Welsh Player News 6th February Championship (Part 4)

Swansea City
Daniel Alfei was given more chances to impress following a very successful debut against Colchester United in the FA Cup.
League: Palace 3-0 (bench, on 89)
League: Barnsley A 1-1 (unselected)
FA Cup: Orient H 1-2 (played all)
League: Bristol C A 0-2 (unselected)

Joe Allen started three matches for Swansea in this time period.
League: Palace 3-0 (played all)
League: Barnsley A 1-1 (starts, off 76)
FA Cup: Orient H 1-2 (played all)
League: Bristol C A 0-2 (bench, on 71)

David Cotterill didn’t feature at all for Swansea in this time period. I don’t know why either but I hope it’s an injury. Not that I’ve turned all masochistic or anything but I can’t think of another reason for leaving him out other than bad attitude or bad performances.

Jazz Richards has claimed a regular place in Swansea’s starting line-up.
League: Palace 3-0 (starts, off 89)
League: Barnsley A 1-1 (played all)
FA Cup: Orient H 1-2 (unselected)
League: Bristol C A 0-2 (played all)

Neil Taylor has been out with an ankle injury since the New Year fixtures.

Ashley Williams attracted the attention of Wolfsburg during the trainsfer window but he says he’s only interested in Swansea because his German is rubbish. But is it better than his Welsh?
League: Palace 3-0 (played all)
League: Barnsley A 1-1 (played all)
FA Cup: Orient H 1-2 (played all)
League: Bristol C A 0-2 (played all)

Championship Fixtures 22nd January 2011 (Part 1)

Barnsley v Swansea City
Swansea travel to Barnsley hoping for a sixth win in five matches. But they’ve also lost their last three away games.
Ashley Williams will start for Swansea, with Joe Allen, David Cotterill and young players Jazz Richards and Daniel Alfei all hoping for a place in the squad. Neil Taylor is still out with an ankle injury.

Cardiff City v Watford
A win for Watford would give them seven consecutive wins, which would equal a club record. Cardiff are still very much in the promotion pictures but two wins in nine games probably won’t help their confidence.
Aaron Ramsey has rejoined his former club Cardiff but he won’t play against Watford as he didn’t join in time to be eligible for this match.
Craig Bellamy should be back in the starting line-up to face fellow promotion-hopefuls Watford. Craig certainly has his detractors and maybe once or twice I have just vaguely thought life might be easier if Craig wasn’t Welsh but he’s certainly dedicated.
Darcy Blake should also be in the squad. Cardiff have more loanees than they have places in the squad for loanees which might be bad news for Jason Koumas (though he is ill so he wouldn’t have played anyway) but that would give Adam Matthews, Aaron Wildig, Jonathan Meades and Nathaniel Jarvis a greater chance of being included.

Fa Cup Fixtures 8th January 2011 (Part 6)

Sunderland v Notts County
Notts County are near the bottom of League One so they probably don’t really want to go to a team who don’t go around losing home matches very often. So Notts County will be hoping to emulate Blackpool and West Ham United. (I would go for Blackpool.)
Ben Davies should start for Notts County.

Swansea City v Colchester United
Swansea probably still remember the last time they were giant-killed in the FA Cup. I bet most Cardiff City fans remember it too. The giant-killers in question also played Liverpool..Colchester, meanwhile, will be hoping to improve on last year’s 7-0 exit to Preston North End.
Neil Taylor is still out for Swansea with an ankle injury (he’s likely to be out for four weeks) but Ashley Williams, Joe Allen and David Cotterill should all be available. It looks as though Jermaine Easter hasn’t represented parent club Milton Keynes Dons in the FA Cup so assuming MK Dons give him permission, he could also play.
Colchester are missing at least three defenders which could be good news for Lee Beevers. Lloyd James will also be hoping for a second consecutive start. There could also be a space for Tom Bender on the bench again Tom will be off to the Balon d’Or ceremony next week.

