Weekend Notes 🤝 Done Deals Daily

The major stories and transfers from a dramatic EFL weekend.

Jan 15, 2024

Without wanting to exaggerate the milestone too much, we’re at the halfway point in January. And it’s usually around this time that we all get a little carried away. A defeat in one game – *hello Bristol Rovers* – will not likely define your season. But every point, every new signing and every fixture does start to matter more as we approach the latent boundaries of the “business end”.

Once again, we’re amalgamating Weekend Notes and Done Deals Daily to bring you a compound so rich in signings (one of ‘em), drama and analysis that the in-house Geiger Counter sounds like a pneumatic drill.

One point of interest: we’re switching up the house style for Weekend Notes so our output is a bit more missive and a little less essay. Think of it as a New Year’s diet — an effort to bring more speed, more energy, and something more easily digested.

Thanks for reading, and catch you same time tomorrow for the next instalment of Done Deals Daily.

Donovan Pines (CB) - [DC United - Barnsley] - Undisclosed

A centre back must’ve been right at the top of the Barnsley to-do list going in January and now they’ve got their man. Making his way across the pond, Donovan Pines is tall (6’5), athletic and well-regarded at DC United. After coming up through the academy, he played for four years in college “soccer” before returning to the MLS.

Yes, he was one part of a rather porous defence at DC, but his 88% pass completion rate suggests he is capable on the ball. No doubt League One is a different beast to the MLS, and it’s not always easy to gauge how a player will take to life in the third tier. Although you would expect that Pines’ new boss Neill Collins, having spent eight years in the USA as player and manager, will know him better than most. It feels like a calculated risk and one that might plug a CB gap that needed plugging.

RATING: LIKE IT

Championship

Ali Maxwell

Coventry 3-1 Leicester

O’Hare x2 (79, 90+4), van Ewijk (88) — Dewsbury-Hall (44 pen)

Big match, big result.

A game that started quietly became anything but at the end of the first half. A penalty for Leicester, conceded after Bobby Thomas followed through a clearance and ended up with studs high on Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s leg. KDH tucked home the penalty.

A minute later, Abdul Fatawu was a bit jacked up on the adrenaline of it all, and flew in late on Jake Bidwell. Red card.

In the second half, Cov had the man advantage and ascendancy, but huffed and puffed for half an hour, not quite executing. Not long after Mark Robins’ substitutes had added new ideas and good movemebt, Callum O’Hare squeezed in a low shot to equalise, and Milan van Ewijk did the same to put them ahead. O’Hare iced the cake and the CBS rocked.

Leicester’s fourth defeat of the season, with mitigating circumstances in the form of that first half red card. Coventry move into the top six, but what of the three teams directly beneath The Foxes?

Ipswich 2-1 Sunderland

Jackson (33), Chaplin (75) — Clarke (26)

Southampton 4-0 Sheff Wed

Adams (35), A. Armstrong (63), Fraser (75), Mara (85)

Cardiff 0-3 Leeds

Bamford (13), James (31), Rutter (88)

They all won! With differing levels of ease…

Southampton’s 4-0 win against Sheffield Wednesday made it 20 (TWENTY!) games unbeaten, equalling a 103-year club record. Defending your penalty box without error is a non-negotiable against Saints, which Bambo Diaby did NOT adhere to, allowing Che Adams to open the scoring. Then: more passing, movement, cut backs, sharp finishes. Russell Martin’s side look formidable.

Leeds took Cardiff apart. Patrick Bamford has three in three in January — how about that for a comeback? With Joel Piroe having been dropped for Bamford, and Georginio Rutter moved back from #9 to #10, it turns out that Rutter is as much of a handful in the Joel Piroe role as he is in the Georginio Rutter role. Crysencio Summerville hit the post with a penalty, but this was a cakewalk.

And Ipswich came from behind to beat Sunderland to banish the demons of their five match winless run in the league. Jack Clarke smashed home his 13th goal of the season, before Kayden Jackson equalised. Adil Aouchiche missed a HUGE chance to put Sunderland back ahead, and Conor Chaplin made him pay — one of the shortest player on the pitch heading home a Leif Davis set-piece. Kieran McKenna’s team responded impressively to going behind, and showed that their confidence hasn’t been shattered by the winless run.

West Brom 4-1 Blackburn

Fellows (11), Thomas-Asante x2 (30, 63), Hyam OG (33) — Garrett (60)

WBA were 3-0 up at half-time without having faced a shot on target. 20 year-old Tom Fellows — fresh off a smartly-taken FA Cup goal — scored his first in the league for his boyhood club, heading home a Darnell Furlong long throw. Brandon Thomas-Asante demonstrated some excellent finishing with both feet for his brace. Overall, a comfortable afternoon for the 5th placed team.

