EFL WEEKEND NOTES: Wiiiide open!
Highlights and top-lines from an EFL weekend where much was blown wide open.
Hello! Various title races, play-off battles and relegation scraps got seriously intriguing and highly uncertain over the weekend. Let me tell you all about it!
Quick request from me to you: if you enjoy receiving The EFL Newsletter by NTT20, could you tell exactly one friend about it? The power of a direct recommendation is so strong, and can help us achieve our dreams. Yes, I’m feeling dramatic.
Words: Ali Maxwell
NB - Twitter embedded videos aren’t working this week. Cheers, Elon. To make up for it, I’ve chosen the five matches whose highlights are most worth your time. If you only have ten minutes of video in you, make it these five.
Fivelights
Watch the five must-see highlights from this weekend’s slate:
Duopoly — Boro’s devilish double act does it again.
Counter Strike — Coventry’s counter-attacking is always fun to watch.
TractorBulldozer Boys - Ipswich hit six.Sin-cil Bank - 3 reds. 5 goals. Good fun.
Leyton Phwoaoooorient — away day screamers on your way to the title. Perfect.
Don’t forget, we have every highlight of every game in every EFL league down below.
Championship
Sheffield United take another step towards the Premier League
The Play-Off battle is blown wiiiiiiiide open!
And just 3 points separate five teams between 18th and 22nd
Burnley couldn’t get past Noel Hunt’s stubborn Royals, who reduced Burnley to a single clear-cut opportunity. In a shot-to-nothing game, the Royals will relish the point. And, even sweeter, the result meant that Burnley are mathematically unable to beat Reading’s record Championship points haul of 106.
Not as comfortable as the scoreline suggests! Scores were level at half-time, with the Blades’ makeshift backline looked a little ropey. Then James McAtee scored a lovely solo effort to draw level, with the subtlest body feint to create the space for the shot. In the second half, Sheffield United did what they have done for most of the season: they created opportunities and kept out the opposition. They are on the cusp of the Premier League.
For Cardiff… no panic, I don’t think. But Sabri Lamouchi has made notably early substitutions and tactical tweaks in the last two matches, to no avail.
Rob Edwards gets another away-match game plan spot on. Rotherham didn’t summon a shot on target here. Carlton Morris made it 18 league goals for the season with a quality take. He’s so good at creating his own shooting opportunities. Woodrow made it 2-0 with a penalty rebound. Leeds loanee Cody Drameh caught the eye. Expected to leave Leeds this summer, if I was working for a Championship club he’d be on the transfer targets whiteboard, underlined many times.
*Cap doff* to the Hatters, who have now achieved their longest unbeaten run in the second tier for over 40 years.
Back in the saddle after a sub-par Easter weekend, Boro served up a rollicking victory. Slick attacking play on a slick surface—beautiful to watch. Two goals and two assists for Cameron Archer. Is there a better strike partnership than Archer and Akpom right now, or how about ever in the Championship? (a question we already have our sights trained on for the next Mailbag.)
George’s Big Game in the Championship was won by Millwall, their first win in five. They hadn’t played that badly in that winless run. Their underlying numbers appeared okay, finishing letting them down. It was the other way around here, with two sharp finishes from Bradshaw and Flemming deciding this one. The chances they create from free kicks inside their own half, with the ball onto Cooper’s head 20 yards out, flicking it on for those running beyond him, is a weapon that no other teams have.
A blow for PNE, who have to play Sunderland, Blackburn and Sheffield United in three of their four last games. Millwall have three of the bottom eight up next - looking good for Play-Off spot #3?
Four without a win for Blackburn is keeping Play-Off chasers on the scent. Tyrhys Dolan squandered a huge opportunity for Rovers. Allahyar Sayyadmanesh squandered a huge opportunity for Hull. All else came from range. That leaves Blackburn with the advantage of a game in hand on most of their play-off rivals, but also a five-game run-in against opposition teams who (as it stands) all sit between 1st and 8th place (Coventry, Preston, Burnley, Luton, Millwall). Ouch.
Coventry are just devastating in transition. Each goal is similar, in that three Coventry players attack at speed against a backline that’s either backpedalling or light on numbers. When two of the three players are Gyokeres and Hamer, you’re in trouble. Two goals from Gyokeres, one from Hamer. Four to play and only a win away from 5th, they take on Blackburn on Wednesday! In five of their last six games, QPR have conceded in the first 10 minutes. 10 defeats in 12 games. This truly could be one of the most traumatic relegations in memory if it comes to pass. Norwich & Burnley away for QPR this week.