Torquay United v Carlisle United
Carlisle supporters will have to travel a very long way in order to get to this match so they’ll really be hoping it’s worth it. Neither club has won since November but they’ve both only played three games since then.
Jason Price is back from his loan spell at Bradford City but he has already represented Bradford in the FA Cup.

West Ham United v Barnsley
West Ham are expected to rest players which could be great news for Barnsley.
Danny Gabbidon could be one of those rested. Jack Collison isn’t ready to return from a knee injury but it won’t be long now.

Championship Fixtures (and Postponements) 18th December 2010 (Part 3)

Sheffield United v Swansea City
Swansea haven’t won at Sheffield United since the year the Second World War started. That’s 1939, in case they don’t teach that anymore. If Swansea draw, they’ll move ahead of Cardiff City as their game has been postponed.
Ched Evans should start for Sheffield United.
David Cotterill doesn’t get the best reaction when Swansea play Cardiff City and he never even played for Cardiff, he was just born there. So his former club Sheffield United probably won’t be that thrilled with him either. David hasn’t been starting lately but with Gary Speed choosing country over club, maybe he’ll get more chances.
Ashley Williams looks certain to start – it will be his 300th club career appearance – but he doesn’t think this is a good time to play Sheffield United. Joe Allen is also likely to start while Neil Taylor and loanee Jermaine Easter should be somewhere in the squad. Jermaine is hoping that if he scores, the Swansea fans will stop booing him. Not that they’re all booing him but it was loud enough for Jermaine to hear.

Watford v Preston North End
Watford’s last league match went quite well. They beat Queen’s Park Rangers 3-1 away and ended their unbeaten start to the season. Now they host the team at the opposite end of the table. A win could move Preston out of the bottom three and they have been playing well.
Craig Morgan and Paul Parry haven’t started for Preston for a while. As Preston haven’t really found a winning formula yet, they might be worth a try but I don’t think Darren Ferguson reads my blogs so he might keep them on the bench.

Championship Result 10th December 2010

Swansea City 1-1 Millwall
Millwall got an excellent point away at Swansea, cleverly denying Swansea the chance to move ahead of Cardiff City into second place.
Jermaine Easter finally made his long-awaited debut for Swansea as a 56th-minute substitute against one of his former clubs. When you’re struggling to score in League One, the problem isn’t usually solved by sending the player to one of the Championship’s promotion contenders but I’m sure Jermaine doesn’t mind too much.
Ashley Williams and Joe Allen played the full match, with Neil Taylor and David Cotterill both unused substitutes.
Swansea manager Brendan Rogers wants Ashley’s contract situation resolved as soon as possible. He doesn’t want Ashley pissing off to join a Premier League club. Especially as Swansea could be in the Premier League themselves by then (and I hope they are as long as Cardiff go up too and in a higher position).
Steve Morison had chances to win it for Millwall but it didn’t quite happen.

Championship Results 4th December 2010 (Part 2)

Ipswich Town 1-3 Swansea City
Ipswich have forgotten how to win against Championship sides so Swansea ended up getting all three points, thus putting pressure on Cardiff, which Swansea probably didn’t mind doing at all.
Troy Brown kept his place in Ipswich’s starting line-up.
The only good thing about Swansea’s result is that Joe Allen scored again. It’s good for Wales. It’s probably also good for Wales that Ashley Williams and Neil Taylor only let one goal in. It seems like a horrible thing to happen but I’m sure it’s good really. David Cotterill was left on the bench which is a bit of a waste but maybe he’s saving his goals for Wales. Jermaine Easter finally made his Swansea debut. If he can go on a scoring run, that could be great for Wales too.

Leeds United 2-1 Crystal Palace
Leeds are unbeaten in seven after the double promotion hopefuls beat the surviving-by-the-skin-of-our-teeth-again hopefuls.
Sanchez Watt wasn’t in Leeds’ squad.
Lewis Price and Andy Dorman was unused substitutes for Palace.

