Doncaster lost 4-0 at Leicester on Saturday and the 2-1 at home
to Burnley to leave them eleven points off safety and all but down. Pompey also
looks to be down, not that you’d have known it they way they celebrated their
dramatic 2-2 draw with bitter rivals Southampton. Billy Sharp though he’d won
it for Saints when he scored in the 89th minute but a David Norris volley four
minutes into stoppage time earned Pompey an unlikely draw. Michael Appleton’s
side followed it up with a home defeat to Millwall though and given Bristol
City’s two wins they are now nine points off safety and look doomed. The aforementioned
City defeated first Nottingham Forest and then Coventry to climb out of the
drop zone and leave Coventry trailing by four points.
At
the other end of table Saints overcame the disappointment of Portsmouth’s
last-gasp equaliser to beat Crystal Palace 2-0 at Selhurst Park but are now
only above Reading on goal difference. The Royals beat Leeds 2-0 in a fierce
encounter that saw Neil Warnock’s side putting in plenty of hefty tackles and
reduced to ten men inside the first twenty minutes. They followed this up with
a win a Brighton thanks to Ian Harte’s superb free kick and Adam Federici’s
penalty save. These two sides face each other on Friday at St. Mary’s in what’s
shaping up to be a pulsating encounter.
Birmingham
again proved their quality as they beat Crystal Palace 3-1 and then held West
Ham to a 3-3 draw at Upton Park, although they lead 3-1 at half time. The Blues
are now nine points clear of seventh place Brighton and have again harmed the
Hammers’ automatic promotion charge. Sam Allardyce is under even more pressure
as his side are now six points behind Reading and Southampton and the locals
are still unhappy with his style of play. Blackpool and Cardiff occupy the
other play-off spots with 67 and 65 points respectively but Brighton,
Middlesbrough, Leicester, Hull and Derby wait in the wings with 63, 63, 62, 61
and 60 points respectively. For the rest of the teams in the division it’s now
a case of trying to keep players motivated or giving the kids a chance with
nothing but pride to play for.
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