League 1 & 2 Results, Tables, Reviews.

[johntheclaret]

Sat 10th Jan

LEAGUE 1

Results

Leeds 0 Carlisle 2
Leicester 3 Leyton Orient 0
Northampton 1 Huddersfield 1
Postponed:
Bristol Rovers v Yeovil
Cheltenham v Millwall
Oldham v Hartlepool
Scun.thorpe v Hereford
Southend v Crewe
Swindon v Stockport
Tranmere v Peterborough
Walsall v Brighton

Round UP

Leicester extended their lead at the top of Coca-Cola League One to five points after they breezed past Leyton Orient 3-0 at the Walkers Stadium.
Matt Oakley returned to the Foxes starting line-up after recovering from an ankle injury and the midfielder made an immediate impact when he opened the scoring after being played in by Matt Fryatt following a mistake by Tamika Mkandawire.
On-loan midfielder Mark Davies then headed home a Steve Howard flick-on to double the Foxes' advantage eight minutes before the break.
Paul Dickov sealed the win with an 84th-minute penalty to put more clear light between Leicester and MK Dons, who face Colchester on Monday.

Simon Grayson suffered his first defeat as Leeds manager after his side went down 2-0 to Carlisle at Elland Road
Carlisle's newly-appointed player coach Graham Kavanagh set Cleveland Taylor free down the right on 26 minutes and he crossed to Danny Graham who drove home from 12 yards to break the deadlock.
Leeds' afternoon went from bad to worse soon after when former United player Michael Bridges made it 2-0 after being played in by Graham.
Grayson threw on new loan signing Lee Trundle in the second half but neither he nor the rest of his team-mates could breach the visitors' defence.

Adebayo Akinfenwa's last-gasp goal rescued a point for 10-man Northampton against Huddersfield at Sixfields.
After a goalless first half the home side found themselves down to 10 men when Jason Crowe was given a straight red for a professional foul on Gary Roberts.
Phill Jevons struck a stunning 25-yard free-kick to give Huddersfield the lead only for Akinfenwa's last-gasp effort to earn a share of the spoils.

Table

Teams P GD PTS
1 Leicester 24 27 54
2 Milton Keynes Dons 23 25 49
------------------------------
3 Millwall 23 7 44
4 Peterborough 23 15 43
5 Oldham 24 15 42
6 Scun,thorpe 23 12 41
-----------------------------
7 Stockport 23 10 37
8 Tranmere 23 4 37
9 Huddersfield 25 -2 37
10 Leeds 24 6 36
11 Colchester 23 -1 31
12 Walsall 23 -1 31
13 Northampton 24 1 30
14 Southend 23 -8 30
15 Hartlepool 23 -4 29
16 Carlisle 24 -5 28
17 Bristol R 23 2 26
18 Yeovil 23 -11 24
19 Brighton 23 -7 23
20 Swindon 23 -8 23
--------------------------
21 Leyton O 24 -14 22
22 Cheltenham 23 -23 20
23 Hereford 23 -19 17
24 Crewe 23 -21 16

LEAGUE 2

Results

Bury 1 Barnet 0
Lincoln City 2 Brentford 2
Notts County 2 Exeter 1
Postponed:
Accrington v Darlington
Bournemouth v Bradford
Chesterfield v Rochdale
Dag & Red v Wycombe
Gillingham v Aldershot
Grimsby v Morecambe
Luton v Rotherham
Macclesfield v Port Vale
Shrewsbury v Chester

Round UP

Anthony Elding's second-half strike rescued a point for Lincoln in their 2-2 draw with second-placed Brentford in Coca-Cola League Two.
Lincoln took a shock lead after six minutes through Dany N'Guessan but Marcus Bean levelled for the Bees soon after.
Brentford then put themselves ahead thanks to Dean Bowditch, who marked the last game of his loan spell by picking up a Ben Hamer long ball and smashing past Robert Burch.
Lincoln's Paul Green was then dismissed but the 10 men picked up a point thanks to Elding's equaliser on 66 minutes.

Bury moved up four places to fourth after beating Barnet 1-0 thanks to a Mike Jones strike at Gigg Lane.
Jones buried a left-foot volley past Ran Kadoch after 37 minutes to seal Bury's first win in five.

Notts County moved three points further away from the relegation zone after recording a 2-1 win over Exeter at Meadow Lane.
Exeter took the lead after 26 minutes when Marcus Stewart converted a penalty after Michael Johnson had brought down Adam Stansfield in the box.
Delroy Facey levelled just after the half hour before Gavin Strachan hit the winner for County six minutes before the break.

The rest of the programme was wiped out by the cold-snap.

Table

Teams P GD PTS
1 Wycombe 24 19 49
2 Brentford 23 14 42
3 Bradford 24 13 40
--------------------------
4 Bury 25 9 39
5 Dagenham R 23 22 38
6 Shrewsbury 24 18 38
7 Darlington 23 14 38
---------------------------
8 Rochdale 23 10 38
9 Exeter 23 4 36
10 Gillingham 23 -1 34
11 Aldershot 22 -2 34
12 Lincoln 24 2 31
13 Chesterfield 23 2 28
14 Notts Co 24 -9 27
15 Macclesfield 23 -18 27
16 Port Vale 23 -13 26
17 Morecambe 23 -9 25
18 Chester 23 -13 23
19 Accrington Stanley 23 -11 22
20 Rotherham 23 7 20
21 Barnet 24 -22 19
22 Grimsby 23 -23 14
-------------------------
23 Bournemouth 24 -10 7
24 Luton 23 -3 -1

[Pidge]

Any games lately? How are Leeds going?

FA Cup week last week. Back to the league this week Pidge. But there are a lot of fixtures off this week due to frozen pitches.

-10 again last night and the ground is rock solid frozen. 6 games off in League 1 so far, and about 8 games off in League 2.

Off so far,

Bristol R
Cheltenham
Oldham
Southend
Swindon
Tranmere
Wallsall

Accrington
Bournemouth
Chesterfield
Dag & Redbridge
Gillingham
Grimsby
Luton
Shrewsbury

It must be very very cold over there for the pitches to be frozen.

[RoosterMarty]

Carlisle got up 2-0 at Leeds.

Leicester won 3-0 and will surely be back where they belong and with a bit of silverware to show for it... it would be a 100% winning record if they win the League.