Millwall 3-0 Scunthorpe United
Scunthorpe won the play-off final the season before last but Millwall are winning the race to stay there. My dad says they could have got four but that would have lifted Crystal Palace out of the relegation zone and no Millwall fan would want that.
Steve Morison scored not once but twice for Millwall.

Watford 3-2 Leicester City
Watford’s run of five matches without a win came to an end in this match but Leicester are five points outside the play-offs so it could be worse.
Andy King played 63 minutes for Leicester. I hope that was a tactical substitution rather than another injury.

Championship Fixture 10th December 2010

Swansea City v Millwall
So it’s up to my dad’s team to stop Swansea from moving ahead of my Welsh team. So if it works out, I’ll be happy. And if it doesn’t work out, I’ll be happy for all those lovely Welsh players. Sort of. Maybe.
Letting in the goals for Swansea will be defenders Ashley Williams and Neil Taylor with Joe Allen and David Cotterill possibly chipping in too. As for Jermaine Easter, I don’t know where he’s pissed off to but if he does finally make his Swansea debut, he’ll be playing against a former club.
Steve Morison scored twice in his last game so he should remember how it’s done.

Championship Fixtures (and Postponements) 4th December 2010 (Part 2)

Ipswich Town v Swansea City
Ipswich haven’t beaten Swansea since they were both in the top division together which must have been a very long time ago. Ipswich are hoping to avoid a fifth consecutive defeat.
Troy Brown played well in Ipswich’s Carling Cup win over West Bromwich Albion but he’s not expected to keep his place.
Jermaine Easter is yet to make his debut for loan club Swansea after injuring his thigh. He will have a fitness test to determine whether he’s able to play in this match. If he does, it will be his 250th career league appearance. Ashley Williams, Neil Taylor, Joe Allen and David Cotterill will also hope to start – but if not they should be on the bench.

Leeds United v Crystal Palace
Palace could be out of the bottom three if they manage to beat or even just draw with Leeds but with Leeds unbeaten in five matches, that’s a big if. Palace’s away form is identical to Middlesbrough’s which kind of says it all really.
Sanchez Watt has apparently recovered from his ankle injury but he’s yet to appear in a Leeds squad.
Palace are short of midfielders which could see Andy Dorman’s first start since it was revealed he was having trouble adapting to the Championship. Lewis Price will also hope to return to the bench.

Millwall v Scunthorpe United
Millwall will attempt to beat one of the Championship’s struggling sides in an effort not to become one of them themselves.
Steve Morison should start for Millwall.

Nottingham Forest P-P Bristol City
This match has been postponed as the streets of Nottingham are hazardous.
Aaron Ramsey will hope Forest’s fixtures don’t all get postponed now he’s joined them on loan. He was glad to get back to playing against Leicester City. And it’s not just you who’s glad, Aaron.
Chris Gunter says Aaron is mentally stronger after his injury.
Christian Ribeiro seems to be making the right back spot his own – Bristol City were relieved when he was declared fit to play in this weekend’s match – although obviously he won’t be playing now.
Sam Vokes was expected to play in a behind-closed-doors friendly for Bristol City but it’s not clear whether this happened or not.

Sheffield United P-P Reading
This match has been postponed as it’s just too cold.

Watford v Leicester City
Leicester hope to win their fifth games in seven matches but the last seven matches have been less kind to Watford, who haven’t won any of them.
Andy King returned from injury with a bang last weekend. He says Leicester aren’t scared of anyone and they could get promoted.

Championship Result 26th November 2010

Swansea City 1-2 Portsmouth
Swansea were denied the chance to move level on points with Cardiff City (luckily!) when Portsmouth came from behind to take all three points.
Ashley Williams and Joe Allen played the full match for Swansea. Neil Taylor and David Cotterill were unused substitutes. New loan signing Jermaine Easter probably didn’t quite join in time to get into the squad.

