Here’s Tumaini Carayol’s report from The Hawthorns.
Updated
A big day for Blackburn thanks to their win over playoff rivals Bristol City. They have plenty of attacking talent, which could be a threat in this final run to the end of the season.
There was also a Premier League game earlier ...
There were late goals at Reading and Sheffield Wednesday. Is it a sign of fatigue? Both equalisers came from people switching off in defence, potentially caused by tiredness.
Here is Ed Aarons’ report from Craven Cottage earlier.
The real fun was down at the bottom of the league where Wigan and Charlton got huge wins. The Latics are now three points clear of the drop zone, while Charlton leapfrogged Hull to escape the bottom three.
Barnsley secured all three points at QPR, which gives them some vague hope of staying up.
West Brom do go top with a point but it was a truly dreadful game, not that it should surprise anyone after three months off.
Full-time scores
Blackburn 3-1 Bristol City
Huddersfield 0-2 Wigan
Hull 0-1 Charlton
Luton 1-1 Preston
QPR 0-1 Barnsley
Reading 1-1 Stoke
Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Nottingham Forest
West Brom 0-0 Birmingham
GOAL! Sheffield Wednesday 1-1 Nottingham Forest (Wickham, 90+3)
Late drama too at Hillsborough where Wickham is left unmarked, allowing him to steer home an equaliser.
Updated
GOAL! Reading 1-1 Stoke (Powell, 90+2)
Not a very Nick Powell goal as he heads in from a few yards out.
Controversy at Hull where the assistant referee gets something in his eye, halting play while he washes it out with a bottle of water.
GOAL! Luton 1-1 Preston (McManaman, 87)
Bree lays the ball inside to McManaman, who gets it out of his feet before firing a powerful shot home from the edge of the area.
Are Hull doomed? They are playing against a relegation rival at home and are yet to threaten the opposition goalkeeper.
We’re into the final 10 minutes across the Championship. Will we get a few crucial late goals?
Really scraping the barrel for actions at The Hawthorns ...
Time is ticking and it remains goalless at The Hawthorns...⏳
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) June 20, 2020
Matheus Pereira's free-kick creates an air of panic in the Birmingham penalty area, but should they have been awarded a spot-kick?
Watch #WBABIR on Sky Sports Football or follow: https://t.co/E2qlLHB7OK pic.twitter.com/Xd7Xu9jP58
Ben Pearson smashes one just over the Luton bar. A reminder that Preston’s away kit of green shirts, yellow shorts and socks is dreadful.
GOAL! Sheffield Wednesday 0-1 Nottingham Forest (Lolley, 69)
Cash sends a long ball over the top, which is superbly controlled and finished by Lolley.
Updated
GOAL! Blackburn 3-1 Bristol City (Armstrong, 71)
Adam Armstrong dribbles down the left, cuts inside and fires the ball into the bottom corner. A cracking finish.
Pereira’s free-kick hits the wall and bounces through into the area, with Camp eventually diving on top of it.
YELLOW! Clarke-Salter has just cleaned out Robson-Kanu with an impressively late challenge from the loanee, who goes into the book.
This is funny ...
Oh, how's your luck?!? 😩
— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) June 20, 2020
Ben Brereton thought he was about to score for Blackburn after rounding Daniel Bentley only to lose his footing at the vital moment! 🙈
At least Jeff found the funny side of it! 😂 pic.twitter.com/PessSy8XSn
GOAL! Blackburn 2-1 Bristol City (Adarabioyo, 61)
Rovers are still hopefully of making the playoffs, so this could do them a world of good.
Updated
Edwards and Diangana are now both on. Hopefully, it injects some life into the game.
Time for Bilic to freshen things up? This could be a good time to bring on Diangana.
GOAL! Huddersfield 0-2 Wigan (Pilkington, 48)
The Latics are closing on a vital win here. Pilkington doubles the lead after Lowe turns provider to set up a simple chance.
Updated
A nice finish in the San Mames.
It was helped by a deflection, but this clever flick from Íñigo Martínez was rewarded with an opener for Athletic Club 🔥
— Premier Sports 📺 (@PremierSportsTV) June 20, 2020
Not the kind of attempt on goal you usually see from a centre back! 👀 pic.twitter.com/f2xQA5FLZA
GOAL! Luton 0-1 Preston (Sinclair, 52)
I assume everyone had forgotten that Scott Sinclair now plays for Preston. The Luton defence obviously had.
Updated
Hogan tries to slip Kieftenbeld in but Livermore reads it and provides a crunching ‘man and ball’ challenge.
