Championship Talk

Week Two in the CCC is over and here are the scores and goal scorers that led thier clubs to vital points this week.

Burnley 0 Ipswich Town 3( Trotter 34′, Lisbie 41′, Jordan 88′ (og))

Southampton 1 ( Perry 43′) Birmingham 2 ( O’Conner 49′, Phillips 77′)

Doncaster 1 ( Guy 67′) Cardiff City 1 ( McCormack 88′)

Norwich 1 ( Russell 74′) Blackpool 1 ( Burgess 55′ (pen) )

Preston NE 2( Nicholson 58′, Chaplow 90′) Crystal Palace 0

Reading 2( Sonko 13′, 50′) Plymouth 0

Sheffield United 3 ( Sharp 3′, 13′, 51′) QPR 0

Swansea City 3( Smith 9′ (og), Boddie 71, Pintado 86′) Nottingham Forest 1 ( Perch 35′) Well done Swans!

Watford 1 ( Smith 28′) Charlton 0

Wolves 4( Iwelumo 28′ 59′, Ebanks-Blake 54′ (pen), Edwards 90′) Sheffield Wednesday 1 ( Easjas 15′)

Barnsley 1 ( Howard 44′) Coventry City 2 ( Eastwood 12′, Gray 68′)

Bristol City 1 ( Maynard 23′) Derby County 1 (Green 51′)

Congratulations to Billy Sharp of Sheffield United for getting the only hat trick in this weeks matches.

Bookmark to:

The second week of the CCC season kicks off Saturday after Carling Cup action during the week. Here are the match-ups for the upcoming weekend. The teams recent form is in the brackets and the venue its being played at is shown as well.

Burnley(L) v Ipswich Town(L) - Turf Moor

Southampton (L) v Birmingham (W) - St. Mary’s Stadium

Doncaster (W) v Cardiff City (W) - Keepmoat Stadium

Swansea(L) v Nottingham Forest (D) - Liberty Stadium    Go Swans!!

Norwich (L) v Blackpool(L) - Carrow Road

Watford (D) v Charlton (W) - Vicarage Road

Preston (W) v Crystal Palace (D) - Deepdale

Wolves (D) v Sheffield Wednesday (W) - Molineux Stadium

Reading (D) v Plymouth (D) - Madjeski Stadium

Barsley (L) v Coventry City(W) - Oakwell Stadium

Sheffield United (L) v QPR (W) - Bramell Lane

Bristol City (W) v Derby County (L) - Ashton Gate  On Sky Sports and Go Rams!!

Bookmark to:

Here are the match-ups for the CCC clubs that have advanced to the Second Round of the Carling Cup. Ties will be played on August 26th and 27th at 7:45 GMT unless otherwise changed.

August 26th 

Burnely v Oldham Athletic (League One)

Cardiff City v MK Dons (League One)

Coventry City v Newcastle United (EPL)

Crewe(League One) v Bristol City

Ipswich Town v Colchester United(League One)

Leeds United(League One) v Crystal Palace

Preston NE v Derby County

QPR v Carlisle United (League One)

Reading v Luton Town (League Two)

Rotherham United (League Two) v Wolves

Southampton v Birmingham

Swansea City v Hull City (EPL)

Watford v Darlington (League Two)

August 27th

Huddersfield Town (League One) v Sheffield Untied

Nottingham Forest v Sunderland (EPL)

Bookmark to:

The First Round of the Carling Cup has seen more then one CCC team sent out by lower league opposition. Other CCC teams needed extra time to get into the second round. The draw for the Carling Cup Second Round will take place on August 13, 2008. I will have the second round match-ups for CCC sides on Friday. Here are the scores from the first round with the advancing club in bold.