Championship Results 20th November 2010 (Part 2)

Doncaster Rovers 1-1 Swansea City
Doncaster will be particularly disappointed not to win this after playing well and not conceding until the 93rd minute. They actually scored twice but one was ruled out for offside.
John Oster and Brian Stock both started the match, with a lovely cross from John leading to Doncaster’s goal. Brian says Swansea are the best side he’s faced this season.
Ashley Williams, Neil Taylor, David Cotterill and Joe Allen all played the full ninety minutes for Swansea. Jazz Richards was on the bench.

Hull City 1-0 Ipswich Town
Hull won a second consecutive game for the first time this season, with on-loan Arsenal keeper Vito Mannone also helping them to a second consecutive clean sheet. Ipswich are in the bottom half of the table and their unbeaten run must seem like a long time ago.
Troy Brown was an unused substitute for Ipswich.

Middlesbrough 0-1 Millwall
I don’t know exactly why Southampton decided to loan out Jason Puncheon to Millwall but so far it’s looking like a very good idea. The debutant scored Millwall’s only goal to secure their first away win over Middlesbrough for quite a long time – and their first victory against anybody for five matches.
Steve Morison could have scored too but he didn’t quite.

Norwich 1-1 Leeds United
The two teams who were automatically promoted from League One faced off in this match, with neither emerging the winner. Leeds remain in the top six despite only drawing while Norwich are only outside the top six on goal difference.
Andrew Crofts could have won it for Norwich but no-one’s perfect.
Leeds were again without Sanchez Watt, who wasn’t sufficiently fit to return from an ankle injury.

Queen’s Park Rangers 3-1 Preston North End
The top club faced the bottom club and came out on, well, top in this match – and it probably won’t be much consolation to Preston that they scored an away goal at Loftus Road. – only the third QPR have conceded at home this season.
Craig Morgan and Paul Parry were both dropped to the bench, which probably doesn’t explain everything but I’m sure it didn’t help.

Championship Fixtures/News 20th November 2010 (Part 2)

Derby County v Scunthorpe United
Derby will be looking to bounce back from their defeat to Leicester but while Scunthorpe are quite low down in the table, it isn’t their away form that’s the problem.
Robbie Savage was left on the bench for Derby’s last game and Derby suffered for it. It sounds like his manager suffered for it a bit too. Let’s hope Robbie’s back playing this time – not least because it will be his 100th career appearance. Gareth Roberts has recovered from a back injury and should return to the squad.

Doncaster Rovers v Swansea City
The good news is Swansea need a defensive re-shuffle which will make it harder for Swansea to stay close to Cardiff. The bad news? Well bringing Neil Taylor into your starting line-up probably doesn’t count as weakening the team.
Even if Doncaster are thrashed 6-1 it won’t be all bad news although I doubt anyone would be very happy about it. They’d become the first team this season in the Championship to score in ten consecutive matches.
John Oster and Brian Stock should both start for Doncaster/
Ashley Williams will start for Swansea and wear the captain’s armband – as a number of Welsh players have done recently. Manager Brendan Rogers says he is close to signing a new contract but he expects him to play in the Premier League one day – whether Swansea get promoted or not.
After some impressive performances, it seems like Joe Allen will join him in the starting line-up, with Neil Taylor also expected to start to cover for injury. Whether David Cotterill has done enough to start remains to be seen. He’d be starting if it was up to me. Or maybe not. If I was managing Swansea I’d probably sell the best ones to Cardiff and play the eleven worst players. And I bet I’d keep the job longer than I’ve kept any other job too. That should be easy considering I’ve never had one.

Hull City v Ipswich Town
It’s early days but so far, Hull seem to be doing a pretty good job of this away victory business. It took them a while but now they’ve got it.
Unfortunately, they’ve now forgotten how to do the home victories. Maybe Ipswich can help remind them.
Troy Brown is most likely to be on the bench for Ipswich.