I am pretty upset that not even West Brom’s boiler mascot is allowed to attend the match. We need the boiler to boost the nation’s spirits!
GOAL! Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Real Betis (Martinez, 6)
Centre-back Inigo Martinez has popped up with a rare goal to give the Basques the lead.
Early pinball in the Birmingham box after a cross from Robinson is smashed against a teammate by a Birmingham defender but the mess is quickly mopped up.
Technical issues saw some fans miss the opening exchanges of the Championship’s return. With games being played behind closed doors due to the coronavirus pandemic, the EFL has enabled clubs to stream fixtures via the iFollow service.
However, complaints flooded in from angry fans at 3pm, with many saying no pictures were available. “The EFL is aware of an issue affecting some supporters attempting to currently log in to the iFollow service,” said an EFL statement at the time.
“We are working with our partners and suppliers to resolve the problem and apologise to supporters for any inconvenience caused.”
The problem was resolved around 30 minutes after kick-off.
Second half
Here we go again!
FOOTBALL IS BACK!
@Will_Unwin Tuning into the Stoke game I can't believe it only took seven minutes before "Hey, it's back!" turned into "Oh god, THIS again?!"
— STOKECITY USA (@josher71) June 20, 2020
Give your ears a treat ...
Half-time scores
Blackburn 1-1 Bristol City
Huddersfield 0-1 Wigan
Hull 0-1 Charlton
Luton 0-0 Preston
QPR 0-1 Barnsley
Reading 1-0 Stoke
Sheffield Wednesday 0-0 Nottingham Forest
West Brom 0-0 Birmingham
Harlee Dean chucks in three long-throw in quick succession. The third results in Johnstone coming out to provide the worst punch I’ve seen for a long time, diverting it into the danger zone but a defender clears.
Neither goalkeeper at The Hawthorns has been required to make a save so far. Not a classic of the genre.
The referee has fallen over at The Hawthorns! He seemed to trip himself up when trying to keep up with play.
A couple of goals at Ewood Park in quick succession, as Paterson gave Bristol City the lead, before Corry Evans equalised three minutes later.
Updated
Pereira is permanently roaming for West Brom, wanting to get on the ball in full knowledge that he is the best player on the pitch.
GOAL! Huddersfield 0-1 Wigan (Lowe, 26)
Jamal Lowe gets things going for Wigan, who would go above the Terriers if they win today, with a close range strike.
Updated
Hegazi pulls down Hogan just outside the box and the referee does nothing, much to the striker’s chagrin.
Pereira and Gardner catch each other but it is all quite innocent even if they both stay down. Ref right to give nothing.
DRINKS BREAKS!
Some lovely football from Bellingham allows him to create space on the edge of the box, then lay it off to Hogan who earns a corner. I have not seen much of Bellingham live, so this is pretty exciting and he looks pretty ruddy good so far.
GOAL! Hull 0-1 Charlton (Pearce, 18)
A big goal at the bottom as Pearce bundles the ball home from a corner against relegation rivals Hull.
Updated
Robert Lewandowski has already netted twice today for Bayern, taking his season’s total to 33. Not a bad effort.
Updated
A lot of clubs have used their lower tiers to promote supporters groups and the like. West Brom have just stuck massive adverts over the seats for Marc Darcy Menswear and some underwhelming whiskey.
GOAL! Reading 1-0 Stoke (Lucas Joao, 7)
Lucas Joao provides a deft touch to a cross.
Updated
GOAL! QPR 0-1 Barnsley (Simoes, 7)
The young forward gives Barnsley a cracking start.
Updated
For those trying to watch matches at home ...
EFL Statement: iFollow#EFL pic.twitter.com/6qvnCA6qnz
— E F L (@EFL) June 20, 2020
West Brom look confident and bright here, already getting a decent amount of possession in the opposition half. Birmingham might not be able to cope here.
Birmingham have nothing really to play for, so have released all their soon-to-be out-of-contract players and have seven academy players on the bench. Questions the whole integrity of the restart.
GOAL! RB Leipzig 0-1 Dortmund (Haaland, 30)
Gio Reyna has just set up Erling Haaland to give Dortmund the lead. Great combination work from the two sons for former Man City players.
Updated
Kick-off!
Here we go for even more football!
Full-time: Millwall 2-3 Derby
All over at the Den. Derby complete a fine win, that keeps them in the very crowded mix for the play-offs, and draws them level on points with Millwall
Goal! Millwall 2-3 Derby (Mahoney, 90)
I say that but Millwall have got one back, deep into injury time from Connor Mahoney.