Oh, Amad Diallo! Sunderland came from behind to beat Birmingham 2-1. A set piece goal to equalise was a rarity; an Amad solo strike was not. So, like a few others, Sunderland are firmly in touch with Blackburn in 6th (2-point gap) and loosely in touch with Millwall in 5th (4-point gap). But there’s plenty of traffic around them.
1-0 down at half-time, without an away win in three months, West Brom’s season seemed over. But they dragged it back to insert themselves into the play-off picture. Jayson Molumby has never scored a brace at senior level before. A scrappy midfielder scoring a scrappy brace, fighting to keep them in the hunt. They’ll need to win their game in hand, and it comes against Sheffield United, who could have promotion already confirmed by the time they play.
We send our best wishes to Ben Wilmot, who was stretchered off with a highly concerning injury.
Wilder’s Watford finally pulled up their socks and played some decent football. Their two goals both had a hint of fortune, but there’s no doubt it was an improvement, and somehow they still have a shot - though they surely would need to win their final four games, given that there are five teams they need to climb above.
Any sprinkling of Warnock magic couldn’t convert Huddersfield’s single shot on target into a goal. That is what their recent success has been built on: converting chances. They didn’t, and Swansea did. On 69’, Ryan Manning’s deflected/swerving shot from the edge of the penalty area capped off an authentically Swansea attack. Nice. Four wins in five, and four clean sheets in that time. They’re finishing strong.
Jerry Yates’ second-minute goal gives Blackpool a glimmer, a sniff, a morsel of the big H. Wigan can’t come back from this. If you were to Ctrl+F every article we’ve published since starting the EFL Newsletter by NTT20, I’m sure' you’d find “hope” in every one of them. Not here. Not for Wigan. Not anymore. Relegation could be confirmed midweek.
But for Blackpool? They’ve had a sip of hope, and it tastes good. As predicted in the Weekend Preview, they got a win and no-one above them matched it. All of a sudden you start to do the maths. You start to look up the fixtures. Could they?
League One
Two winners and one loser in the top three
Who wants a Play-Off spot?
Morecambe and Cambridge are still hunting survival
Lunchtime Devon Derby. Exeter not donning their towels for the beach but dominating possession. They carved out a glorious opportunity to take the lead. But Plymouth were pragmatic, soaking up pressure like sunshine, and releasing it with a precocious corner routine that ended up in the back of the net via a deflection. Second-half FC do it again! Gutting for Exeter who played their part. HUGE. HUGE. HUGE for Argyle, after that home loss on Easter Monday.
Kieran McKenna’s side are simply relentless. Just watch it. Conor Chaplin’s hat-trick takes him to within two of Jonson Clarke-Harris. In their last ten games, Ipswich have won 9 and drawn 1; scored 29 and conceded 1.
🎦 Burton Albion 3-2 Sheffield Wednesday
With Plymouth banking points in the early kick-off, Wednesday needed to prove that their victory over Accrington was their return to title-chasing form. They were 3-1 down at half time. The onslaught on Burton’s goal never felt that much like an onslaught. They pulled a goal back with ten to play… it wasn’t enough. We had a Wednesday fan tweet us saying he’d be more than happy for us to use the phrase ‘bottle jobs’ in the podcast. That won’t be the case while there are still games left to turn it around.
We could talk Wednesday wobbles all day, and no doubt we will on the podcast today, but let’s speak about Burton. Dino Maamria has done an incredible job. From doom-mongering to safety. This is the win that truly means they can relax - another season in League One beckons (perhaps for both clubs).
The worst side in League One came up against one of the best and got bettered. Battered, in truth. Their relegation was confirmed, and hasn’t really been in doubt since around December. We’ll be picking the bones out of their demotion on the Monday Podcast.
Barnsley just keep on rolling. They are so well coached, and such an all-round team, that some results seem automatic at this stage. That Barnsley vs Ipswich game on 25 April is looking tasty.
Bolton needed a win to fend off the chasers, so an early goal from Dion Charles settled the stomach. Oxford then peppered the goal with 27 shots, 7 on target. But very few were clear cut. This game turned, or rather it didn’t turn, on the back of a refereeing decision before half time. Clean through, Oxford’s Kyle Joseph was taken out by Bolton’s keeper outside the area - definitely a clear goal-scoring opportunity - who received only a yellow card. Inexplicable? Explicable?
🎦 Cambridge Utd 2-0 Peterborough
When Cambridge played Port Vale a couple of weeks ago, I wrote this…
Cambridge just have to win. Cambridge have to show an away performance. Cambridge need a pulse.
...they won 0-2...then they won 2-1...then they drew 1-1....and then they put Posh to the sword. Their biggest rivals. A play-off chasing. A side who, lately, have found scoring goals as easy as just turning up. Beaten by Bonner’s boys.