Middlesbrough v Millwall
Millwall have not won at Middlesbrough since new Middesbrough manager was three or four. No offence but that does seem like quite a long time ago. Boro do have a couple of problems in defence but maybe that doesn’t matter. Millwall’s strikers are either injured or just signed on loan so they won’t know everyone yet. To win, Millwall need to score two goals. It’s worked so far.
Danny Coyne has an ankle injury but even if he’s fit he’ll probably only be on the bench for Boro. Rhys Williams is still out with a pelvis problem.
Steve Morison will probably start up front for Millwall. He’s maybe a bit off form at the moment but at least he’s fit.

Championship Result 14th November 2010

Swansea City 1-0 Middlesbrough
Swansea tried to keep up the pressure on Cardiff with a win over Middlesbrough, who continue to struggle. Promotion favourites? Maybe next year. In League One.
Ashley Williams was in the right place to clear a Boro shot off the line but he was in slightly the wrong place when his header on goal went over. Joe Allen – Man of the Match according to Yahoo - also came close to to taking the lead but he laughed off the idea that he was the best midfielder in the Championship. David Cotterill also caused panic in the Boro defence with a corner. David and Neil Taylor were both substitutes but at least they were used substitutes, unlike Jazz Richards, who has had few opportunities to build on some very promising performances last season.
Boro are still without Danny Coyne, who has a calf injury but he’s been doing his bit to help Jason Steele, who has been selected for the England under-21s.

Championship Results 30th November 2010 (Part 1)

Cardiff City 3-1 Norwich City
Cardiff moved to the top of the table with victory over Norwich, who remain in the play-off places despite the defeat. It wasn’t Cardiff’s best performance and Norwich were actually quite unlucky but you know what they say about Champions. Play badly if you must but make sure you still win!
Craig Bellamy didn’t get any goals or assists against his former club Norwich but he played a bit part in Cardiff’s win. He was replaced by Jason Koumas after 71 minutes. Darcy Blake was on the bench again which must be a bit depressing – he only lost his place after getting a very dubious red card. Adam Matthews and Aaron Wildig were also among the substitutes.
Andrew Crofts was on the losing side.

Crystal Palace 0-3 Swansea City
It probably wasn’t a surprise exactly to see promotion hopefuls Swansea beat Crystal Palace but considering they have only one three away games this season – their last three – it was still a good result. Swansea are now unbeaten in six matches and haven’t conceded a goal for over seven hours. They play Cardiff next week. Oh dear.
Andy Dorman played the full match for Palace with Lewis Price on the bench.
Ashley Williams equalled a Swansea City record when he became the third outfield player to make a his 106th consecutive league starts. Neil Taylor and Joe Allen also played 90 minutes. Joe in particular was excellent throughout and scored the winning goal. Joe Walsh was on the bench for the first time this season in the League. David Cotterill and Daniel Alfei were also among the substitutes

Championship Fixtures 30th October 2010 (Part 1)

Cardiff City v Norwich City
Cardiff will remain in the top two whether they win or lose – and they could even go top if Burnley get their first league win of the season against Queen’s Park Rangers. But first they play Norwich City and the newly-promoted side are looking like promotion contenders themselves. Cardiff are unbeaten at home and are on a run of four consecutive wins.
With Craig Bellamy in the team, Cardiff have so far always won. His knee problems have severely restricted but he is expected to face Norwich, one of his former sides. Adam Matthews is back from international duty with the Wales under-19 squad but he might not go straight back into the squad if Dave Jones is still annoyed about that own goal, which could have happened to anyone.
Jason Koumas and Aaron Wildig (who technically isn't Welsh but he wants to be) should both be on the bench at least. Nathaniel Jarvis has returned to Cardiff after hia loan spell at Southend United came to an end but unless Cardiff have a few more injury problems (like they haven’t got enough already) I dount he’ll get into the squad.
Andrew Crofts should start for Norwich.