Updated
Goal! Millwall 1-3 Derby (Sibley, 90)
And Sibley has a hat-trick, and an impressive Derby win is sealed.
A bit of team news for the big 3pm games:
West Brom v Birmingham:
West Brom: Johnstone, Furlong, Ajayi, Hegazi, Gibbs, Sawyers, Livermore, Phillips, Matheus Pereira, Robinson, Robson-Kanu.
Subs: Bartley, Krovinovic, Zohore, Austin, Harper, Edwards, Bond, O’Shea, Diangana.
Birmingham: Camp, Harding, Clarke-Salter, Dean, Colin, Crowley, Kieftenbeld, Gary Gardner, Bellingham, Jutkiewicz, Hogan. Subs: Bela, Trueman, Boyd-Munce, Burke, Stirk, Concannon, Bajrami, Gordon, Reid.
Referee: Darren Bond (Lancashire)
Hull v Charlton
Hull: Long, Pennington, MacDonald, De Wijs, Elder, Batty, Kane, Bowler, Toral, Wilks, Eaves. Subs: Tafazolli, Burke, Stewart, Ingram, Honeyman, Magennis, Lewis-Potter, Samuelsen, Scott.
Charlton: Phillips, Matthews, Lockyer, Pearce, Oshilaja, McGeady, Pratley, Cullen, Morgan, Bonne, Hemed. Subs:Purrington, Jonathan Williams, Aneke, Amos, Sarr, Field, Oztumer, Davison, Doughty.
Referee: Darren England (South Yorkshire)
Luton v Preston North End
Luton: Sluga, Cranie, Carter-Vickers, Pearson, Potts, Rea, Mpanzu, Tunnicliffe, Brown, Cornick, Collins. Subs: Bradley, McManaman, Hylton, Lee, Shinnie, Moncur, Bree, Butterfield, Shea.
Preston North End: Rudd, Pearson, Bauer, Davies, Hughes, Browne, Gallagher, Barkhuizen, Johnson, Sinclair, Maguire. Subs: Fisher, Harrop, Storey, Ledson, Stockley, Ripley, Nugent, Bodin, Potts.
Referee: John Brooks (Leicestershire)
Updated
And here’s Ed Aarons’ report from Craven Cottage:
Updated
GOAL! Millwall 1-2 Derby (Sibley, 70)
The young midfielder strikes again.
Updated
Full-time!
Brentford struck twice late on to secure an impressive victory at Fulham. Meanwhile, at the Riverside, Swansea were out of sight by half-time to put Middlesbrough in further trouble at the bottom.
Scores:
Fulham 0-2 Brentford
Middlesbrough 0-3 Swansea
GOAL! Fulham 0-2 Brentford (Marcondes, 90+1)
The visitors break from a Fulham corner and the ball makes its way to Marcondes, who cuts back onto his left foot and fires home frmo 12 yards.
Updated
GOAL! Fulham 0-1 Brentford (Benrahma, 88)
Marcondes gets in down the right and fizzes a cross to the back post where Benrahma is lurking and stabs it in.
Updated
Benrahma curls a free-kick well wide rom 25 yards out. This game is fizzling out.
Middlesbrough are yet to concede in the second half, which is good news for them.
Another headed chance for Mitrovic but once again the final product lacks power and calmly ends up in Raya’s hands.
Reed departs. He had an excellent game for Fulham, providing lots of energy in midfield. No wonder he has tired himself out.
There has been plenty of good football at Craven Cottage but the final ball has repeatedly let the teams down. I guess this is the difference between the Premier League and Championship.
Brentford’s Baptiste gets the better of Odoi on the left but his pull back from the byline is pounced upon by Rodak.
Some very good news from Hull where Angus McDonald starts.
📝 The team news is in!
— H u l l C i t y (@HullCity) June 20, 2020
🐯 Here's how the Tigers will line up to face @CAFCofficial this afternoon...
🔶 Angus MacDonald makes his first start for Hull City since August 2018 following a fight with bowel cancer.
⬛️ James Scott features on the bench.#hcafc | #theTigers pic.twitter.com/nsRuR9UNuz
Boro complete their subs. No Ravel Morrison, alas.
A double change up top for #Boro #Boro 🔴 0-3 🦢 #Swans#UTB pic.twitter.com/RWbX8Joaty
— Middlesbrough FC (@Boro) June 20, 2020
Cavaleiro looks like he is coming on for Fulham, which is exciting news for anyone hoping to see a goal.
DRINKS BREAK AT CRAVEN COTTAGE!
