Reading roll up to fourth in the Championship, there's no stopping Charlton and Cheltenham go clear atop League Two
Championship
Amid the growing off-field troubles at Portsmouth, Michael Appleton's team at least provided the club's long-suffering supporters some brief respite with a 3-0 triumph at Peterborough. Erik Huseklepp opened the scoring before Jason Pearce ? currently the subject of a bid from Ipswich ? doubled the lead. Huseklepp added a late third as Pompey held firm and lifted themselves to 16th in the table, above Posh, who have now lost three in a row and won just twice in 12.
And in the day's other second-tier game, another Jason ? Roberts ? scored the only goal of the game on his debut, as Reading rose to fourth in the table with a 1-0 win at home to Bristol City. Roberts converted the rebound after his second-half penalty, following a red card for City's Louis Carey, had been saved by David James. The City keeper would later save his second spot-kick of the day, keeping out Jobi McAnuff's late effort, but it wasn't enough for the 10 men. That's six wins in eight for Reading, who are now just five points off an automatic promotion spot. After the game the Royals manager Brian McDermott hinted that the newly wealthy club may bring in more players before next week's transfer deadline.
League One
After 27 games, Charlton have dropped just 18 points in the league all season. They pulled nine clear at the top with a 1-0 win at Exeter and are yet to concede in 2012 ? a cross from Danny Green that was fumbled into the net by the Grecians keeper Artur Krysiak gave the Addicks victory. The Sheffield teams' FA Cup involvement and more dropped points from Huddersfield, held to a 1-1 draw by Tranmere, despite Jordan Rhodes's staggering 29th goal of the season, further cemented Charlton's dominance.
Elsewhere, Brentford were big winners, thumping Wycombe 5-2 with Gary Alexander bagging a hat-trick; Hartlepool saw off 10-man Carlisle 4-0; and Rochdale beat Bury 3-0 under the new manager John Coleman after volunteers helped clear ice particles from the Spotland pitch.
Yeovil also recorded a vital 2-1 win against Preston, lifting themselves up to 18th in the table. The new North End manager Graham Westley remains winless since arriving at Deepdale; those late-night team texts unsurprisingly haven't had the desired effect thus far. Craig Morgan was sent off with just five minutes on the clock and Andy Williams's double gave the Glovers a lead that Clarke Carlisle's late goal could only halve.
League Two
Cheltenham were the big winners of the day at the top of the table, moving three points clear at the top while Crawley and Southend were inactive, coming from behind to win 3-1 at Macclesfield. Sido Jombati cancelled out Marcus Marshall's opener for the home side, and then Jeff Goulding and Luke Garbutt sealed the victory. "We would have been disappointed not to have got at least a point from today," admitted the assistant manager Neil Howarth. "But when you say 'top of the league' it has a nice ring to it. In the second half I thought we dominated and we were back to our best." Shrewsbury kept in the hunt by claiming the A49 derby bragging rights with a 2-0 win at Hereford and moving within a point of second spot, Terry Gornell and James Collins got the goals.
Before Saturday's game with Gillingham, Accrington Stanley insisted they would give the caretaker manager Leam Richardson a chance to stake his claim for the vacancy left by John Coleman's move to Rochdale. The board are sure to have taken notice of Stanley's entertaining 4-3 win over the Gills. Michael Smith set Accrington on their way, scoring in the first minute, then restoring a lead after Danny Jackman's equaliser and completing his hat-trick on the stroke of half-time after Liam Joyce grabbed the third. Gavin Tomlin's second-half double ensured a nervy finish but Accrington held on.
Crewe's trip to Barnet won't linger long in their memory, after they were reduced to nine men for the final 46 minutes of the game. David Artell and Adam Dugdale were dismissed, with Barnet capitalising on the former's exit to score from the spot through League Two top scorer Izale McLeod's 15th of the season. Michael Hector compounded the misery in the second half to round off a 2-0 win.
At the foot of the table, Dagenham & Redbridge pulled clear of the drop zone, beating Rotherham 3-2 in a pulsating encounter. Northampton are bottom after a losing 1-0 at play-off-chasing Torquay, while Plymouth slipped back into the bottom two after Tom Pope fired home a delicious late winner for Port Vale in a 1-0 win.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/football-league-blog/2012/jan/28/football-league-your-thoughts
No comments:
Post a Comment