Gavin Mahon / Gavin Mahon / 04 December 2008 / Leave a comment

Gavin Mahon applauds the clubs who did the Championship proud this week as well as the Queens Park Rangers fans after a hard-earned point at Selhurst Park. He also offers his tips for a key weekend clash.

We've had two or three lively local derbies over the past few weeks - and after a few games on the bench, I was delighted to start at Palace last weekend for what was a typically tough goalless draw.

It doesn't matter who you are, all players love a bit of crowd banter even if the majority are against you at an away game.

We're lucky at QPR. Our away support is fantastic and there are times at other clubs grounds when it'd be quite easy to forget that we're not at home. The Rangers fans are loud, regardless of the scoreline, and it's a really big factor for us - it certainly played a big part in that draw at Palace.

If the results aren't coming at home, it can be quite good to have a couple of trips away. They tend to attract the most loyal of the club's fans and tend to be more forgiving.

We've not been at our best away from Loftus Road but the fans haven't changed one iota; they've still been there in big numbers and very vocal for us.

I watched the two televised Carling Cup ties this week and I felt both sides on the box, as well as Derby who won at Stoke, really did the Championship proud.

The Burnley-Arsenal game in particular would have opened a few people's eyes to the fact that there are quality players below the Premier League. All too often you see top-flight clubs go for a foreign player rather than look a division below.

There's no question about it, Burnley out-footballed Arsenal - it wasn't a case, which might normally happen, that the Championship side bullied Arsenal out of it. Of course your defence and goalkeeper have to be right on top of their game with some of the movement of Arsenal's youngsters but they were and Burnley also had keeper Brian Jensen in brilliant form.

Quite a few of Owen Coyle's side will have done their future careers no harm at all live on Sky Sports. Some of his players showed that, when given time to play, they've got more than just hustle and bustle about their game.

Everyone watching will have seen things from Burnley's players that those lads probably wouldn't get a chance to do in a league game. In this division, there tends to be less threats to remove so you might adapt your plan to make sure one or two opponents are taken out of the game.

That's the thing about the Championship. The emphasis initially is on hard-work and athleticism. So a lot of games take until into the second half to open up because it's 100 mile-an-hour stuff.

There were some people saying afterwards: "Oh well, it's only the reserves." They weren't saying that after they destroyed Sheffield United and beat Wigan. No, Burnley won that fair and square, no question.

Norwich City v Ipswich Town, Sky Sports 1, Sun Dec 7, 1.15pm

Every week Betting.betfair Premiership previewer Richard Walker chats to Gavin about the biggest of the weekend televised matches in The Championship and recommends a couple of bets based on Gavin's insight into the match.

Gavin says:

I know Norwich are struggling but this might be just the sort of game - at home against their local rivals - to give them a bit of a pick-me-up.

They're not having an easy time of it without their Premiership parachute money. Although they've got Leroy Lita up front on loan from Reading and his goals are probably just keeping their heads above water at the moment.

We won 1-0 at Carrow Road earlier this season and I always reckon that's a good result because it's a great atmosphere there. They get decent gates and it'll be packed on Sunday no question.

Ipswich are a bit steadier away from home than in previous seasons and, if they're serious about challenging, that was the one thing they had to sort out.

They'll try to play as they always do but, spurred on by their own fans, I think Norwich will nick a tight game by the odd goal.

Richard suggests:

Take it that the game won't open up until after half-time. Draw/Norwich favours the host's big need for a win. Back it in the Half-Time/Full-Time market at [5.5]

Back 2-1 to the Canaries, with the game unlikely to end anywhere near goalless. Odds are [10.5]

A Norwich home win, at [2.72], is a decent enough price to get involved with. Back it accordingly.