Coventry's 8-goal thriller | Birmingham's late show | Stevenage's perfect start | And MK Dons plead the 5th |
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Championship
An eight-goal thriller is often called a basketball game. Derby 3-5 Coventry was more like American football, because the first six came from set plays:
0-1 (Coventry free-kick)
1-1 (Derby free-kick)
1-2 (Coventry penalty)
2-2 (Derby penalty)
3-2 (Derby long throw)
3-3 (Coventry long throw)
The highlight of that tit-for-tat exchange was Derby’s Callum Elder scoring a spookily exact mirror-image goal of team-mate Joe Ward’s midweek free-kick in the cup. But Ephron Mason-Clark and Victor Torp gave Cov the win from open play and Derby, having survived last season by conceding just 7 goals in their final 10 matches, have now let in 8 in their first 2 of 2025/26.
Millwall heard Ali Maxwell compare them to Serbia – dark horses for so many people that they’re effectively just horses – and promptly lost 0-3 to Middlesbrough to redarken themselves. There’s no need for panic in SE16: Casper de Norre had a shot brilliantly blocked on the line at 0-0 and Josh Coburn hit both posts with a header at 0-1. One of those days. This is a significant result for Rob Edwards, though, after that 4-0 cup defeat at home to Doncaster in midweek. Even when leading through Hayden Hackney’s shinner, his players forced turnovers and ultimately two late goals through intense pressing and clinical finishing, very much earning their three points.
Birmingham came into the Championship well-fancied but facing a few questions, and they’re answering them match-by-match. Can they impress without the clear talent advantage they had in League One? Opening day against title favourites Ipswich suggests yes, they can. Do they have depth as well as stars? The comfortable cup win over Sheffield United suggests yes, they do. Question three, for their trip to Blackburn: having had it all their own way last year, can Birmingham handle a setback?
After a first half that featured two shots in total, Chris Davies’ men went behind at Ewood Park – their third shot on target faced in all competitions this season, and their third goal conceded. But Blackburn handed them a late lifeline and Birmingham hauled themselves up on it… then pushed Rovers themselves into the murky depths, with Lyndon Dykes’ 98th-minute winner (from a Blackburn corner) following up Jay Stansfield’s 90th-minute penalty, all in front of a bouncing away end. Birmingham are providing answers.
The same can’t be said of other pre-season favourites. Ipswich and Southampton looked equally unimpressive in their 1-1 draw, while Leicester were beaten 2-1 by Preston and Sheffield United lost 1-0 to Swansea without having a shot on target. The Blades are being very neighbourly to their city rivals during a time of crisis.
League One
Stevenage are the only team who are 3 for 3 in tier 3. They won to nil again at home, beating Northampton 2-0 thanks to goals from Dan Kemp and new boy Gassan Ahadme. In fact, Alex Revell’s side didn’t face a single shot on target in either of their first two home games. Nine points from nine? Easy.
From 3/3 to 0/3… Plymouth Argyle, Peterborough and Reading are all yet to register a point, following defeats to Lincoln, Wigan and AFC Wimbledon respectively. Blackpool, however, did get off the mark. Steve Bruce’s Tangerines beat Lee Grant’s Huddersfield 3-2 with all five goals (and a red card for Niall Ennis, the two-goal hero turning villain) coming in a frantic first half. The Terriers had 84% possession in the second half yet 10-man Blackpool restricted them to a solitary shot on target.
League One also saw Leyton Orient take on Stockport, in a repeat of last season’s play-off semi-final – and it was dramatic. Orient came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Ollie O’Neill scoring a stoppage-time leveller for Richie Wellens’ O’s. If Dave Challinor’s post-match comments were anything to go by, you wouldn’t have wanted to be a Stockport player at 5pm on Saturday:
“We gave up at half-time. Based on 70 minutes of that game, we didn’t deserve anything. It’s down to the negative mentality of the players, which may explain why some of them are here at Stockport and haven’t been more successful…”
League Two
MK Dons have spent serious money. Cheltenham have not. The quality gap between the pair was stark. Dons were comfortable moving up and down the gears; calm and compact out of possession and a Swiss Army Knife of threats in attack, winning 5-0 through set pieces, counter-attacks, box entries and a belter from range. While Cheltenham’s poor, goalless start has been easy to spot, this was the first proper sighting of the MK ‘shark’ – a fin gliding ominously above the water, teeth beneath the waves, all fixed to a record-breaking body of evidence: MK have kept a clean sheet in all seven of their league games under Paul Warne.
Elsewhere, someone must’ve put a coin in the fourth-tier jukebox because it spat out some late-’90s bangers.
