Category: Championship League

• Lampard’s leaders recover from 2-0 down to seal win

• Leicester’s Daka scores for first time in almost a year

Frank Lampard praised his “outstanding” side’s resilience after Championship leaders Coventry came back from two goals down at home to beat 10-man West Brom 3-2. Aune Heggebo’s double put the visitors into what looked like a commanding lead, but Josh Eccles halved the deficit before the break. Jayson Molumby was then sent off four minutes into the second half, after which Ellis Simms and Victor Torp were on target to make it nine wins in 10 for the hosts.

“The reaction to keep playing in the first half was very positive, even with the feeling of 2-0 which can sometimes take the wind out of yourselves. The goal before half-time, which we deserved, helped because that gave the players belief. I think the red card helped too … but even with 11 men on I would have fancied us in the second half.”

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Record scorer for Norway’s age-group sides discusses his World Cup hope, being frozen out at 15 and fake tickets heartbreak at Anfield

Liverpool against Aston Villa on 18 January 2014. It was impossible to measure the excitement in a seven-year-old from Norway making his first pilgrimage to Anfield. Inside was the promise of watching his favourite player, Daniel Sturridge, and the rest of a freewheeling side throwing everything at a title push. But as Sindre Walle Egeli and his family reached the turnstiles, the cruelest of realities dawned.

“It’s not a good memory,” Walle Egeli says. “We showed up, ready to go, and it turned out we’d got fake tickets. I don’t know what happened, maybe my parents bought from some shady people. It was heartbreaking.”

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• Stadium planned to feature 12 chimney-like towers

• Club chair Tom Wagner sees it as ‘beacon for excellence’

Birmingham City have unveiled designs of their striking new 62,000-capacity stadium, the Birmingham City Powerhouse, which the Championship club say will open for the 2030-31 season.

The stadium, which features 12 chimney-like towers inspired by the city’s industrial heritage, will dominate the Birmingham skyline and be visible up to 40 miles away. One tower will include a lift to Birmingham’s highest bar, offering city-wide views.

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• Belgian back in work after sacking by Rangers in February

• ‘Excited’ about taking over at Championship strugglers

Norwich have confirmed the appointment of Philippe Clement as the club’s head coach. The Belgian – sacked by Rangers in February – replaces Liam Manning, who left Carrow Road before the international break with Norwich second bottom of the Championship.

Manning lasted only 17 games, having been appointed in the summer. Under him, Norwich have lost all of their home matches so far this season.

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• Forward led chant after Leeds won promotion in April

• Wilder signs him to help struggling Championship club

Patrick Bamford has joined Sheffield United seven months after leading derogatory chants about their manager, Chris Wilder.

The 32-year-old striker, a free agent since leaving Leeds, has signed a contract with the Championship strugglers until January. His seven-year career at Elland Road was ended by mutual consent in August.

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• Leicester condemn Norwich to eighth straight home loss

• Club: ‘We have no choice other than to make a change’

Liam Manning has been sacked by Norwich in the wake of a 2-1 home defeat by Leicester, which left them 23rd in the Championship, with nine points from 15 games and without a win at Carrow Road since May.

The Canaries have lost all seven of their home matches in the Championship this season, with another defeat coming in the Carabao Cup, and are now four points adrift of safety. After going ahead on 62 minutes through Mathias Kvistgaarden’s second goal in successive games, Norwich were pegged back by substitute Bobby Cordova-Reid 10 minutes later and then suffered a nightmare ending when Jordan James headed a dramatic second for the visitors.

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• Boro coach was stood down from Birmingham match

• Edwards poised for Molineux move after Pereira sacking

Middlesbrough have agreed to let Rob Edwards hold talks with Wolves over their managerial vacancy, with a deal for the Boro head coach expected to be completed within the next 48 hours.

Edwards had earlier been stood down from taking charge of Saturday’s match at home to Birmingham, with the 42-year-old now set for a return to Molineux.

