Championship
Brighton are still unbeaten. Chris Hughton’s side extended their extraordinary run to 15 games at the Madejski Stadium, where Jamie Murphy, lurking at the back post, rounded off a fine move. The Seagulls, though, did not have it all their own way. Matej Vydra scored to earn his side a point 12 minutes from time. Brighton will now travel to Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday, looking to equal a 16-match unbeaten club record that was set way back in 1931. It has not been a bad week for Wednesday either. After toppling Arsenal in midweek, they beat Nottingham Forest 1-0 – the appropriately named scorer was Fernando Forestieri.
Bristol City may have thought they had turned a corner of sorts after impressing at Cardiff on Monday, but Fulham humbled Steve Cotterill’s side 4-1 at Ashton Gate. Moussa Dembélé helped himself to two goals, as Ross McCormack and Ryan Tunnicliffe also found the net for Kit Symons’ side, who hit four against Reading seven days ago. Ryan Fredericks, who joined Fulham just 25 days after signing for the Robins in the summer, could have made it five but his effort hit the crossbar.
Burnley and Derby remain just behind Hull in the league after securing comfortable wins over Huddersfield and Rotherham respectively. Andre Gray scored a brace to condemn the Terriers to a sixth league defeat of the season while Derby breezed past Neil Redfearn’s side 3-0. Andreas Weimann, Richard Keogh and Jacob Butterfield scored the goals. Hull maintained their mean streak after beating MK Dons 2-0, courtesy of goals from Ahmed Elmohamady and Mo Diame. Aitor Karanka’s Middlesbrough are still sandwiched in fourth, after a comfortable 3-0 win over struggling Charlton.
Wolves ended their three-match winless run with a 2-0 victory over near neighbours Birmingham at St Andrews. David Edwards scored the opener after 11 minutes before 18-year-old Sheyi Ojo, on loan from Liverpool, curled the second past Tomasz Kuszczak. Finally, Ipswich’s run without a win extended to seven Championship games as they held Cardiff to a second consecutive goalless draw.
League One
Walsall snatched top spot off Gillingham after completing an extraordinary comeback over Justin Edinburgh’s side. The Gills were 2-0 up and in the ascendancy after half an hour, only for Josh Morris and Milan Lalkovic to score in two first-half minutes to send the sides in level at the break. But the Cyprus defender, Jason Demetriou, popped up with a late winner to seal a remarkable win for the Saddlers. Also at the top, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink’s Burton beat David Dunn’s Oldham 1-0 to move into second.
Comebacks were all the rage in the third tier, with Coventry fighting back from two goals down to win at home against Peterborough. Adam Armstrong, on loan from Newcastle, hit his ninth goal of the season three minutes before the final whistle blew, to keep the Sky Blues in the play-off mix.
There were goals at Gigg Lane, too. Bury managed to beat in-form Blackpool, after holding off a second-half comeback from the Tangerines. The winner came from midfielder Tom Soares, who had notched his side’s fourth before goals from Clark Robertson and Jack Redshaw.
Wigan left it late to ensure the miserable mood around Swindon Town continues, after Everton loanee Francisco Junior, who sounds like a next-generation superstar, struck a 90th minute winner for Gary Caldwell’s men. For managerless Town, without a win in 11 games, fans may take solace in the presence of Brendan Rodgers at the DW Stadium. The former Liverpool manager was of course in attendance to watch his son, Anton.
Lee Johnson’s struggles at Barnsley continue, as they lost 2-0 at Scunthorpe. The Tykes’ defeat was compounded by rock-bottom Crewe picking up an unlikely 1-0 home win against Nigel Adkins’ Sheffield United. Elsewhere, Doncaster beat Colchester 2-0, Millwall drew 0-0 with Bradford and Rochdale earned a point at Southend.
League Two
Yeovil did not arrive in Carlisle until almost midnight on Friday night, after a 327-mile journey north from the Somerset countryside and it probably showed in the end. Ryan Bird and Harry Cornick, on loan from Bournemouth, looked anything but weary when they sent the Glovers two goals up inside eight minutes, but Carlisle dug deep when Yeovil became leggy, and MacAulay Gillesphey took advantage to score Carlisle’s winner.
It took leaders Plymouth just three minutes to get their noses in front against Morecambe, who stay stop after a comfortable 2-0 win. Graham Carey and Craig Tanner scored the goals to keep the Pilgrims on song, after picking up their second successive win.
Oxford jumped ahead of Portsmouth and into second after a 5-1 rout of Stevenage. Liam Sercombe netted again for the U’s to continue his goalscoring form, which now reads four goals in three games. Caolan Lavery looked to have set Portsmouth on their way to another sparkling away day but they ended up losing 2-1 at Notts County, after Alan Sheehan scored a 77th minute winner at Meadow Lane.
Josh Windass, son of former Hull striker Dean, helped Accrington leapfrog Leyton Orient into fourth by scoring his eighth goal of the campaign. Exeter’s stop-start season continued in north London, where Barnet beat Paul Tisdale’s fashionistas 2-0, courtesy of Josh Clarke and an own goal from Troy Brown. At Mansfield, Wycombe upset the Stags by the same scoreline, thanks to goals from Luke O’Nien and Aaron Holloway.
Newport rolled up their sleeves from two goals down at home to Northampton, to earn a 2-2 draw at Rodney Parade. Scott Barrow and Lenell John-Lewis grabbed the goals to ensure the Exiles spend another week outside of the relegation zone. Elsewhere, in the early kick-offs AFC Wimbledon beat Hartlepool 2-0 to make it three wins in a row and Crawley beat managerless York 1-0.
