Home comforts for 7-star Coventry, Stags smash Orient, and Argyle, Northampton & Bristol Rovers all pick up first wins
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Championship
Twenty years on from their first game at the CBS Arena (née the Ricoh Arena), and facing QPR, Coventry celebrated purchasing their stadium by putting seven goals past the not-so-Super Hoops. Cov scored five against Derby last weekend and were 5-0 up at half-time this time, thanks to a brace of braces from Haji Wright and Jack Rudoni plus a goal from Brandon Thomas-Asante. Victor Torp struck twice in the second half, before R’s new boy Richard Kone scored the ultimate consolation goal in stoppage time. While QPR fans can easily recall the last time they shipped 7+ goals in a league game (the R’s lost 7-1 to West Brom in August 2018), this was Coventry’s first seven-for since October 1963 (8-1 vs Shrewsbury). Cov’s total xG here? 1.27.
Frank Lampard’s Sky Blues remain 3rd as Stoke and Middlesbrough maintained 100% records. Mark Robins’ Potters beat Southampton 2-1 despite Divin Mubama being sent off just before the hour mark. The all-important second goal, scored by Sorba Thomas, featured a fantastic assist from Viktor Johansson and a… memorable celebration from Thomas (see 5ivelights, below). As for Boro, the Teessiders beat Norwich 2-1 at Carrow Road through Finn Azaz and Tommy Conway.
From teams who can’t stop winning, to teams who haven’t won yet. Ipswich were the latest recently-relegated team to come unstuck at Deepdale, losing 1-0 to Preston. Meanwhile, the recently-promoted Wrexham are still winless after they contrived to let a two-goal lead slip against Sheffield Wednesday. A Kieffer Moore brace was cancelled out by goals from Barry Bannan and Bailey Cadamarteri. The Welsh side should be applauded for their charitable gestures towards Wednesday and their fans, but those gestures shouldn’t extend to the pitch…
The foot of the Championship has a bit of an NTT20.COM-look about it (sorry, lads!) with Oxford and Sheffield United both pointless after three games. Rubén Sellés’ blunt Blades lost 1-0 at home to Millwall while the Yellows lost by the same scoreline against Birmingham, as Paik Seung-Ho scored with Blues’ only shot on target.
League One
Some ‘first wins’ to talk about…
Northampton broke their duck (they replaced the communal baths with showers years ago) with a 2-0 win over Exeter. A goal inside 60 seconds calmed the nerves, another before 20 minutes calmed them even more, and the Grecians offered very little in response.
Plymouth Argyle also got off the mark, with a 1-0 win over a fast-depreciating Blackpool side. With Caleb Watts, Xavier Amaechi and Bali Mumba, they have the tools to cause trouble for most League One defences, and they did so here. It’s a relief-inducing win, though further improvements at the back are still needed before we can say they’re properly up and running.
Who else? Posh? Not quite. But a 91st-minute equaliser from Cian Hayes gave them a 1-1 draw against a strong Bradford side, for Peterborough’s first point of the season. That could give them a lift before their trip to Exeter next Saturday.
AFC Wimbledon continue to impress, and hell, they’re setting some record: unbeaten in their last 19 first halves of league league (including play-offs). Wind it back two seasons and they’ve been behind at the break only 19 times in 101 games. Barnsley’s David McGoldrick almost cocked up that stat with a tap-in against the run of play, only for Nathan Bishop to make a wonder-save. But goals either side got Wimbledon over the line, for three points worthy of the defensive standards they’re setting: 2-0.
And finally, Mansfield produced the result of the afternoon. Those early-season fears seem to be behind them with a 4-1 win over last season’s play-off finalists, Leyton Orient, taking them into the top 10. Lovely to see Regan Hendry pick himself up and score from halfway to set a booming tone. Orient were too easy to break down and play through, and at 3-1 down, it was game over when Idris El Mizouni was sent off. Even after “game over”, though, Stags still found time for a fourth goal and a huge win.
League Two
When will things turn for Shrewsbury? A 90th-minute equaliser at Swindon could’ve, should’ve been the moment. Instead, their overambitious pressing in stoppage time allowed the hosts to play through Shrews’ midfield, and homecoming queen Billy Bodin scored a dramatic 2-1 winner. Time and place, perhaps? Aesthetes would say Swindon deserved three points just for the beauty of their first goal: Ian Holloway’s side have made the second-most long passes in League Two this season, but there was nothing hoofy about the team move for Aaron Drinan’s dreamy opener.
