Bristol Rovers virtually ended any fears of League One relegation with a thoroughly deserved 1-0 win against Walsall away. In doing so they also ended any real hope The Saddlers had of making the play-offs and it was a first-half goal by top scorer Rickie Lambert that secured the precious points for the Pirates. (Go Rickie!) Lambert scored what proved to be the winner in the 34th minute with his 18th goal of the season, a neat glancing header from a perfect cross by Joe Jacobson.
Walsall pushed forward repeatedly in an effort to repair the damage but Kevin Betsy, on loan from Bristol City, squandered their best chance with a shot which was way off target with only the keeper to beat.
Rovers always played the neater football and central defenders Byron Anthony and Steve Elliott snuffed out the home attack. Only a brilliant save by Walsall keeper Clayton Ince prevented Anthony adding a second with a header, while Craig Disley slammed the rebound wide.
Saddlers skipper Tommy Mooney shot wide with a half-chance to save a point and with three minutes left Ince pulled off another good save to deny Lambert.
Huddersfield 1 Leeds 0
Andy Holdsworth grabbed the only goal as Huddersfield beat rivals Leeds, while both sides had a man sent off. Jonathan Douglas was dismissed after 38 minutes after picking up two yellows, while Jon Worthington saw red following an altercation with Lubomir Michalik.
Michael Collins hit the crossbar from 20 yards for Town before Holdsworth headed home Joe Skarz's cross. Leeds keeper Casper Ankergren denied Malvin Kamara before Dougie Freedman missed for the visitors late on.
THE TOP TEN1 Swansea 43 12 5 4 33 18 13 6 3 43 21 37 86 2 Carlisle 43 17 2 2 37 13 6 8 8 25 27 22 79 3 Doncaster 43 13 4 5 32 18 9 6 6 29 20 23 76 4 Nottm Forest 43 11 8 2 33 11 8 8 6 26 19 29 73 5 Southend 43 12 5 5 34 19 9 4 8 33 33 15 72 6 Leeds 43 14 4 4 39 17 10 6 5 28 20 30 67 7 Walsall 43 7 8 6 24 21 9 7 6 25 18 10 63 8 Brighton 43 11 6 4 35 23 6 6 10 19 25 6 63 9 Tranmere 43 12 4 6 31 18 5 7 9 19 26 6 62 10 Oldham 43 9 7 6 30 20 7 6 8 22 22 10 61
TILLY SENT TO THE STANDS
Steve Tilson will be banned from the touchline for the final two games of the regular League One season and fined £500. The FA have handed out the punishment after the Shrimpers manager was found guilty of using abusive or insulting words to referee Danny McDermid during the 2-2 draw with Leyton Orient in February.
Personally I believe Tilly held back, McDermid was, frankly, a disgrace, awarding the Borient a dubious penalty and adding on extra minutes for them to score an equaliser at the end of the game. Even worse was missing a shocking tackle by Paul Terry on Alex Revell which should have resulted in a straight red card.
Tilson will now be banned from the touchline at Tranmere Rovers on April 26 and at home to Port Vale on May 3. He will, however be back for the playoffs assuming the Blues attain the one point they need to make absolutely sure of a place in the top six.
Assistant manager Paul Brush has hinted that the Blues could be interested in signing on loan left-back Charlie Mulgrew on a permanent basis. The Scottish under-21 international has impressed since arriving from Wolverhampton Wanderers during the January transfer window.
And Brush, himself a former left back, has been pleased by Mulgrew's recent performances. "Charlie has come here and settled in very well especially when you consider he hadn't actually played a league game this season before joining us," said Brush. "He's been playing well and we're really pleased with how he's been doing. Wolves have lots of players who play in his position which may help us but we haven't actually spoken to them yet about trying to bring Charlie in for longer."
Brush also confirmed that Mulgrew and fellow loanees James Walker and Hal Robson-Kanu would be free to play in the play-offs if the Shrimpers finish in the top six. And the former Borient boss is keen to keep them and the rest of his squad feeling fresh. (Though I'm not sure Walker could play in the final if we reached it, his 90-day emergency loan ends the week of the game!)
"At this time of the year you hear teams saying that they're tired and we don't want that to be us," said Brush. "We're hoping our season will be extended for a few weeks too and because of that we're giving everyone plenty of rest. Anyone in the first team had Monday and today off, while those who played for the reserves at Peterborough on Monday were off yesterday as well as today."
