EFL WEEKEND NOTES: "Owl Into The Void."
Ali Maxwell looks back at the weekend slate, from slam Duncs in L1 to downward facing Dales & a load of Cobblers in L2.
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Weekend Notes
Championship
No matches due to the international break, but some off-the-pitch news:
Wigan resolve cash flow issue: Players and staff were paid, finally - it doesn’t undo three points docked that surely rubber-stamps their relegation.
New owners at Huddersfield: An unnamed American group have bought 100% of the club’s shares. I’m hopeful that Dean Hoyle will have been careful about who he sells to, and look forward to finding out more about his successors.
International break notes: the Republic of Ireland named seven Championship players in their starting eleven vs Latvia with Ogbene and O’Dowda on the scoresheet. Iliman Ndiaye scored his first goal for Senegal. Lyle Foster grabbed a brace for South Africa. Anfernee Dijksteel made his debut for Suriname. Lovely.
League One
…Miserable Sunday for Wednesday who died on that hill in the Cotswolds.
…Posh put the play-off squeeze on Derby County
…MK win their third ‘relegation six pointer’ in a row
🎦 Forest Green Rovers 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday
The most surprised I’ve been by a result all season.
This wasn’t meant to be a banana skin for Wednesday. The game was the ‘gimme’ they needed to banish the demons of Tuesday night’s defeat at Barnsley.
It was not that.
Forest Green found their best performance of the season to win comfortably. They had the gameplan, the motivated performance, the clarity and the quality. They were the team that created one, two, three(!) big chances.
Duncan ‘Big Dunc’ Ferguson went with a funky formation without a recognised striker, and it worked a treat. Peart-Harris (25) & Savage (48) played as pressing 10s, making possession uncomfortable for the SWFC CBs. Wednesday’s wing-backs were well marshalled, and there were ample bodies in midfield to stop Bannan. FGR attacked smartly, often finding space out wide with Garrick (11) and McAllister (17). Godwin-Malife and Brandon Cooper were magnificent at the back. Harvey Bunker (27) standout in midfield.
FGR scored on 35, and faced no second-half bombardment. Sheffield Wednesday were insipid, creating little. Their build-up was muddled, unable to see the forest for the green. The delivery from wide areas, made harder by the wind, was poor.
That 23-match unbeaten run feels a long way away, and the absence of George Byers and Josh Windass feels significant right now.
For Forest Green Rovers: A Great Escape. Could they? Mmmmm, no. The gap is too big. However, if they keep mixing this cocktail of strategy and execution, then they could set the right tone for next season.
What did this mean for the battle for automatic promotion? In short: it’s deliciously poised and demands your full focus.
🎦 Peterborough United 2-0 Derby County
The gap between the two teams is now just one point! Posh didn’t have a shot in the first half but scored a lovely goal in transition early in the second - Taylor and Mason-Clarke combining. I’ve been working on an Ephron Mason-Clark / E=MC² line for a while. Here’s what Posh have gone with: don’t hate it, don’t love it.
Mason-Clark’s footwork to create separation from the somewhat cumbersome Forsyth is excellent - a wide forward with great end product.
🎦 Charlton Athletic 1-1 Wycombe Wanderers
Derby’s defeat and Forino’s headed equaliser keeps Wycombe in with a shout. Miles Leaburn has nine goals at 0.65 goals per 90. A 6’5 striker that can dribble, win aerial duels and draw fouls? Impossible to say how high his ceiling is, but it’s damn exciting.
Matt Macey has been great for Pompey since joining in January. Not here, though. What a weird goal all round!
Having given Vale a two-goal headstart AND missing a penalty, Pompey came roaring back in the second half, securing parity but no more.
🎦 Fleetwood Town 2-1 Lincoln City
Stockley’s diving header is a thing of footballing beauty. Fleetwood have won four more games than they managed in 2021-22. Lincoln have lost three in a row.
🎦 Exeter City 5-0 Accrington Stanley
Jay Stansfield scoring in front of the Big Bank was worth the wait. Dusty in here, isn’t it?
Exeter are firing off home wins. With Argyle, Barnsley, Bolton and Derby all coming to Devon, they will have a big say in the promotion picture,
Accrington’s schedule in March was brutal. The results equally so…
🎦 Milton Keynes Dons 1-0 Morecambe
MK Dons 1-0 Cambridge. Accrington 0-1 MK Dons. MK Dons 1-0 Morecambe.
Dean Lewington came back from injury, slotted back into a back three, and they’ve calmly put together three 1-0 victories. That’s surely enough to secure survival, ensuring a poor season won’t be a disastrous one. Each game has seen a winning contribution from an attacking player - first Eisa, then Kaikai, now Leko.
League Two
…Cobblers fly into second!
…Rochdale as good as relegated?
…how many wobbles near the top?
Second-placed Stevenage lost to Salford City, who notched three goals for the fourth straight game. Six shots, three goals. Clinical and very much ‘on the charge’.
Stevenage have conceded two or more in 6 of their last 10, having done so only twice in 25 previous. The incredible, suffocating standards of the first part of the season have slipped - do they have it in them to solve it?
🎦 Gillingham 1-0 Carlisle United
Third-placed Carlisle lost as well! A turgid, low-margin affair was settled in injury time by Shaun Williams.
Gillingham have picked up the most points in League Two in 2023. Astounding.
🎦 Doncaster Rovers 0-2 Northampton Town
The biggest winners of the weekend in League Two, and now nestled in second place: Northampton Town.
Helped on their way by Donny’s third goalkeeping howler in a row, Sam Hoskins doubled the lead with his 20th league goal of the season, the first to do it for Northampton Town since Richard Hill in 1986/87.
A brilliant weekend for Cobblers got even better on Sunday evening…
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🎦 Swindon Town 0-1 Stockport County
The quickest red card in Swindon Town history and a first-minute penalty save!
Swindon defended bravely, but a botched attacking free-kick ended with Stockport charging forward and scoring on the break. For Swindon, a proud day. Despite playing at the County Ground since 1896, this was the first match they’ve played as its owners, and it’s a lovely story.
🎦 Hartlepool United 1-1 Leyton Orient
Not the end of the world for Orient, but it is the fourth game in a row in which they have taken the lead and not won. Also Hartlepool’s fifth draw in a row. They’re not bad! But are they good enough? The gap to safety grew again, because…
This relegation six-pointer was framed as ‘if Rochdale lose, that’s them down'. Well, Rochdale lost. The gap between the teams is 10pts, and Crawley have a game in hand. Dale’s 100+ year stay in the EFL is limping, bleeding heavily, to its end. Crawley have found something, finally! Ten points from four games: noice.
Game of two halves. Wimbledon won the first 1-0. Barrow won the second 2-0. Wimbledon winless in eleven, taking only four points in that time.
🎦 Colchester United 1-1 Tranmere Rovers
These games have little significance, but they can serve up some incredibly weird and wonderful stuff… see below from Connor Hall.
Two more teams neither looking above them nor behind them. What it lacked in consequence, it made up for with some sweet strikes… see below from Bryn Morris.
🎦 Mansfield Town 0-0 Sutton United
Any sincere review of this game risks leaving you as ‘mentally drained’ as those in attendance, such as Joe and friends.
League Tables
The Championship
League One
League Two
Are Burnley *that* good or is this year's Championship *that* poor?
Morning gents, cracking read! Looking forward to seeing how the Substack progresses!
My question to you both for the mailbag: In light of the recent international break, if you could build a L1/L2 all-stars team consisting of only players who represent nations outside of the UK, who would be in it?