QPR humble Martí's Leicester, Blades batter Birmingham, Newport score from their own half and Argyle are go-go-go
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Championship
Huw Davies
Commentator references to The Nightmare Before Christmas reached record levels at the weekend, but some were justified. Leicester’s 4-1 defeat at QPR capped a bad week not just for Martí Cifuentes, suffering revenge of the ex at the hands of the Rs, but for the club’s staff. They usually receive their December wages before Christmas yet were told on Thursday 18th that they wouldn’t be paid on Friday 19th, as planned, but on the 31st instead. Bad news for the Cratchits.
Leicester nonetheless gave QPR an early payday. Their beneficiaries were 1-0 up within two minutes and 4-0 up at half-time, with Kady Dembele and Amadou Mbengue having fun down the right, culminating in Mbengue spanking in a shot (or cross?) from a silly angle. Leicester’s defending was chaotic and their only consolation was a first senior goal for Silko Thomas, following in Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s penalty, because the first half was a massacre: four QPR goals to one Leicester shot, blocked at source, with Koki Saito also missing from under the crossbar. The biggest threat posed to QPR was to Saito’s eardrums.
Sheffield United beat 10-man Birmingham 3-0. In defeat the previous weekend, Chris Wilder apologised to Blades fans in the same way I’ll blame a fart on the dog, and his naughty boys duly responded – fast. Tyler Bindon’s unmarked header from a corner on 5’ was the 12th time this season Birmingham have conceded the first goal, with half of those coming in the first 15 minutes of a match. Only Watford, Sheffield Wednesday and Swansea have trailed 1-0 more often.
Things quickly got worse for Chris Davies. Less than 20 minutes in, and with both Blues centre-backs already booked, Tommy Doyle sent Gustavo Hamer flying into the technical area and was told to walk past him into the changing rooms and stay there. Keshi Anderson – again, already booked – made it up to Hamer by gifting him a goal, and found himself substituted on the half-hour mark. Birmingham got to half-time without stepping on any more rakes, but Patrick Bamford scored shortly after the break and that was that.
At Ashton Gate, Bristol City beat a misfiring Middlesbrough 2-0. After Morgan Whittaker hit the post, Sol Brynn let an Emil Riis potshot go through him, and when Max O’Leary returned the favour with a mistake of his own on his first appearance of the season, Boro didn’t punish him. Gerhard Struber switched to a back five and brought on Rob Atkinson to protect City’s lead, only for Atkinson to extend it. Of Boro’s 28 shots, their three on target all came from range.
Could Southampton rein in Coventry in the same way? The big lunchtime kick-off was an even bigger opportunity for Saints, especially when their table-topping visitors turned up flu-ridden without three starting players. Cov led through Ephron Mason-Clark, but when Jay Dasilva began the second half by planting his studs halfway up Welington’s shin, which is roughly shoulder-height for Dasilva, the rest of the division watched in hope.
Yet Saints couldn’t fully capitalise. Although Nathan Wood soon equalised and Finn Azaz forced a decent save soon afterwards, Coventry restricted them to half-chances for the remaining 40 minutes, despite Gavin Bazunu going up for a corner at 1-1. The Sky Blues are 11 points clear of an ascending Ipswich in 3rd… but who’s this in 4th?
Hull, that’s who. Hull are 4th. Hull. Are. Fourth! They had some help in beating West Bromwich Albion 1-0: Isaac Price put a sitter over the bar and Karlan Grant missed another great chance before Nat Phillips palmed away a corner for some reason, allowing Oli McBurnie to score from the spot. As if to convince Ryan Mason that his substitutions are cursed, Alfie Gilchrist replaced the booked George Campbell and got sent off himself, on 75’, killing any Albion resistance.
League One
Matt Watts
It was an eventful weekend at the bottom of League One and the big winners were the two Devon clubs. Plymouth Argyle jumped from 21st to 17th with a 5-1 victory away at Doncaster Rovers. The returning Lorent Tolaj scored his first career hat-trick, making him the division’s top scorer in spite of a three-match ban, and Owen Oseni registered a goal and two assists. While Argyle have won three in a row, Donny have slipped from second to second from bottom, following a run of one win in 14.