[Pidge]

MK Dons are looking good for 2 Promotions in 2 Seasons

[johntheclaret]

Really cold mate. It was about -10 in the morning, where I live but warmed up to around -4 or 5 around kick off. Burnley have undersoil heating and a huge sheet that covers the pitch so we got the game on (worse luck ), but most of the lower leagues don't have that luxury.

Odd to see two EPL games off though, as they must have a form of pitch heating and protection as a pre-requisit to joining the EPL.

Pompey also had 7 giant hot air blowers working on the pitch from the previous Wednesday but the weather had been freezing all week and with clear nights the temp just kept on dropping.

[drebin]

Carlisle got up 2-0 at Leeds.

Leicester won 3-0 and will surely be back where they belong and with a bit of silverware to show for it... it would be a 100% winning record if they win the League.

Hopefully the nightmare of playing in the 3rd div will be a one season short lived one for the foxes! 10 points clear of 3rd so it would be disaster not to get automatic promotion from here (surely!). Be nice to go up as League 1 winners though. A new TV deal looks likely for the Championship with increased revenues for clubs so it will be very handy going back up.

As for Leeds - who cares! .

[johntheclaret]

Sat 17th Jan

LEAGUE 1

Results

Brighton 0 Leeds 2
Carlisle 3 MK Dons 2
Colchester 3 Cheltenham 1
Crewe 3 Scun.thorpe 2
Hereford 5 Oldham 0
Huddersfield 2 Swindon 1
Leyton Orient 1 Bristol Rovers 2
Millwall 1 Tranmere 0
Peterborough 1 Walsall 0
Stockport 3 Southend 1

Round Up

MK Dons failed to cut the gap on Leicester at the top of Coca-Cola League One after they squandered a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 at Carlisle.
Dons started the game four points adrift of the Foxes who play on Monday and they looked to be in pole position to reduce that to a solitary point when they went 2-0 ahead.
Jamal Johnson had plenty of space and gave the ball to Aaron Wilbraham, who picked his spot to put the Dons ahead in the 15th minute.
Wilbraham doubled the lead after 39 minutes after turning his marker and making something out of nothing.
The hosts pulled one back straight after half-time through Danny Graham and they were level through Paul Thirlwell's 20-yard strike after 65 minutes.
Joe Anyinsah then put the hosts ahead when his long-range shot took a deflection before it went into the net to seal an improbable victory.

Oldham started the day in third but were left reeling after a 5-0 thumping by second-bottom Hereford.
Stephen Guinan put the hosts ahead after two minutes with a header that looped into the back of the goal and he got his second seven minutes later.
Guinan's header then crashed against the bar with Lionel Ainsworth pouncing to put the hosts three up in the 27th minute.
However, Guinan claimed his hat-trick when he tapped in from close range four minutes before half-time.
Ainsworth got his second with a strike from the left-hand side of the area to seal a stunning win.

Scun.thorpe fared little better at Crewe where the bottom side claimed a last-minute winner in a 3-2 victory.
Paul Hayes missed an 11th minute penalty but made amends by putting the Iron ahead eight minutes later before the hosts levelled through Michael O'Connor's penalty with half an hour left.
The visitors regained their lead through a Daniel O'Donnell own goal 20 minutes from time but their advantage was short-lived with Clayton Donaldson (72) equalising.
O'Donnell then became the Alex hero when he converted Billy Jones' late free-kick.

It meant Millwall jumped into third thanks to Marc Laird's 73rd-minute header against Tranmere.
Chris Whelpdale's fourth goal of the season after just five minutes against Walsall was sufficient to move Peterborough into fourth.

Seventh-placed Stockport claimed a 3-1 win over Southend, with Anthony Pilkington getting two of the goals.
Pilkington put the hosts ahead and he doubled the lead with a cracking 25-yard shot.
Peter Clarke was then sent off for serious foul play for the Shrimpers on the stroke of half-time but Alex Revell pulled a goal back before Tommy Rowe sealed victory with six minutes to go.

Huddersfield kept up their push for the top six with a 2-1 home win over Swindon.
Michael Collins put the Terriers ahead in the 51st minute with a cracking 20-yard shot, with Andy Butler's close-range header doubling the lead nine minutes later.
The Robins pulled one back in the last minute through Simon Cox's 25-yard drive but the hosts held on.

Leeds moved nearer the play-offs after a pair of second half goals gave them a 2-0 triumph at Brighton.
The visitors had a chance to take an early lead but Luciano Becchio's penalty was saved by Neil Sullivan with his legs.
However, Leeds were unperturbed and Lee Trundle scored his first goal for the club in the 61st minute before Fabian Delph - a Premier League target - ensured victory eight minutes from time.

Leyton Orient squandered the lead to go down 2-1 to Bristol Rovers at Brisbane Road.
Adam Boyd opened the scoring for the hosts, who started the match fourth from bottom, but a close-range conversion by Jeff Hughes (73) and a smart Daryl Duffy shot five minutes later saw Rovers claim the three points.

Colchester came from behind to beat Cheltenham 3-1 at the Community Stadium.
The visitors went ahead through Chris Westwood's header from close range.
Colchester equalised through Dean Hammond's header (62) before John Finnigan was dismissed for Cheltenham for his second bookable offence.
The hosts then scored two further goals through Steven Gillespie (77) and Mark Yeates (88).

Table

Teams P GD PTS
1 Leicester 24 27 54
2 Milton Keynes Dons 25 24 50
------------------------------
3 Millwall 24 8 47
4 Peterborough 24 16 46
5 Oldham 26 11 45
6 Scun.thorpe 25 12 44
------------------------------
7 Stockport 25 12 41
8 Huddersfield 26 -1 40
9 Leeds 25 8 39
10 Tranmere 24 3 37
11 Colchester 25 1 35
12 Hartlepool 25 -3 32
13 Walsall 24 -2 31
14 Carlisle 25 -4 31
15 Northampton 25 -1 30
16 Southend 24 -10 30
17 Bristol R 24 3 29
18 Swindon 25 -9 24
19 Yeovil 24 -12 24
20 Brighton 24 -9 23
----------------------------
21 Leyton O 25 -15 22
22 Hereford 24 -14 20
23 Cheltenham 24 -25 20
24 Crewe 24 -20 19

LEAGUE 2

Results

Aldershot 1 Macclesfield 1
Barnet 1 Dag & Red 1
Bradford 1 Accrington 1
Brentford 1 Notts County 1
Chester 1 Chesterfield 3
Darlington 5 Luton 1
Exeter 0 Bury 0
Morecambe 0 Gillingham 1
Port Vale 1 Shrewsbury 1
Rochdale 2 Lincoln City 2
Rotherham 1 Bournemouth 0
Wycombe 0 Grimsby 1

Round Up

Nathan Jarman hit the winner for Grimsby as they condemned Coca-Cola League Two leaders Wycombe to their first home defeat of the league campaign.
Wanderers had not lost a league match at Adams Park since February 2008 but found themselves behind after 23 minutes when Jarman hit Jean-Louis Akpa Akpro's cross first time past home stopper Scott Shearer.
Matt Harrold missed a golden chance to put the home side level and put a header just wide of the post soon after.
Peter Taylor threw on Angelo Balanta in an attempt to get Wycombe back in it but they could not find a way past Grimsby, who remain third from bottom.