Newport’s Nik Tzanev has been brilliant between the sticks and it must’ve come as a shock to see team-mate Courtney Baker-Richardson divert a 1st-minute corner from Grimsby past him. He couldn’t do much about that goal, but made a double-save from a penalty to deny Grimsby a second. After Newport equalised early in the second half, Tzanev’s heroics looked to have set up another good point, but Dave Artell’s side were menacing throughout and deserved the winner, which was scrambled home in the 94th minute.
Barrow felt the gut punch of an 89th-minute equaliser by Notts County. Yet Andy Whing’s side had one last swing left, and it was a 97th-minute winner that ripped the roof off. Subs, starters and supporters all bundled into the corner in a single blue-and-white eruption – duck broken, after back-to-back defeats.
Bromley looked set to revel in back-to-back wins, only for James Norwood’s 93rd-minute leveller for Fleetwood to yank the script from their hands. The point keeps them undefeated, but dropping two will sting. And Tranmere will also be kicking themselves: a handful of missed chances left the door ajar and Gillingham barged right through it, bundling home an equaliser in stoppage time. Both clubs stay unbeaten.
🎦 Our Top 5 clips from the EFL weekend
Bend It Like Garbutt
Three goal contributions, one Return of the Mac
Right… time to give Lewis Wing his own section…
📊 Your Monday morning cheat sheet
🟥 Red Card Mayhem — There were four dismissals in League One and four in League Two this weekend. Is it a full moon?
⚽ Five-Goal Seasiders — Each of Blackpool’s three league games has finished with exactly five goals. That’s a lot of goals for a team who spent big on CBs…
🚂 Crewe on a Roll — Three straight league wins for the first time since Aug/Sep 2024, and their first opening trio since 1994/95.
🔴 Sharp Back in L1 — Billy Sharp’s opener for Doncaster was his first League One goal since April 2017 (Sheffield United vs Chesterfield).
🟢 Argyle Slide — Plymouth have lost three in a row in League One for the first time since November 2021, under Ryan Lowe.
🙇 Pleading Ennisance — Blackpool’s Niall Ennis is the first EFL or EPL player since Robbie Keane in 2007 to score 2+ goals and see red before half-time.
🚍 Five-Star Sky Blues — Coventry netted five goals in an away league game for the first time since April 2019 (a 5-4 win at Sunderland).
⏱️ Stoke Lightning Starts — Goals at 00:59 and 45:27 made the Potters the first Championship side ever (i.e. since records began in 2013-14) to score in the opening minute of both halves.
🦊 Monga Makes History — At 16 years and 37 days, Leicester’s Jeremy Monga is the youngest EFL scorer since Jordon Ibe in Oct 2011 (15y 325d).
Sky Bet Championship
Blackburn 1-2 Birmingham
Bristol City 0-0 Charlton
Derby 3-5 Coventry
Hull 3-2 Oxford
Ipswich 1-1 Southampton
Millwall 0-3 Middlesbrough
Portsmouth 1-2 Norwich
Preston 2-1 Leicester
Sheffield Wednesday 0-3 Stoke
Swansea 1-0 Sheffield United
Watford 2-1 QPR
Wrexham 2-3 West Brom
Sky Bet League One
Barnsley 1-1 Bolton
Blackpool 3-2 Huddersfield
Bradford 2-1 Luton
Burton Albion 0-0 Port Vale
Cardiff 3-0 Rotherham
Doncaster 1-1 Wycombe
Exeter 1-2 Mansfield
Leyton Orient 2-2 Stockport
Lincoln City 3-2 Plymouth
Reading 1-2 AFC Wimbledon
Stevenage 2-0 Northampton
Wigan 2-0 Peterborough
Sky Bet League Two
Barnet 1-2 Walsall
Barrow 2-1 Notts County
Bromley 2-2 Fleetwood
Cambridge 1-1 Harrogate
Chesterfield 3-1 Bristol Rovers
Crewe 1-0 Crawley
Grimsby 2-1 Newport
MK Dons 5-0 Cheltenham
Oldham 1-2 Swindon
Salford 2-1 Accrington
Shrewsbury 0-2 Colchester
Tranmere 1-1 Gillingham
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Top 5 Scorers
Jack Sanders (DEF) — MK Dons — 39pts
Luke Offord (DEF) — MK Dons — 32pts
Kyle McFadzean (DEF) — Chesterfield — 30pts
Isaac Price (MID) — West Brom — 30pts
Nathan Asiimwe (DEF) — Wimbledon — 29pts
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