MX23RW : Thursday, January 30 13:59:24| >> :60:3014:3014:

Sports Mole's Championship Team of the Week

Sports Mole picks out its best Championship XI from gameweek 12, as well as highlighting the biggest numpty and best goal.

Championship football returned after a two-week absence over the weekend and, just like that, there are no more unbeaten teams in the league.

Nottingham Forest and Charlton Athletic were the two remaining sides yet to suffer defeat, but they both lost on the road, to Cardiff City and Bournemouth respectively.

Watford are the new league leaders, despite now being on their fourth manager of the season in Slavisa Jokanovic, while Blackpool prop up the table because of Bolton Wanderers' first away win of the season at Birmingham City, who today sacked Lee Clark.

Below, Sports Mole chooses its best XI from the weekend, in a traditional 4-4-2 formation, as well as highlighting the biggest numpty and best goal.

Andy Lonergan (Bolton Wanderers)
Neil Lennon got off to the perfect start in charge of Bolton as he guided the club to their first away points of the season. Lonergan made several key saves, including a sublime late fingertip stop to preserve the win.

Simon Francis (Bournemouth)
A regular in our Team of the Week at right-back, Francis again impressed for Bournemouth in the slim victory over previously-unbeaten Charlton.
Daniel Ayala (Middlesbrough)
A second week in a row here for Ayala, who helped in-form Boro to an away win at Brighton & Hove Albion. He played a key role in the second goal, storming forward down the right wing before playing in Albert Adomah to score.
Matt Mills (Bolton Wanderers)
Mills kept a clean sheet and scored the winner for Bolton with a bullet first-half header.
Sean Kavanagh (Fulham)
A first Cottagers goal for Kavanagh, whose daisy-cutter across goal was enough for Fulham to beat top-of-the-table Norwich City.

Sean Scannell (Huddersfield Town)
A blistering performance from Scannell, especially in the first half, as he ran Blackpool ragged and set up both of Harry Bunn's goals that gave the Terriers an early 3-0 lead.
Craig Noone (Cardiff City)
Cardiff beat Forest in Russell Slade's first game in charge but it could have been ever so different if Noone had not superbly cleared a Chris Burke shot off the line. Not long after, Cardiff had taken the lead and then Noone's hard work down the right led to the Bluebirds' second.
Almen Abdi (Watford)
A calming presence in midfield for the now-top Hornets, who saw off Sheffield Wednesday 3-0 at Hillsborough. Abdi got on the scoresheet too, but he will know his shot should never have slipped under Keiren Westwood.
Harry Bunn (Huddersfield Town)
Bunn put away both of Scannell's superb crosses and it was his goals that, in the end, proved too much for Blackpool.

Chris Martin (Derby County)
Derby are up to second and now nine games unbeaten after their impressive 3-0 win at Reading. Martin scored two and is now up to eight for the season, one behind the league's top goalscorer - Nottingham Forest frontman Britt Assombalonga.
Ricardo Fuller (Millwall)
The game of the weekend was surely at The Den, where Millwall looked dead and buried at 3-0 down but then fought back to earn a miraculous point. Fuller came off the bench with a little over half an hour remaining and found the net with two lovely finishes.

Numpty of the Week

Pavel Pogrebnyak: It might not have made a huge difference, but Pogrebnyak had a gilt-edged chance to half the deficit at 0-2 when presented with an open goal. Somehow, the Russian could only hit the side-netting.

Goal of the Week

Jonson Clarke-Harris (Rotherham United) vs. Leeds United: Plenty of contenders this week, but we're going to reward Clarke-Harris for his swerving 25-yard shot that won Friday night's Yorkshire derby between Rotherham and Leeds. The 20-year-old had only been on the field for a couple of minutes too!

ID:183657: cacheID:183657:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:7120:
Written by
Pascal Lemesre
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Daniel Tozser of Watford is congratulated by his team-mates after scoring his side's second goal during the Sky Bet Championship match between Blackburn Rovers and Watford at Ewood Park on September 27, 2014
Read Next:
Championship Team of the Week
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Birmingham CityBirmingham26186244182660
2Wycombe WanderersWycombe28177454292558
3Wrexham28157641241752
4Huddersfield TownHuddersfield27146739231648
5Stockport CountyStockport28138743281547
6Leyton Orient27135940241644
7Bolton WanderersBolton28135104342144
8Charlton AthleticCharlton2712783426843
9Barnsley28126104139242
10Reading27125104241141
11Lincoln CityLincoln28108103433138
12Mansfield TownMansfield26114113432237
13Blackpool2791083938137
14Rotherham UnitedRotherham27107103231137
15Stevenage2610792324-137
16Wigan AthleticWigan2796122627-133
17Exeter CityExeter2895143242-1032
18Peterborough UnitedPeterborough2886144452-830
19Bristol Rovers2784152543-1828
20Northampton TownNorthampton2869132543-1827
21Burton Albion2859143044-1424
22Crawley TownCrawley2666142646-2024
23Cambridge UnitedCambridge2756162849-2121
24Shrewsbury TownShrewsbury2755172647-2120


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!