David Johnson

By Paul Holmes
September 22 2002

Round up of results from the 1st Division on Saturday 21st September as Norwich crush Portsmouth unbeaten start to the season and a David Johnson hat-trick leaves Grimsby winless. Bradford 2 Burnley

Bradford started well enough with Andy Myers combining well with Wayne Jacobs before firing a low cross for Andy Gray to convert home. The wheels started to come off 10 minutes before the break though, Mark Bower was harshly sent off for fouling Dimi Papadopoulos.

10 minutes after the break City were down to nine men. Danny Cadamarteri lunged at Dean West with his elbow and joined Bower for an early shower. With a two man advantage Burnley started to take control. Just three minutes later former Bantams striker Robbie Blake pulled the scores level.

With 15 minutes to go Glen Little's inch perfect cross was met by Gareth Taylor who headed past Adian Davison. The game was not over though. In injury time Claus Jorgensen broke through but his shot was well saved by Marlon Beresford. The Dane reacted first to the save and put in a cross-cum-shot that flirted along the goal line before Michael Proctor slammed in from a tight angle to earn the Bantams a point.

Gillingham 1 Sheff Utd 1

Despite a crippling injury list, Andy Hessenthaler's Gillingham managed a valuable point against high-flying Sheffield United.

The Gills took the lead on 15 minutes after Michael Brown was dispossessed in the United midfield, Mark Saunders played in Paul Shaw who calmly slotted the ball past Paddy Kenny.

The Blades fought back though and Peter Ndlovu was unlucky to see his efforts thwarted by both Jason Brown and the woodwork. Ndlovu was denied again by Brown on 60 minutes but Wayne Allison was on hand to tap home the loose ball from two yards out.

Grimsby 0 Nottm Forest 3

After seeing strike partner Marlon Harewood grab a hat-trick in midweek, David Johnson decided that he fancied a match ball as he left Grimsby still without a win.

The pacy Johnson was a threat all game and amazingly out jumped Danny Coyne to score the first on 17 minutes. Grimsby were slow to fight back with only long range efforts from Stuart Campbell and Tony Gallimore offering any worry to Darren Ward.

Gallimore was shown red in the second half after a lunge on Eugen Bopp. Despite this Grimsby managed to attack a little more and keep Johnson and Harewood at bay, until the 85th minute that is. Johnson picked the ball up on the half way line and glided past Paul Groves with ease before been pulled down by his beaten marker. The Jamaican converted himself from 12 yards. 10-man Grimsby threw players forward in desperation which allowed the Forest strike force more space to use their pace. In injury timeJohnson ran around the box looking for an opening for his hat-trick when he could have passed, instead he was happy to taunt Grimsby's weary defence before curling past Coyne into the bottom corner.

Millwall 0 Walsall 3

With both teams struggling to pull away from the relegation zone, this match was always going to be interesting.

The Saddlers took the lead on 21 minutes when Steve Corica deep cross was met by David Zdrillic who headed past Tony Warner. 12 minutes later and Darren Wrack doubled the lead, turning Matt Lawrence the wrong way before curling home with a great shot.

The Lions were outfought in every department but should have pulled one back through Kevin Davis in the second half. 15 minutes from time Millwall's misery was complete, Jorge Leitao chased onto a through ball and drove low beyond Warner to make it 3-0.

Dennis Wise will join Millwall on Tuesday and the fans will be hoping he can add some much needed bite to their team.

Norwich 1 Portmsouth 0

Well it had to come sooner or later, Portsmouth's unbeaten record was stopped dead on 10 games at Carrow Road.

Portsmouth will no doubt feel they had enough chances to take at least a point back to the South Coast. Paul Merson almost gave them an early lead on 4 minutes with a long range lob which just missed the target. Later on in the game Matt Taylor and Svet Todorov were denied by Robert Green and Malky McKay.

Just before the half-time break Norwich made it clear that they weren't simply there to make up the numbers. Shaka Hislop misjudged Paul Heckingbottom's cross and Steen Nedergaard's header seemed destined for the goal before Arjan De Zeeuw headed off the line.

With 9 minutes to go Iwan Roberts made sure that Portsmouth's run didn't go any further, heading Nedergaard's cross low past Hislop. Pompey almost snatched a last gasp equaliser but Robert Green beat Vincent Pericard to Merson's long pass by a whisker.