Birmingham City 4-2 Bristol City
Gary Rowett was full of praise for striker Clayton Donaldson after his impressive hat-trick paved the way for a 4-2 victory over struggling Bristol City, taking unbeaten Birmingham to fourth in the table. “Clayton has worked so hard since I walked through the door. I was really pleased for him, he took his first two goals so well.” Rowett urged fans not to get carried away, though. “We are really humble. Our current record is play-off form but we have to continue working hard.” City manager Steve Cotterill said: “I was frustrated. We created enough chances to have won this and we definitely feel hard done by with the penalty. It was a big moment in the game.”
Burnley 3-1 Sheffield Wednesday
Despite seeing Burnley romp to their third straight league win, Sean Dyche insisted there is still room for improvement as they seek an immediate return to the top flight. After Atdhe Nuhiu cancelled out David Jones’ opener, substitute Matthew Taylor and home debutant Andre Gray secured the 3-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday. “I still think there’s more to come. We’ve got players who are moulding, they’re getting used to each other, we’ve got players getting fully fit.” Carlos Carvalhal, though, said his side should have won it. “If you ask me if I’m happy with the draw, I’d say no, I’m a little upset. We lost a match that we played very well.”
Bolton Wanderers 2-1 Wolverhampton Wanderers
Neil Lennon described his overriding emotion as relief after Bolton ended an 11-game winless run via first-half goals against Wolves from Liam Feeney and Zach Clough. “I’ve not had a run like that in my career either playing or managing. It’s been a very frustrating time. But I thought the way we were playing, we could turn things around, and we deserved to win.” Wolves manager Kenny Jackett said: “I felt after a rocky first 15 minutes we played well and dominated the majority of the rest of the first half. Then we had a real go second half trying to get back into the match. We will play worse and win.”
Preston North End 1-2 Derby County
Derby manager Paul Clement said performance is not always everything after watching his side grind out the first win of his reign. Chris Martin’s first-half double secured victory at Preston, despite Daniel Johnson’s stoppage-time strike. “I won’t shy away from the point that we’ve not started the season well in terms of results. And maybe this was our poorest display in terms of our football. But what I’m happy with was the resilience of the players, they showed that they could deal with a very direct style of play.” Simon Grayson said: “We always knew it would be a tough game against a team who have spent a lot of money. But we still need to do the basics better.”
QPR 1-2 Nottingham Forest 2
Dougie Freedman felt his Forest side’s 2-1 win at QPR was the perfect response to the sale of Michail Antonio to West Ham. Three of Forest’s new signings were involved in the winning goal at Loftus Road, as Forest secured their first away win since February. “We had to sell our best player, if not the best player in the division, but we recruited well. We’re not a one-man club.” QPR’s Chris Ramsey was again left to rue his side’s shoddy defending after they conceded two goals for the sixth time in eight games – not helped by keeper Rob Green’s red card for pulling down Chris O’Grady. “When we had 11 players I thought there was only going to be one winner. But we defended badly.”
And the rest
■ Cardiff secured their best winning run since their Championship title victory three seasons ago with a comfortable 2-0 win against struggling Huddersfield. Substitute Sammy Ameobi inspired Cardiff in the second half, having a hand in both goals that were finished by Anthony Pilkington and Joe Mason. Russell Slade said: “We’re clearly pleased with three wins and three draws. But let’s see where we are after 12 games – that’s when things start to settle down.” ■ Charlton manager Guy Luzon said his side deserved all three points after Rotherham claimed a 1-1 draw at The Valley. “We should have won, we had 21 shots on target. Rotherham came here to waste time, to play only long-ball, they didn’t have any target to win the game and only wanted a maximum of one point.” ■ Leeds took a point in a 1-1 Elland Road draw with Brentford after half-time sub Mirco Antenucci curled in a fine equaliser. Uwe Rosler said: “Mirco’s a top player whether he starts or comes from the bench.” ■ And Stewart Downing scored his first goal for Middlesbrough since his return in the summer as they beat MK Dons 2-0 – a strike from David Nugent wrapping up the points.