For Rovers, 20 year-old academy graduate Jake Garrett scored his first league goal, just like Tom Fellows. A lovely finish it was too. But Rovers are not in a good way at the moment. One point in 9 and down to 18th — they are far too easy to beat.

Hull 1-2 Norwich

Morton (90+1) — Rowe (36), Fassnacht (88)

Like Fellows and Garrett, Jon Rowe is also 20 years-old. In his first season as a starter at senior level, he has scored 11 league goals from a wide forward position. It’s not just the volume, but the quality of them, that stands out. Every single one of his touches in scoring the opening goal was perfection.

His goal was Norwich’s moment of attacking brilliance, but the win owed plenty to Angus Gunn’s five saves, two of them to thwart Billy Sharp on debut. David Wagner’s side have won six of their last 12, picking up 21 points, while Hull have lost six of their last nine.

Millwall 1-3 Middlesbrough

Bryan (10) — Engel (38), Jones (58), Forss (90+5)

Millwall came flying out the traps, trying to exploit any legginess in the Middlesbrough ranks after their Carabao Cup semi-final exploits against Chelsea in midweek. Joe Bryan guided them ahead with a smart half-volley with his weaker right foot (how many left-backs can do that!).

Middlesbrough, instead of folding in the face of difficulty and fatigue, gritted their teeth and showed their quality. Lukas Engel tapped home a delightful team goal. Isaiah Jones capitalised on a Bryan error to put them ahead, and Marcus Forss showed his deadly finishing ability right at the end. Aston Villa (h), Chelsea (h), followed by Millwall (a). An exhausting week for Middlesbrough, but one in which Michael Carrick’s team have shown high quality and spirit.

Preston 2-0 Bristol City

Keane (65, 77)

The first half was Bristol City’s. A flurry of efforts, dealt with by Freddie Woodman. Then it was PNE’s turn. At first, Max O’Leary matched Woodman with a few fine saves. Then he rushed out of his box when the situation simply did not necessitate it. O’Leary too keen, Will Keane made him pay, before finishing off an Emil Riis cross for 2-0.

QPR 1-2 Watford

Dykes (77) — Livermore (60, 65)

Sinclair Armstrong and Lyndon Dykes starting up front together for the first time, and it caused Watford some problems. QRR generated their second highest xG number in a single game this season… but chances were squandered, and the game swung from 0-0 to 2-0 Watford in the space of five minutes around the hour mark.

You know what managers always say? “At this level, mistakes get punished.”

Even the most pessimistic manager wouldn’t expect punishment in the form of TWO Jake Livermore strikes from outside the box! The first, a curled effort that started outside the post and bent back into the corner. Lovely. The second was all laces — sweetly-struck, low and through bodies.

Dykes pulled one back, and Ben Hamer made a few top-class saves. Watford win, without playing particularly well.

Rotherham 0-1 Stoke

Baker (45+4)

These two teams should be tried in court for crimes against entertainment.

Thank God for Lewis Baker. Given a new lease of life by Steven Schumacher, Baker showed his appreciation by scoring a free-kick straight out of Andy Gray’s top drawer. Stoke are unbeaten in five under Schumacher, with three clean sheets.

Birmingham 2-2 Swansea

Dembélé (38), James (90+5) — Darling (36), Lowe (58)

Tony Mowbray and Luke Williams took charge of their first league games, and both made some tweaks. Swansea were straight into a Luke Williams 3-4-2-1 formation, while Mowbray’s approach seemed more Blues-under-Eustace than under Wayne Rooney.

Perhaps a fixture in these circumstances would always lead to ebbs and flows, and that was the case. Birmingham edged the chances, but Swansea were more clinical and had the lead until the 95th minute. What a few months Jordan James is having. NTT20.COM’s Championship Young Player of the Month for December continued his goalscoring form with an excellent low strike from range to save a point.

Huddersfield 1-1 Plymouth

Whittaker (12) — Koroma (38)

Ian Foster’s first league game in charge of Plymouth also saw two new signings — loanees Ashley Phillips and Darko Gyabi — in the starting XI. The teams traded first half goals, but neither side did enough to win it.