Sat below Shrewsbury and 22 other teams are Cheltenham, the only EFL side to have played five and lost five. They’ve also scored the fewest goals in the EFL (1) and conceded the second-most in League Two (11) – not ideal, and nor was a deserved 1-0 home defeat to Barnet. The Bees even gave them 20 minutes (10 plus 10 in stoppage time) with an extra player, only for Cheltenham to allow the visitors’ 10 men three decent chances before having any more shots themselves. Concerning.
Slow-starting Bristol Rovers have their first win, though: a 1-0er against Cambridge. It wasn’t convincing, but after Ellis Harrison scored with his fifth shot of a busy first 35 minutes for the Welshman, the Gas kept Cambridge relatively quiet until Kylian Kouassi missed from six yards in stoppage time.
Crewe remain top of League Two but lost their 100% record by falling 1-0 at Gillingham, who moved to within a point of them. Gareth Ainsworth’s charges did have chances of their own but the away end must’ve groaned a collective, “OH COME ON” (or something swearier) when Sam Gale scored an 89th-minute Gills winner after Crewe had hit the woodwork not once, not twice, but thrice. Yet Tom Booth, so impressive this season, dropped a high ball and Gale volleyed home.
Chesterfield and MK Dons complete the top three, following 2-1 wins at Harrogate and Newport respectively. Newport arguably did enough to earn a point, but MK scored their penalty and County didn’t. Still, positive signs for the Exiles.
🎦 Our Top 5 clips from the EFL weekend
10-men, 1-1, free-kick: Oliver Norwood and that irrepressible ping
Abdul Fatawu’s screamer – tough break for Charlton but Leicester won’t care.
A chucked assist from Stoke’s Viktor Johansson.
Hoof one, route one, shoot one: Omari Patrick’s satisfying volley
Icing on the Torp of the cake – a super-sweet strike from Cov’s Victor Torp.
Bonus: An image speaks a thousand words, as Notts County fans were left cursing horror-show defending for their first equaliser and a late strike through bodies for the second. It ended 2-2 with Bromley.
📊 Your Monday morning cheat sheet
🔔 Wing dings again — Another Lewis Wing wonderstrike making the 5iveLights package would be boring, right? Well, he’s scored another and got an assist to bring up 3 goal contributions in his first five games.
🟩 Murray’s still mint — In Wigan’s 2-2 draw with Rotherham, Fraser Murray wasn’t credited with an assist for either goal, although both came from his crossing in a display that saw him rack up 0.68 xAG and the most successful dribbles in the game.
🧤 Not too hot for Trott — Cardiff goalkeeper Nathan Trott made 7 saves in a tight 1-0 win against Luton, and those stops added up to a whopping expected goals prevented of 2.04.
🔍 “Keep an eye on Bromley” — Andy Woodman’s side have gone 9 consecutive league games without defeat.
🏖️ Away from here — Home wins are the enemy in the Championship – so far this season, there have been more wins on the road (39%). To put it into perspective, 52% of wins have been at home in League One.
🧊 Ice in their Gills — Gillingham (P5 W3 D2) have begun a league campaign with a five-game unbeaten run for the first time in a decade.
🗣️ Top Bantam — Bradford’s five-game unbeaten run is their first since 2016-17.
0️⃣ On the Noughty Step — Teams yet to register a point in the EFL this season are Sheffield United, Oxford United and Cheltenham Town.
Sky Bet Championship
Birmingham 1-0 Oxford
Charlton 0-1 Leicester
Coventry 7-1 QPR
Derby 1-1 Bristol City
Hull 0-3 Blackburn
Norwich 1-2 Middlesbrough
Preston 1-0 Ipswich
Sheffield United 0-1 Millwall
Southampton 1-2 Stoke
Swansea 1-1 Watford
West Brom 1-1 Portsmouth
Wrexham 2-2 Sheffield Wednesday
Sky Bet League One
AFC Wimbledon 2-0 Barnsley
Bolton 1-1 Lincoln
Huddersfield 1-0 Stevenage
Luton 0-1 Cardiff
Mansfield 4-1 Leyton Orient
Northampton 2-0 Exeter
Peterborough 1-1 Bradford
Plymouth Argyle 1-0 Blackpool
Port Vale 0-1 Doncaster
Rotherham 2-2 Wigan
Stockport 2-1 Burton Albion
Wycombe 2-2 Reading
Sky Bet League Two
Accrington 1-1 Grimsby
Bristol Rovers 1-0 Cambridge
Cheltenham 0-1 Barnet
Colchester 0-2 Barrow
Crawley 0-2 Tranmere
Fleetwood 1-1 Oldham
Gillingham 1-0 Crewe
Harrogate 1-2 Chesterfield
Newport 1-2 MK Dons
Notts County 2-2 Bromley
Swindon 2-1 Shrewsbury
Walsall 1-0 Salford
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