Championship
• Neil Warnock has seven promotions on his managerial CV and at this rate he will secure an eighth at Cardiff City with room to spare. They had to beat QPR the hard way to collect their fifth win from five after making a sluggish start and falling behind to Matt Smith’s 15th-minute opener. Junior Hoilett scored a bizarre equaliser blocking Alex Smithies’ attempted clearance, before Sol Bamba climbed highest at a corner to head the winner on the stroke of half-time.
• Cardiff are now the only Championship side with a 100% record after fellow high-flyers Ipswich Town lost 2-0 at Fulham. Neeskens Kebano popped up in the box with a first-half headed goal to reward Fulham’s early pressure and new striker Rui Fonte slotted home a rebound to wrap up the points. Ipswich fans might at least take solace from Norwich City’s troubles, as manager Daniel Farke watched his side ship four goals away from home for the second game in a row. Millwall were happy to profit with birthday boy Lee Gregory sparking the 4-0 rout.
• Barnsley earned a huge boost with a 3-0 win against Sunderland and left Simon Grayson facing boos from the visiting supporters as the Black Cats’ struggles continued. Harry Redknapp also has plenty to ponder following Birmingham City’s defeat 2-0 by Reading at St Andrew’s, but last season’s League One champions Sheffield United have attuned to Championship football quickly, picking up their third win of the season with a 3-1 defeat of Derby County.
• Burton Albion’s Joe Mason cancelled out Gary Hooper’s first half goal for Sheffield Wednesday in a 1-1 draw at the Pirelli Stadium, an encounter with plenty of chances at the Riverside between Middlesbrough and Preston ended goalless while Brentford and Wolves drew blanks.
League One
• Eleven of the day’s 12 games saw goals and bags of them, but two matches stood out. Southend twice led at Gillingham in a see-saw contest but the Gills’ Tom Eaves, who hadn’t scored in 29 games, wrapped up his hat-trick with a crucial 80th-minute equaliser to round off an entertaining 3-3 draw. Bradford City had been cruising towards their third win of the season at Walsall, and went 3-0 up after 49 minutes via a Luke Leahy own goal. But Leahy sparked a stunning turnaround with a goal at the right end five minutes later, culminating in Amadou Bakayoko’s headed 87th-minute point-pincher.
• Peterborough put four past Northampton to climb to the top of the League One, condemning their hosts to bottom spot in the process. Wigan couldn’t keep pace with the Posh despite Ivan Toney’s early strike against Portsmouth, where Conor Chaplin equalised late in the day for a 1-1 draw, and it was the same result for two sides going well in Oxford United and Shrewsbury Town, who shared a late goal each at the Kassam.
• Two quickfire goals on the hour gave AFC Wimbledon their first win of the season, at the expense of Doncaster. Blackburn continued their upturn in form with a 4-1 demolition of MK Dons with Charlie Mulgrew twice on the scoresheet, and a few miles west Blackpool’s two early strikes were enough to hold off Oldham in a 2-1 victory. Charlton’s positive start went on in their 2-0 win at Rotherham, while Bristol Rovers downed Fleetwood 3-1.
• Things boiled over in the south west between Plymouth and Scunthorpe. Paddy Madden gave the visitors a first-half lead and then played his part in a confrontation moments before half-time which saw Antoni Sarcevic headbutt the forward and receive his marching orders. From there Scunthorpe took control with Madden, Tom Hopper and Josh Morris rounding off a 4-0 thumping.
League Two
• Exeter put themselves a couple of points clear at the top with a thrilling 4-3 win at Cheltenham having been two goals down after 12 minutes; Rueben Read scored twice, including one from the spot, to seal the win. Grimsby looked on their way to a similar escape when they pulled Wycombe back to 2-2, but Adebayo Akinfenwa’s fourth goal of the season ensured all three points for Wanderers. Only two players in League Two have scored more; one of those – Frank Nouble – bagged three today in Newport’s 4-1 hammering of Chesterfield.
• Mansfield thought they had won the battle of two of the league’s fancied sides before Luton’s Danny Hylton struck on 89 minutes for a 2-2 draw. Tom Pett’s first-half strike was enough for Stevenage at Barnet despite the hosts’ 22 attempts, Yeovil dealt Coventry their second defeat in succession, Crewe edge Port Vale 1-0 through a Chris Dagnall strike after Vale’s Michael Tonge had been sent off for a lunging tackle, Alex Woodyard scored twice in Lincoln’s 4-1 win over Carlisle, and Colchester earned their first victory of the season by thrashing Forest Green 5-1.
• And Harry Kewell earned his first points in charge of Crawley Town, and in style with a 3-0 win at Swindon.
