Middlesbrough and Hull close the gap
It’s that little bit closer at the top of the Championship following the weekend fixtures with both Middlesbrough and Hull closing the gaps after claiming victories as Brighton and Burnley fought out a 2-2 draw at the Amex Stadium.
It was Middlesbrough’s turn to go first again with an away game at QPR on the Friday night. We were travelling down for the Brighton game and so missed this one but the 3-2 win moved them into second place ahead of Brighton and to within two points of us.
Our draw stretched the lead to three points but they do have a game in hand as do Hull who had an easy 4-0 win against Bristol City. They are still seven points behind us while Brighton remain four points adrift. It’s certainly going to be tight between those four clubs for the top two places but anything can happen now with four games to go.
As for the two remaining play-off places, Cardiff’s win against Derby took them to within two points of them. The pair remain candidates; they are just behind Sheffield Wednesday who currently occupy fifth place.
Ipswich, Birmingham and Preston still have an outside chance but it is looking more difficult for them now.
At the other end of the table there is absolutely no doubt we are saying goodbye to Bolton. Beaten again they are now nine points behind Charlton who are next to bottom. Charlton had a shock win against Birmingham but they still have a lot to do if they want to escape the drop.
They are two points behind MK who occupy the last relegation position and they are six points behind Fulham whose win against MK has given them a bit of breathing space. You wonder just how big a mess Fulham would be in did they not have two strikers who continue to score goals regularly.
When Neil Warnock took over at Rotherham they looked more than likely to go down. He started with a draw but then lost the next two, including the 2-0 defeat against us. Since, what a turnaround. They beat Leeds on Saturday and that was their fifth win in six games with the other one drawn.
They aren’t safe by any means. Currently a point ahead of Fulham, they’ve more than given themselves a chance of staying up and I think they’ll do it.
As for Leeds, it is a second defeat for manager Steve Evans against his old club. We all thought Evans was going to go when they were hammered at Brighton last month, but his team recovered with wins against Bolton, Cardiff and Blackburn. They’ve now lost another two so things could change quickly, either that or Cellino will have to give him a long service medal.
All the red and yellow card counts per club can be found with the leading goalscorers, the highest and lowest attendances and each club’s average attendance at Goalscorers – Discipline – Attendances which is within the 2015/16 Stats on the top menu.
We’ve a full fixture list this midweek with all of the games tomorrow as follows:
Birmingham v Brighton
Brentford v Bolton
Bristol City v Rotherham
Burnley v Cardiff
Derby v Hull
Ipswich v Charlton
Leeds v QPR
Middlesbrough v Huddersfield
MK v Wolves
Preston v Fulham
Reading v Nottingham Forest (8 p.m. kick off)
Sheffield Wednesday v Blackburn
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