Darlington moved into third after putting bottom side Luton to the sword with a 5-1 thrashing at the Balfour Webnet Darlington Arena.
Robert Purdie followed up his 10th-minute penalty with a 24th-minute header before Liam Hatch's free-kick made it 3-0.
Neil Austin then added a fourth before Chris Martin hit back with a left-foot strike for Luton.
Gregg Blundell added further misery to Mick Harford's men when he picked up a fifth five minutes from time.

Bradford slipped to fourth after being held 1-1 by Accrington at Valley Parade.
Barry Conlon equalised James Ryan's free-kick but the Bantams could not find a winner and are now level on points with Darlington.

Mark Phillips' last-minute goal rescued a 1-1 draw for Brentford against Notts County at Griffin Park.
Nathan Elder's foul on Mike Edwards earned him a red card before Delroy Facey put County ahead.
County looked set for their fourth away win of the season before Phillips denied them all three points with a close-range header.

It was the same score at Aldershot as Kirk Hudson struck in injury-time to deny Macclesfield their ninth win of the season.
Gareth Evans turned home Jamie Tolley's cross to put Macclesfield ahead but Hudson's 18-yard strike snatched a point for Aldershot.

Mark Nwokeji's strike gave Dagenham and Redbridge a 1-1 draw at Underhill against Barnet.
The hosts had taken the lead through John O'Flynn but Nwokeji's strike denied Barnet - who had Michael Leary sent off - the win.

Goals from Jamie Winter, Lloyd Kerry and an own goal from Lawrence Wilson helped Chesterfield to a 3-1 win against Chester, for whom Damien Mozika scored.

Mark Hudson's goal gave Rotherham a 1-0 win over Bournemouth, who had Danny Hollands sent off, while Gillingham won at Morecambe thanks to a Curtis Weston goal.

Both sides ended up with 10 men at Vale Park where Port Vale drew 1-1 with Shrewsbury.
Stephen Thompson put Vale ahead before Richard Walker hit back for the Shrews, who had Marc Pugh sent off with 16 minutes left.
Vale's Kyle Perry was sent off for a tackle on Kelvin Langmead after 32 minutes.

Rochdale lost ground in their play-off chase after they drew 2-2 with Lincoln City at Spotland.
Adam Le Fondre and Lee McEvilly were on target for the hosts while Dany N'Guessan's strike and an own-goal by Thomas Kennedy gave Lincoln a point.

Exeter and Bury played out a goalless draw at St James' Park.

Table

Teams P GD PTS
1 Wycombe 25 18 49
2 Brentford 24 14 43
3 Darlington 24 18 41
-------------------------
4 Bradford 25 13 41
5 Bury 26 9 40
6 Dagenham R 24 22 39
7 Shrewsbury 25 18 39
--------------------------
8 Rochdale 24 10 39
9 Exeter 24 4 37
10 Gillingham 24 0 37
11 Aldershot 23 -2 35
12 Lincoln 25 2 32
13 Chesterfield 24 4 31
14 Notts Co 25 -9 28
15 Macclesfield 24 -18 28
16 Port Vale 24 -13 27
17 Morecambe 24 -10 25
18 Chester 25 -15 24
19 Rotherham 24 8 23
20 Accrington Stanley 24 -11 23
21 Barnet 25 -22 20
22 Grimsby 24 -22 17
----------------------------------
23 Bournemouth 25 -11 7
24 Luton 25 -7 0

[johntheclaret]

Mon 19th Jan

Yeovil 0 - 2 Leicester City

Table Top 6

Pos Team P Pts
1 Leicester City 25 57
2 Milton Keynes Dons 25 50
----------------------------
3 Millwall 24 47
4 Peterborough United 24 46
5 Oldham Athletic 26 45
6 **** United 25 44

[johntheclaret]

Tues 20th Jan

LEAGUE 1

Results

Leyton Orient 1 Southend 1
Peterborough 0 MK Dons 0
Scun.thorpe 2 Rotherham 0
Brighton 0 Luton 0

Some big results here. Posh and MK Dons drawing is excellent news for the Foxes who took all 3 points at Yeovil. But just as newsworthy (well kind of) is that Lutons draw at the Seagulls means they now have 1 point in the league.

LEAGUE 2

Results

Aldershot 2 Notts C 2
Dag & Red 1 Exeter 2
Port Vale 1 Gillingham 3
**** 2 Rotherham 0
Brighton 0 Luton 0
Accrington P-P Darlington

[drebin]

Yep interesting form of late by the MK Dons - a bad loss last Sat giving up a 2 goal lead and now a draw means a 6 point gap in first place for Leicester with a game in hand. Quite possibly we could go 9 points clear depending upon how Millwall go next time out. It is almost time for the fat.............(better keep a lid on it!)

[johntheclaret]

Sat 24th Jan

LEAGUE 1

Results

Bristol Rovers 0 Colchester 0
Cheltenham 2 Brighton 2
Leeds 3 Peterborough 1
Leicester 4 Huddersfield 2
Northampton 5 Crewe 1
Oldham 3 Stockport 1
Scun.thorpe 2 Leyton Orient 1
Southend 0 Yeovil 1
Tranmere 4 Carlisle 1
Walsall 1 Hereford 1

Round Up

League One leaders Leicester twice came from behind to beat Huddersfield 4-2 at the Walkers Stadium and move nine points clear at the summit.
Phil Jevons opened the scoring after just five minutes for the Terriers, and although Michael Morrison equalised, the visitors led again through Keigan Parker's 51st-minute effort.
But Bruno Berner levelled once more before Matty Fryatt and Jack Hobbs put Leicester in front.
A disappointing end to the game for Huddersfield was capped by the 88th-minute dismissal of Gary Roberts.