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• Incident took place during February game with Burnley

• North End criticise FA’s decision to dish out punishment

Preston have been left “extremely disappointed” by the Football Association’s decision to ban Milutin Osmajic for nine matches over allegedly making racist comments to Burnley’s Hannibal Mejbri.

Mejbri alleged Osmajic made the comments during last season’s Championship derby between the two Lancashire sides at Deepdale in February, which ended 0-0. The FA said an independent regulatory commission found the allegations to be proven after Osmajic was charged with an “aggravated” breach of their rules over conduct, while the Montenegro forward denied the charges.

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Coventry’s manager on rejuvenating the Championship leaders, coaching highs and lows, and why the ‘golden generation’ debate is overplayed

“I’ve got a bit of a fat ankle, you can probably see the swelling,” Frank Lampard says, legs crossed, looking towards his right foot. At first glance it could be mistaken as evidence of his hands-on approach at Coventry City training, collateral damage from partaking in those snappy rondos. The reality is a world away from frontline coaching. “I twisted it playing with the kids in Hyde Park on a Sunday,” he says, breaking into a broad smile.

It is Lampard down to a T. As a youngster he was ticked off by his late mother, Patricia, for wearing football boots to bed and once spent a weekend in Bournemouth at his uncle Harry Redknapp’s house breaking in a pair of moulds. Lampard has always been immersed in the game, from joining Heath Park boys’ club and fulfilling his dream of pulling on a West Ham shirt to cementing his place as one of England’s greatest midfielders across 13 years and countless trophies at Chelsea. Those days have gone – Coventry represents his fourth club as a manager – but the 47-year-old still believes in being in the thick of things.

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• Scienza goal gives managerless Southampton 2-1 win

• Preston defeat Swansea; Wednesday and Norwich draw

Managerless Southampton ended their losing run with a 2-1 victory at QPR in their first match since the sacking of Will Still.

Teenager Jay Robinson’s deflected strike put the visitors, who had under-21s coach Tonda Eckert in interim charge, ahead early in the second half and Léo Scienza’s brilliant goal doubled their lead. Rumarn Burrell pulled a goal back but Rangers were unable to find an equaliser, slumping to a third consecutive defeat.

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• Sakamoto leads 3-1 win against Sheffield United

• Baker’s brace helps Stoke to 3-0 win at Oxford

Championship leaders Coventry bounced back from their first league defeat of the season as they came from behind to beat Sheffield United 3-1 at the CBS Arena.

The former Sky Blues defender Sam McCallum put the Blades ahead in the first half before Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Bobby Thomas scored after the break. Brandon Thomas-Asante added a third at the end to secure a ninth win of the season.

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• Saints won just two of his 13 league matches in charge

• Youngest EFL manager departs after five months

Southampton have sacked Will Still after the club dropped into the Championship relegation zone. The 33-year-old, who was the youngest manager in the English Football League, departs five months into a three-year contract.

Still won just two of his 13 league matches in charge, recording a sole win in the division since a stoppage-time opening-day victory over Wrexham.

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• Pressure mounts on Manning as Norwich fans protest

• Leicester crowd turns on Cifuentes; Still also under fire

Liam Manning apologised after a 2-0 defeat to Hull condemned his Norwich side to a seventh straight home defeat of the season. The Canaries faded after a bright start and second-half goals from Joe Gelhardt and Darko Gyabi left them still stuck in the Championship relegation zone after 13 games.

There were protests from the home fans at the final whistle, with Manning the target along with the club’s sporting director Ben Knapper, prompting the former to make a swift exit to the sanctuary of the dressing room. He admitted later that he should have faced the music.

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Kieffer Moore downed Coventry with a perfect second-half hat-trick as Wrexham won 3-2 to inflict a first league defeat on the Championship leaders.

Coventry, the only unbeaten side in the EFL, were closing in on a club-record seventh straight league win when Ephron Mason-Clark superbly slotted the Sky Blues ahead midway through the first half. The omens were not good for Wrexham given Frank Lampard’s side had scored 34 goals in 12 games before arriving in north Wales and the home side had won only one of their previous seven.

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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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