Championship

Sports Mole's Championship Team of the Week

By Pascal Lemesre, Football League Editor | 10 March 2014

Sports Mole selects its top Championship XI from the weekend's action, as well as highlighting the biggest numpty and the best goal.

The Championship's bottom sides had a brilliant time over the weekend as 20 of the 24 teams took to the field.

The four teams of the bottom five who played - Barnsley, Yeovil Town, Millwall and Doncaster Rovers - all were victorious, making it a nightmare weekend for Charlton Athletic, who plummeted to the foot of the table as well as being knocked out of the FA Cup by League One's Sheffield United.

At the top, Burnley fought from behind to beat East Lancashire rivals Blackburn Rovers for the first time in 35 years, moving eight points clear of Derby County in third and to within five points of league leaders Leicester City, who weren't in action.

Here, Sports Mole selects its best XI, highlights the biggest numpty and chooses its favourite goal from the weekend's games.

David Forde (Millwall)
Millwall ruined many a bet on Saturday by edging out high-flying Derby County at the iPro Stadium. It was just Millwall's second away victory of the season and Forde made a number of key saves.

Simon Francis (Bournemouth)
A second week in a row for Francis in our TOTW. The Cherries defender saw plenty of the ball up and down the right side as Bournemouth beat Blackpool on the road.
Peter Ramage (Barnsley)
Lowly Barnsley got the better of playoff hopefuls Nottingham Forest at Oakwell and Ramage was the standout Tykes defender as they kept an unlikely clean sheet. The former Newcastle man also threatened in the other area.
Clint Hill (Queens Park Rangers)
QPR ended a run of three straight defeats with a 2-0 win at Birmingham. Like many games earlier in the season, captain Hill was a rock at the back and almost scored himself but hit the bar with a header.
George Friend (Middlesbrough)
Boro finally ended a run of seven straight games without scoring by seeing off Ipswich Town 2-0 at the Riverside Stadium. It was also their seventh clean sheet in their last 10 games and Friend constantly provided support down the left wing.

David Cotterill (Doncaster)
Rovers recovered from last week's 5-0 loss at Bournemouth by defeating Huddersfield Town, with Cotterill sealing the 2-0 win.
Ravel Morrison (QPR)
Morrison's performance and match-winning brace against Birmingham led to Blues manager Lee Clark describing the West Ham loanee as the best English footballer since Paul Gascoigne. His first goal was a dipping 25-yard free kick, while the second was a crisp side-footed finish from the edge of the box.
Ruben Palazuelos (Yeovil)
The recent addition made his first start for the Glovers and set up one of the two goals as Sheffield Wednesday were put to the sword at Huish Park.
Dale Jennings (Barnsley)
Things haven't gone brilliantly for Jennings since he moved to the Tykes from Bayern Munich last summer, but he showed what he is capable of with a powerful long-range winner that gave Barnsley a massive victory.

Lukas Jutkiewicz (Bolton)
Wanderers put five past Leeds United on Saturday and Jutkiewicz headed the second in bravely before setting up the fourth goal with a pinpoint cross.
Danny Graham (Middlesbrough)
Graham scored both Boro goals as they ended a near-two month wait to find the net. He poached well for the first before flicking a corner cleverly into the far corner for the second.

Numpty of the Week

Chris Gunter: Reading man Gunter comically headed past his own keeper to give fellow playoff-chasers Brighton the lead on Saturday. Luckily for Gunter, it didn't cost the Royals completely as they managed to salvage a draw at The Amex.

Goal of the Week

Ishmael Miller (Yeovil) vs. Wednesday: Miller's brace against Yeovil was delightful as first he rifled home a powerful effort with his weaker right foot before curling in the goal of the weekend with his left to seal victory.