EFL WEEKEND NOTES: the Easter story
Over 72 EFL games, there was a notable promotion and notably no relegations - not yet anyhow.
Good morning. It’s Tuesday, and there have been seventy-two games in four days of huge consequence across the EFL. This is a bumper-sized newsletter, in which I’ll try and tell the story of the weekend as best I can — grab more detail on today’s ’Winners and Losers of the EFL Weekend’ podcast.
Let’s start with those abandoning the NTT20 purview.
Words: Ali Maxwell
Burnley FC, we hardly knew ye!
The Clarets have burned bright and fierce, scoring the most goals, conceding the fewest, and getting promoted to the Premier League with seven matches remaining.
The victory over Middlesbrough on Good Friday summed them up. Unflappable throughout, showing their even temperament after conceding an equaliser early in the second half and winning the game after a composed cut-back was swept home by Connor Roberts. That’s the Burnley we have come to know and love.
But rewind a few months, and it’s easy to forget this all-conquering side won only 4 of their first 12 in the league. It took time to click. The belief, however, never wavered. That is so often the enemy of teams: the panic that sets in when expectation dictates that all must be perfect by October. In the subsequent run of 21 wins from 27 games, it has felt like some opposing teams have lost the game before it has begun.
If ever a team played in the image of their manager, it’s this Burnley side. Vincent Kompany’s impact has been nothing short of sensational. Fierce-edged positivity. Composure and confidence mixed with natural authority create a powerful aura.
Burnley’s style has lent us a steady stream of footballing pleasure. From the moment George and I watched their opening game against Huddersfield in Victoria Sports Bar & Grill, we knew something special was being built… tactically.
And so it was. Possession with a purpose. Patient build-up as a multifunctional tool. A means of controlling the game defensively: if we have the ball, you are not attacking. When teams sit off, Burnley work the ball through the thirds and then up the tempo when the ball reaches the feet of a wide player, pressing ‘play’ on an array of quick passing combinations and supporting runs. If they can bait opposition teams into pressing higher and higher, even better: the ball in behind to Tella has been kryptonite for Championship defences.
Crucially, Burnley never turn down the opportunity to play forward or to play a killer ball when it’s on. Well-drilled patterns of play give players that winning arrogance, a solid platform empowering them to make high-risk, high-reward passes. It means they are both highly choreographed and unpredictable. Technical quality on the ball. Quality movement off the ball. Horrible to defend against.
That’s without mentioning the quality of their blood and thunder press and the goals it creates. Quality defending in moments of transition, which might be an issue for poorer teams adopting a similar style, has only been an advantage for Burnley.
Memorable Matches
🎦 Blackburn 0-3 Burnley
This was 1st v 2nd - whoever won would go into the World Cup break top of the table… by the end, Blackburn were scared to touch the ball for fear of giving it away!
🎦 Burnley 2-1 West Bromwich Albion
0-1 down with 20 minutes to go against a WBA team proving a tough nut to crack. They found a way—Scott Twine’s free-kick was one of the most memorable goals of the season
🎦 Huddersfield 0-1 Burnley
Not the perfect performance, but this first impression whetted the appetite for the Kompany blueprint. The reductive summer narrative told us, you can’t change from a Dyche style to a Pep style in the space of a few weeks. That myth was busted within 45 minutes.
A 4-2 win at the Stadium of Light was a statement in October, and the 100th-minute winner at Rotherham was as dramatic as it gets. So many great days and nights for Burnley fans. They know how lucky they are: it’s big-picture footballing fortune to move from Dyche to Kompany without suffering any transitional malaise.
But frankly, we’ve felt lucky discussing them every week on the Monday Pod. And grateful that they’ll back up our 1st place prediction in the pre-season 1-24s!
Highlights and top lines from the Easter Weekend:
Championship: Good Friday
Middlesbrough 1‑2 Burnley - Burnley are promoted to the Premier League.
Sheffield Utd 1‑0 Wigan - A dominant 1-0 win.
