There was a familiar look to results in La Liga this week, as Real Madrid and Barcelona scored victories on the road. Yet, scratch beneath the surface of the weekend’s scores and the league itself is shaping up to be a surprisingly competitive affair across the board.
The game of the day came at the Galpharm Stadium with Huddersfield coming from behind to record a stunning 4-2 victory over Yeovil. With just fifteen minutes gone Yeovil had taken a shock 2-0 lead with goals from Dean Bowdich and Paul Huntington. An inspiring team talk saw Huddersfield return to the field in a determined fashion, pulling a goal back inside the first four minutes thanks to a magnificent outside-of-the-boot effort from Scott Arfield. Defender Jamie McCombe headed in the equaliser before finding himself on the edge of the penalty area where he turned the defender and coolly slotted home his second of the day. Gary Roberts scored a debatable penalty to complete the second half comeback and send his side to the top of League One.
An exciting weekend in the Championship saw Ipswich Town get their promotion hopes back on track with a 2-0 win over rivals Cardiff. Ipswich had a penalty appeal turned down in the first half after Connor Wickham was brought down in the box and then went close with a free kick as it remained 0-0 till half time. After the break Ipswich went close again with a header from Gareth McAuley, then Connor Wickham showed power and pace breaking through the Cardiff defence only to be thwarted by the Cardiff goalkeeper.
Who’d be a champion, eh? All that struggle and worry, all that effort, and for what? For everybody to hate you and hope that you fall on your behind at some point in the immediate future. Yeah, you get a trophy and a medal, but what exactly does that get you? Not player loyalty, that’s for sure. As Ligue 1’s incumbent champions Olympique de Marseille are currently finding out, sometimes a championship can be more trouble than it’s worth.
The pressure was eased on Gordon Strachan yesterday night as a late Tarmo Kink double helped his Middlebrough team beat Burnley 2-1, visitors who continue to suffer away woes. After a 68th minute goal from Bikey it looked bleak again for Strachan’s men, but Kink coming off the bench turned the game on its head and with a great free kick in the 94th minute saved Strachan for another game at least.