Three teams hit five to start the year
The Professional Development League has got underway for 2018 in the last three weeks with six games played and three teams hitting five goals which have included two hat tricks.
Greg Luer bagged three in Hull’s 5-1 win against Crewe on Monday but the big news for them was the goalscoring return of Will Keane. He’s not played in over a year since suffering a cruciate ligament injury but he played the first half hour of this game as he makes his way back.
QPR also scored five on Monday, beating Charlton by the same 5-1 scoreline and it was 5-1 again yesterday when Jordan Ponticelli scored a hat trick in Coventry’s win at Bristol City whilst the rest of the place was heading up to Manchester for the League Cup game.
There were only two games played in the north group. Apart from Hull’s win, Leeds climbed off the bottom at our expense when they beat us 2-1 at Thorp Arch last Friday afternoon. The scores were level, with Dan Agyei having scored our goal, when goalkeeper Conor Mitchell (pictured) was sent off. Mitchell will serve a one match ban which will be next week’s Premier League Cup tie against Newcastle.
We could be bottom for a while now too. We don’t play a league game until 29th January and three of our next five games are in the Premier League Cup.
The League Tables will be 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, the league’s leading goalscorers, our goalscorers and the current league tables are all below.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
Friday 5th January
Leeds 2 Burnley 1
Nottingham Forest v Bolton – postponed
Monday 8th January
Hull 5 Crewe 1
Sheffield United v Birmingham – postponed
Sheffield Wednesday v Barnsley – postponed
Cardiff 1 Millwall 1
Crystal Palace 2 Ipswich 2
QPR 5 Charlton 1
Tuesday 9th January
Bristol City 1 Coventry 5
THIS WEEK’S FIXTURES
Thursday 11th January
Leeds v Hull
Friday 12th January
Birmingham v Sheffield Wednesday
Sunday 14th January
Huddersfield v Hull
Monday 15th January
Bolton v Sheffield United
Crewe v Leeds
Charlton v Colchester
Coventry v Crystal Palace
Ipswich v QPR
Millwall v Bristol City
Watford v Cardiff
LEADING GOALSCORERS
12: Connor Hall (Bolton), Tyler Smith (Ipswich)
11: Michael Folivi (Watford), Aramide Oteh (QPR), Jordan Ponticelli (Coventry)
9: Lewis Reilly (Crewe)
8: Victor Adeboyejo, Freddie Ladapo (Crystal Palace), Levi Lumeka (Crystal Palace), Conor McKendry (Ipswich)
7: Ben Folami (Ipswich), Virgil Gomis (Nottingham Forest), Mark Harris (Cardiff), Aaron Smith (Nottingham Forest)
BURNLEY’S GOALSCORERS (League & Cups)
4: Dwight McNeil
3: Khius Metz, Jamie Thomas, Nahki Wells
2: Dan Agyei, Tunde Bayode, Tinashe Chakwana
1: Harry Flowers, Rahis Nabi, Christian N’Guessan, Fredrik Ulvestad, Oliver Younger
CURRENT LEAGUE TABLES
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Sheffield Wednesday | 15 | 9 | 3 | 3 | 29 | 20 | 30 |
| Sheffield United | 16 | 9 | 0 | 7 | 30 | 25 | 27 |
| Bolton Wanderers | 15 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 31 | 25 | 25 |
| Nottingham Forest | 14 | 6 | 6 | 2 | 31 | 25 | 24 |
| Hull City | 16 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 27 | 35 | 23 |
| Barnsley | 17 | 6 | 3 | 8 | 28 | 29 | 21 |
| Birmingham City | 13 | 5 | 2 | 6 | 21 | 24 | 17 |
| Huddersfield Town | 16 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 22 | 30 | 15 |
| Leeds | 16 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 18 | 27 | 15 |
| Crewe Alexandra | 15 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 23 | 34 | 13 |
| Burnley | 15 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 16 | 33 | 13 |
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Crystal Palace | 16 | 10 | 1 | 5 | 36 | 16 | 31 |
| Queens Park Rangers | 16 | 9 | 2 | 5 | 36 | 29 | 29 |
| Coventry City | 15 | 8 | 3 | 4 | 33 | 30 | 27 |
| Ipswich Town | 15 | 7 | 5 | 3 | 33 | 21 | 26 |
| Charlton Athletic | 16 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 27 | 27 | 23 |
| Millwall | 18 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 17 | 22 | 22 |
| Colchester United | 15 | 5 | 6 | 4 | 20 | 21 | 21 |
| Watford | 14 | 6 | 1 | 7 | 26 | 19 | 19 |
| Cardiff City | 14 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 25 | 25 | 19 |
| Bristol City | 17 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 18 | 30 | 12 |
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