Category: Championship League

Régis Le Bris’s side top the Championship but the manager’s former Lorient student will stand in his way on Friday night

Illan Meslier represents one of the reasons why Régis Le Bris is now Sunderland’s manager but on Friday night he and his Leeds teammates hope to silence a packed Stadium of Light.

As a teenage goalkeeper in a Lorient academy run by Le Bris, Meslier learned to fight under the tutelage of a professional boxing coach he now credits with having taught him “courage” during one-on-one clashes with centre-forwards.

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• Striker helps Preston punish Watford
• Cannon hits four as Stoke thrash Portsmouth

The Preston manager, Paul Heckingbottom, praised Milutin Osmajic after the forward scored twice in the 3-0 win over Watford as he awaits the outcome of his charge of biting an opponent. Osmajic made his first Championship start of the season in the contest at Deepdale six days on from being charged by the Football Association over his alleged biting of Blackburn defender Owen Beck during the 0-0 draw with Rovers on 22 September.

While the Preston director, Peter Ridsdale, had said in a TalkSport interview that the Montenegro international had accepted the charge, with no further statement on the matter having come from the FA, he remained available for selection. He went on to produce finishes in the 53rd and 65th minutes, to which Ali McCann added a superb 75th-minute strike.

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• Sunderland defeat Derby 2-0 at home
• Blackburn’s unbeaten run ended by Coventry

Sunderland took advantage of defeats for West Bromwich Albion and Blackburn to climb to the top of the Championship after a 2-0 win over Derby.

Goals either side of half-time from Jobe Bellingham and Wilson Isidor made it four home wins from four matches for Régis Le Bris’s side.

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• Jason Knight’s thumping header caps stirring fightback
• Ben Cabango bags contentious opener for Swansea

Jason Knight’s towering header 14 minutes from time gave Bristol City a deserved share of the points in an entertaining Championship draw with Swansea in rain-soaked south Wales.

Swansea had led from the 15th minute when the centre-back Ben Cabango claimed a rare goal from Eom Ji-sung’s corner. The deadlock was broken in contentious circumstances as the Bristol City goalkeeper, Max O’Leary, appeared to be pinned on his goalline by Ronald and unable to challenge Cabango as he stroked the ball home.

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• Johannes Hoff Thorup says second tier ‘needs VAR’
• Sunderland miss chance to go top after loss at Watford

Johannes Hoff Thorup backed calls for the introduction of VAR in the Championship despite seeing his Norwich City side benefit from two major errors in his team’s 3-2 victory at Derby.

A hat-trick from Borja Sainz featured two goals in which the ball clearly went out of play in the build-up. Defeated manager Paul Warne insisted he is still against the video assistant referee system due to the game becoming “more and more complicated”, but Thorup said the second tier “needs VAR”.

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• Montenegro international has until Monday to respond
• Striker could face lengthy ban after incident

The Preston striker Milutin Osmajic has been charged with biting an opponent during Sunday’s goalless draw with Blackburn in the Championship. The Montenegro international is alleged to have bitten Owen Beck, who was sent off for kicking out at Duane Holmes in the same incident late in the game at Deepdale. Osmajic has until Monday to provide a response.

Beck, who is on loan at Ewood Park from Liverpool, was dismissed for a swipe at Holmes in the aftermath of Yuki Ohashi’s foul on Osmajic, who then got to his feet and grabbed Beck, barging him away with his head pressed into the back of the full-back’s neck.

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• Forward faces long ban if charged and found guilty
• FA expected to contact players and both clubs

The Football Association has opened an investigation into allegations that Milutin Osmajic bit Owen Beck during Preston’s draw with Blackburn on Sunday.

Osmajic, the Preston forward, appeared to bite the Blackburn defender on the back of the neck during a fracas that erupted after Beck kicked out at Duane Holmes in the final minutes of the goalless draw. Beck, on loan from Liverpool, was sent off and Osmajic was shown a yellow card.