Crystal Palace v Swansea City
Swansea remain unbeaten at home but they now seem to have got the hang of this away-win business and are currently unbeaten in five which could be bad news for Crystal Palace. If Palace lose, it will be their worst start to a season for ten years.
Andy Dorman will hope to start for Palace again after scoring his first goal for them against Preston North End. Let’s overlook the small fact that Palace didn’t actually win. Lewis Price will probably be on the bench.
Ashley Williams will return to Swansea’s starting line-up after recovering from concussion – and will equal a Swansea record in the process as he starts his 106th successive league game. Neil Taylor, Joe Allen and David Cotterill will be on the bench if they don’t start.

Carling Cup Results 26th October 2010

Ipswich Town 3-1 Northampton Town
Ipswich would be forgiven for feeling slightly worried about Northampton after what they did to Liverpool. And it was Northampton who took the lead. Although Ipswich did manage to bring the score back to 2-1 by half-time, there was still a chance Northampton would score an equaliser… and Northampton only beat Liverpool on penalties. Luckily for Ipswich, the winner came finally (in the 88th minute, after 44 minutes of stress), Ipswich were back to winning ways and Northampton were able to turn their attention back to winning games in League Two, which might be a lot less romantic than giant-killings but it probably is more important.
Troy Brown was on the bench for Ipswich.
Paul Parry was on the bench for Northampton.

Leicester City 1-4 West Bromwich Albion
The score makes it look worse than it actually was although Leicester’s only goal wasn’t scored by one of their own players but by a West Brom half-time substitute. Leicester were on equal terms for nine minutes and remained in the game, at 2-1, for some seventeen minutes after that. (It might not seem like much but nine minutes can seem like forever in football.)
Andy King played the first 57 minutes for Leicester, at which point he was replaced by last year’s top scorer.
Boaz Myhill got a rare start in goal for West Brom and can’t really be blamed if his team-mates suddenly decided to start scoring against him. It would have been the last thing he was expecting.

Manchester United 3-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Wolves came so close to taking this match to extra time, with the club joint-bottom In the Premier League table taking on the club in joint-second at Old Trafford. True, Manchester United made eleven changes but that included Bébé and substitute Javier Hernandez, both of whom scored. A weakend side? I’m not sure.
Wolves were fined for making eleven changes in a Cup match last season so they compromised by making only seven changes. Perhaps with a full-strength team, Wolves could have won it but the players who haven’t been starting can sometimes be all the hungrier, and we all know what hungry wolves are like. And what is full-strength anyway? Your eleven best players and the eleven players with the biggest chance of beating Manchester United won’t always be the same team. West Brom were unlucky in that Man Utd were far from weakened in the striking department. I wonder if this Bébé has any Welsh blood.
Wayne Hennessey started for Wolves and acquitted himself well although he was unfortunately in the wrong place when the winning goal deflected in off his body. David Jones got ninety minutes and was one of the four players who started at the weekend but Dave Edwards was dropped to the bench.

Wigan Athletic 2-0 Swansea City
Roberto Martinez returned to Swansea City – but as the manager of their opponents, Wigan. It’s fair to say the Swansea fans were very aware of his presence and let him know of it in a less than friendly manner. Swansea could have taken the lead after 9 minutes but their goal was ruled out for offside (wrongly I think but it’s hard to be 100% sure, even with the benefit of a pause button) and it was Wigan who took the lead some forty minutes later. Wigan didn’t make sure of the win until the third minute of stoppage time, and even then it came from the penalty spot.
David Cotterill was restored to Swansea’s starting line-up and Joe Allen was an unused substitute but a number of players were rested, including Neil Taylor and loads of others I haven’t noticed because of my Cardiff roots. Ashley Williams wasn’t rested except probably in the literal sense as he had concussion.

Championship Results 23rd October 2010 (Part 2)

Preston North End 4-3 Crystal Palace
Preston probably got a bit worried when Palace started fighting back. They’re probably still having nightmares about Burnley and Preston know it’s possible to fight back from 4-1 down and win – they did it against Leeds United. But it was okay this time. Preston held on for the win.
Paul Parry was on the bench for Preston. Craig Morgan wasn’t there but I don’t know why.
Andy Dorman scored his first goal for Crystal Palace. Lewis Price was on the bench.

