Good week in league and cup for the under-23s
Our under-23s progressed to the last eight of the Premier League Cup with last Friday’s win against Leicester and, despite having no game, we also got a boost in the league when Millwall travelled to Birmingham last Saturday and beat the home side 2-0.
With this being a designated cup week, there were just four fixtures played in the league, three last Saturday and the aforementioned game at Birmingham three days later. Bolton and Crewe both won last Wednesday to move within six and seven points of us respectively and both have now played the same number of games. In an outstanding all north group game, Barnsley and Sheffield Wednesday drew 0-0.
But the big league game of the week, from our point of view, was at Birmingham who kicked off three points behind us, with a better goal difference and with a game in hand. Any win would have taken them above us on goal difference but their 2-0 defeat, which also reduces their goal difference advantage to one, has left them trailing us by three points with four games remaining.
It’s unlikely that either of us will catch leaders Leeds. Although they’ve played a game more, they are eight points clear of us. It means they only need two more points from three games to be assured a top two finish and five points from those games will guarantee they finish top of the north group.
With the only two south group teams in action losing their games, there has been no change in that table with Ipswich needing a maximum of five points from four remaining games to finish top while there is still a battle for second place.
North group leaders Leeds were also the first team to go through in the Premier League Cup. They were held to a 2-2 draw by Fulham at Guiseley last Thursday but beat them on penalties. They were joined by us, Blackburn, Newcastle, Nottingham Forest and Swansea on the following day with Derby becoming the seventh team through last Sunday. The one outstanding place will go to either Everton or Sunderland. They should have met at Southport last Saturday but the game was postponed due to a waterlogged pitch at Haig Avenue. We now await the draw for the Round of Eight.
The player featured this week is Adam Legzdins. He’s played a vital role in a number of games recently for the under-23s and was in excellent form again last Friday in the win against Leicester.
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 league’s leading goalscorers, our goalscorers and the current league tables are all below.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE
Wednesday 13th March
Barnsley 0 Sheffield Wednesday 0
Bolton 2 QPR 1
Crewe 3 Bristol City 0
Saturday 16th March
Birmingham 0 Millwall 2
Tuesday 19th March
Ipswich v Watford – match postponed
PREMIER LEAGUE CUP
Thursday 14th March
Leeds 2 Fulham 2 – Leeds won 5-4 on penalties
Friday 15th March
Burnley 1 Leicester 0
Nottingham Forest 2 Bournemouth 1
Reading 1 Newcastle 2
Stoke 1 Blackburn 4
Swansea 2 Aston Villa 0
Saturday 16th March
Everton v Sunderland – match postponed
Sunday 17th March
Derby 2 Wolves 1
THIS WEEK’S FIXTURES
PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT LEAGUE
Thursday 21st March
Bristol City v Colchester
Friday 22nd March
Hull v Sheffield United
Coventry v Nottingham Forest
Millwall v Barnsley
QPR v Birmingham
Watford v Bolton
Monday 25th March
Bristol City v Burnley
Cardiff v Crewe
Charlton v Hull
Colchester v Leeds
Crystal Palace v Sheffield United
Tuesday 26th March
Ipswich v Sheffield Wednesday
LEADING GOALSCORERS (LEAGUE)
15: Dan Agyei (Burnley)
11: Tinashe Chakwana (Burnley), Aramide Oteh (QPR)
10: Oli Finney (Crewe), Michael Folivi (Watford)
9: Kian Flanagan (Crystal Palace), Ben Folami (Ipswich), Keane Lewis-Potter (Hull), Kyle McFarlane (Birmingham), Lewis Reilly (Crewe), Mason Saunders-Henry (Millwall)
BURNLEY’S GOALSCORERS (LEAGUE & CUPS)
22: Dan Agyei
14: Tinashe Chakwana
5: Dwight McNeil
4: Tunde Bayode, Marley Blair, Rob Harker, Lewis Richardson
3: Jordan Cropper, Bobby Thomas
2: Josh Benson, Ali Koiki, own goals
1: Michael Fowler, Mark Howarth, Christian N’Guessan, Ne-Jai Tucker, Matěj Vydra, Nahki Wells, Oliver Younger
CURRENT LEAGUE TABLES
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Leeds | 25 | 15 | 5 | 5 | 52 | 29 | 50 |
| Burnley | 24 | 13 | 3 | 8 | 55 | 40 | 42 |
| Birmingham City | 24 | 11 | 6 | 7 | 37 | 21 | 39 |
| Bolton Wanderers | 25 | 12 | 3 | 10 | 36 | 39 | 39 |
| Crewe Alexandra | 25 | 10 | 8 | 7 | 40 | 36 | 38 |
| Barnsley | 25 | 9 | 7 | 9 | 32 | 42 | 34 |
| Sheffield Wednesday | 24 | 9 | 5 | 10 | 31 | 42 | 32 |
| Nottingham Forest | 23 | 8 | 7 | 8 | 44 | 36 | 31 |
| Sheffield United | 23 | 8 | 6 | 9 | 32 | 36 | 30 |
| Hull City | 23 | 4 | 5 | 14 | 26 | 48 | 17 |
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Ipswich Town | 24 | 13 | 7 | 4 | 61 | 29 | 46 |
| Crystal Palace | 24 | 11 | 5 | 8 | 47 | 42 | 38 |
| Coventry City | 23 | 10 | 5 | 8 | 39 | 35 | 35 |
| Millwall | 24 | 10 | 5 | 9 | 30 | 27 | 35 |
| Bristol City | 23 | 9 | 5 | 9 | 38 | 39 | 32 |
| Queens Park Rangers | 25 | 8 | 7 | 10 | 53 | 54 | 31 |
| Charlton Athletic | 24 | 8 | 6 | 10 | 37 | 39 | 30 |
| Cardiff City | 24 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 36 | 35 | 28 |
| Watford | 22 | 5 | 4 | 13 | 26 | 42 | 19 |
| Colchester United | 24 | 5 | 2 | 17 | 28 | 69 | 17 |
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