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Sports Mole's Championship Team of the Week

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

Just over a month remains of the Championship season and there's still plenty to be decided at both the top and bottom of the table.

Long-time league leaders Leicester City will have their promotion to the Premier League surely confirmed soon after they saw off nearest challengers Burnley in the feature game of the weekend, pulling six clear of the Clarets with a game in-hand.

Fourth-placed Derby County were the only other side in the top 9 to pick up a win as those with an outside chance of making a late run for the playoffs closed in on the top six.

At the bottom, Barnsley comprehensively beat fellow strugglers Yeovil Town to move within a few goals of safety as Millwall plummeted further by conceding a last-gasp equaliser against Blackburn Rovers.

Here, Sports Mole selects its best XI, highlights the biggest numpty and chooses its favourite goal from Saturday's full, 12-game schedule.

Adam Bogdan (Bolton Wanderers)
Bogdan kept Wigan Athletic out until the 88th minute when he could do nothing about Nick Powell's shot into the roof of the net. A point was still a decent result for Bolton and the only reason they kept it was Bogdan's superb save to keep out Jordi Gomez's firm penalty in injury time.

Ritchie De Laet (Leicester)
De Laet was part of the Leicester defence that shut out Burnley as the Foxes inflicted a first home defeat on the Clarets for over a year. De Laet also got forward when he could and delivered a number of crosses.
Richard Keogh (Derby)
Rams captain Keogh was a rock at the heart of Derby's defence as they kept out Charlton on their way to a 3-0 victory that kept them in the hunt for automatic promotion.
Alex Pearce (Reading)
Pearce was a beast in the air against Huddersfield Town as the Royals picked up a point to keep them in the top six.
Ian Harte (Bournemouth)
Veteran left-back Harte scored his first goal for almost two years with a delightful curling shot as the Cherries overcame Birmingham City 4-2. It was their third straight victory and they're now just five points adrift of the playoffs.

David Cotterill (Doncaster Rovers)
Donny won just their second game ever at fellow Yorkshire club Leeds United, with Cotterill opening the scoring with a pinpoint 20-yard drive into the top corner.
Grant Leadbitter (Middlesbrough)
Boro ended a run of four games without a win at Brighton & Hove Albion and Leadbitter played solidly in the middle, also setting up Danny Graham for the second goal that sealed the points.
Lewis McGugan (Watford)
After starting his Watford career in sparkling fashion at the start of the season, McGugan's form has dipped in 2014 because of injury. The former Nottingham Forest man was back to his best on Saturday though, scoring one of the Hornets' four goals as they cruised past Sheffield Wednesday for their first away win since the start of October.
Anthony Knockaert (Leicester)
Although he's only found the net four times in the league this season, Knockaert was again a pest down the wing for Leicester as they closed in ever nearer on returning to the Premier League, 10 years after their relegation from the top flight.

Chris O'Grady (Barnsley)
A second week in a row here for O'Grady, who was brilliant against Yeovil. He scored two, taking his season tally to 13, and set up the other two as the Tykes won on the road for a second straight game.
Lewis Grabban (Bournemouth)
Grabban is now enjoying his most successful goalscoring campaign after reaching 19 goals with a brace at St Andrew's.

Numpty of the Week

Leonardo Ulloa: Often in the best XI for his goalscoring exploits, Brighton top scorer Ulloa is this week's biggest numpty because of his awful penalty that would have drawn the Seagulls level and maybe inspired a late victory against Boro.

Goal of the Week

Chris Wood (Leicester) vs. Burnley: Wood has struggled to work his way into Nigel Pearson's starting lineups this season and impressed after coming on as a first-half substitute at Turf Moor. He set up David Nugent for the first goal before dipping home an unstoppable volley to seal the points for the Foxes, who are now unbeaten in 19 league games.

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Manager of Middlesbrough Aitor Karanka looks on during the Sky Bet Championship match between Birmingham City and Middlesbrough at St Andrews Stadium on December 7, 2013
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Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
CPortsmouth462813578413797
3Bolton WanderersBolton462512986513587
4Peterborough UnitedPeterborough462591289612884
5Oxford UnitedOxford Utd4622111379562377
6Barnsley4621131282641876
7Lincoln CityLincoln4620141265402574
8Blackpool4621101565481773
9Stevenage4619141357461171
10Wycombe WanderersWycombe461714156055565
11Leyton Orient461811175355-265
12Wigan AthleticWigan462010166356762
13Exeter CityExeter461710194661-1561
14Northampton TownNorthampton46179205766-960
15Bristol Rovers46169215268-1657
16Charlton AthleticCharlton461120156465-153
17Reading461611196870-253
18Cambridge UnitedCambridge461212223961-2248
19Shrewsbury TownShrewsbury46139243567-3248
20Burton Albion461210243967-2846
RCheltenham TownCheltenham46128264165-2444
RFleetwood TownFleetwood461013234972-2343
RPort Vale461011254174-3341
RCarlisle UnitedCarlisle4679304181-4030


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