Millwall 0‑0 Luton - Decent point for both in a predictably low-margin game.
Blackburn 0‑2 Norwich - This narrowed the gap between 6th and 7th to just one point, turning up the heat on the play-off battle.
QPR 0‑2 Preston - This went to form. Five in five for Tom Cannon.
Swansea 0‑0 Coventry - A good game plagued by poor finishing.
Rotherham 3‑1 West Brom - The Jordan Hugill Game.
Sunderland 4‑4 Hull - Beautiful, random Championship fare.
Watford 2‑3 Huddersfield - Warnock’s Huddersfield win three in a row, Vicarage Road descends into mutiny.
Stoke 1‑2 Bristol City - Bristol City come from behind to win through Vyner and Mehmeti’s first in Robins colours.
Reading 1‑1 Birmingham - Quality goals from Andy Carroll and The Duke Jutkiewicz.
Blackpool 1‑3 Cardiff - Cardiff cantered to victory here. Mick McCarthy was sacked on Saturday; Blackpool roll the dice once more…
Championship: Easter Monday
Bad news for Blades: Burnley weren’t hungover. Tella a menace, robbing Robinson and bothering Fotheringham, leading to his early red card. The sweet left foot of Jóhann Berg Guðmundsson struck twice, putting 14 points between the two teams.
Stephen Dobbie’s Blackpool (!) took a shock lead, but Handsome Rob and his composed Hatters turned it around, with Pelly Ruddock-Mpanzu the hero. They are only 5 points behind an automatic spot.
Bristol City 2-2 Middlesbrough
Entertaining. Loose. Bristol City created plenty here against a welcoming Boro back line, but a five-minute burst was enough to get Boro level. Boro’s automatic promotion credentials were forcibly removed this weekend.
Warnock’s blessed Terriers scored their first two shots of the match to lead 2-0 having only completed 15 passes. Classic. Except, it didn’t follow the Cult of Warnock script. Blackburn played fluid football with an end product and deservedly levelled it late.
Great weekend for Hull, but Millwall dominating an away game on the balance of play but conceding a pot-shot from range? They really are leaning into a new version of themselves. No goals in their last four games is something of a concern, especially with play-off challengers looming large…
North End won both Easter weekend games and are now level on points with the Top 6! A 1-1 draw would have been something of a robbery, but Brad Potts secured a dramatic late winner. You’ll be shocked to hear that Tom Cannon scored another, making it six in six. Reading are winless in eight, in the bottom three, and are discussing Paul Ince’s future…
Are Norwich looming large for Millwall and Blackburn? It doesn’t feel like it, with no goals scored in their last three home games, and 4 wins in 16 at Carrow Road. Oh, and with first-choice CBs Hanley and Gibson out for the season. But the fact is that they got closer to the Top 6 this weekend. Fabulous weekend for the Millers, picking up four points, and extending their lead over each team beneath them except Huddersfield.
Me, 3:45pm: “Watford are 2-0 up at the Ricoh - have they finally got their act together?” No, you idiot. Coventry came roaring back to draw, and could (should?) have had a penalty near the end. Not ideal for either side, really.
Mowbray’s side did the business, with EFL 21 Under 21 legend Dennis Cirkin scoring his second winning goal of the season. Sabri Lamouchi was so disgusted with his side’s initial performance that he subbed off Philogene and Ojo before half-time. Odd. An off day for Cardiff after that impressive Friday display. Being good is hard!
Fight. Desire. Heart. Dykes. Ainsworth. Martin chasing down opposition goalkeepers’ risky kicks. QPR. WBA. WTF. At half-time it felt like WBA could be launching an assault on the play-offs, and QPR would never win a match again. Now, WBA’s financial doom is blocking out the sun entirely, and QPR are, well, still maybe never winning a match again. But, like… a bit less morbid.
Comfortable win for the in-form, finishing-strong Swans, who Piroetted (sorry) past bottom club Wigan. The Latics had a poor Easter, and the eight-point gap to safety looks too much.
There were eight EFL 0-0s this weekend. This was the dullest.