Oldham are up to third after seeing off Stockport 3-1 in the north-west derby.
Dean Windass proved too much for the Stockport defence to handle, setting up Danny Whitaker's opener and then providing the flick-on for Lee Hughes to double the home advantage.
Oli Johnson headed Stockport back into it five minutes before the break, but Chris Taylor killed things off with Windass again involved.

Jermaine Beckford came off the bench to score the winner for Leeds as they boosted their play-off push with a 3-1 victory over fourth-placed Peterborough.
Beckford had been on the pitch for just four minutes before grabbing his first goal in the 62nd minute, and he doubled his tally nine minutes later.
Craig Mackail-Smith got Peterborough back into the game before Jonathan Howson capped the victory in the final minute.

Goals from Paul Hayes and Garry Thompson fired Scun.thorpe to a 2-1 win over Leyton Orient and fifth place. Dean Morgan got the goal for the visitors.

Rock-bottom Crewe were on the wrong end of a 5-1 thrashing as Northampton recorded their first win in five games in style.
A Billy Clarke hat-trick was complimented with goals from Danny Jackman and Liam Davis, with Colin Daniel getting the lone goal for the Railwaymen, who struggled after having Julien Baudet sent off after just 18 minutes.

Adam Hinshelwood's last-minute equaliser saw Brighton battle back from 2-0 down to earn a point at Cheltenham.
Ian Westlake and Chris Westwood had put the hosts in control but Nicky Forster got Brighton back in it 12 minutes from time before Hinshelwood snatched a point.

Ian Moore scored a brace either side of strikes from Gareth Edds and Steven Jennings as Tranmere thrashed Carlisle 4-1. Danny Graham got on the scoresheet for the visitors.

Steve Guinan's penalty cancelled out Troy Deeney's opener as Walsall and Hereford drew 1-1, while Aaron Brown's sixth-minute strike was enough to give Yeovil three points from their trip to Southend.

Bristol Rovers and Colchester shared the points from a goalless draw.

Table

Teams P GD PTS
1 Leicester 26 31 60
2 Milton Keynes Dons 26 24 51
------------------------------
3 Oldham 27 13 48
4 Peterborough 26 14 47
5 Scun.thorpe 26 13 47
6 Millwall 24 8 47
------------------------------
7 Leeds 26 10 42
8 Stockport 26 10 41
9 Tranmere 25 6 40
10 Huddersfield 27 -3 40
11 Colchester 26 1 36
12 Northampton 26 3 33
13 Walsall 25 -2 32
14 Hartlepool 25 -3 32
15 Carlisle 26 -7 31
16 Southend 26 -11 31
17 Bristol R 25 3 30
18 Yeovil 26 -13 27
19 Swindon 25 -9 24
20 Brighton 25 -9 24
---------------------------
21 Leyton O 27 -16 23
22 Hereford 25 -14 21
23 Cheltenham 25 -25 21
24 Crewe 25 -24 19

LEAGUE 2

Results

Accrington 1 Barnet 1
Bournemouth 3 Wycombe 1
Bury 2 Aldershot 1
Chesterfield 1 Morecambe 2
Dag & Red 3 Rochdale 2
Gillingham 1 Exeter 0
Grimsby 3 Rotherham 0
Lincoln City 1 Chester 1
Luton 3 Bradford 3
Macclesfield 2 Brentford 0

Round Up

Coca-Cola League Two leaders Wycombe lost their second straight match as they went down 3-1 at Bournemouth.
Wanderers led through Matt Harold's ninth-minute opener but goals from Brett Pitman, Jason Pearce and Jake Thomson turned the game around.

However, Brentford failed to take advantage and their 2-0 defeat at Macclesfield left Wycombe's lead at six points.
Emile Sinclair's early strike and Gareth Sinclair's penalty sunk Brentford, who had only one shot on target all afternoon.

Bury are up to third after beating Aldershot 2-1.
Brian Barry-Murphy and Andy Morrell scored in the final four minutes of the first half, while Scott Davies grabbed a consolation for Aldershot seven minutes from time.

Gillingham beat Exeter 1-0 to climb above their rivals into fourth place.
Captain Adam Miller got the only goal of the game 11 minutes from time as the Gills recorded a third straight win.
Exeter are only three points off second, but results today have seen them tumble to ninth with the defeat.

Dagenham and Redbridge survived the late sending off of Sam Saunders to edge out Rochdale 3-2.
The Daggers took the lead through Mark Arber after eight minutes but Thomas Kennedy levelled with a free-kick.
Rochdale then led through Nicky Adams before Matt Ritchie and Glen Southam turned the game around.

Richard Walker's early goal was enough to seal a vital 1-0 win for Shrewsbury over Darlington, who had Ricky Ravenhill sent off late on. Shrewsbury stay in the play-off places in sixth.

Bradford substitute Barry Conlon broke Luton hearts as he grabbed a late point in a terrific 3-3 draw.
Asa Hall and Sunday Waisu had given Luton a 2-0 lead, and things were looking good for the Hatters when Bradford boss Stuart McCall was sent off.
But the Bantams levelled through Paul McLaren and Dean Furman. When Hall scored again, Luton looked good for the win but Conlon then stroked home a penalty before Chris Martin was sent off for Town. The draw puts Luton on one point for the season at the foot of the table.

Jamie Forrester struck a hat-trick as Notts County saw off Port Vale 4-2.
Myles Weston got County's opener before Forrester took control.
Simon Richman and Louis Dodds were on the scoresheet for Vale.

Veteran Paul Mullin earned Accrington Stanley a point in a 1-1 draw with Barnet.
The Londoners led through Paul Furlong's early strike but then had Kenny Gillet sent off for violent conduct, allowing Stanley a way back into the game.

Chesterfield manager Lee Richardson is under increasing pressure after seeing his side lose 2-1 at home to Morecambe.
Martin Gritton had cancelled out Rene Howe's opener the visitors, but Chesterfield could not find a way back from Craig Stanley's 65th-minute strike.

Grimsby recorded only their second home league win of the season as goals from Joe Widdowson, Adam Proudlock and Dean Sinclair gave them a 3-0 victory over Rotherham.

Lee Frecklington earned a point for Lincoln against Chester as his equaliser cancelled out Anthony Barry's opener.