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• Incident occurred late on in ill-tempered goalless draw
• Owen Beck was sent off for kicking Duane Holmes

Blackburn’s Owen Beck was shaken up after allegedly being bitten on the back of his neck by Preston’s Milutin Osmajic in their bad-tempered goalless draw, Rovers manager John Eustace revealed.

Beck was sent off in the 89th minute for kicking out at Duane Holmes, but the bigger controversy came in the immediate aftermath of the incident as video footage appeared to show Osmajic biting the Blackburn left-back.

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• Leeds defeat means City have one point from six games
• Omer Riza takes charge on an interim basis

Cardiff have sacked their manager, Erol Bulut, after their dismal start to the new Championship season.

Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat to Leeds left the Bluebirds rooted to the foot of the table with just one point from their opening six matches, having scored just one goal and conceded 13.

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• Maja nets winner as league leaders beat Plymouth 1-0
• Sunderland beat Boro 1-0, Burnley edge Portsmouth 2-1

Josh Maja’s sixth goal of the season kept West Brom top of the Championship after a 1-0 victory over Plymouth at the Hawthorns.

Wayne Rooney’s Argyle stunned Sunderland, the previous leaders, last week, but Maja’s 62nd-minute strike ensured they would not repeat the trick.

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• Baggies beat Plymouth to stay ahead of Sunderland
• Josh Brownhill hits added-time winner for Burnley

West Brom remain on top of the Championship after beating Plymouth 1-0 at the Hawthorns. The result did not come easy for Carlos Corberán’s side, who were frustrated after being denied by the post three times in the first half.

The hosts thought that they had found the breakthrough when Josh Maja had the ball in the net seconds before half-time, but the flag was immediately raised. But Maja struck again on the hour, keeping his side top. It was a reality check for Wayne Rooney, a week after Plymouth’s fine victory at home to Sunderland.

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Hull came from behind to earn their first victory of the season with a 3-1 win over Stoke at the Bet365 Stadium. Ben Wilmot put the hosts in front in Narcís Pelach’s first game in charge before three goals in 17 minutes gave Tim Walter his first win as Hull manager.

Kasey Palmer nodded in the equaliser on his first start for the visitors, following up after his penalty had been saved by Viktor Johansson, before the substitute Regan Slater and a Wilmot own goal completed the turnaround.

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• Potters stand 13th, after two wins and three losses
• Jon Walters says club needed a ‘change in direction’

Stoke City have sacked head coach Steven Schumacher in the wake of Saturday’s defeat to Oxford, the Championship club have confirmed.

His departure comes following the Potters’ 1-0 loss at the Kassam Stadium, a result which left Stoke 13th in the table after two wins and three defeats from their opening five matches.

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Alex Mowatt’s brace, after Josh Maja became the Championship’s leading goalscorer, sent West Brom top of the table with a clinical 3-0 victory over winless Portsmouth.

The in-form Maja bagged his fifth goal of the season inside the first minute – with only Manchester City’s Erling Haaland scoring more goals in the top four divisions this season. Mowatt struck twice after the break to put the unbeaten Baggies a point ahead of Sunderland at the summit.

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• Wayne Rooney’s side seal dramatic 3-2 victory
• Blackburn cruise to 3-0 win over Bristol City

A dramatic stoppage-time winner from captain Joe Edwards ended Sunderland’s unbeaten Championship start and gave Wayne Rooney his first victory as Plymouth manager. Man-of-the-match Edwards was first to react when Sunderland goalkeeper Anthony Patterson brilliantly saved Kornel Szucs’ thunderous effort in the third minute of added time, letting fly with an equally venomous strike to make it 3-2.

A Daniel Ballard own goal and Ryan Hardie’s penalty had seen Plymouth come back from behind after Patrick Roberts’ first-half penalty, with Romaine Mundle equalising late on for Sunderland before Edwards had the final say against the leaders.

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