Championship Results 8th December Part 2

Reading 2-4 Crystal Palace
Simon Church must have failed his late fitness test on his back injury but in a way I’m glad. He’s had so many injury problems lately but he’s always started and he’s mostly had to leave the field early. I don’t want him to be injured but if he is it’s good he’s getting the chance to recover properly.

Sheffield United 0-0 Nottingham Forest
That’s the trouble when you score five goals at the weekend – you don’t have any left for Tuesday night! Nottingham Forest’s Robert Earnshaw couldn’t continue his scoring run (but three goals in two games sounds pretty good to me). He won his side a corner at one point but you can’t do anything with a corner if the referee awards a goal kick instead. Chris Gunter got a clean sheet for Forest – which is more than he did at the weekend – and was described as ‘outstanding’ and ‘excellent’ by people other than me.
Ched Evans played 62 minutes for Sheffield United. He didn’t score but you can’t say he didn’t try. He got fouled in the penalty area and everything but the referee didn’t see it.

Swansea City 1-0 Plymouth Argyle
Ashley Williams, Joe Allen and David Cotterill all got a start for Swansea. Joe was replaced at half-time (oh dear, is he injured?) but David played 85 minutes which could be more than he’s played for Swansea in his other matches for them put together.
Carl Fletcher didn’t have a great game for Plymouth. He got a yellow card for dissent but it’s not his fault if the referee gets it wrong sometimes. If they were in any other job, the referee (not that he’d be a referee) would probably be grateful to have someone like Carl to point out where they’re going wrong. But this is football so he gets another yellow (and it’s not impossible he deserved it).
Welsh goalkeepers David Cornell (Swansea) and Kyle Letheren (Plymouth) were on the bench,

West Brom 0-2 Cardiff City
Cardiff beat West Brom at the Hawthorns for the first time in 52 years. They were probably in different divisions for lots of that time though. I remember Cardiff being in the bottom division but I don’t remember West Brom being any lower than the second tier. Of course I can’t remember back 52 years. And I shouldn’t think my parents can either.
Adam Matthews was on the bench but Joe Ledley wasn’t in the squad. Maybe he’ll be able to have his hip operation soon, then he’ll be all better before the end of the season. If Cardiff can win away at West Brom without Joe, they can probably just about scrape by for the next few months.