Table

Teams P GD PTS
1 Wycombe 26 16 49
2 Brentford 25 12 43
3 Bury 27 10 43
-------------------------
4 Gillingham 26 3 43
5 Dagenham R 26 22 42
6 Shrewsbury 26 19 42
7 Bradford 26 13 42
-------------------------
8 Darlington 25 17 41
9 Exeter 26 4 40
10 Rochdale 25 9 39
11 Aldershot 25 -3 36
12 Lincoln 26 2 33
13 Notts Co 27 -7 32
14 Chesterfield 25 3 31
15 Macclesfield 25 -16 31
16 Morecambe 25 -9 28
17 Port Vale 26 -17 27
18 Chester 26 -15 25
19 Accrington Stanley 25 -11 24
20 Rotherham 25 5 23
21 Barnet 26 -22 21
22 Grimsby 25 -19 20
-------------------------------
23 Bournemouth 26 -9 10
24 Luton 26 -7 1

[johntheclaret]

Leicester are looking home and dry. A 9 point gap between them and 2nd and a massive 12 point gap now to 3rd. Posh have fallen away, Scun.thorpe have fallan away, and Leeds, who were an early show, fell away some time ago. MK Dons still a threat but watch out for Oldham.

Lee Hughes (remember him, he is the guy that killed someone with his car and and then did a runner), was a quality player prior to his prison sentence, was given a chance by Oldham, and is repaying that chance with goals. Haven't checked the odds but Oldham might be worth a punt on an automatic spot.

Meanwhile, in League two, it couldn't be much tighter at the top. Wycombe (who nhave stuttered lately after an amazing unbeaten run) are 6 points clear at the top, but there are only 3 points separating 2nd to 9th in the tightest promotino battle in years.

Is it good for the game? For the spectator, I would say, yes it is. It is always better for the fans to have their team in the mix right up to end of the season. But what does it say for the quality of football? Either, they are all getting better or there simply isn't enough quality for more than one team to stand out. I would suggest it is the latter.

[Pidge]

After a mid-season slump Leeds are now back on track. Hopefully we get promoted this season.

[johntheclaret]

After a mid-season slump Leeds are now back on track. Hopefully we get promoted this season.

Good win yesterday Pidge, but 5 points to make up just to get into the playoff's.

[Pidge]

After a mid-season slump Leeds are now back on track. Hopefully we get promoted this season.

Good win yesterday Pidge, but 5 points to make up just to get into the playoff's.

Also other teams trying to poach our star players. Hope they can stay the season and help us get promoted.

[johntheclaret]

Tue 27th Jan

LEAGUE 1

Results

Tuesday 27th January 2009
Bristol R 3-2 Cheltenham
Colchester 2-1 Northamptn
Hartlepool 2-2 Carlisle U
Hereford U 0-2 Millwall
Leeds Utd 2-0 Southend U
Leicester 0-0 Brighton
Milton K D 1-2 Leyton O
Peterboro 4-2 Crewe Alex
Scun.thorpe 2-0 Oldham Ath
Swindon T 3-2 Walsall
Tranmere R 2-1 Stockport
Yeovil T 1-0 Huddersfld

Round UP

Leicester extended their lead at the top of Coca-Cola League One to 10 points despite being held to a 0-0 draw with lowly Brighton at the Walkers Stadium.
After a dull first half Leicester boss Nigel Pearson threw on Paul Dickov in an attempt to breathe life into his attack and John Sullivan had to pull off a brilliant save to deny the striker in the 61st minute.
Michael Morrison missed a chance to put Leicester ahead soon after but his header drifted wide and the Foxes had to settle for a disappointing stalemate.

Jamie Jones pulled off a brilliant last-gasp penalty save to help Leyton Orient to a shock 2-1 win over MK Dons at Stadium MK.
The hosts broke the deadlock 19 minutes in when Luke Chadwick picked up an Aaron Wilbraham pass to shoot past Jamie Jones.
Dean Morgan levelled four minutes later and Stephen Purches gave Orient the lead before Jones tipped Sam Baldock's penalty around the post after Loick Pires had handled in the box.

A late rally from Peterborough saw them overcome a stubborn Crewe side 4-2 at London Road.
Tom Pope's strike gave Crewe the lead two minutes in before George Boyd equalised for Peterbrough. Aaron McLean put the home side ahead eight minutes after the break before Pope made it 2-2.
Dean Keates made it 3-2 and Boyd added the gloss to move Peterborough up to third.

Scun.thorpe moved into fourth after a 2-0 win over Oldham thanks to two goals in seven first-half minutes from Grant McCann and Gary Hooper.

Marc Laird and Tony Craig were on target as Millwall beat Hereford 2-0 at Edgar Street to move the visitors up one place into fifth.

Leeds picked up their third win on the bounce as they beat Southend 2-0 at Elland Road courtesy of goals from Rui Marques and Richard Naylor.

An injury-time penalty from Ian Moore helped Tranmere to a 2-1 win over Stockport at Prenton Park.
Gareth Edds' put the hosts ahead before Greg Tansey upended Moore in the box and he picked himself up to score from the spot before Oli Johnson headed a consolation for Stockport.

A second-half recovery from Walsall could not prevent them from falling to a 3-2 defeat at Swindon.
Kevin Amankwaah gave Swindon the lead before Simon Cox doubled the hosts' advantage with a 25-yard strike.
Billy Paynter added a third before Walsall hit back through Jabo Ibehre and Troy Deeney but Swindon held on for victory.

Joel Porter's late header snatched a point for Hartlepool in their 2-2 draw with Carlisle at Victoria Park.
Marc Bridge-Wilkinson broke the deadlock for Carlisle before a 25-yard screamer before Cleveland Taylor doubled their advantage.
Andy Monkhouse pulled one back before Porter headed home to seal the draw.

Richard Lambert and Darryl Duffy scored late on to give Bristol Rovers a 3-2 win over Cheltenham.
Rovers' Richard Lambert cancelled out Ashley Vincent's opener before Lloyd Owusu gave Cheltenham the lead.
Cheltenham looked set for victory but Duffy and Lambert scored twice in two minutes towards the death to give Rovers the win.

Mark Yeates and Scott Vernon scored twice in two minutes to cancel out Adebayo Akinfenwa's opener and give Colchester a 2-1 win over Northampton at the Weston Homes Community Stadium.

