Without sounding as if we want to disparage Doncaster Rovers or Dean Saunders, arguably it shouldn’t really have come as much of a surprise that Rovers won their first game with the former Welsh international in charge. Crystal Palace haven’t beaten Donny since a 5-1 victory at Belle View in August 1960 and the Eagles have only won two of their last 27 away games.
Still, it’s a morale boosting victory for Rovers: they’re one win away from escaping the bottom three and might fancy their chances at home to Hull tonight – the Tigers have failed to win any of their last five league trips to Doncaster.
The weekend got off to a cracking start when Brighton drew 3-3 with Leeds; the visitors scored twice within twenty five minutes but two goals from Craig Mackail-Smith and an Ashley Barnes penaltygave the Seagulls the leadwith less than ten minutes left. However, Ross MacCormick’s second goal of the game and eighth of the season meant the points were shared.
If anyone was expecting Friday night’s game to the curtain raiser on a goal packed weekend, they would have been disappointed as there were only fifteen goals in nine games and three of those came in Derby’s win over Millwall. However, two of them were significant: Jacob Butterfield’s strike for Barnsley was the first goal Birmingham City had conceded in the league at St Andrews this season and Brett Pitman’s header for Bristol City against Hull was the first goal the Robins had scored at Ashton Gate in all competitions since May.
Burnley v Southampton finished all square: the Clarets took the lead through Charlie Austin but French midfielder Morgan Schneiderlin equalised for Southampton ten minutes before full time and his goal meant that the Saints remain top of the table going into tonight’s games.
The Carling Cup draw on Saturday could have been worse: Championship clubs are guaranteed two quarter final places but we’ll be covering those games nearer the time.
There’s almost a full slate of games tonight and on Wednesday – Birmingham are excused due to their Europa League group game with Maribor in Slovenia on Thursday evening – and apart from Crystal Palace’s first visit to Brighton for almost six years there are a couple of intriguing games.
The bottom six clash between Millwall and Watford at Vicarage Road is something of a warning to clubs looking to sell strikers to the Premier League: having sold Steve Morison and Danny Graham respectively, the Lions and the Hornets are struggling to find the back of the net. Millwall have failed to score in their last three away games, while Watford have achieved that feat in three of their four home games this season. This is also a low scoring game traditionally – only two of the last ten league meetings between these two in Hertfordshire have featured more than 2.5 goals.
On Wednesday night, it’s the only midweek game this week between teams in the top six when Southampton travel to Cardiff. This is a potential pitfall for the Saints: they’ve not won in the Welsh capital since Christmas 1965, the Bluebirds have beaten them in their last six meetings and this is the first time that Nigel Adkins’ side has played any of the other teams in the top six.
We’ll be back on Friday with a review of the midweek games and a look at Saturday’s matches, but if you’re going to a game tonight rather than watching the Champions League then you should be proud of yourself!
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