Sun Jul 13, 2014 11:03 pm
' Championship Round-up '
Championship pre-season games: Find out how Rotherham, Fulham, Ipswich Town, Blackburn Rovers, Cardiff City and Norwich City got on
Jul 14, 2014
By Doug Thomson
A round-up of friendly action involving Championship clubs.
Huddersfield Town’s new Championship rivals Rotherham gave first public outings to eight new signings as Morton were beaten 1-0 in Greenock.
Frazer Richardson (Middlesbrough), Richard Wood (Charlton), Conor Newton (Newcastle) and Ryan Hall (MK Dons) all started at Cappielow.
Millers manager Steve Evans, whose squad includes ex-Town full-back Joe Skarz, then brought on Jordan Bowery (Aston Villa), Febian Brandy (Sheffield United), Paul Green (Leeds) and Mat Sadler (Crawley).
Kieran Agard headed home Skarz’s cross for the 29th-minute winner for promoted Rotherham, who will also play Falkirk and Queen of the South while North of the border.
Relegated Fulham handed a debut to former Leeds striker Ross McCormack, their £11m signing, as they won 2-0 at Motherwell through Cameron Burgess and Kostas Stafylidis.
It was a third outing in Scotland for Felix Magath’s men, who were 3-0 winners at East Fife, managed by former Town defender Gary Naysmith, before losing 4-2 to Rangers.
Brighton breezed to a 4-0 win over fellow tourists Partick Thistle in Spain, where Craig Mackail-Smith, Gordon Greer, Shamir Fenelon and Charlie Harris scoring for Sami Hyypia’s side.
Ex-town frontman Kallum Higginbotham hit the bar for Thistle.
Blackburn were another side to cruise to a 4-0 victory, with Ruben Rochina (2), Leon Best and Jack O’Connell counting at Telford.
Ipswich are in Ireland as they build for the season, and Paul Anderson, Darren McQueen, Tyrine Mings and Jack Marriott counted as they put four without reply past Shelbourne.
Cardiff, Town’s first Championship hosts on August 16, drew 1-1 at Bath City with a goal from Norwegian frontman Jo Inge Berget.
Norwich, relegated alongside Cardiff and Fulham, had Northern Ireland international Kyle Lafferty, their new signing from Palermo, on target in their 1-0 win at Dereham Town.
A Ferni Ilesanmi own goal and a Chris Maguire strike handed Sheffield Wednesday a 2-0 win at York, while Nottingham Forest beat Ilkeston 4-0 with two goals each from Simon Cox and Ben Osborn.
Watford drew 0-0 with Russian side Rubin Kazan in Austria while Charlton were beaten 2-0 at Welling United.
Meanwhile Leeds have signed Tommaso Bianchi on a permanent basis and Souleymane Doukara on a season-long loan.
Italian midfielder Bianchi, 25, has moved on a four-year deal from Serie A side Sassuolo and spent last season on loan with Modena in Serie B.
“He can play on the left, right or in the No10 position and he can score goals,” said new Leeds boss Dave Hockaday.
Senegal striker Doukara, 22, has arrived from Italian club Catania.
He was on loan with Serie B’s Juve Stabia last season, scoring six goals in 20 outings.
Mon Jul 14, 2014 12:34 am
Nottingham Forest interested in Mikele Leigertwood, Jobi McAnuff?
By Daniel Lewis, Reporter
Filed: Monday, July 14, 2014 at 00:47 UK
Nottingham Forest manager Stuart Pearce is reportedly eyeing up a move to bring former Reading duo Mikele Leigertwood and Jobi McAnuff to the club this summer.
The midfield pair were released by the Royals in May in an attempt to save money, although McAnuff, 32, later revealed that he felt he was shown the exit door simply due to his age.
He could be offered a route back into Championship football by Forest, with Pearce hopeful of bringing him and his former teammate to the City Ground, according to the Daily Star.
Forest beat Ilkeston 4-0 in a pre-season friendly on Saturday afternoon.