Bristol City by 4 goals to 0.

Championship

Brighton suffered the same fate going down 2-0 to Leeds United. After a dire first half at Elland Road, Chris Wood scored with a header from Charlie Taylor’s cross to put the hosts ahead. And Wood smashed in his 24th league goal of the season from the spot after Souleymane Doukara was tripped.

Newcastle were held to a 0-0 draw over at Birmingham and remain in top spot but it was a weekend with the jitters for the top three.

What a fantastic comeback by Brentford who came back from 3-1 down at half time to thrash Burton Albion 5-3. It was a lavish comeback bar none as they beat struggling Burton Albion. Sergi Canos fired the Bees ahead, but two quick-fire Marvin Sordell goals from corners and a Cauley Woodrow curler made it 3-1 at the break.

Lasse Vibe and Canos netted to level things at 3-3, before Vibe and Jota struck twice within a minute to settle the game in Brentford’s favour. The defeat sees Burton drop to 21st, one point above the relegation zone while the Bees hover in mid table.

Fulham did themselves no favours whatsoever going down 3-1 at home to Wolves who were in urgent need of the points to clamber 5 points above the relegation zone.

Ivan Cavaleiro turned in Helder Costa’s cross from close range to give Wolves a half-time lead. Andreas Weimann doubled their advantage with a left-foot shot from the edge of the box before Denis Odoi pulled one back with a deflected effort.

However Dave Edwards made sure of the points when he tucked home another Costa cross to ensure a Wolves’ win.

Ian Holloway’s QPR inflicted a 12th straight away defeat on Rotherham who should be relegated by this time next week. The Millers are now 24 points adrift of safety, which is the exact number left to play for – but a goal difference of -54 has all but sealed their fate.

Matt Smith lashed in after five minutes before Joe Newell’s 25-yard strike and Luke Freeman’s poked goal made it 2-1. Yeni Ngbakoto scored a penalty, Massimo Luongo headed in and Nedum Onuoha added a late fifth to complete the rout and leave Rotherham fans to ponder the great poets of our generation.

Wigan Athletic lost at home 2-0 to Aston Villa who are on a good run at present and remain below Blackburn in the bottom three after Blackburn grabbed a home point against Preston North End.

Blackburn Rovers 2 2 Preston North End FT

Nottingham Forest 2 2 Derby County FT

Birmingham City 0 0 Newcastle United FT

Burton Albion 3 5 Brentford FT

Cardiff City 3 1 Ipswich Town FT

Fulham 1 3 Wolverhampton Wanderers FT

Norwich City 2 0 Barnsley FT

Queens Park Rangers 5 1 Rotherham United FT

Wigan Athletic 0 2 Aston Villa FT

Leeds United 2 0 Brighton and Hove Albion FT

League One

A bad day at the office for Gillingham who went down 4-1 at Rochdale and had a player sent off.

Sheffield United remain leaders with a straightforward 2-1 against Charlton while second placed Bolton also won 2-1 at home against Northampton. It means the Sheffield club still lead League One by a mammoth 9 points and look ready for the Championship.

Bradford City are up to 4^th place following a home win by 2 goals to 1 against Swindon and on a promotion chasing run.

Charlie Wyke scored two late goals for the Yorkshire team as they came from behind to snatch victory at home to relegation-threatened Swindon. Wyke has scored six goals in 10 matches since joining Bradford on January transfer deadline day in a £250,000 deal from Carlisle.

Swindon, who have now lost four matches in a row, shook Bradford by going in front in the 74th minute. Jonathan Obika broke away down the middle before sending Nicky Ajose through on goal and he slotted the ball into the far corner of the net.

Bradford, who dominated the game and created most of the chances, equalised in the 85th minute when outstanding winger Mark Marshall crossed from the right and Wyke scored with a close-range header.

Wyke then scrambled a winner in the 90th minute. Marshall sent in a low cross from the left, as substitute Alex Jones slid in with Swindon skipper Nathan Thompson, the ball ran loose for Wyke showed good composure and quick feet before tapping in.

Fleetwood drew 0-0 against Wimbledon and remain in third place while 5^th placed Scunthorpe surprisingly dropped to fifth after losing 2-1 at Oxford United.

At the bottom none of the bottom 6 played or gained a point except Oldham who snatched a vital 1-1 draw at Peterborough.

Bolton Wanderers 2 1 Northampton Town FT

Bradford City 2 1 Swindon Town FT

Bristol Rovers 2 1 Chesterfield FT

Fleetwood Town 0 0 AFC Wimbledon FT

Millwall 0 0 Bury FT

Milton Keynes Dons 1 0 Coventry City FT

Oxford United 2 1 Scunthorpe United FT

Peterborough United 1 1 Oldham Athletic FT

Rochdale 4 1 Gillingham FT

Sheffield United 2 1 Charlton Athletic FT

Southend United 3 2 Walsall FT

League Two

In League 2 top placed Doncaster thrashed bottom placed Orient 4-1 to strengthen their promotion hopes and kill off a demoralized London team while 23^rd placed Newport were taken through the mud on their way to a 3-1 home defeat to play off chasing Blackpool.

Plymough beat Morecambe by the odd goal while Portsmouth came a cropper 3-0 at Stevenage and the two south coast teams remain second and third respectively.

Cheltenham Town 0 1 Cambridge United FT

Crewe Alexandra 2 0 Colchester United FT

Grimsby Town 1 1 Crawley Town FT

Hartlepool United 0 2 Wycombe Wanderers FT

Leyton Orient 1 4 Doncaster Rovers FT

Luton Town 1 1 Exeter City FT

Mansfield Town 2 0 Carlisle United FT

Newport County AFC 1 3 Blackpool FT

Plymouth Argyle 1 0 Morecambe FT

Stevenage 3 0 Portsmouth FT

Yeovil Town 1 1 Accrington Stanley FT

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