Championship Team of the Week

After another round of fantastic Championship action we cast our eyes over this weekend’s best players.

Goalkeeper

Frank Fielding (Bristol City) 

The 27-year old put in a sterling display to help Bristol City to a draw in their bottom of the table clash against Bolton on Saturday. Fielding made a number of brilliant stops but the pick of the bunch was a sprawling finger tip save to deny Liam Feeney mid way through the second half at the Macron Stadium.

Defenders  

Nico Yennaris (Brentford) 

Nico Yennaris did well to keep out Blackburn’s prolific striker Jordan Rhodes and the 22 year old almost helped the West London club to a victory at Ewood Park when he brilliantly put Lasse Vivbe through on goal in the closing stages, only for the striker to fire his shot straight at Jason Steele.

Mike Williamson (Wolves) 

The Newcastle loanee helped Wolves to an important clean sheet against Burnley on Saturday. After the game Williamson’s man of the match performance earned high praise from manager Kenny Jackett. The Wolves boss told reporters “After shipping a good number of goals, it is good to have the return of a clean sheet. That has coincided with Mike Williamson playing and bringing a degree of physical presence for us.”

Matthew Connolly (Cardiff) 

The 28-year old scored a rare goal at the weekend as he rose above Anton Ferdinand to head home a Joe Ralls corner and secure Cardiff an important win against Steve Clarke’s Reading. The center back spent time on loan at Watford last season but has cemented his place in the Bluebirds’ defense this campaign.

Andy Robertson (Hull) 

Andy Robertson helped Hull to an emphatic 3-0 victory over fellow promotion chasers Middlesbrough on Saturday. His solid defensive performance helped limit the usually sharp Middlesbrough attack to just one shot on target at the KC Stadium.

Midfielders 

Craig Noone (Cardiff) 

The Cardiff winger helped the Bluebrids to an important win against Reading and was very unlucky not to get his name on the scoresheet in the process. Noone was twice denied in the first half by Reading’s spirited goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi.

Jon Toral (Birmingham) 

Birmingham produced one of their performances of the season to beat Fulham 5-2 at Craven Cottage. John Toral played a pivotal role throughout the game and the Arsenal loanee grabbed a deserved goal when he did well to get on the end of Jacques Maghoma’s pass to hit the ball past Joe Lewis.

Joey Barton (Burnley) 

The signing of Joey Barton has been somewhat of a masterstroke from Burnley boss Sean Dyche and the 32-year old put in another impressive performance at Molineux. Although Barton may not be as mobile as he once was, his passing on Saturday was on another level to those around him.

Sam Clucas (Hull) 

Sam Clucas was playing in the non-league with Hereford just two years ago but looked of Premier League quality as he dominated the game against Middlesbrough from the middle of the park. The 25 year-old grabbed Hull’s second goal of the game as he did well to instinctively prod David Meylor’s miss hit shot beyond Demi Konstantopoulos 20 minutes from time.

Strikers 

Daryl Murphy (Ipswich) 

Last season’s top scorer had failed to find the net this season but the 32-year old found his goal scoring touch again as he spectacularly fired a hat trick past the helpless Millers goalkeeper Lee Camp. After the game Ipswich boss Mick Mcarthy praised the striker with a few slightly controversial comments.

“I said ‘welcome back Murph, we don’t want to see your sister again who’s been playing in recent weeks'” remarked the former Republic of Ireland manager.

Lasse Vibe (Brentford) 

Lasse Vibe scored his fifth goal of the season as he helped secure Brentford a draw at Ewood Park. The 28-year old took his goal well as he latched on to a superb through ball from John Swift to lift the ball over a despairing Jason Steele 27 minutes into the game.