Weekly Wrap-Up: A Champion is Crowned

It has been another gripping week in the world of sport, with fans across the country being treated to action, drama, and high performances.

Here in South Yorkshire we saw the return of Championship Football, as Sheffield United travelled over to East Yorkshire to face Hull City, in what turned out to be an important win for the blade’s championship campaign. A two nil win away at the MKM stadium, has pushed the blades up to 6th in the table, after a strong performance on Friday Night.

Saturday saw more traditional kick-off times for the rest of South Yorkshire, with Barnsley making the near 300-mile round trip down to Stevenage hoping to continue their run of form from the previous two games. Unfortunately, for the away fans it wasn’t to be. After an unentertaining first half from both teams, the Tykes went into half time leaving it all to play for in the second half. This was quickly cut short after a Stevenage substitute opened the scoring in the 54th minute leading to a rush of goals in the 54th and 59th minute for The Boro, rubbing salt in the wound for the travelling Barnsley fans. Rotherham were back at home, this time facing a previously uninspiring Burton Albion. Burton opened the scoring in the 25th minute but were shortly after pegged back by a well-positioned Clarke-Harris' equalizer. Rotherham then managed to go 2-1 up in the 57th minute via an unflattering but crucial goal by defender Cameron Humphreys. However, a win wasn’t to be for the Millers, as in the 71st a well-placed strike from Burtons’ Cooper-Love, meant Rotherham left home with a point instead of three.

It has been a promising start for Doncaster Rovers, with Grant McCann’s team gaining 4 wins in 6 games. This time they headed to Harrogate for an unusual Thursday night kick-off. Unfortunately, for Rovers it took Harrogate 27minutes before they found the back of the net, with the hosts then doubling their lead in first half stoppage time. A ‘Blip’ in Doncaster’s league one campaign which can hopefully be resurrected with their clash against MK Dons on the 21st.

Finally, we head to Hillsborough, as Sheffield Wednesday looked to improve their form against QPR at home. The Owl’s had a promising start, with an opportunity to lead only 2 minutes into the game. However, with that coming to a miss, the game looked to be petering out to a scoreless draw. This was until an injury time goal by Barry Bannon gave Wednesday the upper hand with only a few minutes left in the game. However, QPR substitute Alfie Lloyd, put one over the line in a goal line scramble, to snatch the 3 points straight out of the Owl’s hands and leaving them with one.  An exhilarating end for neutral spectators but heart break for Wednesday fans at Hillsborough.

In Motorsport, the NTT Indy 2024 Champion was crowned after a thrilling final race in Nashville. Alex Palou finished 11th which was more than enough to claim his 3rd title. His closest rival became almost zero threat, after a disconnected seatbelt forced him to go five laps down early in the race. Across the sea in the streets of Baku, saw an impressive weekend for McLaren’s Oscar Piastri, as he reached the chequered flag in first position- a second time in his formula one career. The race unfortunately ended under VSC (virtual safety car) after an unlikely collision between Carlos Sainz and Sergio Perez – Thankfully, everyone came out okay! Sunday had already been eventful in Baku, after a stalled car in the formula 2 feature race led to a momentous collision involving multiple drivers. Fortunately (again) all drivers came away okay! The race restarted and a very deserving Richard Verschoor stood on the top step and left Azerbaijan with a feature race win in his pocket!

In Cricket, England and Australia’s fierce T20 series ended in a draw after the third match at Old Trafford was abandoned. Australia had previously won the first match in Southampton, but England managed to bounce back with a victory in the second match in Cardiff.

Finally in golf, we saw the return of the Solheim Cup. A tournament which sees team USA face Team Europe over three days. The USA were victorious this year, as they managed to clinch the title for the first time since 2017. The final score being United States 15 ½, Europe 12 ½.

Another thrilling week in the world of sport, let’s see what the next few days has in store!