League One

Huw Davies

Only nine League One games were completed at the weekend: Derby County face Burton Albion on the box tonight, and two of Saturday’s matches were abandoned during their first halves. Bolton’s meeting with Cheltenham was called off due to a medical emergency in the crowd – tragically, the Bolton fan in question passed away soon afterwards. At around the same time, Reading’s match against Port Vale was ended for very different reasons.

We’ve covered Dai Yongge’s mismanagement of Reading before, as well as the fine work by Sell Before We Dai in highlighting it, so won’t delve into that again here. Besides, the pictures said it all. Coming in the 16th minute (the fans’ self-designated protest time, in reference to the club having had 16 points deducted at various points during Yongge’s tenure), the pitch invasion reflected the despairing fury of a fanbase who fear they soon might not have a team to support. This week brought reports of two young talents – Tom Holmes and Nelson Abbey – having their sales negotiated without the knowledge of manager Ruben Selles nor Mark Bowen, head of football operations. Desperate, desperate stuff.

Right, onto the match action…

Portsmouth 0-3 Leyton Orient

Forde (30), Brown (35), Agyei (45+5)

The League One leaders’ 3-0 home defeat was settled in the passage before half-time (which, ironically, has been Portsmouth's strongest period in games this season). The blows came in painful five-minute intervals. 30’: Orient score. 35’: Orient score again. 40’: Portsmouth miss a penalty. Then a third goal for the visitors all but ended the contest, and Dan Agyei’s Pompey-specific celebration only added insult to injury.

Portsmouth are in “a difficult moment”, as is the parlance these days, but all credit to Orient. Their first goal had lovely interplay between Shaq Forde and Max Sanders, and then Richie Wellens’ side kept the pressure on, scoring from two corners either side of Colby Bishop’s weak penalty, before closing out the game well in the second half. They rise into the top 10, while Pompey just about remain top… for now.

Charlton Athletic 1-2 Peterborough United

May (49) – Mason-Clark x2 (28 & 75)

Posh move within a point of Pompey, with a game in hand (though Bolton are within a point of Posh, with two games in hand on them). Ephron Mason-Clark scored his 9th and 10th goals of the season, courtesy of a great finish and a deflection.

Charlton put in a decent second half, taking advantage of some rare Posh generosity to equalise with their first shot of the game, before seeing their visitors pass up four goalscoring chances in five seconds. But then the Addicks gave Mason-Clark a baffling amount of space, and the result was elementary: EMC².

Carlisle United 1-3 Oxford United

McCalmont (71) – Harris x2 (39 & 47), Goodrham (68)

Mark Harris scored twice at Brunton Park – both in off the woodwork, the second seemingly offside – as Oxford beat a Carlisle side that’s in transition. Squad transition, obviously. They’re not still turning defence into attack two days after the game.

We’ll see what’s to come from the Cumbrians; for Des Buckingham’s Yellows, this win will raise spirits. Tyler Goodrham’s goal was created by a defence-splitting pass from Elliott Moore, paying tribute to Franz Beckenbauer, while Harris has now scored three league goals in January to add to his three in August, with none in between. The man loves a transfer window.

Barnsley 2-1 Bristol Rovers

Cole (43), O’Keeffe (73) – Martin (68)

The Tykes march on. Do tykes march? Probably not. These ones do, anyway: they’re unbeaten in nine, winning five. As noted on the Betting Show, Barnsley are picking up more points than one might expect from the underlying numbers, and it was the same story here, as Bristol Rovers had the better chances. The hosts were more clinical, however, and having first led when a fortunate rebound presented Devante Cole with a tap-in on the line, they punished the Gas for leaving Corey O’Keeffe with time to pick his spot.

Even so, there were encouraging signs again for Matt Taylor’s Rovers, not least the glorious sight of Chris Martin’s headed equaliser: the archetypal No.9’s goal. Don’t rule out a play-off push yet – five of their next six games are at home, including opportunities to reel in Oxford and a Blackpool side who hate to travel.

Blackpool 2-0 Exeter City

Morgan x2 (39 & 49)

The Seasiders’ home form is the rock of their promotion bid: beating Exeter took them to 10 wins from 15 league games at Bloomfield Road (15 from 20 in all competitions), compared to just 2 in 12 on the road. From mid-February to mid-March, they’ll have a run of six away fixtures in eight, so keep an eye on that.

Business as usual here, though. Albie Morgan was excellent and had two edge-of-the-box strikes to show for it. The first was an absolute pearler; the second, a bit Graeme shinny. Not much for the ever-declining Grecians to celebrate, except Viljami Sinisalo saving a Jordan Rhodes penalty to atone for his own astonishingly bad pass and subsequent foul. Something has to change.

