Category: Championship League

The midfielder reflects on lessons learned before the reunion with the club he ran close in the FA Cup with Leyton Orient

Ethan Galbraith cannot help but smile. He is recounting the final seconds of Swansea’s epic comeback win against Nottingham Forest in the last round of the Carabao Cup, an episode that culminated in him briefly donning a supporter’s spectacles, having retrieved them from the wreckage of a pitch-side pile-on. As the game ticked into the 97th minute, Galbraith cracked the upright with a billowing strike from 25 yards and Cameron Burgess promptly leathered in the rebound before hurtling off towards the East Stand to celebrate, fans mobbing the players.

It capped an extraordinary turnaround given Swansea trailed 2-0 midway through the second half. Amid the delirium, there was some collateral damage. “There was a supporter sort of calling out and myself and Keysy [Josh Key] were thinking: ‘What’s he on about here?’” says Galbraith. “Then we saw the glasses. It was a bit of banter putting them on. We are on the pitch as footballers but we’re humans, too, so to have a bit of craic with the fans is always good.”

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• Owls could face two more deductions over rule breaches

• ‘Four or five interested parties look like the real deal’

Sheffield Wednesday could face two further points deductions this season for breaching English Football League regulations but the administrators of the Championship crisis club are optimistic there are “four or five” credible bidders. Wednesday are bottom on -6 points after the chair, Dejphon Chansiri, placed the club into administration last Friday, triggering an automatic 12-point penalty.

Wednesday have failed to pay wages on time for five of the past seven months. An independent commission hearing will determine the sanction for the non-payment of March’s and May’s player wages. Wednesday are expected to be charged with further breaches this season, thought to relate to the non-payment of wages in June, July and September, for which they could also be docked points. If Wednesday are deducted further points, it is expected the penalties would apply this season.

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• 3-1 victory takes Coventry three points clear, as Boro held

• Sheffield Wednesday lose to Oxford as fans enjoy Chansiri exit

Coventry, the leaders, recorded their sixth win in a row with a 3-1 victory over 10-man Watford, which proved enough to extend their lead at the top to three points.

Frank Lampard’s side got off to a flying start when Brandon Thomas-Asante and Jamie Allen scored within the first seven minutes. Tatsuhiro Sakamoto made it 3-0 on 42 minutes before James Abankwah was sent off for the visitors. Imran Louza’s second-half penalty proved nothing more than a consolation for Javi Gracia’s side.

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• Notice filed at specialist companies court on Friday

• Club left on -6 points at bottom of Championship

Sheffield Wednesday have been given a 12-point deduction by the EFL, taking them to -6 at the bottom of the Championship, after filing for administration.

The club filed a notice to appoint an administrator at 10.01am on Friday at a specialist companies court and the league confirmed three hours later that the “table will be updated with immediate effect”.

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• Middlesbrough move to one point of leaders Coventry

• QPR beat 10-man Swansea, Watford edge out West Brom

Morgan Whittaker’s early goal at a near-empty Hillsborough gave Middlesbrough a 1-0 win at bottom club Sheffield Wednesday and lifted them to within a point of Championship leaders Coventry.

Whittaker struck for the second game running in the sixth minute and that proved enough for Rob Edwards’ side, who should have won by a wider margin and had what looked a certain penalty turned down.

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• Portsmouth 1-2 Coventry; Millwall beat Stoke to go third

• Bristol City 3-1 Southampton; Ipswich 0-3 Charlton

Brandon Thomas-Asante’s double secured Coventry a fifth successive victory as Frank Lampard’s side extended their lead at the top of the Championship table by defeating Portsmouth 2-1.

Thomas-Asante converted his seventh and eighth goals of the season to move the unbeaten Sky Blues four points clear, before Middlesbrough visit Sheffield Wednesday on Wednesday.

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• Thomas-Asante and Torp strike for Coventry

• Stoke beat Wrexham; West Brom back into top six

Coventry reclaimed their spot at the top of the Championship with a 2-0 victory over Blackburn. They had slipped to second after Middlesbrough’s victory over Ipswich on Friday night, but goals from Victor Torp and Brandon Thomas-Asante took them back to the summit. Liam Kitching should have made it three near the end but he headed over from inside the six-yard box.

Frank Lampard, the Coventry manager, thought the game was a “good test for all of us”, saying: “All credit to Blackburn in the first half. They came here with an aggressive organisation about them and were happy to be man-for-man pretty much all over the pitch.

