Burnley and Leeds close in on top places
Leeds United have gone up to second in the U18 Professional Development League, ahead of the Clarets, who are now third after the win at Coventry City, on goal difference.
This first win since January for our under-18 team means we are now three points behind leaders Bolton but the top two both have two games in hand on us which will, in all likelihood, make it difficult for us to make the knock out for the top two at the end of the season.
The league remains very tight with Nottingham Forest, Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham, all with games in hand, just one win from moving above us either on points or goal difference.
There were a couple of games played last midweek before north travelled south on Saturday. Two of the games fell victim to the weather but there were plenty of goals in the remaining seven fixtures despite there being two goalless draws.
Watford led the way with a 6-0 win over Nottingham Forest whilst there were five goals for Crystal Palace and Leeds. The highest scoring game saw Birmingham beat Charlton 4-3.
Those big winners, Palace and Watford, are the top two in the south group. Leaders Palace are six points clear of Watford who are a further four points ahead of Millwall who are third. Along with Charlton, who are behind Millwall on goal difference, the top four is likely to remain for the rest of the season with QPR some nine points behind in fifth place. The one threat is Cardiff who have several games in hand.
We have a re-arranged game this afternoon at Hull before the weekend fixtures which this time sees the north group entertaining the south group teams and it couldn’t be tougher for us with Palace at Gawthorpe this Saturday.
The player featured is midfielder Ethan Kershaw who was in the team that won at Coventry.
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, our goalscorers and the current tables are below.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
Tuesday 13th March
Hull v Leeds – postponed
Sheffield United 0 Birmingham 2
Wednesday 14th March
Sheffield Wednesday 3 Crewe 0
Saturday 17th March
Bristol City 0 Sheffield Wednesday 0
Charlton 3 Birmingham 4
Colchester v Bolton – postponed
Coventry 0 Burnley 2
Crystal Palace 5 Crewe 0
Ipswich 0 Huddersfield 0
Millwall v Hull – postponed
QPR 0 Leeds 5
Watford 6 Nottingham Forest 0
THIS WEEK’S FIXTURES
Tuesday 20th March
Hull v Burnley
Friday 23rd March
Sheffield Wednesday v Cardiff
Saturday 24th March
Barnsley v Charlton
Birmingham v Colchester
Bolton v Coventry
Burnley v Crystal Palace
Crewe v Ipswich
Huddersfield v Millwall
Hull v QPR
Leeds v Watford
Sheffield United v Bristol City
BURNLEY’S GOALSCORERS (League & Cups)
7: Jordan Cropper
6: Tristan Jumeau
4: Marley Blair, Craig Ellison
3: Jordan Barnett, James Clarke, Michael Fowler, Will Harris, Dwight McNeil, Kian Yari
2: Mitchell George, Sam Layton, Dylon Meredith, Dan Moss, Bobby Thomas
1: Leighton Egan, Lewis King, Terry Mupariwa, Oliver Younger, own goals
CURRENT LEAGUE TABLES
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Bolton Wanderers | 23 | 12 | 6 | 5 | 64 | 43 | 42 |
| Leeds United | 23 | 12 | 3 | 8 | 53 | 37 | 39 |
| Burnley | 25 | 11 | 6 | 8 | 51 | 54 | 39 |
| Nottingham Forest | 24 | 11 | 5 | 8 | 56 | 47 | 38 |
| Sheffield Wednesday | 24 | 10 | 6 | 8 | 54 | 39 | 36 |
| Birmingham City | 23 | 10 | 6 | 7 | 52 | 42 | 36 |
| Huddersfield Town | 23 | 9 | 6 | 8 | 43 | 53 | 33 |
| Hull City | 22 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 47 | 53 | 31 |
| Sheffield United | 23 | 9 | 2 | 12 | 32 | 45 | 29 |
| Crewe Alexandra | 23 | 8 | 4 | 11 | 47 | 44 | 28 |
| Barnsley | 23 | 7 | 4 | 12 | 35 | 47 | 25 |
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Crystal Palace | 24 | 15 | 5 | 4 | 55 | 23 | 50 |
| Watford | 23 | 14 | 2 | 7 | 54 | 34 | 44 |
| Millwall | 24 | 12 | 4 | 8 | 58 | 48 | 40 |
| Charlton Athletic | 23 | 12 | 4 | 7 | 51 | 43 | 40 |
| Queens Park Rangers | 24 | 10 | 1 | 13 | 51 | 66 | 31 |
| Cardiff City | 21 | 9 | 3 | 9 | 39 | 35 | 30 |
| Bristol City | 25 | 8 | 3 | 14 | 39 | 40 | 26 |
| Ipswich Town | 24 | 6 | 6 | 12 | 36 | 62 | 24 |
| Colchester United | 23 | 7 | 1 | 15 | 36 | 62 | 22 |
| Coventry City | 23 | 3 | 1 | 19 | 24 | 60 | 10 |
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