Under-18 play-off hopes fade
We went into the week’s fixtures confident of making the end of season play-offs in the U18 Professional Development League, but two disappointing results against Crystal Palace and Birmingham City have left us very unlikely to end the season with a top two finish.
We led 2-0 in both of the games at half time too, but Palace came back last Saturday to earn a point from a 2-2 draw while yesterday we crashed alarmingly in the second half with Birmingham scoring 6-2., our heaviest defeat this season.
The chances looked bright before Saturday’s game, but the top two both won as did Nottingham Forest who have now moved into third place and ahead of us. Even if we won our three remaining games, Leeds would require just one win from their final two games while Sheffield Wednesday would also require four points from four games to ensure finishing above us.
With two games in hand on Leeds, Wednesday are still the firm favourites, more so having won th big clash between the leaders of the two leagues last Saturday; their 1-0 win against Cardiff knocking the Welsh club off the top of the south group.
Leeds also had a good win against QPR who were the form team with a long unbeaten run while Forest had a comfortable 4-0 win at Watford to take them one point above us having played a game more.
In the south, Ipswich took advantage of Cardiff’s defeat. They hit Crewe for six to move two points clear at the top. and have become the first team to qualify for a top two finish. As for Crewe, they have now dropped to bottom of the north group courtesy of Hull’s 3-0 win at Millwall.
On the subject of bottom teams, Colchester have been there all season in the south group but finally they secured their first win of the season against Birmingham, beating them 4-1. It was a fifth successive defeat for Birmingham, making their win yesterday at Burnley even more remarkable.
We’ve just three games left, two at home, both to be found in next week’s fixtures, followed by our final game at Cardiff a week on Saturday.
The player featured this week is Jayden Major who scored in Tuesday’s game against Birmingham.
The League Tables are updated as results are confirmed and can be found with our Fixtures and Results in U23/U18 Stats on the top menu.
Last week’s results, this week’s fixtures, our goalscorers and the current league tables are below.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
Saturday 30th March
Bristol City 2 Sheffield United 3
Cardiff 0 Sheffield Wednesday 1
Charlton 0 Barnsley 1
Colchester 4 Birmingham 2
Coventry 1 Bolton 1
Crystal Palace 2 Burnley 2
Ipswich 6 Crewe 3
Millwall 0 Hull 3
QPR 1 Leeds 3
Watford 0 Nottingham Forest 4
Tuesday 2nd April
Burnley 2 Birmingham 6
Bristol City 4 Watford 1
Crystal Palace 3 Coventry 1
THIS WEEK’S FIXTURES
Saturday 6th April
Barnsley v Millwall
Birmingham v QPR
Bolton v Watford
Burnley v Bristol City
Crewe v Cardiff
Hull v Charlton
Leeds v Colchester
Nottingham Forest v Coventry
Sheffield United v Crystal Palace
Sheffield Wednesday v Ipswich
Tuesday 9th April
Bolton v Cardiff
Burnley v QPR
Hull v Crewe
Charlton v Millwall
Colchester v Crystal Palace
BURNLEY’S GOALSCORERS (LEAGUE & CUPS)
18: Michael Fowler
9: Mitch George
6: Lewis Richardson
4: Cricky Conn-Clarke, Ne-Jai Tucker
3: Will Harris, Jayden Major
2: Rhys Fenlon, Dylon Meredith, Matt O’Neill, Matty Rain
1: Joe Conley, Dan Moss, Terry Mupariwa, Edon Pruti, Bobby Thomas, Ben Woods, Kian Yari, own goals
CURRENT LEAGUE TABLES
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Leeds | 26 | 17 | 2 | 7 | 57 | 37 | 53 |
| Sheffield Wednesday | 24 | 15 | 7 | 2 | 62 | 20 | 52 |
| Nottingham Forest | 26 | 14 | 5 | 7 | 51 | 30 | 47 |
| Burnley | 25 | 14 | 4 | 7 | 59 | 45 | 46 |
| Sheffield United | 23 | 11 | 6 | 6 | 36 | 34 | 39 |
| Barnsley | 26 | 10 | 5 | 11 | 41 | 42 | 35 |
| Birmingham City | 25 | 9 | 3 | 13 | 45 | 52 | 30 |
| Bolton Wanderers | 24 | 7 | 4 | 13 | 44 | 60 | 25 |
| Hull City | 25 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 39 | 47 | 23 |
| Crewe Alexandra | 25 | 6 | 4 | 15 | 36 | 71 | 22 |
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Ipswich Town | 25 | 17 | 1 | 7 | 67 | 43 | 52 |
| Cardiff City | 24 | 16 | 2 | 6 | 53 | 24 | 50 |
| Millwall | 25 | 12 | 6 | 7 | 59 | 34 | 42 |
| Queens Park Rangers | 25 | 12 | 3 | 10 | 45 | 42 | 39 |
| Bristol City | 26 | 10 | 2 | 14 | 39 | 49 | 32 |
| Crystal Palace | 24 | 9 | 4 | 11 | 45 | 47 | 31 |
| Charlton Athletic | 25 | 8 | 4 | 13 | 38 | 42 | 28 |
| Watford | 26 | 7 | 7 | 12 | 45 | 58 | 28 |
| Coventry City | 26 | 5 | 7 | 13 | 30 | 57 | 22 |
| Colchester United | 24 | 1 | 5 | 18 | 32 | 87 | 8 |
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