Shrewsbury Town 0-1 Stevenage

Reid (84)

A predictable scoreline, with a predictable scorer – and just as predictably, it was a game of few chances. Stevenage took theirs when Jamie Reid latched onto a pass played through a static Shrews side, ensuring Boro keep pace with the top six.

It’s all a bit miserable at Shrewsbury right now, as the empty seats attest: 5,259 here represents their lowest home league attendance in over a year. Seeing your team score 17 goals in 27 games, then line up in a 4-3-3 with two full-backs in the front three, is rough. Will fans keep coming back to see this?

Cambridge United 2-1 Fleetwood Town

Taylor (71), Kaikai (90+1) – Omochere (77)

Down at the bottom, Fleetwood’s misery continues. Losing in stoppage time means their last dozen fixtures in all competitions have brought two draws and 10 defeats. They did have eight shots on target here… but all of them except their goal registered an xG with FotMob under 0.05. We have an idea of Charlie Adam’s gameplan, then.

As for Cambridge, debutant Lyle Taylor shoved our Done Deals Daily review back down our throats by scoring the opener and setting up the winner. He would’ve had another assist, too, if Jack Lankester hadn’t scuffed a sitter wide. Point taken, Lyle.

Northampton Town 1-1 Wigan Athletic

Hoskins (16 pen.) – Magennis (64)

Wycombe Wanderers 1-1 Lincoln City

Taylor (29) – Erhahon (90+8)

Finally, what every round-up reader is waiting for: a pair of 1-1 draws featuring teams between 9th and 18th! Northampton led Wigan with a Sam Hoskins penalty, after Baba Adeeko’s mistake presented a chance to Kieron Bowie, who saw the goalkeeper coming out, felt a Tickle and went down, but Wigan grabbed a deserved point. They have three home games in a week coming up… assuming the first one against Reading can be played.

And a late, late, late, late equaliser away to Wycombe meant that Lincoln stopped the rot, or at least bought a dehumidifier. It ended a run of four straight defeats, but they’re still winless since November. Frustration for Matt Bloomfield, in his 50th match managing Wycombe, but they’d arguably got away with one when Dylan Duffy hit the post with a would-be Goal of the Month contender and Joe Taylor had a goal harshly disallowed.

League Two

Tom Bourke

Grimsby Town 5-5 Notts County

Rose (7), Eisa x2 (15, 62), Clifton (52), Wood (90+5) — McGoldrick x2 (39, 90+2), Langstaff (45+1), Nemane x2 (60 & 79)

Caretaker Jim O’Brien won’t forget his first game in charge of County in what was League Two’s second 5-5 of the season. On first viewing, the post-Williams Magpies retain the Williams fingerprints: attacking > defending. County didn’t do much of either early doors. But from 2-0 down, they pulled it back to honours even.

In total, there were 34 shots split evenly between the sides, so it was only fair that the second half finished 3-3. After going behind on three occasions, David McGoldrick thought he won it for County in injury time. But the best goal and the Kodak Moment came on 90+5 when Harry Wood, on debut, rescued a point for Grimsby with a sublime strike.

A good point for the Mariners who showed they could go toe-to-toe with one of the league's heavy hitters; County need to keep the ball out if they have any hopes of sustaining an assault on the automatic promotion places.

Stockport County 3-1 Walsall

Wright (45+2), Olaofe (55), Madden (76) — James-Taylor (45+4)

That’s more like it from Stockport. They were winless in three before this one but saw off an in-form Saddlers side in a relatively comfortable 3-1 home victory that even included a rare Akil Wright piledriver. The sides headed into the dressing room at 1-1 at half time. But Stockport stepped up a gear in the second, taking control, taking all three points and taking the initiative at the top of the table.

The win keeps Stockport in first place, now two ahead of the chasing pack. After three wins on the spin, this defeat for Mat Sadler’s upwardly mobile Saddlers shouldn’t be too disheartening. They remain in the bottom half but are only three points off 7th.

Wrexham 2-0 AFC Wimbledon

Fletcher (61), Mullin (69)

Of those looking to hunt down Stockport, Wrexham now lead the charge. They took their chances against a wasteful Wimbledon and nabbed second-spot in the process.

The game itself was even, and the result may have been different were it not for the Al Hamadi-shaped hole in the Wimbledon attack. Dons hit the bar in the first half, and Josh Davison missed a great chance in the second. Wrexham’s superior firepower made them pay — first Fletcher and then Mullin. That's 8 wins in a row for Wrexham at Fortress Racecourse.