Argyle’s rivals, Exeter, climbed out of the bottom four thanks to their 3-0 victory over Barnsley. The Grecians have won three home games in a row in all competitions – if only they were taking on Manchester City at St James Park instead of at the Etihad!
Ian Evatt’s Blackpool got the better of Ryan Lowe’s Wigan. Memories of the Tangerines’ 4-0 victory at this venue in their maiden Premier League game, in 2010, are becoming increasingly distant, but goals from two former ‘Tics – in-form Ashley Fletcher and the returning Dale Taylor – will help their fans to form happy new memories.
Peterborough made it three wins in a row by beating rock-bottom Port Vale 1-0, as Harry Leonard’s fourth goal in those three games proved to be the difference. Vale, with no win and no goal in five league home games, are becoming increasingly detached from the rest. Oh, what they’d give to have a certain Swiss forward back…
Up at the top, Lincoln and Stockport were the only members of the top six to win. Lincoln moved up to 2nd and within three points of Cardiff with a 2-1 victory over the Bluebirds. Alex Robertson’s own goal was cancelled out by a stunning team goal finished off by Perry Ng, before Sonny Bradley headed home the winner. After going toe-to-toe with Chelsea on Tuesday night, this was a game too far for Brian Barry-Murphy’s table-toppers, ending a run of five consecutive league wins.
Finally, Stockport left Mansfield with all three points. While it was a great day for the Hatters, who had Ollie Norwood in their starting line-up for the first time since 1st November, Mansfield drop into the bottom four. Nigel Clough was unhappy with a one-minute shortfall in first-half stoppage time, when the score was 1-1 before Jack Diamond scored Stockport’s winner in the second half, but his side have taken just one point from the last 18 available. It’s the season of Christmas parties, not Stag parties…
League Two
Ali Maxwell
League Two had a status quo weekend: there were no major shocks, seven instances of top-half teams beating bottom half teams, and a 0-0 draw in the only match involving two top seven teams: Notts County vs Walsall.
In that sense, the Big Stories may have been the only two victories secured by those in the lower reaches. How about Cheltenham beating Barrow 2-1 in a game of gorgeous assists? Jordan Thomas twisted, dipped inside and crossed for Hakeeb Adelakun to score at the back post. In response, Tom Barkhuizen feinted inside, drove down the line and crossed for Ben Whitfield to score at the back post. For Cheltenham’s winner, Isaac Hutchinson controlled a high ball with a feathery touch and, with his next, slid a precise pass through for Ethon Archer to finish. Cheltenham leap up to 18th.
Oldham have been nicknamed Tranmere Old Boys, and not just by us, due to the presence of former Rovers manager Micky Mellon and players Jake Caprice, Josh Hawkes, Kieron Morris and Manny Monthé. With Tranmere travelling to Boundary Park, it was Oldham’s Young Boy – Mellon’s son, Michael – who did the damage in a 3-1 win with a perfect hat-trick, each goal excellently taken. Mellon Jr was born while Micky was playing for Tranmere, and most of his teenage years were spent with his dad in the dugout, but that stood for nothing: each goal was celebrated passionately.
Bristol Rovers’ 10-match losing streak ended with Steve Evans’ first game, a 1-1 draw with Crewe. “We should have gone onto win the match,” said the new Gas boss, after Crewe played an hour with 10 men while the scores were level. Harrogate took Rovers’ place in the bottom two, thrashed 0-4 at home by MK Dons, for whom the finally-fit-and-firing Aaron Collins scored his first two league goals, followed by an Alex Gilbey brace.
Newport couldn’t handle Colchester’s attacking squadron, as the movement and speed of Samson Tovide, Micah Mbick, Kyreece Lisbie and Harry Anderson were far too much for League Two’s bottom club. Sammy Braybrooke unleashed his frustration with a shot from inside his own half that flew in – another remarkable strike from range, in what feels like a weekly occurrence across the EFL. It was applauded by all four corners of the ground, which tells you all you need to know (although 5iveLights, below, will provide the video as well).
Cambridge United, so strong at home, flicked Accrington aside with a comfy 2-0 win. They’re seven unbeaten and sniffing around the play-offs as always. In beating Crawley 1-0, Swindon made it back-to-back to wins, as did Chesterfield (1-0 at Shrewsbury) and Fleetwood (2-1 vs Gillingham).
