The 5-3 victory at Ashton Gate on Saturday – which featured two goals from new signing Jordan Rhodes – gave Blackburn one point lead over four clubs on eight points, although at this point in time the only club that can’t make significant strides up the table with a win this evening is Peterborough…but more about the Posh shortly.
None of the top six lost, although both Blackpool and Nottingham Forest had to come from behind to earn a point. Forest were two goals down at home to Birmingham with less that 20 minutes left, but a late own goal from Blues’ Spanish defender Pablo Ibanez prevented Forest’s first home league defeat this season.
At the bottom of the table, Peterborough lost 5-2 at Burnley despite taking a 2-1 lead at Turf Moor and are now five points adrift at the foot of the table. At this point last season, Doncaster were bottom with one point and a better goal difference and that didn’t end well for them: not to put too finer point on it, Darren Ferguson has his work cut out for him over the next few weeks. Once again, the Posh didn’t help themselves: a Michael Bostwick own goal gave Burnley the lead.
Watford are experience defensive problems recently – conceding seven goals in two games is not a sign that things are going well – but with two games at Vicarage Road over the next five days Gianfranco Zola has opportunities to right the ship. Derby beat the Hornets 5-1 at Pride Park at the start of the month but that’s been their only victory this season even though they’ve not lost at home yet. The Rams had the entire game to reply to Daniel Ward’s first minute goal at the John Smith’s Stadium on Saturday, but Huddersfield hung on to earn their second win in the last three games.
Charlton’s trip to Pride Park is probably the most intriguing of tonight’s matches, purely because both teams are in the bottom six and a win for either of them would be a confidence booster. The Addicks haven’t done particularly well at Derby in the past (two wins in the last ten league visits) and have yet to score more than one goal in a game this season.
Thursday is the only day this week without a game – Middlesbrough travel to Blackburn for a live match on Sky Sports 1 on Friday night (7:45pm kickoff) and with fixtures on Saturday, Sunday and Monday there should plenty of talking points over the next few days. All being well I’ll be back on Saturday morning with a look at what’s happened this week.
By the way, sorry about not posting yesterday…I’ve got one less pre-molar tooth after a visit to the dentist yesterday afternoon!
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