Swansea 2-0 Leicester City
Ashley Williams and Joe Allen both started for Swansea. Neil Taylor and David Cotterill were unused substitutes.
Andy King started for Leicester.

Championship Fixtures 19th October 2010 (Part 3)

Nottingham Forest v Middlesbrough
Both these teams were supposed to be challenging for promotion. The only good news is that it’s probably still possible. Nottingham Forest, amazingly, have an unbeaten home record to defend while Middlesbrough are desperate to add to their solitary away point.
Forest’s Robert Earnshaw still isn’t ready to return from a hamstring injury but Chris Gunter should play.
It’s hard to know who will start for managerless Middlesbrough but I’d like to think Danny Coyne is in with a chance although Jason Steele undoubtedly has a great future in goal. Rhys Williams is out with a pelvic injury.

Preston North End v Scunthorpe United
Preston fans were probably all hopeful after their dramatic 6-4 victory over Leeds and a not half bad draw against Reading. Then Derby came along and spoiled the party. But can Preston get things going again against Scunthorpe?
Craig Morgan will hope to keep his place in central defence for Preston after returning to the starting line-up for the defeat to Derby. Paul Parry might be in with a chance of starting due to the suspension of winger Keith Treacy.

Swansea City v Queen’s Park Rangers
Swansea are storming up the league, unbeaten at home, the gap between them and Cardiff City becoming scarily smaller by the day. But if any team is going to stop them in their tracks, that team is unbeaten QPR, who are unbeaten everywhere.
Joe Allen has recovered from the groin injury that ruled him out of Swansea’s weekend match. Ashley Williams should also start with Neil Taylor and David Cotterill on the bench at the very least.

Watford v Ipswich Town
Play-off contenders Watford and Ipswich (if there is such a thing at this stage of the season) are both hoping to bounce back from weekend defeats.
Young goalkeeper Jonathan Bond is away with Wales so presumably he won’t be on the bench for Watford.
Ipswich manager Roy Keane said the young players, including Troy Brown, would get their chances this season. I think it’s time to give Troy another chance, don’t you, Roy? He could be the answer to all the defensive problems Ipswich have had recently.

Championship Results 16th October 2010 (Part 3)

Reading 0-1 Swansea City
Swansea are up to fourth in the Championship after winning their second consecutive away match. It took them a while to find their first away win but now they can’t stop – although hopefully they will stop before they play Cardiff away.
Hal Robson-Kanu was able to start for Reading despite the hamstring injury that kept him out of Wales’ match against Switzerland. Simon Church came off the bench ten minutes after Hal was replaced.
David Cotterill started the match on the bench for Swansea but an injury led to his introduction after 20 minutes. Fifteen minutes later, the ball was in the back of the Reading net and a great pass from David reached Scott Sinclair, who scored his ninth goal in ten games. Any chance Sinclair could be suspended when Swansea play Cardiff away?
Ashley Williams was the only other Welshman to feature but Neil Taylor was on the bench.

Scunthorpe United 1-3 Doncaster Rovers
Scunthorpe were unable to add to their one home win this season but Doncaster had few problems in doubling their tally of away victories.
John Oster got the assist for Doncaster’s first goal with a great pass. When John left the field, Brian Stock was the player who replaced him.

Sheffield United 3-3 Burnley
Burnley probably thought they’d finally got their first away win of the season when Jay Rodriguez put them 4-3 up in the 90th minute. But Gary Speed’s Sheffield United equalised four minutes later to share the points.
Ched Evans came off the Sheffield United bench after 69 minutes. I’m not sure the bench is really the place for your joint top scorer but he has had a groin injury.

