With the relegation battle in the Championship showing every indication of going down to the wire, while the playoffs remain interesting, Catherine Wilson rounds up the latest goings-on from the second tier.
Another day, another managerial casualty. This morning we were greeted with the news that Coventry have sacked Aidy Boothroyd after a disappointing one-nil home defeat to Hull, meaning the Sky Blues had racked up just one win in a run of 16 matches.
The spell has left the club languishing in 19th place, on the same number of points (41) as Middlesbrough, who recorded a relatively satisfactory goalless draw away at Portsmouth.
It seems that the drafting-in of experienced goalkeeper Paul Smith from Nottingham Forest is paying dividends for injury-ravaged Boro who are still dancing on the jaws of the drop zone while Forest themselves failed to score against visitors Doncaster.
High-scoring Leeds also failed to hit the back of the net as the promotion-chasers played host to hit-and-miss Ipswich. Up-and coming Millwall impressed with a strong second-half performance in their three-nil victory at in-form Burnley, managing to keep themselves in with a shout of a playoff place.
Goal machine Danny Graham found the net again this weekend with a tidy tap-in to help Watford on their way to a three-nil home win, helped somewhat by opponents Sheffield United finding themselves down to nine men in the first half.
Sven-Goran Eriksson’s Leicester City chalked up an impressive three-goal win on their travels at struggling Scunthorpe, with Miguel Vitor scoring a brace and Kyle Naughton bagging the third.
A bizarre backpass from Ashley Williams set Swansea off to a bad start at Pride Park, as home side Derby County capitalised to come good with a 2-1 victory to ease the pressure on manager Nigel Clough. Meanwhile, QPR kept their place (and a 10-point lead, for now) at the top of the pile with a late winner from the ever-impressive Adel Taarabt in their 2-1 victory against Crystal Palace.
On Sunday, there was an exciting finale at the Cardiff City Stadium as the Bluebirds twice took the lead against Mark Robins’ Barnsley. The Welsh side missed the chance to close the gap on third-placed Norwich when Andy Gray (not the “tuck this in love” one) levelled twice to deny Cardiff three points.
There’s still plenty of shifting space at the top of the Championship with only three points separating them teams placed from second to sixth. Norwich will look to move into second, displacing Swansea if they can take all three points from their game in hand tonight against Bristol City.
Although QPR are running away with the league at the moment, there’s a real danger that they could have points deducted by the FA for breaching agent and third-party ownership laws. Whether this happens before the end of the season, possibly affecting their probable placement as champions or next term, giving them a huge disadvantage in the Premier League, is a moot point.
Down in the lower reaches, Preston still have two games in hand as they sit rock-bottom, seven points adrift of 23rd-placed Sheffield United.
The defeats for Scunthorpe, Crystal Palace and Derby mean little movement in and around the relegation zone, while struggling clubs will be interested to see who’s in line to take charge at Coventry.
Could we see former Sky Blues manager Gordon Strachan vacating his place in the pundit’s chair and returning to the Ricoh Arena? Steve Harrison and Chris Hughton are standing out as early favourites with the bookies.
My key match next weekend: Hull v Norwich as the battle for playoff places hots up
Tags: Aidy Boothroyd, Coventry City, Derby County, Gordon Strachan, QPR
I would love Steve Harrison to become Coventry, he was a good man and well like at the Boro, unlike one other candidate.
Such a shame to see Boothroyd go - he gave us some great times at Watford, but also some of our worst - he’s a character that livens up whatever division he’s in and i’ll be surprised if he’s out of a job for long.
Agreed about Boothroyd - very likable, particularly around the time he got Watford into the Prem.
Tough decision for Coventry to make at this time of the season - on a personal note I wouldn’t have minded them continuing the slide a little longer as Boro could possibly have gained on them!