English Championship round up 9/11/13

Article by Lucas Whitehead

Charlton Athletic 2-4 Leeds United

Leeds’ visit to the Valley was the unintentional late kick-off and Leeds’ star man Ross McCormack was the difference between Leeds and South East London. I viewed today’s match with a hint of cautious optimism, Charlton were in 17th at the start of the day and Leeds were in 8th, but then again I support Leeds so I can’t be certain. My first prediction for the score-line was a drab deadlock at 0-0, mainly due to our poor or lack of away form.

When I heard of the peculiar weather circumstances at the Valley that were delaying the kick-off, I was beginning to feel a sense of pessimism as I thought that these conditions would aid Charlton. I began thinking, “This has happened at The Valley previously.” Anyway, the kick-off was delayed until 3:30 and the game began slowly with the pitch being churned up. The pitch at the Valley made an Olympic swimming pool look dry!

17 minutes in, Ross McFourma... oops sorry Ross McCormack opened the scoring after a Dexter Blackstock flick on skidded into his path and he slammed the ball past the goalkeeper into the centre of the Charlton net. On the stroke of half time, an Athletic free kick was cleared only to Cameron Stewart who hit a crisp, dipping and stunning volley into the far corner of a flailing Kenny’s net. 1-1.

2 minutes into the second half, a reformed Danny Pugh was tripped inside the box and up stepped McCormack to drill the ball into the roof of the net to make it 2-1. Brilliant solo work from Simon Church was instrumental in Johnnie Jackson’s tap-in in the 70th minute which levelled the score at 2-2. McCormack replied in the 73rd to complete his first career hat-trick with a point blank volley and he joined Brian Deane, Mark Viduka and Alan Smith in the 90th with a curling free kick to become the fourth player to score four for the Peacocks. Four for 44!

Other stand out performers were Danny Pugh and Michael Brown who were praised by the happy and proud Brian McDermott but the common theme in the comments of Chris Powell and McDermott were an appraisal of Ross McCormack. Well, Gordon Strachan will be rueing his decision to keep Ross McCormack out of his squad after 6 goals in 2 games against Yeovil and Charlton. Quite remarkably, Leeds only had 4 shots on target and 36% of the possession but you can call the result clinical or another word would be lucky. I think that the game was undoubtedly hampered by the weather and it is credit to RossCo as the players call him. Also my massive plaudits and respect goes out to the fans who made the trip and were drenched by the Cockney rain.

Reading 1-1 QPR

Garath McCleary’s 25 yard thunderbolt off the post and in opened the scoring and put the Royals ahead of the Rangers 17 minutes into the second half but 16 minutes later Joey Barton’s free kick levelled it for Rangers. Nigel Adkins praised his side’s response to last week’s drubbing at the hands of Sheffield Wednesday.

Barnsley 0-0 Doncaster Rovers

As is the case with many derbies, the game with so much hype was a stalemate. Barnsley came closest when Chris O’Grady’s penalty was saved by former Chelsea and Middlesbrough stopper Ross Turnbull. David Flitcroft rued a lack of goal scoring opportunities and his Doncaster counterpart Paul Dickov praised his inexperienced back four and said he thought that

Blackpool 2-3 Ipswich Town

Mick McCarthy’s Blues tangoed Paul Ince’s Tangerines after they had taken the lead earlier in the game. Stephen Dobbie’s header with 22 minutes of first half time remaining put Blackpool in front but the Tangerine dream was over in the 65th after Frank Nouble’s shot wasn’t dealt with and Ipswich were level. The tangerines were soon given the blues after Paul Taylor opened his Ipswich scoring record with a curler into the bottom corner with 6 minutes of normal time remaining but it looked like the dream was back on with a stoppage time top corner strike by Steve Davies but it finished a Tangerine nightmare after Daryl Murphy headed Ipswich into an irretrievable lead. Mick McCarthy lambasted a lacklustre first half performance but praised his side’s resolve to win 3-2.

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