Wales v Bulgaria/Switzerland v Wales Updates 5th October 2010

Danny Gabbidon has retired from international football. It’s true that he’s had a number of serious injury problems and understandable that he might prefer to concentrate on club football but I’m very disappointed, by both his retirement and the timing of his announcement. Brian Flynn isn’t happy and I don’t blame him. Danny ought to have announced his retirement either before the squad was announced or after he’d played in the match. Maybe one day he’ll feel able to reconsider. It would be great to see him have a good run in West Ham's team.

Neal Eardley, Brian Stock and Robert Earnshaw have all been ruled out of Wales’ qualifiers against Bulgaria and Switzerland. Rob has missed the last few matches for Nottingham Forest with a hamstring injury so his withdrawal is not a surprise. Neal suffered a knee injury during Blackpool’s win against Liverpool (funny how the second half of that sentence goes some way towards making up for the first) while Brian’s back is playing up again.

Neil Taylor (Swansea City), Darcy Blake (Cardiff City), Andrew Crofts (Norwich City) and Ryan Doble (Southampton) have been called into the squad. I’m especially thrilled for Darcy, who has been one of Cardiff's best players (no disrespect to the others but I was particularly shocked by Darcy's omission from the original squad) while Andrew and Neil have done really well for their new clubs Norwich and Swansea. Ryan recently made a very brief Southampton debut but he’s obviously impressed at under-21 level.


Wales squad
Goalkeepers: Jonathan Bond (Watford), David Cornell (Swansea City), Wayne Hennessey (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Boaz Myhill (West Bromwich Albion)
Defenders: Darcy Blake (Cardiff City), Danny Collins (Stoke City), James Collins (Aston Villa), Chris Gunter (Nottingham Forest), Christian Ribeiro (Bristol City), Sam Ricketts (Bolton Wanderers), Neil Taylor (Swansea City), Ashley Williams (Swansea City)
Midfielders: Joe Allen (Swansea City), Gareth Bale (Tottenham Hotspur), Andrew Crofts (Norwich City), Dave Edwards (Wolverhampton Wanderers), Andy King (Leicester City), Joe Ledley (Celtic), David Vaughan (Blackpool)
Forwards: Simon Church (Reading), Ryan Doble (Southampton), Ched Evans (Sheff Utd), Steve Morison (Millwall), Hal Robson-Kanu (Reading).

Hal Robson-Kanu could be a doubt after missing Reading’s weekend match but I haven’t heard anything about him being a doubt so maybe he’s okay now.


Danny Collins is happy to be back with Wales. He explains what went wrong between him and John Toshack.

Chris Gunter believes Brian Flynn is the answer to Wales’ problems.

Gareth Bale is also very happy with his new manager.

It might sound strange but Craig Bellamy’s health is even more important than Wales' qualifying. I’m not happy that Craig wasn’t allowed to play for Wales but then he plays for Cardiff but I don’t blame Craig for that. It’s a strange situation, a player’s being withdrawn from contention for their country but then playing for their club before their country’s match was due to take place but it’s not a situation for which we can really blame the player. But the manager? That's a different matter. Maybe the Wales fans should have been given more of an explanation for Craig's absence.

Simon Davies has spoken about his retirement from international football and the seriousness of his foot injury.

Championship Results 2nd October 2010 Part 3

Sheffield United 0-1 Watford
Watford continue their great start to the season with an away victory over Sheffield United.
Sheffield United left Ched Evans on the bench again and guess what happened. They did okay with the creating chances part but there wasn’t really anyone to score from them – although they did bring Ched on later on to give him his 100th career appearance.

Swansea City 0-0 Derby County
Derby brought Swansea’s 100% home record to an end with a goalless draw
Ashley Williams had to work hard in defence for Swansea. He and Joe Allen both played the full match and both came close to scoring but Neil Taylor was dropped to the bench. Lee Lucas made his first appearance of the season on the bench – which is probably pretty excting when you’re Lee’s age.
Robbie Savage was the star for Derby as they continually thwarted Swansea before starting up an attack of their own. This was Robbie’s 100th start for Derby.