L1: Good Friday
Ipswich 4‑0 Wycombe - 8 wins in a row to nil. 24 goals scored without reply.
Morecambe 1‑3 Plymouth - Three goals from substitutes to win from behind and go top: this was vintage Argyle.
Oxford Utd 1‑1 Sheff Wed - Six without a win for Sheffield Wednesday. A Barry Bannan beauty put them ahead before a bizarre penalty incident allowed Oxford an equaliser.
Burton Albion 2‑1 Barnsley - The referee missed a blatant handball on the line from Burton’s John Brayford early on, and the Brewers made the most of it.
Exeter 0‑1 Bolton - Conor Bradley made a brilliant run in behind to win this one.
Shrewsbury 0‑3 Peterborough - The double-barrelled duo of Clarke-Harris and Mason-Clark causing the damage.
Forest Green 0‑2 Derby - The win Derby needed after three straight defeats.
MK Dons 1‑1 Portsmouth - MK 2.0 show more resolve, coming from behind to draw partly thanks to a peculiar straight red card for Joe Morrell.
Bristol Rovers 1‑0 Charlton - Marquis (p).
Accrington Stanley 3‑0 Port Vale - The comedy error of the weekend helped Accy to a much-needed win.
Lincoln City 2‑0 Cheltenham - ♫ Ben House, in the middle of the… box. House hits double figures in his first full season in the EFL.
Cambridge Utd 2‑1 Fleetwood Town - Back-to-back wins for Cambridge gives them renewed hope.
L1: Easter Monday
Sheff Wed 3-0 Accrington Stanley
Sweet relief for Wednesday. A comfortable home win, their first in six games. Check out their third goal for your weekly dose of Barry Bannan Beauty. And they’re back at the top of the table.
Lincoln City love playing the top teams. A simply remarkable record against the league’s best. As for Argyle: the response to going behind here was somewhat alarming and out of character. For the second game in a row, they conceded from a counterattack following their own corner — suboptimal.
A banana skin game that’s caught out Sheffield Wednesday and now Ipswich Town in the last two weeks - Alfie May (who else?) scoring the first goal past Christian Walton in around 1,000 minutes.
A necessary response to defeat at Burton for the Tykes, who were 2-0 up at half-time. Cadden’s red card made things awkward, but Shrewsbury have earned some early April beachiness, and Barnsley made the most of it.
94th-minute equaliser from Sam Smith makes it seven points from Cambridge’s last three games. There’s more than a pulse. There’s a big old Amber heartbeat!
The only team in the top half to win both Easter games - that’ll do! The goals are flowing from the Posh tap right now - both double-barrels aimed squarely at the top six.
28 shots to 3, but it was a well-taken MK equaliser and a lot of wasteful Derby shooting. Just 4 wins in 13 league games isn’t the sort of form that’s going to take Paul Warne’s side into the playoffs.
One of those games where Forest Green go behind early and the spectacle ends. Great news for Wycombe, who are still lurking!
Jesrun Rak Sakyi is just taking the piss now. His goals are making his teammates burst out laughing at the sheer audacity and skill.
Fleetwood Town 1-2 Bristol Rovers
Loft and Coburn came off the bench and half-time and changed the game. Double weekend win for Bristol Rovers, whose form lurches from sublime to ridiculous.
A 0-0 draw between two teams low on confidence.
Morecambe FC have never been relegated in their history, and they do not want to go down without a fight.
L2: Good Friday
Salford 0‑2 Leyton Orient - Sweet for Richie Wellens against the team that sacked him after six months.
Carlisle 2‑0 Tranmere - Without a goal in five, Carlisle were grateful for a few Easter gifts from the Tranmere defence.
Newport County 3‑0 Northampton - Newport pulled clear after a tight first half against injury-hit Cobblers.
Stevenage 1‑1 Colchester - Stevenage continue to struggle to snatch victories.
Sutton Utd 0‑1 Stockport - Stockport grinding out another win.