WHAT A SAVE! Bryan swings in a cracking cross, which Mitrovic steers towards the net with his head but Raya reacts superbly to repel it.
Updated
Fulham know their market; ads for Charles Tyrwhitt are whizzing round the hoardings.
Odoi tries to take a throw-in but messes it up and launches it straight up in the air, followed by a shout of “Oh shit!”. Lovely stuff.
We are only nine minutes away from getting the Hull team news. Will they be able to field five subs?
Half-time: Millwall 1-1 Derby
All square at the break.
DISALLOWED GOAL! Mitrovic stands roughly two yards offside before receiving a through ball, which he slots home. Inexplicably he seems to think he was onside and moans at the assistant. There was no need for him to be offside. What a waste.
Nifty work from Knockaert allows him to play in Decordova-Reid who has the chance to shoot but instead tries to find Mitrovic in the centre, allowing Dalsgaard to intercept and clear.
Watching this game, I definitely think Brentford would be the more fun side to have in the Premier League. They could be the new Norwich.
Just a double change for Boro.
Jonathan Woodgate opts for a double change as the second half begins here#Boro 🔴 0-3 🦢 #Swans#UTB pic.twitter.com/fBYIi0qVZB
— Middlesbrough FC (@Boro) June 20, 2020
JR offers: “As a West Brom fan I’ll take anything but a Cottagers win I guess. Big game between the Baggies and the Bees next Friday.
“Also, I’ve got one eye on the Watford v Leicester game which reminded me (not that I really needed reminding) what a cheating little diver Knockaert is.
“That insane playoff finish years back where he dived to win a penalty then then had his penalty and rebound saved then Watford immediately scored to win the semifinal was one of the more satisfying examples of instant justice I can recall.
“(To be clear, I don’t call Knockaert a cheating little diver just for that incident. I’ve seen him at it on multiple occasions).”
Second half
We’re playing again!
Derby are wearing their light blue away at Millwall rather than white against a team in navy. An odd decision.
Bayern Munich have now won the league, so there are plenty of changes to their side. New Zealand international Singh starts.
Opportunity knocks ✊#FCBSCF 🔴⚪ pic.twitter.com/Za02TU5H2j
— FC Bayern English (@FCBayernEN) June 20, 2020
GOAL! Millwall 1-1 Derby (Sibley, 26)
All level in the capital as Sibley finds the net from close range.
Updated
Victor emails in: “Very few things surprise me anymore. However, when I saw today’s Middlesbrough team I was genuinely open mouthed. Only shock is we are only three down at half time. Utterly and completely unacceptable.”
I would like to say things can only get better but I am suspicious they could get a lot worse for Boro.
Clinton Morrison says Mitrovic should have scored his header in the first half due to the “the form he has been in”. He’s not played for three months, Clinton.
Half-time: Middlesbrough 0-3 Swansea
A bit of a disaster for Boro.
Half-time: Fulham 0-0 Brentford
Goalless in the west London derby. Fulham have hit the woodwork but the game is yet to hit the heights.
GOAL! Millwall 1-0 Derby (Smith, 15)
The big man powerfully heads home a cracking Shane Ferguson cross, you won’t be surprised to hear.
Fulham v Brentford has lost a bit of verve in the last 10 minutes. However, Norgaard almost finds an opening but his first-time effort flies wide via a deflection.
Raya smacks the ball down the pitch and straight out of play for no reason. Not a great effort from the Brentford ‘keeper.
Brentford’s Fosu cuts in the left and fires in a dangerous cross for Watkins to attack but his diving header goes well over the bar.
Could Woodgate make the first-ever quintuple substitution at the break?
GOAL! Middlesbrough 0-3 Swansea (Ayew, pen, 33)
Friend fouls Gallagher in the area. Andre Ayew converts it. You’d think he could have let Brewster seal his hat-trick. Honestly. Anyway, Middlesbrough are in deep doo-doo, it would seem.
Updated
Fosu gets into space inside the box and fires away a shot towards the near post but Rodak reads it, allowing him to palm it behind.
Mitrovic gets caught on the back of his head - the extra hair not providing any protection - and goes down. It doesn’t look like there was much in it but hey ho.
Updated
Drinks break!
Millwall v Derby is kicking off at 1pm, too. Rooney heads into Lions’ The Den. I have a feeling it will not be as intimidating without fans.
Middlesbrough do at least have the likes of Patrick Roberts, Ravel Morrison and Britt Assombalonga on the bench, which in these days of being able to make five subs could be lots of fun.