Shaun MacDonald's goal gave Yeovil a 1-0 win over Huddersfield at Huish Park.

Table

Teams P GD PTS
1 Leicester 27 31 61
2 Milton Keynes Dons 27 23 51
-----------------------------
3 Peterborough 27 16 50
4 Scun.thorpe 27 15 50
5 Millwall 25 10 50
6 Oldham 28 11 48
-----------------------------
7 Leeds 27 12 45
8 Tranmere 26 7 43
9 Stockport 27 9 41
10 Huddersfield 28 -4 40
11 Colchester 27 2 39
12 Bristol R 26 4 33
13 Northampton 27 2 33
14 Hartlepool 26 -3 33
15 Walsall 26 -3 32
16 Carlisle 27 -7 32
17 Southend 27 -13 31
18 Yeovil 27 -12 30
19 Swindon 26 -8 27
20 Leyton O 28 -15 26
-------------------------
21 Brighton 26 -9 25
22 Hereford 26 -16 21
23 Cheltenham 26 -26 21
24 Crewe 26 -26 19

LEAGUE 2

Results

Wednesday 28th January 2009
Chesterfld 2-1 Exeter C

Tuesday 27th January 2009
Accrington 1-0 Morecambe
Barnet 0-0 Shrewsbury
Bournemth 1-1 Luton Town
Brentford 3-0 AldershotT
Bury 1-0 Bradford C
Darlington 1-0 Rotherham
Gillingham 1-2 Lincoln C
Grimsby T 1-1 Dag'ham &R
Macclesfld 0-0 Wycombe W
Port Vale 3-0 Chester C
Rochdale 3-0 Notts Co

Round Up

Brentford cruised to a 3-0 win over Aldershot at Griffin Park to cut Wycombe's lead at the top of Coca-Cola League Two to four points.
Marcus Bean opened the scoring before top scorer Charlie Macdonald recovered from missing a 39th-minute penalty to convert a spot kick just before half time after Anthony Charles handballed in the box.
Jordan Rhodes struck three minutes from time to move them three points closer to Wycombe, over whom they have a game in hand.

The Chairboys could not breach a resilient Macclesfield defence at Moss Rose where the match ended goalless to leave the leaders without a win in three outings.

Bury are level on points with Brentford in third after they beat Bradford 1-0 at Gigg Lane thanks to Andrew Morrell's 18-yard strike.

Darlington moved up eight places to fourth after Danny Carlton's goal gave the Quakers a 1-0 home win over Rotherham.
The home side had to play 33 minutes of the match with 10 men after Robin Hulbert was sent off following a foul on Mark Hudson.

Dany N'Guessan's injury-time goal gave Lincoln City a surprise 2-1 win at Gillingham.
Simeon Jackson's first-half penalty gave the Gills the lead before Geoff Horsfield equalised and N'Guessan picked up Adrian Patulea's pass to drive past Simon Royce and seal the win.

Jon Nurse's 25-yard strike rescued a point for Dagenham and Redbridge who had gone behind at Grimsby thanks to a Stuart Elliott strike.

Chester ended with nine players as they were thrashed 3-0 by Port Vale at Vale Park .
Danny Glover, Robert Taylor and James Lawrie were on target for Vale while Glenn Rule and Lawrence Wilson saw red for Chester.

Rochdale saw off Notts County at Spotland by the same margin thanks to goals from Adam Le Fondre, Chris Dagnall and William Buckley.

Danny Hollands made up for scoring an own goal to grab a draw for Bournemouth in their home game with Luton while Shrewsbury played out a goalless draw at Barnet.

James Ryan hit a 30-yard screamer to give Accrington Stanley a 1-0 home win over Morecambe.

Table

Teams P GD PTS
1 Wycombe 27 16 50
2 Brentford 26 15 46
-------------------------
3 Bury 28 11 46
4 Darlington 26 18 44
5 Dagenham R 27 22 43
6 Shrewsbury 27 19 43
--------------------------
7 Gillingham 27 2 43
8 Rochdale 26 12 42
9 Bradford 27 12 42
10 Exeter 27 3 40
11 Lincoln 27 3 36
12 Aldershot 26 -6 36
13 Chesterfield 26 4 34
14 Notts Co 28 -10 32
15 Macclesfield 26 -16 32
16 Port Vale 27 -14 30
17 Morecambe 26 -10 28
18 Accrington Stanley 26 -10 27
19 Chester 27 -18 25
20 Rotherham 26 4 23
21 Barnet 27 -22 22
22 Grimsby 26 -19 21
-------------------------
23 Bournemouth 27 -9 11
24 Luton 27 -7 2

[johntheclaret]

Sat 7th Feb

LEAGUE 1

Results

Leicester 0 Oldham 0
Hartlepool 2 Walsall 2
Tranmere 0 Orient 0

No other games survived the weather this week

Round Up

Runaway League One leaders Leicester were left frustrated as Oldham's stand-in goalkeeper Dean Windass kept them at bay in a 0-0 draw at the Walkers Stadium.
The veteran striker donned the keeper's jersey after 50 minutes when Greg Fleming was shown a straight red card for hauling down Matty Fryatt inside the 18-yard area.
But Fryatt failed to capitalise when he drove the penalty wide and 39-year-old Windass went on to defy Leicester with a string of fine saves.
The Foxes are now 11 points clear at the top while there were only two other games in League One which survived the weather.

Sam Williams' late goal gave Walsall a 2-2 draw against Hartlepool at Victoria Park.
Troy Deeney sent Walsall ahead after 10 minutes when he fired home a Sofiene Zaaboub cross before Anthony Gerrard put the ball into his own net to make it 1-1.
Joel Porter latched on to a loose ball inside the box to lash his shot past Clayton Ince and put Hartlepool ahead only for Williams to head home Mark Bradley's cross to seal a point for Walsall, who remain one place above Hartlepool in 12th.

Meanwhile Geraint Williams' first game in charge of Leyton Orient ended in a 0-0 draw with Tranmere at Prenton Park.