Blues could also be boosted by the return of striker Gary Hooper if they make the play-offs. The forward has impressed while on loan at League Two club Hereford United and was watched by Brush in last night's top of the table clash at MK Dons.
"Gary has done very well at Hereford and has scored a lot of goals," he said. "We also went to see him not so long ago when they played at Dagenham and it's been a good move for him. Gary is with them until the end of the season and we shall look at things again when we know where Hereford and ourselves will be finishing."
But another of Southend's strikers, Charlie MacDonald, could well be set for more first team involvement after scoring both goals for the reserves in their 2-1 win at Peterborough on Monday. The forward has not started a match since mid-February but caught Brush's eye with his performance in the second string side. "Charlie was terrific," he said. "He also hit the bar and it was a very worthwhile game for us. Franck Moussa played well too and so did Alex Revell, who got another 90 minutes under his belt."
DAMIAN IS BACK!
The Blues have received a boost this week with the news that Damian Scannell is back in full training. The winger has been sidelined for the past 2 weeks with a groin injury but he's back in contention now for the play-off run-in.
The 22 year-old, who joined the Shrimpers for £5,000 from Conference South side Eastleigh has played just 8 games this season, and all of those were substitute appearances.
THE LEEDS TRIBUNIAL STARTS
An independent tribunal considering Leeds' 15-point deduction is set to start on Wednesday. Leeds were docked the points by the Football League for allegedly breaking competition rules on insolvency. But the club denied any wrongdoing and agreed to the independent arbitration hearing after initially serving the League with a High Court writ.
A three-man panel reviewing the penalty is expected to make their ruling before Leeds' trip to Millwall on 19 April. The outcome of the private arbitration hearing is unclear, with many results possible. The panel could back the Football League's ruling, reinstate all 15 points to Leeds or return just some of the lost points, with five being the most likely added to Leeds' current point total of 67 and place them above us on goal difference.
A COBBLERS VIEW OF LAST SATURDAY (from Danny Brothers of the Northampton RIVALS site.)
So the season came to a psychological end at least up at Roots Hall on Saturday as any lingering playoff hopes were ended with a 1-1 draw. With a bout of illness sweeping the club, though, a draw was a fine result despite the implications that means the top six are just out of reach.
At the start of the game we knew that nothing less than a win would do as Leeds had already beaten Carlisle at Elland Road earlier in the day. Without Giles Coke, Brett Johnson and Joe Burnell through the bug going round the club we were a bit patched up while a couple of other players reportedly played with the illness.
A positive note was the return to action of skipper Chris Doig. Since injuring himself at Darlington in the F.A. Cup in November, Doig has struggled to get back to full fitness but it was a great sign to see him back at Roots Hall. Doig had a typically good game and his power at the back was a welcome addition to the defence.
Colin Larkin took his goal well after getting a rare start and will be hoping he's done enough to get back into the starting line-up for Oldham's visit this Saturday. Bayo had a quiet game other than a bustling run that was blocked off and he could do with a rest if Hoobs is fit enough to start.
The inevitable onslaught on our goal began and the expected equaliser came through former Cobblers loan man Lee Barnard who Colin Calderwood brought to the club during his reign. Southend could be aggrieved that they didn't win the game but they still showed a lot of quality going forward and will make the playoffs with ease.
The playoffs are set to be the best in this division for many years with Forest, Leeds, Southend and Doncaster/Carlisle looking likely to slug it out for a place in the Championship and shows just how tough a job it's been this season in League One. Looking at it that way and a mid-table finish is a great achievement for Stuart Gray.
Gabor Gyepes signing on is a great start to building next season's squad and he joins the likes of Bunn, Crowe, Hughes, Doig, Jackman and Coke in being signed up.
Of the players out of contract, Joe Burnell seems a favourite with Gray so could sign again but Gyepes signing may mean the end, unfortunately, for Brett Johnson who showed real promise mid-season. Ryan Gilligan is touch and go while I expect Danny May to be moved on.
Looking ahead now it's a fight to finish as high as we possibly can with three games left in the season. The Oldham game gives us a chance to break into the top ten while the one at Port Vale could be trickier now as teams suddenly start to play when they are relegated and playing with a bit more freedom!
We round things off with a home game against Tranmere so there's still a chance of building on the 59 points that we have so far. Bit first up is Oldham and we can end any chance of them getting into the playoffs with a win whilst also replacing them in tenth place.
The season may be coming to an end but now we must show some appreciation for what has been a terrific campaign, especially after the mid season blip that threatened to pull us towards to bottom four. Instead we have real stability and a base with which to build on for the summer.