The heart-rate monitor is pulsing: W-W-D-W. Sam Smith scored the second: pints all round; Posh with sorrows to drown.
Luckily for Posh, Derby didn’t take full advantage. A late, highly contentious penalty got Bristol Rovers level. Derby haven’t beaten any of the top 16 away from home.
Once again, luckily for Posh, Wycombe didn’t take full advantage. And, like Cambridge, Morecambe found a pulse. It’s faint. The teams around them all have one or two games in hand. But the table, as it stands, shows Derek Adams’ side three points from safety. Wycombe could’ve been three points off the Play-Offs. Instead, it’s five, and it’s all out of their control.
9th vs 10th. Pretty draw-y, all told. Rob Street’s header put Shrews ahead in the second half… but only served to poke the Pompey bear. Marlon Pack levelled.
Bonkers. The ‘goalmouth scramble ending in serious foul play red card’ is iconic, unfiltered EFL fare. In amongst the bedlam, Jack Marriott slid home three lovely finishes.
Five goals. Three red cards. And two absolutely beautiful assists from Danny Mandroiu, who has 6G 4A in 19 starts since moving over from League of Ireland and is absolutely On The Radar.
Lively game with Jamie Cumming the protagonist. A loose pass from the MK GK gifted Cheltenham an opener. Cumming saved a penalty at 2-1 after Mo Eisa’s brace had MK ahead. For one final flourish, he produced a fine injury-time save from a Caleb Taylor header… only for Alfie May to tap in the rebound.
League Two
Orient thronking their way to the title
Stevenage & Bradford strengthen promotion credentials
Crawley creep out the zone
🎦 Sutton Utd 0-2 Leyton Orient
Despite at least two major outlets reporting Orient’s promotion as confirmed at 5pm, it hasn’t! Not *quite*. Two simply spectacular goals from Sadlier and James - two players that only ever score worldies - gave them their 24th win of a sensational season. Cue magnificent post-match scenes in front of the away end. Promotion confirmed on Tuesday night at Gillingham, you’d think.
Both teams had one good chance, and both times the goalkeepers won the duel. The result helps the League Two promotion battle remain very, very, very exciting.
Stevenage the only winners between 2nd and 5th. It’s a biggie. Their first in six. Steve Evans has Currie to thank for the winner, and curry on the menu for dinner. Ali Al-Hamadi has nine goals in 12 games for Dons, and only tasted victory once.
Stockport grab a late, deserved equaliser. Love the fact that Will Collar is around 25 yards from goal when Knoyle floats his cross in. He just wanted it more, as they often say. And also, y’know, timed his run perfectly and planted a very precise header past the goalkeeper and defender.
They travel well, do Bradford City. Tenth away clean sheet of the season. Richie Smallwood picking up praise for running the show. The only peculiarity was Andy Cook not scoring any of their goals.
Is it a Mansfield vs Salford shootout for 7th spot? Stags edged the first half and led through Bowery, but Paul Hurst is still able to motivate a Grimsby side that has given him plenty in the last 12 months, and they came roaring back to draw.
ColU go back-to-back to all but secure their League Two survival, and put Salford’s Play-Off spot under major threat. Noah Chilvers scored three in the first five games of the season, drawing pod praise before going quiet for 6 months as Colchester struggled. Now back in business with 4 goals in 6 games, if Garner can unlock some consistency for Chilvers he can be one of the league’s most dangerous players next season.
Walsall are having a honking end to the season. Crewe have won three of their last four - the only other time they’ve achieved that this season was in the first four games.
🎦 Harrogate Town 2-2 Doncaster
The enduring weirdness of Doncaster Rovers endured. The ceaseless pessimism surrounding the club does not cease. From two-nil up to two-two. In three straight games, Harrogate have been 0-2 down and drawn 2-2. Great #character, not great #gameplan? Good point for them, given results beneath them.
Crawley keeper Cory Addai had one of the more extreme ‘zero to hero’ moments here: comedy error for Tranmere’s opener followed by match-winning penalty save at 2-1. Great response to dropping into the relegation zone from Crawley, for whom this week is MASSIVE: Colchester (20th) at home then Hartlepool (23rd) away.
🎦 Newport County 2-0 Hartlepool
Hartlepool’s unbeaten streak came to an end. Back into the zone. Work to be done.
Two notables from the highlights:
1) TAKE A BOW, CAMERON NORMAN. One of the bravest and sorest goal-line blocks I can remember.
2) Is that the flattest long throw that exists from Mickey Demetriou?
Barrow didn’t show a ton of desire to win this one despite having a great chance of chasing down Mansfield & Salford if they had. Swindon pleased not to lose, but not pleased about much else.
Great read as always 👍🏿
Thanks for putting this newsletter together. great way to start a week.