Table

Teams P GD PTS
1 Leicester 30 35 68
2 Milton Keynes Dons 29 26 57
-----------------------------
3 **** 28 16 53
4 Peterborough 28 15 50
5 Oldham 30 11 50
6 Millwall 26 9 50
-----------------------------
7 Leeds 28 11 45
8 Stockport 29 11 44
9 Tranmere 28 6 44
10 Huddersfield 30 -3 44
11 Colchester 28 4 42
12 Walsall 29 -5 36
13 Hartlepool 29 -4 35
14 Southend 28 -12 34
15 Bristol R 27 3 33
16 Northampton 28 1 33
17 Yeovil 28 -11 33
18 Carlisle 28 -9 32
19 Swindon 27 -8 28
20 Brighton 27 -8 28
--------------------------
21 Leyton O 30 -16 27
22 Crewe 27 -25 22
23 Hereford 27 -19 21
24 Cheltenham 27 -28 21

LEAGUE 2

Results

Bournemouth 1 Shrews 0
Brentford 3 Chester 0
Bury 2 Dag & Red 2
Gillingham 0 Bradford 2
Grimsby 2 Exeter 2

All other games postponed due to the weather

Round Up

Charlie MacDonald scored a hat trick as Brentford won 3-0 against Chester to cut Wycombe's lead at the top of League Two to one point.
The Bees' top scorer held off two Chester defenders to stride into the box and squeeze the ball past John Danby to open the scoring.
MacDonald turned home Sam Wood's cross on 35 minutes before completing the win in first-half injury time when he fired his spot kick past Danby after Kevin Roberts fouled Jordan Rhodes in the box.

Bury fell two points behind Brentford after drawing 2-2 with Dagenham & Redbridge at Gigg Lane.
Efe Sodje fired through a crowd of players to put Bury ahead before he grabbed his second five minutes later with a header from Brian Barry-Murphy's pin-point cross.
Jon Nurse's 12-yard strike put Dagenham back in it on the hour and the hosts stole a point shortly after when Paul Benson reacted quickly to Mark Tyler's fumble to tap home into an empty net.

Bradford leapfrogged Gillingham into the playoffs after beating beating the Gills 2-0 at the KRBS Priestfield Stadium.
A recent good run of form had seen the home side edge into the playoff places but a 12-yard strike from Omar Daley and a Michael Boulding goal moved the Bantams into seventh.

Bournemouth earned a valuable three points in their quest to avoid relegation with a 1-0 home win over Shrewsbury.
Brett Pitman picked up his blocked corner to drift inside and curl an 18-yard shot past Luke Daniels to defeat high-flying Shrewsbury, who had Darren Moss sent off late on.

Grimsby's relegation hopes, meanwhile, were boosted by a 2-2 draw against Exeter in the final match to survive the weather.
Marcus Stewart drilled a 25-yard effort past Phillip Barnes to give Exeter the lead only for Nathan Jarman to level just before the break when he fired home after some good work by Adam Proudlock.
Jarman then converted Joe Widdowson's cross to put the hosts ahead before Ryan Harley coolly finished from 20 yards to grab a point for Grimsby, who sit seven points off the drop zone.

Table

Teams P GD PTS
1 Wycombe 28 17 53
2 Brentford 29 18 52
3 Bury 30 12 50
-------------------------
4 Rochdale 28 16 48
5 Bradford 29 16 48
6 Darlington 27 19 47
7 Shrewsbury 30 18 46
-------------------------
8 Gillingham 29 1 46
9 Dagenham R 29 21 44
10 Exeter 29 4 44
11 Chesterfield 27 5 37
12 Lincoln 28 3 37
13 Aldershot 27 -8 36
14 Morecambe 28 -8 32
15 Notts Co 29 -11 32
16 Macclesfield 27 -18 32
17 Port Vale 28 -14 31
18 Accrington Stanley 28 -13 27
19 Rotherham 27 6 26
20 Chester 30 -24 25
21 Grimsby 28 -21 22
22 Barnet 28 -23 22
------------------------------
23 Bournemouth 29 -8 15
24 Luton 28 -8 2

[johntheclaret]

Sat 14th Feb

LEAGUE 1

Results

Brighton 0 Carlisle 2
Cheltenham 2 Hereford 3
Huddersfield 1 Leeds 0
Leicester 1 Swindon 1
Leyton Orient 1 Crewe 0
MK Dons 3 Hartlepool 1
Oldham 2 Northampton 1
Peterborough 1 Yeovil 3
Scun.thorpe 0 Bristol Rovers 2
Southend 2 Tranmere 1
Stockport 2 Millwall 2
Walsall 2 Colchester 0

Round Up

MK Dons closed the gap on Coca-Cola League One leaders Leicester to nine points with a 3-1 win at home to Hartlepool on Saturday.
Roberto Di Matteo's men did it the hard way, though, an Ali Gerba brace either side of Dean Lewington's strike rendering Rune Lange's opener meaningless.

Leicester needed an 86th-minute equaliser from Andy King to earn a 1-1 draw at home to Swindon, for whom Simon Cox was on target.

Third-placed Peterborough slipped seven points adrift of the automatic promotion places as they went down 3-1 at home to Yeovil.
Paul Warne and Aaron Brown put the visitors 2-0 up at the break, and although Aaron Mclean pulled a goal back, Shaun MacDonald killed the contest with a Yeovil third.

Scun.thorpe and Oldham are level on points with Posh after the Iron went down 2-0 at home to Bristol Rovers and the Latics were 2-1 winners of Northampton.
Darryl Duffy and Jo Kuffour scored the goals for Rovers, with Paul Hayes missing from the spot for Scun.thorpe.
Reuben Hazell and Dean Windass were on target for Oldham, who held on for victory after Adebayo Akinfenwa had halved the deficit.

Millwall hold the last play-off place despite surrendering a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Stockport.
Izale McLeod scored twice, the second with a penalty, to put the Londoners in control, but they had David Marn sent off with 25 minutes remaining and County made the most of the extra man, Matty McNeil and Oli Johnson securing the hosts a point.

At the other end of the table, Leyton Orient moved out of the drop zone with a 1-0 win over second-bottom Crewe, Stephen Purches the scorer.

Struggling Hereford boosted their survival hopes with a 3-2 win at basement boys Cheltenham.
Lloyd Owusu's brace was not enough for Cheltenham, who had Lee Ridley dismissed in injury time, as Febian Brandy and two goals from Sam Hewson won it for the visitors.

In the day's lunchtime kick-off Huddersfield dealt Yorkshire rivals Leeds' promotion hopes a blow, Nathan Clarke scoring in a 1-0 victory.

Elsewhere, Carlisle won 2-0 at Brighton, who slipped into the drop zone, Southend were 2-1 winners at home to Tranmere and Walsall claimed a 2-0 home success over Colchester.