GOAL! Middlesbrough 0-2 Swansea (Brewster, 21)
It’s that man again. Brewster is back with a bang! Two in three minutes to put Boro in trouble. Lots of trouble.
Updated
GOAL! Middlesbrough 0-1 Swansea (Brewster, 18)
Andre Ayew squares the ball for the Liverpool loanee who turns it in. Things really are not going well for Jonathan Woodgate and Boro.
Updated
Decordova-Reid gets the ball slipped in him in the box, gets it out of his feet and then smashes a shot agains the upright. Moments later, Knockaert takes a first-time effort from 20 yards but it curls just wide.
Fulham are getting a foothold in the game now but Brentford do give the impression they can counter-attack at any point.
Gestede and Nmecha seem to share a body ...
.@RudyGestede and @LukasNmecha go up for the header. #Boro's best sight of goal so far 📸#Boro 🔴 0-0 🦢 #Swans#UTB pic.twitter.com/v47tuVw6KR
— Middlesbrough FC (@Boro) June 20, 2020
DaSilva gets plenty of space 25 years from goal for Brentford but he slips just as he shoots which takes some of the pace off it and Rodak gets down to claim.
Down the other end, Kebano whips in a cross for Mitrovic to get on the end of but he can’t get sufficient power on it to threaten the goal.
Updated
It is announced that this is the first time Cairney’s parents haven’t attended a game he has played in. I was there when he scored the winner for Hull against Leyton Orient in the FA Cup nine years ago. I think I interviewed him afterwards.
Cairney tries to add impetus to Fulham by dribbling the ball 20 yards up the pitch before being dispossessed.
Danny Higginbotham has just said “quicklyest”, which is a good start. Brentford looking bright in the early stages with some nifty passing and an around the box which comes to nothing.
Kick-off!
Peep! Peep! Peep! The 12.30pm games are underway.
The neutral end at Craven Cottage is even more neutral than usual. It really is one of the best grounds for a day out. Lovely location and good pubs. All empty today.
Updated
Mitrovic has not risked cutting his own hair during lockdown. It’s quite delightfully thick now. It looks like a player from the early 80’s.
Brentford head coach Thomas Frank has confirmed that Bryan Mbeumo has tested positive for coronavirus.
I wonder how wound up Mitrovic has become after three months stuck inside. His first tackle could be a tasty one.
We also have a little bit of Middlesbrough v Swansea. ‘The outlook looks particularly bleak for Jonathan Woodgate, whose Boro side have won one of their past 13 matches and are the division’s lowest scorers,’ according to Ben Fisher.
Benrahma had fun in the pre-restart friendlies ...
🧙♂️ He's back#BrentfordFC pic.twitter.com/KYsJMmmL6Y
— Brentford FC (@BrentfordFC) June 13, 2020
Ben Fisher has been speaking to Paul Heckingbottom ...
Starting lineups: Fulham v Brentford
Fulham: Rodak, Hector, Odoi, Kebano, Mitrovic, Cairney, Ream, Cordova-Reid, Reed, Bryan, Knockaert
Subs: Bettinelli, Le Marchand, Christie, Sessegnon, McDonald, Johansen, Arter, Jasper, Cavaleiro
Brentford: Raya, Henry, Pinnock, Norgaard, Jensen, Benrahma, Watkins, DaSilva, Jansson, Dalsgaard, Fosu
Subs: Daniels, Thompson, Mokotjo, Valencia, Marcondes, Dervisoglu, Jeanvier, Baptiste, Roerslev
Updated
Preamble
Good morning!
Now that the nation’s morale has been fully boosted by David Luiz’s one-man comedy show and Roy Keane’s angry man routine, the second tier is returning. One hopes we get some legendary Jeff Stelling quips and Chris Kamara bewilderment but my main theory is that the game has returned just to keep Matt Le Tissier away from Twitter.
In terms of actual top football action, there is plenty to play for in the Championship. Third host fourth at Craven Cottage as Fulham and Brentford battle it out to see who just misses out on automatic promotion. Brentford’s Saïd Benrahma is the man to watch, as his list of suitors surpasses the number of defenders he has made look silly this season with his quick feet and skill.
At the wrong end, Hull are playing Charlton. The Tigers might not have a full team available due to their fire sales in January and an inability to renew contracts of those whose deals are expiring at the end of the month. Charlton, under new ownership, are just two points behind Hull and a win for the Addicks would take them out of the relegation zone, sending the Tigers into it.
There is also a full round of Bundesliga fixtures to keep track of. Alas, the title race is over.
Let the games begin!
