Championship Results 20th November 2010 (Part 1)

Bristol City 2-0 Leicester City
Bristol City got a shock win (well, I was shocked) against former fellow strugglers Leicester and moved out of the bottom three. They are now just two points behind Leicester, who might count as fellow strugglers again.
Leicester could have taken the lead but after Andy King was fouled by keeper David James but James saved the resulting penalty. Andy suffered a hamstring injury in the first half but his manager doesn’t think it’s serious.
Christian Ribeiro was back in Bristol City’s starting line-up and played really well at right back. Brett Pitman wasa half-time substitute and scored his first Bristol City goal in the 57th minute. Brett is hoping to score lots of goals this level and he hopes more will come now he’s found his feet. I can only agree, if you haven’t found your feet you can only really score with headers.

Cardiff City 0-2 Nottingham Forest
It’s not Nottingham Forest winning that is the shock – more the fact Cardiff lost. At home. With Craig Bellamy on the pitch. They’re now only three points ahead of Swansea City, although Cardiff do of course have a far superior goal difference. Forest’s win puts them into the top six.
Craig and Darcy Blake both started for Cardiff, with Adam Matthews replacing Darcy late on but Cardiff still couldn’t find a goal although Craig came close. Aaron Wildig was on the bench.
Cardiff seemed very happy to see former favourite Robert Earnshaw, who nearly scored against his former club but seemed less well-disposed towards another of their former players, right back Chris Gunter.

Coventry City 1-0 Burnley
Burnley remain without their first win of the season after Coventry bounced back from a disappointing run to take the three points. Coventry are only outside the play-offs on goal difference but Burnley will struggle for a top six finish if they can’t learn how to win away.
Freddy Eastwood was an unused substitute for Coventry.

Derby County 3-2 Scunthorpe United
Derby won their sixth successive home game against Scunthorpe, who are usually better away than they are at home. Derby are up in fourth place and are the league’s top scorers, having scored four more than QPR and Burnley.
Gareth Roberts was back in the starting line-up for the first time since his recent injury problems but he didn’t last long – the defender was sent off for two bookable offences. Scunthorpe scored from the resulting penalty but Derby hung on to take all three points. Robbie Savage made his 500th league appearance in this match. His 500th start is not far away.