Salford’s 3-1 win at Barnet catches the eye. An enterprising first-half display saw them benefit from the attacking mentality of their #8s: Josh Austerfield crashed the box to put them ahead, then Kallum Cesay stretched his extendo-legs to run onto a through ball. Before he could finish, Nnamdi Ofoborh had slid it into his own net. Karl Robinson’s side are right in the mix, while Barnet are on the outside looking in, wondering when they can cash in their Expected Points for Actual Points.
To finish us off, how about Bromley, beating Grimsby 2-0 for their third straight win to take them 3rd in the table? Friend of NTT20, Will Hondermarck, scored twice from close range – the second, thanks to an eye-catching assist for League Two Transfer Target Marcus Ifill.
🎦 Our Top 5 clips from the EFL weekend
Newport State of Mind: it’s Braybrooke from way downtown
Ngl, Ng scored a sexy Cardiff goal with this one-two-three-four
A slick Tangerines team goal Taylor-made for Dale
Mbeng it like Beckham – QPR wrap it up in style
And a lowlight, not a 5iveLight… but what a way for Arthur Okonkwo to give Swansea a stoppage-time winner over Wrexham
📊 Your Monday morning cheat sheet
🎶 Driving home for Christmas — The Championship got cosy in the final matchday before Christmas: 9 home wins, 3 draws and not a single victory for a visiting side.
📈 Brom Go Vroom — Bromley’s 24 points in their last 10 games represents three more than any other EFL side has in that time.
🍈 Juicy — Michael Mellon scored his third League Two hat-trick in just 38 starts – that’s one every 12.66 games.
🐎 Bobbin’ Along — Since Steve Cotterill’s appointment, Cheltenham Town have the fifth-best record in League Two.
🟢 Pilgrim’s Progress — Lorent Tolaj’s hat-trick, plus an assist, was the third time in 2025 that he has recorded 3+ goal contributions in a match; Erling Haaland is the only other player in England’s top four tiers to have done the same.
🤢 Fumes — Harrogate have lost their last six home league games; the last five, without scoring.
🎭 Swings and roundabouts — WBA have lost eight of their nine fixtures away to top-half teams, while losing none of their eight fixtures at home to bottom-half teams.
🤪 Goalford City — There have been 20 goals in Salford’s last four league games, and they’ve won them all.
🏠 Grecian the wheels — Exeter haven’t lost any of their last five league fixtures at St James Park; the last time they enjoyed a longer unbeaten run at home, they reached 11 without defeat (January to April 2022).
🤔 Game of two halves — Norwich are still 3rd in the Championship’s first-half table... and 23rd in the actual table.
SkyBet Championship
Blackburn 2-0 Millwall
Bristol City 2-0 Middlesbrough
Charlton 1-0 Oxford United
Derby 1-1 Portsmouth
Hull 1-0 West Bromwich Albion
Ipswich 3-1 Sheffield Wednesday
Preston 1-1 Norwich
QPR 4-1 Leicester
Sheffield United 3-0 Birmingham
Southampton 1-1 Coventry
Swansea 2-1 Wrexham
Watford 1-0 Stoke City
Sky Bet League One
Doncaster 1-5 Plymouth Argyle
Exeter 3-0 Barnsley
Leyton Orient 2-1 Bradford City
Lincoln 2-1 Cardiff
Mansfield 1-2 Stockport
Northampton 3-1 AFC Wimbledon
Port Vale 0-1 Peterborough
Reading 3-2 Luton
Rotherham 1-3 Huddersfield
Stevenage 2-2 Burton Albion
Wigan 0-2 Blackpool
Wycombe 2-1 Bolton
Sky Bet League Two
Barnet 1-3 Salford
Barrow 1-2 Cheltenham
Bromley 2-0 Grimsby
Cambridge 2-0 Accrington
Colchester 4-1 Newport
Crewe 1-1 Bristol Rovers
Fleetwood 2-1 Gillingham
Harrogate 0-4 MK Dons
Notts County 0-0 Walsall
Oldham 3-1 Tranmere
Shrewsbury 0-1 Chesterfield
Swindon 1-0 Crawley
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