Table

Teams P GD PTS
1 Leicester 31 35 69
2 Milton Keynes Dons 30 28 60
-------------------------------
3 Peterborough 30 15 53
4 Scun.thorpe 29 14 53
5 Oldham 31 12 53
6 Millwall 28 7 51
--------------------------------
7 Leeds 30 12 48
8 Tranmere 30 6 47
9 Huddersfield 31 -2 47
10 Stockport 30 11 45
11 Colchester 30 1 42
12 Walsall 31 -3 40
13 Southend 29 -11 37
14 Bristol R 28 5 36
15 Carlisle 30 -7 36
16 Yeovil 29 -9 36
17 Hartlepool 30 -6 35
18 Northampton 29 0 33
19 Leyton O 31 -15 30
20 Swindon 28 -8 29
-----------------------------
21 Brighton 29 -12 28
22 Hereford 28 -18 24
23 Crewe 28 -26 22
24 Cheltenham 28 -29 21


LEAGUE 2

Bournemouth 1 Accrington 0
Bradford 1 Wycombe 0
Brentford 2 Port Vale 0
Dag & Red 2 Luton 1
Exeter 3 Aldershot 2
Grimsby 1 Bury 2
Macclesfield 0 Rochdale 1
Morecambe 3 Chester 1
Notts County 2 Barnet 0
Rotherham 2 Gillingham 0
Shrewsbury 2 Chesterfield 1
Lincoln P-P Darlington

Round Up

Charlie MacDonald made up for missing a penalty by hitting the winner in Brentford's 2-0 win over Port Vale at Griffin Park to extend the Bees' lead at the top of Coca Cola League Two to three points.
MacDonald had his fifth-minute penalty saved by Joe Anyon before Karleigh Osborne headed home Kevin O'Connor's cross just before the break .
But he atoned for his spot-kick miss four minutes from time by converting David Hunt's cross.

Wycombe's title push suffered yet another blow at Valley Parade where they were defeated 1-0 by Bradford.
The visitors were condemned to their fourth defeat of the season by Steve Jones, who picked up Peter Thorne's pass to finish superbly past Scott Shearer just before half-time.
The Chairboys' misery was compounded shortly before the final whistle when Chris Zebroski was sent off for a high tackle on Matt Clarke.

Third-placed Bury came from behind to beat Grimsby 2-1 at Blundell Park thanks to goals from Andrew Morrell and Andy Bishop.
Adam Proudlock's 12-yard strike gave Grimsby a surprise lead before Morrell reacted quickest to Phillip Barnes' parry to give Bury the win after Bishop had equalised just after the break.

A Wayne Curtis double helped Morecambe breeze past Chester 3-1 at Christie Park.
Aaron Taylor climbed high to head home a Michael Twiss cross and give Morecambe the lead after 15 minutes before Wayne Curtis's tap-in doubled the hosts' advantage after 32 minutes.
Curtis' second made it 3-0 on the stroke of half-time before Laurence Wilson grabbed a consolation for the visitors just after the break.

Neil Saunders scored a stunning late free-kick to give Exeter a 3-2 win over Aldershot in an entertaining match at St James' Park .
Marcus Stewart's fourth goal of the season put Exeter ahead on the half-hour before Aldershot raced ahead thanks to goals from Jake Robinson and Ben Harding.
Harding then headed into his own net to make it 2-2 before Saunders beat Alex McCarthy with the 25-yard shot to seal the win with 10 minutes left.

Shrewsbury moved into seventh after they beat Chesterfield 2-1 at the Prostar Stadium.
Michael Jackson latched on to Ben Davies' cross to head Shrewsbury ahead after 19 minutes before Scott Boden equalised with a sweet 20-yard drive.
Shrewsbury's winner came just after the break when Davies' 20-yard free kick beat Tommy Lee.

Andrew Procter missed a penalty 10 minutes from time as Accrington Stanley were condemned to a 1-0 defeat at Bournemouth.
Procter skied his penalty after Rhoys Wiggins fouled Peter Cavanagh in the box before Brett Pitman converted
Jake Thomson's cross to give the hosts a vital win with four minutes left.

Dagenham climbed two places to eighth after they beat Luton 1-0 at Victoria Road thanks to Danny Foster's first-half tap-in, while Lincoln's match against Darlington at Sincil Bank was called off due to a frozen pitch.

Matthew Hamshaw and Jamie Clapham were on target for Notts County as they condemned struggling Barnet to a 2-0 defeat at Meadow Lane while Rotherham beat Gillingham by the same margin at the Don Valley Stadium thanks to goals from Jamie Clark and Jamie Green.

Thomas Kennedy's penalty in first-half injury-time gave fourth-placed Rochdale a 1-0 win over Macclesfield.

Table

Teams P GD PTS
1 Brentford 31 20 56
2 Wycombe 29 16 53
3 Bury 31 13 53
--------------------------
4 Rochdale 29 17 51
5 Bradford 30 17 51
6 Exeter 31 9 50
7 Shrewsbury 31 19 49
--------------------------
8 Dagenham R 30 22 47
9 Darlington 27 19 47
10 Gillingham 30 -1 46
11 Lincoln 29 3 38
12 Chesterfield 28 4 37
13 Morecambe 30 -6 36
14 Aldershot 28 -9 36
15 Notts Co 30 -9 35
16 Macclesfield 29 -23 32
17 Port Vale 29 -16 31
18 Rotherham 28 8 29
19 Accrington Stanley 30 -14 28
20 Chester 31 -26 25
21 Grimsby 30 -22 23
22 Barnet 30 -25 23
-------------------------------
23 Bournemouth 30 -7 18
24 Luton 29 -9 2

[johntheclaret]

LEAGUE 1

Tuesday 17th February 2009
Bristol R 3-0 Yeovil T
Hartlepool 2-2 Leicester
Hereford U 2-0 Leeds Utd
Millwall 1-1 Swindon T
Southend U 0-1 Crewe Alex
Stockport 1-0 Cheltenham
Tranmere R 1-1 Peterboro

LEAGUE 2

Tuesday 17th February 2009
Bradford C 0-0 Darlington
Dag'ham &R 0-1 Wycombe W
Gillingham 4-4 AldershotT
Macclesfld 1-1 Notts Co
Rochdale 1-1 Morecambe
Shrewsbury 1-0 Chester C

[Pidge]

Leeds are back in the top 6