Crawley Town 0‑0 Bradford - A good result for Crawley, but one that saw them sucked closer to relegation due to results elsewhere…
Swindon 2‑4 Mansfield - The Stags finding their mojo against hapless Swindon.
Crewe 3‑0 Barrow - “Lee Bell’s Red and White Army”, sang the Crewe fans in the sunshine.
Gillingham 1‑0 Doncaster - This summed up the year 2023 for both sides. Gills score from a set play, keep a clean sheet and win the game. Doncaster show little in response.
Grimsby 1‑4 Hartlepool - Dan Kemp is the miracle January signing that Hartlepool needed. Pools look genuinely dangerous in attack.
Rochdale 4‑2 Walsall - A second straight with for Rochdale, whose fourth goal needs to be seen to be believed.
Harrogate Town 2‑2 AFC Wimbledon - Huge for Harrogate. Wimbledon’s ability to drop points from winning positions is quite remarkable and seemingly inevitable.
L2: Easter Monday
Leyton Orient 2-2 Harrogate Town
Orient’s recent penchant for throwing away leads must be frustrating for O’s fans, but ultimately makes no difference. Their promotion will be confirmed soon enough. For Harrogate, though, this was a second straight fightback to earn a point. Trouble is, with teams below them picking up points at a higher rate, it must feel a little like quicksand at the moment.
Missing eleven players through injury, with debutant Canadian CB David Norman starting, Cobblers still got it done. Their mentality is consistently impressive. Their winning goal was a beauty from Friend of the Pod William Hondermarck.
The big winners of the League Two weekend, Stockport have timed their run and arrived in the automatic promotion places. Seven clean sheets in 11 games provides the foundation, Wootton and Stretton the goals.
The Bantams home record has been notably poorer than their promotion rivals, so this second straight win at home, in which confidence and goals flowed, sets them up nicely. The automatic promotion picture in League Two is very spicy indeed. Andy Cook can handle spice. Sutton’s Play-Off prospects are as good as extinguished.
Oh boy. Perhaps the most dramatic game of Easter Weekend. Wimbledon, 2-1 ahead at home to Salford, concede a 92nd minute penalty. Hendry’s effort is saved by young ‘keeper Nathan Broome. Dons delight. Somehow… somehow… Salford create another chance in the 94th. Hendry finishes it to silence the crowd. 2-2. And because this is AFC Wimbledon 2022/23, they’ve only gone and lost it in the 95th minute. Hendry again. Salford snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, a gigantic three points for them.
Hiram Boateng and Owen Dodgson swapped quality goals in the first half. Stags dominated but couldn’t find a second, and were almost done on the break - Mellor hit the bar for Dale. Signs of life under Jim McNulty, but is it too late?
Dan Kemp turned provider this time with an assist, following his hat-trick on Friday, just the nine goals and two assists in 12 games. A true January miracle. Eight unbeaten for Hartlepool, another creditable performance and they are out the relegation zone… because…
… because…Crawley were thumped by Barrow, and that flash of good form now feels a long way off. Speedy, incisive attacking proved too much. Josh Gordon’s hattrick takes him to 15 for the season, only three players have scored more. Barrow very much on the outside of the Play-Off party, looking in… but they’re tapping on the window.
ColU needed this one! Their biggest win of the season, rampant from first to last against. John Akinde - whose first EFL goal came in 2008 - grabbed two. And given the quality of Noah Chilvers’ goals whenever he scores, I’m left wondering why he’s not more consistent. Perhaps next season he’ll fly under Ben Garner…
Has there ever been a team finish in mid-table while enjoying as many incredible moments as Grimsby fans this season? Here’s another, two goals in the last 10 minutes to win from behind. Donny fans are used to this now; that’s five defeats in six.
Harvey Saunders with the winner in the Battle for… 11th.
Carlisle draw another blank, failing to score in five of their last six games. The goals they did score on Good Friday were somewhat gifted to them. Concerning and damaging for automatic promotion hopes. For Walsall, this season can’t end quickly enough.
Thanks for reading, and… go well!
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