Bournemouth 1 (Kuffour 28’) Cardiff City 2 (Parry 7’, 12’)  

Bristol City 2( Carey 53’, Brooker 85’) Peterborough 1(Boyd 17’)

Bury 0 Burnley 2 ( Paterson 40’, 90’)

Yeovil Town 1( Warne 28’) Charlton 0

Crewe 2( O’Conner (pen) 14’, Elding (pen) 36’) Barnsley 0

Crystal Palace 2( Carle 45’, Oster 49’) Hereford 1 ( Ashikodi 41’)

Dag & Red 1 (Taiwo 68’) Reading 2 ( Henry 26’, Hunt 89’)

Derby 3 ( Ellington 83’, 100’, 105’) Lincoln City 1 ( Wright 48’) AET :D            

Exeter 1 ( Moxey 85’) Southampton 3 ( Holmes 29’, McGoldrick 77’ (pen) 91’)

Ipswich 4( Haynes 20’, 44’, Miller 22’, Lee 48’) Leyton Orient 1 ( Boyd 49’)

Luton Town 2( Jarvis 15’, Plummer 77’) Plymouth 0

Maccelsfield 2( Brisley 25’, Gritton 59’) Blackpool 0

MK Dons 1( Baldock 34’) Norwich 0

Notts County 1( Weston 106’) Doncaster 0 AET

Preston NE 2( Mellor 37’, 91’) Chesterfield 0

Sheffield Wed 2 ( Esajas 14’, 117’) Rotherham 2 ( Rhodes 15’, Reid 119’)
Rotherham win 5-3 on penalties

Swansea City 2( MacDonald 31’, 69’) Brentford 0

Swindon 2 ( Cox 34’, Paynter 41’) QPR 3(Balanta 32’, Blackstock 46’, Delaney 54’)

Watford 1( Hoskins 88’) Bristol Rovers 0

Wolves 3( Iwelumo 73’, 102’, Davies 106’) Accrington Stanley 2 ( Mullin 40’, Craney 104’) AET

Coventry City 3( Morrison 31′, Simpson 58′, 65′) Aldershot 1 ( Morgan 37′)

Nottingham Forest 4( Cohen 14′, Earnshaw 62′ 89′, Newbold 81′) Morcambe 0

Sheffield United 3( Hendrie 41′, Quinn 71′, Webber (pen) 91′) Port Vale 1 ( Rodgers 53′)

Wrexham 0 Birmingham 4(Nafti 14, O’Conner64′, Jerome 73′, Owusu-Abeyie 86′)

Bookmark to:

On Saturday the CCC season officially started as 24 teams battle to win promotion to the English Premier League and the riches that would come with that promotion. For the three promoted teams, Swansea City, Nottingham Forest and Doncaster, they are looking to establish themselves and avoid an immediate return to League One while Reading, Birmingham and Derby County look to bounce straight back to the EPL. One thing that is known about the CCC, there is no sure thing in this division and anything can happen. Here the results from the first weekend of action.

Birmingham City 1 (Kevin Phillips 90′) Sheffield United 0

Blackpool 0 Bristol City 1(Steve Brooker 90′)

Cardiff City 2(Steven Thompson 41,Roger Johnson 90′) Southampton 1 (David McGoldrick 45′)

Charlton 2 (Mark Hudson 3′, Andy Gray 85′) Swansea City 0

Coventry City 2 (Elliot Ward,pen 48′, Leon McKenzie 86′) Norwich City 0

Crystal Palace 0 Watford 0

Derby County 0 Doncaster 1 (Lewis Guy 59′)

Ipswich 1 (Kevin Lisbie 2′) Preston NE 2(Paul McKenna 21, Simon Whaley 34)

Plymouth 2 (Rory Fallon 7′, Marcel Siep 55′) Wolves 2 (Michael Knightly 19′, Sam Vokes 78′)

QPR 2(Fritz Hall 29,31′) Barnsley 1 (Iain Hume 5′)

Sheffield Wednesday 4(Marcus Tudgay 1′,65′, Apko Sodje 4′17′) Burnely 1 (Martin Paterson 6′)

Nottingham Forest 0 Reading 0

The Carling Cup is next up for the CCC teams on Tuesday and Wednesday then back to CCC action on Saturday.

Bookmark to:

Newly promoted Swansea City couldn’t have picked a better time to ascend into the Championship.

The Welsh club was a penalty kick away from being promoted to the league in May 2006, but Barnsley walked away victors that day in Cardiff.

In hindsight, it was a blessing in disguise for Swansea. The South Wales club now features one of the best sides Swansea has ever seen, which is heavily influenced by La Liga thanks to Swansea’s Spanish manager Roberto Martinez, formerly a player with Real Zaragoza, Wigan and Swansea City.

