Two with two wins in U23 League
Nottingham Forest’s win against Queens Park Rangers, and Watford victory at Sheffield United have left them as the only two sides in the Professional Development League to have won their opening two fixtures.
It makes those two teams early leaders in their respective leads. Watford are two points ahead of both Coventry, who drew at Burnley four days ago, and Crystal Palace while Forest have a three point advantage over six other teams in a league that has still to see one of the teams, namely Bolton, kick off their season.
As is always, it will take time for the league to settle. Only a week ago Wigan were celebrating a big 3-0 win in their first ever game at this level but they were hammered 4-1 by Bristol City this week in their first ever home game.
Apart from Bolton, every team in the north has picked up at least one point. We’ve still three other teams without a win, including ourselves along with Birmingham and Sheffield Wednesday but none of the three of us have lost a game either with us and Birmingham having drawn twice and Sheffield Wednesday once.
Last season, Dan Agyei was the league’s leading goalscorer and I posed the question as to who might take that title last season. Agyei scored 19 league goals in 2018/19 with Nottingham Forest’s Brennan Johnson in second place with 13. Johnson has already got off to a flyer with a brace in each of Forest’s two games while Wigan’s Joe Pigott is just one behind with three goals.
This week it’s the turn of the northern teams to travel and it kicks off today with games at Ipswich and Watford. We’re at Colchester on Monday while the team without a game this week is Wigan.
The League Tables can be found with our Fixtures and Results within U23/U18 Stats on the top menu.
The player featured this week is Jimmy Dunne, one of the players Steve Stone is hoping to get out on loan before the window closes for League One and League Two clubs at the beginning of September.
Last week’s results, this week’s fixtures, the leading goalscorers and the current league tables are all below.
LAST WEEK’S RESULTS
Friday 16th August
Birmingham 2 Charlton 2
Hull 2 Ipswich 1
Monday 19th August
Burnley 1 Coventry 1
Leeds 3 Millwall 2
Sheffield United 1 Watford 2
Wigan 1 Bristol City 4
Tuesday 20th August
Barnsley 3 Cardiff 1
Nottingham Forest 3 QPR 1
Wednesday 21st August
Crewe 0 Crystal Palace 1
THIS WEEK’S FIXTURES
Friday 23rd August
Ipswich v Leeds
Watford v Sheffield Wednesday
Monday 26th August
Cardiff v Birmingham
Colchester v Burnley
Coventry v Crewe
Millwall v Nottingham Forest
QPR v Sheffield United
Tuesday 27th August
Bristol City v Barnsley
Charlton v Bolton
Crystal Palace v Hull
LEADING GOALSCORERS
4: Brennan Johnson (Nottingham Forest)
3: Joe Pigott (Wigan)
2: George Alexander (Millwall), Odin Bailey (Birmingham), Max Biamou (Coventry), Kane Crichlow (Watford), Freddie Hinds (Bristol City), Joseph Hungbo (Watford), Elliot Simoes (Barnsley), Jake Young (Sheffield United)
BURNLEY’S GOALSCORERS
1: Tunde Bayode, Bobby Thomas
CURRENT LEAGUE TABLES
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Nottingham Forest | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 6 |
| Barnsley | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Sheffield United | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 3 | 3 |
| Crewe Alexandra | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 |
| Leeds | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| Wigan | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 4 | 3 |
| Hull City | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 6 | 3 |
| Birmingham City | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Burnley | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Sheffield Wednesday | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Bolton Wanderers | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Team | pld | w | d | l | f | a | pts |
| Watford | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 1 | 6 |
| Coventry City | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
| Crystal Palace | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 4 |
| Bristol City | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 3 |
| Charlton Athletic | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 |
| Millwall | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 4 | 1 |
| Ipswich Town | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 0 |
| Colchester United | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 |
| Cardiff City | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 0 |
| Queens Park Rangers | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 5 | 0 |
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