Sports Mole's Championship Team of the Week

The Championship has reached its midway point and Gameweek 23 saw all 12 games played at 3pm yesterday, with 33 goals and one red card served up.

Leicester City have gone four points clear at the top thanks to their 5-3 victory over Bolton Wanderers coupled with goalless draws for their nearest challengers Burnley and Queens Park Rangers against Wigan Athletic and Watford respectively.

Derby County are in fact now second, level with Burnley and one ahead of QPR, after their eighth victory in nine games at Barnsley made it 25 points out of a possible 27 since November 9 for Steve McClaren's side.

Barnsley's defeat to the flying Rams meant that they will begin 2014 five points adrift of safety at the bottom of the table.

Below, Sports Mole picks out its best XI from yesterday's matches as well as highlighting the biggest numpty and the best goal.

Dean Gerken (Ipswich Town)
Ipswich maintained their unbeaten run and squeezed into the top six at the halfway mark thanks to a 1-1 draw at Bournemouth that was largely down to a string of key saves by Gerken.

Inigo Calderon (Brighton & Hove Albion)
Calderon, who has battled with Bruno Saltor for the right-back spot under Oscar Garcia all season, proved to be the difference yesterday as his first-half shot was the only goal at Blackpool.
Ivan Ramis (Wigan)
After almost a year out of action, Spanish centre-back Ramis has returned for Wigan of late and yesterday was composed on the ball all afternoon as Burnley's deadly duo of Danny Ings and Sam Vokes were kept quiet at the DW Stadium.
Joel Lynch (Huddersfield Town)
As well as getting on the scoresheet in the 5-1 rout of Yeovil Town, Lynch was a beast in the air for the Terriers as they climbed into the top half of the table.
Daniel Lafferty (Burnley)
Lafferty has filled in for the injured Ben Mee of late and was part of a Burnley defence that held firm against Wigan.

Chris Burke (Birmingham City)
Perhaps Birmingham's most consistent performer this season, Burke scored his first goal since August as the Blues made it nine games unbeaten by holding on for a 3-2 win at Blackburn Rovers.
Grant Leadbitter (Middlesbrough)
Boro are finding their feet under new manager Aitor Karanka and registered their third win on the trot against Reading, with Leadbitter netting twice from midfield.
Andre Moritz (Bolton)
Creative midfielder Moritz has surged into form recently and, despite being on the wrong end of a 5-3 scoreline at Leicester, scored two of Bolton's goals in an end-to-end match at the King Power Stadium.
Lloyd Dyer (Leicester)
Leicester's electric left-sider used his pace to break clear of the Bolton defence and score the all-important goal that put the home side back in front after a six-goal first half.

Lee Novak (Birmingham)
Novak scored the Blues' first two goals at Ewood Park as they raced out to a 3-0 lead. The first may have been a scrappy close-range strike, but the second was a sublime effort as he let fly from at least 25 yards and found the corner with a swerve.
Danny Ward (Huddersfield)
Huddersfield didn't panic after going behind to Yeovil and Ward was the star of their rousing comeback as he scored two and set up two of the Terriers' five.

Numpty of the Week

Reda Johnson: Sheffield Wednesday got lucky with their equaliser at Charlton Athletic as Connor Wickham looked offside, but they should have stolen the points at The Valley when the ball was flashed across the six-yard box and somehow Johnson failed to make contact.

Goal of the Week

Matt Derbyshire (Nottingham Forest) vs. Leeds United: Forest ensured their New Year place in the playoffs by edging out fellow contenders Leeds United at the City Ground. The home side conceded a cheap late equaliser, but did not dwell on it for long as substitute Derbyshire was fed the ball almost straight from kickoff and rocketed an unstoppable 25-yard drive into the top corner.