The Spanish influence doesn’t stop there. The style of play that the team employs is a traditional Spanish variety with lots of passing ball on the floor rather than hoofing them up the field, as well as an attacking style of play that is better suited for the Premier League than the old fashioned Championship.

Swansea’s squad is far stronger today than it was in 2006. The team now features six Spanish players: Andrea Orlandi (midfielder formerly with Barcelona and Alaves), Jordi Gomez (midfielder formerly with Espanyol), Gorka Pintado (striker formerly with Spanish side Granada), Angel Rangel (defender formerly with Spanish side Terrassa), Guillem Bauza (striker formerly with Espanyol) and Albert Serran (defender formerly with Espanyol).

It’s no wonder then that Swansea chose to play several friendlies the past two weeks in Spain to prepare for the grueling Championship season. The tour included a 3-3 draw against the Barcelona B side, a 4-0 loss to Espanyol, a 1-0 win against Palamos and a 2-0 win against Peralada.

The Spanish influence at Swansea is just one element of their success thus far. The biggest question mark about the Swans is that of experience. Can a Spanish style of play overcome the lack of experience in the fourth biggest league in the world? We’ll just have to wait and see.

Bookmark to:

Barnsley:

In: Roberto Colace (Newells Old Boys, Und),

Out: Istvan Ferenczi (Ferencvaros, Und)

Blackpool:

In: Matt Gilks (Norwich, Und), Adam Hammill (Liverpool, loan)

Burnley:

In: Diego Penny (Coronel Bolognesi, Und)

Crystal Palace:

In: Calvin Andrew (Luton Town, Und), Jose Fonte (Benfica, Und), Simon Thomas (Borehamwood, nominal)

 Derby County:

In: Rob Hulse (Sheffield Utd, £1.75M), Przemyslaw Kazmierczak (FC Porto, loan)

Doncaster:

In: Tomi Ameobi (Leeds United, nominal)

Ipswich Town:

In: Kevin Lisbie (Colchester, Und), Richard Wright (West Ham, Und)

Norwich:

In: Arturo Lupoli (Fiorentina, loan), David Bell (Luton Town, Und), Dejan Stefanovic (Fulham, Und), Elliot Omozvsi (Fulham, loan)

Out: Matt Gilks (Blackpool, Und)

Nottingham Forest:

In: Mickael Darnet (AS Cannes), Joe Garner (Carlise, £1.14M)

Sheffield United:

In: Darius Henderson (Watford, £ 2M + add ons)

Out: Luton Shelton (Valerenga)

Swansea City

In: Febian Brandy (Manchester United, loan)

Bookmark to:

Despite having the worst year that a football fan could have if you supported Derby County like I do, the loyalty showed by the clubs fans were  recognized in a Sky Sports survey. Even as Derby only claimed one win last season (1-0 v Newcastle) the Derby faithful sold out Pride Park, usually sold out the Rams away allotment and then turned around and sold an impressive 22,000 season tickets for the upcoming CCC season. The survey showed that 53% of Derby fans watched at least 15 matches. Let me tell you as a Derby fan, that was not an easy task by any stretch of the imagination. That was more then any other club in England last season. While the pride of the players may have come into question a time or many, the pride of the fans in Derby County showed week in and week out. Congratulations to my fellow Rams fans for being the most loyal fans in England!

Bookmark to:

Wolves

Founded: 1877

Nickname: Wolves, Wanderers

Ground: Molineux ( 28,525)

Last Season: 7th in the CCC 70 points

FA Cup Winners: 1893, 1908,1949,1960

League Cup Winners: 1974, 1980

Community Shield Winners: 1949,1954,1959,1960

Division One Winners: 1953/54, 1957/58, 1958/59

Divison Two/CCC Winners: 1931/32, 1976/77

Division Three/ League One Winners: 1988/89

Division Four/ League Two Winners: 1987/88

FA Trophy Winners: 1988

Trivia: Founding Member of the English Football League, were the first team to win the title of all four professional divisions, only club to have won all three domestic cups.

Bookmark to:

Watford

Founded: 1881

Nickname: Hornets, Yellow Army

Ground: Vicarage Road (19,920) Being Expanded to 23,500

Last Season: 6th in the CCC 70 Points

 Trivia: The Moose in the Watford Crest is the symbol of the County Watford reside in even though the nickname of the team is the hornets.

Bookmark to: