Bolton back on top without kicking a ball
Sheffield Wednesday went top of the Professional Development League a week ago, moving ahead of Bolton Wanderers on goal difference, but the teams have swapped places again after the recent games with Bolton returning to the top without having played a game.
Wednesday led Bolton by the narrowest of margins. Both had 34 points with Wednesday’s goal difference one better. However, they were beaten at Huddersfield yesterday and that has now seen Bolton return to the top of the league by virtue of goals scored.
Both might have needed to keep a close eye on Nottingham Forest who were just four points behind with games in hand. A win at Leeds would have seen them close the gap to one point but they suffered a big 5-1 defeat last Friday and that’s enabled Sheffield United, who won at Hull, to move into third place.
We had no game because of our Premier League Cup commitment at Colchester last Friday, but we are certainly some way behind now at the bottom although we do have games in hand having played less games than any other team. Even so, we are four points behind next team Crewe and a further four points behind Birmingham.
Birmingham played a north v south game last week and drew against QPR. They are our next opponents in two days time although the game is at Gawthorpe with a 1 p.m. kick off, a change from the previously scheduled 12 noon, and is behind closed doors.
Colchester, who had scored five in the game previous to beating us, couldn’t continue with their recent good form yesterday. They were beaten 4-1 at home by Crystal Palace and that’s stretched Palace’s lead at the top of the south group to eight points with second place Ipswich without a game.
There is more than a full fixture list in the next week starting this Thursday and running through to next Monday. A number of the earlier games are re-arranged fixtures.
The player featured is Brad Jackson who is back with our under-23s having spent the first half of the season on loan at Southport.
The League Tables are updated as results are confirmed and can be found with our Fixtures and Results within U23/U18 Stats on the top menu.
Last week’s results, this week’s fixtures, the leading goalscorers, our goalscorers and the current tables are below.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
Friday 9th February
Birmingham 2 QPR 2
Leeds 5 Nottingham Forest 1
Watford 3 Coventry 3
Monday 12th February
Huddersfield 3 Sheffield Wednesday 2
Hull 1 Sheffield United 2
Colchester 1 Crystal Palace 4
THIS WEEK’S FIXTURES
Thursday 15th February
Burnley v Birmingham – kick off 1 p.m. at Gawthorpe
Cardiff v Coventry
Colchester v Watford
Friday 16th February
Barnsley v Huddersfield
Nottingham Forest v Bolton
Monday 19th February
Birmingham v Crewe
Nottingham Forest v Huddersfield
Sheffield United v Leeds
Sheffield Wednesday v Hull
Bristol City v Cardiff
Coventry v Colchester
Crystal Palace v QPR
Ipswich v Charlton
Millwall v Watford
LEADING GOALSCORERS
16: Connor Hall (Bolton)
13: Jordan Ponticelli (Coventry)
12: Tyler Smith (Sheffield United)
11: Michael Folivi (Watford), Aramide Oteh (QPR), Lewis Reilly (Crewe)
10: Victor Adeboyejo (Barnsley), Virgil Gomis (Nottingham Forest), Levi Lumeka (Crystal Palace)
BURNLEY’S GOALSCORERS (League & Cups)
5: Dwight McNeil
3: Khius Metz, Jamie Thomas, Nahki Wells
2: Dan Agyei, Tunde Bayode, Tinashe Chakwana
1: Harry Flowers, Ntumba Massanka, Rahis Nabi, Christian N’Guessan, Fredrik Ulvestad, Oliver Younger
CURRENT LEAGUE TABLES
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Bolton Wanderers | 19 | 11 | 1 | 7 | 38 | 32 | 34 |
| Sheffield Wednesday | 20 | 10 | 4 | 6 | 35 | 29 | 34 |
| Sheffield United | 20 | 10 | 1 | 9 | 35 | 32 | 31 |
| Nottingham Forest | 17 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 39 | 32 | 30 |
| Hull City | 21 | 9 | 2 | 10 | 36 | 43 | 29 |
| Barnsley | 20 | 7 | 4 | 9 | 34 | 35 | 25 |
| Leeds | 22 | 7 | 4 | 11 | 32 | 38 | 25 |
| Huddersfield Town | 21 | 7 | 3 | 11 | 31 | 36 | 24 |
| Birmingham City | 18 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 27 | 31 | 21 |
| Crewe Alexandra | 17 | 5 | 2 | 10 | 26 | 36 | 17 |
| Burnley | 16 | 3 | 4 | 9 | 16 | 36 | 13 |
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Crystal Palace | 20 | 13 | 1 | 6 | 46 | 25 | 40 |
| Ipswich Town | 18 | 9 | 5 | 4 | 43 | 26 | 32 |
| Coventry City | 18 | 9 | 4 | 6 | 43 | 37 | 31 |
| Queens Park Rangers | 20 | 9 | 3 | 8 | 42 | 40 | 30 |
| Colchester United | 18 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 29 | 29 | 27 |
| Charlton Athletic | 18 | 7 | 5 | 6 | 30 | 29 | 26 |
| Millwall | 21 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 19 | 28 | 26 |
| Cardiff City | 17 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 29 | 28 | 25 |
| Watford | 18 | 7 | 3 | 8 | 36 | 30 | 24 |
| Bristol City | 20 | 2 | 8 | 10 | 23 | 37 | 14 |
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