It's Round and It's White
Liam O’Connor rounds up the action from matchday nine of the Championship.
We begin the round-up of matchday nine from the Championship at Turf Moor, where six goals were equally shared between Burnley and Sheffield Wednesday. The visitors had to come from a goal down three times to snatch a point, a game in which Charlie Austin bagged a hattrick for Burnley. A Chris O’Grady double and a late strike from Michail Antonio earnt Wednesday the draw.
Rock bottom Peterborough picked up their second league win in four days as two early goals earnt them a comfortable 2-0 away victory over Barnsley. George Boyd put the visitors ahead with just two minutes on the clock after Shaun Brisley’s header came off the woodwork. Tyrone Barnett doubled their lead on 10 minutes, meeting Tommy Rowe’s cross with a thumping header. Despite the victory, Posh remain bottom of the Championship.
Nouha Dicko’s extraordinary over-head kick earnt Blackpool a 3-2 win at Hull, who suffered their second successive defeat at home. Matt Phillips put Blackpool ahead inside the opening 15 minutes, before Sone Aluko’s long-range strike levelled the scores. Stephen Quinn put Hull infront just three minutes after the re-start, but goals from Kevin Phillips and Dicko earnt Blackpool a win.
A Wilfried Zaha inspired Crystal Palace side came from behind to snatch a 2-1 victory away at Wolves, moving Palace into the play-off places. Sylvan Ebanks-Blake capitalised on a mistake from Damien Delaney, slotting the ball past Julian Speroni to open the scoring. Two brilliant individual goals from Zaha mid-way through the second half earnt Palace their fifth win in six games.
Two goals from Kevin Davies earnt Bolton a point at home to Leeds United. Davies headed the home side infront after 14 minutes, before Sam Bryam scored a headed goal for himself to level the scores just before the break. Luciano Becchio converted a penalty on 50 minutes to put Leeds in the driving seat, but Davies struck again 11 minutes from the end to salvage a point for Bolton.
Anthony Knockaert’s double either side of half-time sealed an important 2-0 win for Leicester away at Huddersfield. The Frenchman’s first goal was something special, a stunning strike from some 30-yards from goal. Knockaert doubled his and his sides tally for the game on the hour, his clever flick beating Alex Smithies to push Leicester up into the automatic promotion places.
Watford secured back-to-back wins for the first time this season, beating Charlton 2-1 at the Valley despite having ten men for the entire second-half. Tommie Hoban headed the Hornet’s infront on 29 minutes, but Ricardo Fuller equalised for the home side six minutes later. Fernando Forestieri was then sent off for the visitors, picking up a second booking for diving in the box. However, Almen Abdi’s free-kick 20 minutes from time sealed all three points for the ten men of Watford.
Mark Hudson’s winner on 57 minutes sent Cardiff top of the Championship following their 2-1 win over Birmingham. Craig Bellamy put the home side ahead after 39 minutes, but Leroy Lita equalised after 54 minutes to level the scores. Hudson sealed a historic fifth-successive home league win for Cardiff when he followed up a goalmouth scramble created from Peter Whittingham’s corner-kick.
Darius Henderson rescued a point for Millwall for the second game in a row as the Lions played out a 1-1 draw with Bristol City at Ashton Gate. Steve Davies put Bristol City ahead after 28 minutes, capitalising on a mistake from goalkeeper David Forde to score a 30-yard header. Henderson levelled 10 minutes later, heading home James Henry’s inch-perfect cross. Brighton had Will Buckley to thank as his goal 10 minutes from time earnt Brighton a point at home to struggling Ipswich Town. Daryl Murphy headed Ipswich ahead on 27 minutes, but Buckley’s scrambled goal denied the visitors all three points.
There were two games on Wednesday night, the pick of those coming at the Riverside where a late Paul Coutts equaliser earnt Derby a point. Theo Robinson converted from the spot after 16 minutes, but a double from Lukas Jutkiewicz put Boro ahead. However, Coutts thumped home following a scramble in the area to earn a point for Derby. Elsewhere on Wednesday night, Blackburn played out a 0-0 draw with Nottingham Forest at the City Ground, the point moving Blackburn back up into the play-off places.
