One or two shocks at the weekend, the Cobblers dishing out a thumping to Pompey, and the rejuvenated Burton Albion turning over Posh. I said at the time the results were more predictable than usual, but as we know anything can happen this season, and invariably has. Tonight’s fixtures are also very interesting, a couple of weeks ago 6 of the bottom 7 went head to head, tonight the top of the table is the focus, Ipswich v Lincoln, Peterborough v Hull City, and Portsmouth v Sunderland, plus a nice little scrap at the bottom, the leagues form team Burton take on AFC, let’s have a look and see what happened….fingers crossed.
AFCW 0 Burton 1
When you are feeling low you can nearly always rely on AFC cheering you up. In a game devoid of quality and goal mouth action, in fact the whole game only conjured up 6 shots all game and just 3 of those on target, one of which fell to Michael Bostick who hit a right footed shot in the bottom left corner to ease in form Burton further up the table, and push AFC into second from bottom.
Bristol Rovers 4 Accrington 1
Our opponents on Saturday Accy Stan took a right walloping from Joey Barton’s Rovers who lifted themselves a point out of the relegation zone. Rovers took the lead after just 15 minutes, Luke Leahy allowed to just stroll through the Stanley defence and stroke his shot past Savin. Alex Rodman doubled the lead just before the break hitting a sweet left footed shot from the edge of the box that sailed in. On the hour Rovers struck twice in two minutes, Sam Nicholson hammering one in from outside the box quickly followed by Zain Westbrooke tap in. Smythe pulled one back from an impossible angle, and despite either side rattling the cross bar a total of four times there were no further additions to the score.
Charlton 2 Northampton 1
The Cobblers drop back into the bottom four, but it took over an hour for Charlton to break the deadlock. Jake Forster Caskey was fouled in the box by Jack Sowerby and Connor Washington made no mistake from the spot. Five minutes from time the game was made virtually safe with Washington seizing his chance after a scramble and firing it straight down the middle. The Cobblers pulled one back three minutes into injury time Alex Jones heading home from inside the six yard box following a neat corner routine, but in honesty it was little more than a consolation goal.
Crewe 1 Doncaster 0
Spluttering Doncasterlona managed to lose again but remain in the playoff berths. Mikael Mandron score the only goal of the game ten minutes after the break with a right footed shot from just inside the box after some good work by Charlie Kirk.
Ipswich 1 Lincoln 1
A worldie from Man City loanee Morgan Rogers gave the Imps the lead at half time. He ploughed through the Tractor Boys defence and then hit a thunderbolt from 25 yards that gave Tomas Holy no chance. Twenty minutes from time Town equalised, James Wilson heading home from inside the six yard box. Lincoln remain in third, Ipswich are loitering with intent in 7th spot.
Peterborough 1 Hull 3
The top two met at London Rod where the Posh got mauled by the Tigers. Separated by goal difference at kick off it took Posh just 8 mins to gain the upper hand. Matt Ingram failed to hold a Sammie Szmodics shot and Reece Brown calmly slotted home, but the game turned on its head before halftime. Reece Burke headed home a Honeyman freekick then Ethan Hamilton saw his second yellow following a reckless challenge. It took Hull just 4 minutes after the break to complete the comeback, Keane Lewis-Potter converting a teasing cross from Callum Elder. On the hour the game was put beyond doubt, Honeyman was brought down by Frankie Kent and Malik Wilks scored his 20th goal of the season from the spot.
Plymouth 0 Wigan 2
Wigan continue their revival, this time over the hot and cold Argyle. Solomon-Otabor scored after 13 minutes hitting a first time shot from a Gavin Massey cross. With 30 minutes gone Wigan doubled their lead with a tidy near post header from Curtis Tilt completing some superb build up play. Argyle were never out of it and struck the post three times on a night nothing went right. Wigan move out of the bottom four for the first time.
Rochdale 0 Shrewsbury 2
Dale remain bottom of the pile with another miserable home defeat and have had just one win in their last 20 games. The damage was done by Josh Daniels who somehow managed to squeeze a header home from a deep cross. One became two 9 minutes later when Josh Vela beat the Dale offside trap and fired home from the edge of the box. That’s six games without a goal now for the once free scoring Dale.
Swindon 1 Oxford 2
Oxford took an early lead in this derby game after just 3 minutes, Elliot Moore laying in Brandon Barker on the edge of the box who fired it straight into the bottom right corner. Both teams had good chances to score but Daniel Ageyi was the man for Oxford 5 minutes from time, beautifully set up by Shodipo’s headed pass. In injury time Swindon pulled one back through Taylor Curran from very close range, but Oxford managed to navigate the last 4 minutes. The Robins drop into the bottom four and Oxford move within two points of the playoffs.
Fleetwood 1 Gillingham 0
The Gills were up way past their bedtime, and it showed as Fleetwood took the lead after just two minutes, Kyle Vassell converting a penalty after Connor Ogilvie fouled Gerard Garner in the box, and that’s just about the only thing of note to report.
Portsmouth 0 Sunderland 2
Pompey slumped to their third successive defeat this time at the hands of the leagues form team away from home, the Black Cats. Pompey never registered one shot on target all game. No guesses who broke the deadlock, yes it was goal machine Charlie Wyke who headed home his 21st league goal of the season after a neat corner routine. On the hour the game was just about done and dusted when Jordan Jones hit a cracking shot from a tight angle. Sunderland stay in 4th and Pompey just hang onto the last playoff spot.
