Saints and West Ham got back to winning ways, Charlton won a promotion six-pointer and Southend went top of League Two
Championship
With the top four separated by just two points at the start of play, the last time the Championship title race was this close Michael Jackson was still Dangerous and Bill and Ted's Journey was about to turn Bogus. Middlesbrough began the day as the league's form horses, but they slumped to a 2-0 home defeat against Burnley. Prolific England U-21 striker Jay Rodriguez and former Man City starlet Kieran Trippier netted, as Eddie Howe's thrillingly youthful Clarets (plenty of whom were barely out of nappies when Keanu Reaves and Alex Winter Melvined Death back in 1992) continued their steady progress towards the play-off places.
After several weeks of berating his side for failing to take their chances in front of goal, Sam Allardyce completed the signing of George John a, er, defender from FC Dallas before taking title favourites West Ham to Fratton Park. Mark Noble's penalty proved enough for the Hammers to grind out a win against financially stricken Portsmouth.
Southampton went into their match at Nottingham Forest needing to match West Ham's result to stay top. The Saints wouldn't have been expecting their south coast rivals to do them any favours and, despite the absence of talisman Rickie Lambert and the recently-signed Japanese striker Tadanari Lee, they managed to win for just the second time in seven games. Guly Do Prado, David Connolly and Morgan Schneiderlin scored the goals that kept the stuttering Saints top and pushed Forest, for whom Luke Chambers was sent off, further towards the drop.
After their mid-week exertions in the semi-final of the League Cup, third-placed Cardiff City faced a tricky tie at Doncaster, who in their past three home games had beat Southampton, Leicester and Barnsley. As it was, both teams cancelled themselves out in a 0-0 stalemate. Instead big goal-hunting Championship fans needed to head to the New Den, where Birmingham increased the pressure on Lions boss Kenny Jacket by dishing out a 6-0 drubbing.
League One
Despite dominating League One since August, Chris Powell's Charlton headed to Hillsbrough for what looked like a season-defining clash against third-place Sheffield Wednesday. The high stakes game was settled by Johnnie Jackson's splendid first-half free-kick as Charlton defeated a Wednesday side that hadn't lost at home all season. Deflated Wednesday will have to pick themselves up without loan stars Ben Marshall and James Tavernier who are set to return to parent clubs Stoke and Newcastle.
Next up for the Valiants, second-place Sheffield United. The Blades beat Bury 3-0 at Gigg Lane. The impressive Ched Evans made it 13 goals in his last 11 appearances for Danny Wilson's side. Huddersfield, the other promotion contenders, eked out a 1-0 win over Oldham Athletic. For a change Jordan Rhodes didn't score.
Graham Westley kicked off his career as Preston North End boss (tellingly, their seventh since David Moyes left for Everton 10 years ago) with an entertaining 3-2 win against Wycombe. With just five wins under their belt all season, lowly Wycombe looked to offer Westley a great start to life at Deepdale, but the Chairboys' prolific on-loan Italian U-19 striker Marcello Trotta threatened to tear up the form book by netting a brace. Goals from Harry Bunn, Jake Jervis and Paul Parry spared Westley's blushes. Meantime, Stevenage carried on regardless, thrashing Rochdale 5-1 at Spotland despite Westley's departure. Martin Keown is rumoured to be the man heading for the Hertfordshire hot seat.
Bournemouth boss Lee Bradbury signed an extended contract this week. It was a development that raised a few eyebrows. Before the visit of Notts County the Cherries had won just three times at home all season, and just 20 times in 57 games under his charge. But goals from two of Bradbury's shrewdest signings, Wes Thomas and Wes Fogdon, secured a 2-1 win, silenced the doubters, and kept alive Bournemouth's hopes of a top six finish.
League Two
There was a changing of the guard atop League Two as wins for Southend (5-2 at hapless Northampton) and Cheltenham (2-0 over Aldershot) saw them leapfrog early pace setters Crawley Town, who were held to a 0-0 draw by managerless Bristol Rovers.
Without a win in the league since early October at the start of the day, AFC Wimbledon have been busy in the transfer market this month ? signing old-boy Jason Euell from Charlton, Bryon Harrison from Stevenage, and George Moncur and Callum McNaughton from West Ham as they seek to stave off a quick return to the Conference. Terry Brown's wheeler-dealing worked as Wimbledon won 2-1 at Port Vale, but it was a goal from stalwart Luke Moore that secured the three points.
In a lovely piece in the current issue of WSC, archaeologists take apart the terrace of Accrington Stanley's former home at Peel Park, unearthing lipstick, Vimto cans and the remains of a manager's chalkboard along the way. The League Two result of the day saw Barnet upset the form book and take apart the present day Stanley in a similarly forensic fashion. Goals from Ricky Holmes, Mark Hughes and Sam Deering gave the Bees a much needed 0-3 win.
? Click here for all of the day's results and here for the latest tables.
Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/football-league-blog/2012/jan/14/football-league-your-thoughts
Travis Ehrhardt Christian Ehrhoff Oliver Ekman-Larsson Keaton Ellerby
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