A 5-0 win at Portman Road proved insufficient to save Ipswich from relegation last year and Sunderland followed them down in May.The revived Wearsiders have since made a case for a speedy return by amassing 16 points from seven games, but it was Ipswich who almost took the lead after 18 minutes when a Jim Magilton chip struck the top of the bar with goalkeeper Mart Poom stranded.It was the closest either side came in an evenly contested opening spell. Kevin Kyle scored a dramatic late winner to secure a fourth successive home league victory for reinvigorated Sunderland and keep Mick McCarthy’s team climbing the First Division table. He scored twice while Sam Collins added another to give Vale a 3-0 win.Brighton kept the pressure on with a 3-1 win at Rushden, goals from Guy Butters, Leon Knight and Zeshan Rehman helping the Seagulls move into second place in the table.. Paulo Vernazza was sent off for Watford while Robbie Blake missed a penalty for Burnley.Lee Morris scored twice to give Derby a 2-1 victory at Bradford, with Andy Gray scoring for City.Stephen McPhee was Port Vale’s hero as they held on to top spot in the Second Division. Darren Huckerby had given Norwich a 17th-minute lead but Nicky Forster levelled for Reading.Burnley and Watford shared a 1-1 draw at Vicarage Road with Luke Chadwick equalising for the visitors after Scott Fitzgerald had opened the scoring. The hosts took the lead through a Darren Byfield penalty and Rotherham scored twice for the first time this season when Martin Butler gave the Millers a two-goal cushion six minutes into the second half, Butler recording a third in injury-time.Paul McVeigh chose the perfect time to end his goal drought as his late strike earned Norwich a 2-1 victory over Reading at Carrow Road. But Ashley Ward brought the Blades level just after the hour-mark.Although Sheffield United rarely managed to reproduce their top form, their doggedness told in the second half and Paul Peschisolido struck after 68 minutes to earn Neil Warnock’s side maximum points from a 2-1 win.Rotherham earned their second win of the season with their 3-0 triumph over Stoke at Millmoor.
The First Division leaders, Sheffield United, were given a fright by Wimbledon but the bottom-of-the-table Dons eventually lost out after threatening to record their first victory at the National Hockey Stadium.
After their draw with Burnley at the weekend in their first game at Milton Keynes, Wimbledon started well and Adam Nowland struck the first goal after 49 minutes. I’ve played only four or five games in three months but now I think I can do it.”. I’ve been training for just over a month now but for the first two weeks of that I couldn’t even catch flu.”The second operation set me back another four weeks and you have to be in perfect shape to play in the Premiership and the Uefa Cup. We really should have won the game with all the chances we had but he played so well. His form with Southampton has been the same but, of course, I want to be playing.
The surgeons have told me I will have even more energy than before.”. Southampton’s Finland goalkeeper, Antti Niemi, is set to test the loyalty of his manager, Gordon Strachan, to the Wales keeper Paul Jones after proving his full recovery from a second bout of knee surgery. Gradi, who had a heart valve replaced in a planned operation last week, said: “In no way is this condition connected to stress. He has the brain and ability to help others.”* The Crewe manager, Dario Gradi, yesterday emphasised that his recent surgery on a heart condition was not down to the stresses of being a manager.