Morecambe 1-1 Mansfield Town

Brown (78) — Cargill (61)

Stags are stuttering… a bit. They followed up last weekend’s first home defeat with a below-par performance away to 16th-place Morecambe. After Mansfield took the lead, Morecambe didn’t let their heads drop. They toiled. And late in the second half, they got the goal and the point their efforts deserved. No need to be too concerned about Stags — they play the bottom two back-to-back this week.

Sutton United 2-2 Barrow

Beautyman x2 (44, 53) — Whitfield (36), Canavan (73)

A solid start to Steve Morison’s reign of second-from-bottom Sutton. His side held high-flying Barrow to a draw thanks to a tally-doubling brace from Harry Beautyman. His second put Sutton 2-1 up. But Barrow are so strong from set pieces — it was Captain Canavan with the telling touch from a corner. Unquestionably better from Sutton, but they need more Ws and fewer Ds.

Tranmere Rovers 1- 2 MK Dons

Morris (12) — Gilbey (9), Harrison (90+7)

Dons dominated possession in this one, creating the greater quantity and quality of chances. Gilbey accepted the gift of a comical throw-in to open the scoring, then Tranmere got lucky with a long-range deflected effort wrong-footing the goalkeeper.

Neither side wanted to settle for a point. But it was Dons who returned to winning ways and they left it late… very late. It's back-to-back losses for Tranmere against teams in the playoffs, after four wins on the bounce; 5 wins out of 6 for Dons.

Ryan Deeney

Crawley Town 0-1 Salford City

N’Mai (80)

Salford secured an important three points against mid-table Crawley to give Karl Robinson his first win as manager. The visitors racked up a whopping 35 shots, but poor finishing from several players looked to have cost them before Kelly N’Mai scored his third of the season. Corey Addai impressed, making 11 saves, but his efforts weren’t enough. Crawley remain in the top half, Salford are now eight points clear of the drop zone.

Accrington Stanley 1-2 Gillingham

Henderson (50) — Masterson (62), Bonne (75)

Victory for Gillingham helped them overtake Accrington to move within a point of the top seven. This was Gillingham’s third win in a row in the league and also the first time they have scored more than once away from home. Alex Henderson scored his first-ever league goal in his first-ever league start but that wasn’t enough for a Stanley side that had 10 of their 14 shots from outside of the area.

Forest Green Rovers 0-2 Harrogate Town

Muldoon (51), Odoh (69)

Harrogate moved into 9th place thanks to a 2-0 win at Forest Green. Abraham Odoh was the star, producing the best moment of the first half, reacting quickly to a loose ball leading to Alex Gorrin’s marching orders, setting up the opener for Jack Muldoon after a burst of speed and scoring himself with a composed finish. The hosts had one shot in the first half before the red, which was their third in their last five matches. Troy Deeney reacted less than calmly, launching a scathing attack on his players and the culture of the club in his post-match interview. Harrogate have now won seven of their 13 away matches this season.

Colchester United 1-1 Bradford City

Hopper (59) — Cook (35)

Danny Cowley’s first league game as Colchester manager ended in a score draw against Bradford City. Hopes his side would step up were quashed during a first half that saw them take one shot at goal. Andy Cook put the visitors ahead but Tom Hopper responded with a fine touch and finish. The U’s remain six points clear of the bottom two but have played two more games than both Sutton and Forest Green.

Crewe Alexandra 2-1 Swindon Town

Nevitt (13), Baker-Richardson (71) — Austin (30)

Crewe moved within three points of third place Mansfield Town with a 2-1 win over Swindon. Elliott Nevitt’s fine first-half finish was cancelled out by Charlie Austin. That was Swindon’s 50th goal of the season but Crewe soon scored their 50th via a cheeky Courtney Baker-Richardson backheel after Harison Minturn took one in the gonads. This was Swindon’s fourth loss in a row on the road and the 11th time in 15 away matches they have conceded two or more goals.

Doncaster Rovers 0-1 Newport County

Palmer-Houlden (90+3)

A late Seb Palmer-Houlden volley was enough to give Newport victory at Doncaster in a lower-mid-table clash. The hosts had eight shots in the 18-yard box within the width of the goal frame but couldn’t turn the ball home with Joe Ironside denied by James Clarke and later Nick Townsend. Six of those efforts came in the first half with Newport tightening up after the break. Lewis Payne’s arrival at the break may have helped and he set up the winner, crossing for Palmer-Houlden’s third of the campaign.