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Morgan Whittaker scored his first Middlesbrough goal as Rob Edwards’ side returned to the top of the Championship with an action-packed 2-1 win against Ipswich. Victory ended a three-game winless run for the home side, who had made their intent plain by pummelling the visitors’ goal after a forgettable first 30 minutes.

Whittaker doubled Boro’s lead in the 55th minute after Cédric Kipré’s own goal in first-half added time had given them the advantage, shortly after the home goalkeeper Sol Brynn saved a George Hirst penalty.

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• Watford sources deny the claims after this week’s sacking

• Claims relate to players with connection to agent Bayat

Paulo Pezzolano was sacked by Watford because he resisted pressure to select players who have a connection to the agent Arnaud Mogi Bayat, it has been claimed, although this has been denied by sources at the Championship club.

Pezzolano and his technical team were dismissed on Wednesday after five months and 10 matches, with Javi Gracia installed for his second spell. It is understood Pezzolano and his staff were surprised and dismayed, having secured successive league victories at Vicarage Road after a slow start to the season.

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• Uruguayan was appointed in May and has Watford 11th

• Gracia had spell as club’s manager that ended in 2019

Watford have sacked their manager Paulo Pezzolano after only five months and 10 games in charge, with their former manager Javi Gracia confirmed as his replacement.

It is understood that Pezzolano, who was appointed to replace Tom Cleverley in May, and his technical staff were told not to take training on Wednesday after speculation that he was to depart began to mount on Tuesday. The Uruguayan was summoned to a meeting at which he became the 11th manager Watford have sacked since the start of 2020.

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• Sheffield Wednesday 0-5 Coventry, Hull 1-0 Sheffield Utd

• Boro slip to Pompey defeat, Leicester see off Swansea

Frank Lampard praised his side’s stirring second-half display after Coventry went top of the Championship with a 5-0 rout of Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.

Brandon Thomas-Asante scored twice in the first half with Haji Wright adding a third on the stroke of half-time. Substitute Ellis Simms and Tatsuhiro Sakamoto added further goals in the second period to complete a comprehensive victory.

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• Wright inspires 4-0 win for Frank Lampard’s side

• Josh Maja goal gives West Brom 1-0 win at Norwich

Haji Wright added two more goals to his early-season collection as Coventry dismantled Millwall 4-0 at the Den to move second in the Championship table. The USA international Wright is the top scorer in the Championship with seven goals after his double against a Lions side who became the latest to feel the power of the Sky Blues’ rampant attack this season.

Frank Lampard’s side remain unbeaten in the league and closed to within two points of pacesetters Middlesbrough after taking their goal tally to 22 goals in eight matches.

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• Chris Wilder sent off for kicking a ball into the crowd

• Middlesbrough stay top after goalless draw with Stoke

Ross Stewart’s second-half double sealed for Southampton a 2-1 comeback win at Bramall Lane and consigned Sheffield United to a seventh league defeat of the season.

Stewart cancelled out Tyrese Campbell’s first-half opener for the Blades early in the second period and arrowed a stunning winner into the top corner seven minutes later as the Saints clinched their first league win on the road this campaign.

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• Lampard hails ‘outstanding’ Coventry after 3-0 win

• Sheffield United beat Oxford to secure first points

Frank Lampard hailed Coventry’s “outstanding” display after the Sky Blues saw off 10-man Birmingham 3-0 to extend their unbeaten start. Brandon Thomas-Asante opened the scoring in the first half before Jack Robinson was sent off for a second bookable offence just before the break. Coventry took full advantage as a Bright Osayi-Samuel own goal was followed by Victor Torp’s fifth goal of the campaign to round off the win.

“It was outstanding, every part of the game, 11 v 11, 11 v 10, the focus of the group, the work ethic, the desire to compete in challenges and duels against a strong team,” said Lampard. “If you want to succeed in this league you have to have big physicality and capacity. That’s one of the things we’ve worked on a lot and it’s really grown.”

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Nat Phillips’ own goal deep into stoppage time helped Leicester rescue a 1-1 draw from under the nose of West Brom at the Hawthorns. Leicester were staring down the barrel of a second league defeat of the season but a late equaliser extended their own unbeaten run to five matches while denying West Brom the chance to climb into the top two before the rest of the weekend’s action.

The hosts were looking to respond to back-to-back defeats and they went ahead in the 10th minute thanks to a brilliant goal from Samuel Iling-Junior, who grabbed his first in West Brom colours. The visitors were limited to half-chances in the second period in what looked to be a frustrating second half until Phillips put into his own goal which sent the travelling contingent wild as Leicester rescued a fifth point from losing positions this season.

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