Category: Championship League

Sheffield United returned to the top of the Championship but had to settle for a point as Tom Fellows’s second-half equaliser secured West Brom a 2-2 draw at The Hawthorns.

United moved a point ahead of Leeds as they extended their unbeaten run to eight matches, while the home side drew for the 10th time in 11 games. Torbjørn Heggem nodded in his first goal of the season to give West Brom a deserved lead, but the visitors turned the game around with two goals inside 98 seconds courtesy of Callum O’Hare and Tyrese Campbell to take a half-time lead.

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Joe Rodon and Max Wöber stepped out of defence to score their first goals for Leeds as Daniel Farke’s side moved to the top of the Championship, ahead of Sheffield United on goal difference.

Given that Illan Meslier, Farke’s goalkeeper, was so underemployed he appeared in danger of hypothermia by the end, it is probably to safe to assume that Tuesday night’s engagement with a key promotion rival in Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough will be somewhat tougher but Leeds still did enough to suggest they should not be underestimated.

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A fine strike from Connor Roberts was not enough to take Burnley to the top of the Championship as they were held to a draw by Middlesbrough.

The Welshman bent in a shot from 25 yards in the 37th minute, but Burnley needed that to cancel out Anfernee Dijksteel’s 13th-minute opener on a night when Turf Moor was battered by wind and rain.

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• Saturday’s 4-0 loss at Bristol City extends poor run
• Rooney faces key clash with Oxford United next week

Wayne Rooney is fighting to save his job at Plymouth Argyle, with the manager under heightened scrutiny after a hugely damaging week of results.

Plymouth were hammered 4-0 at Bristol City on Saturday, four days on from a humiliating 6-1 defeat at Norwich. The former England and Manchester United captain is not thought to be at immediate risk of losing his job but defeat at home to Oxford next Saturday will further jeopardise his position.

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• Todd Cantwell’s penalty denies Leeds top spot
• Plymouth fans show anger as side thrashed 4-0

Todd Cantwell’s first-half penalty secured Blackburn a 1-0 victory over Leeds at Ewood Park as Daniel Farke’s side missed out on the chance to return to the top of the Championship. Sheffield United’s defeat of Sunderland a day earlier meant Leeds came into the game in second spot, but they fell short in their efforts to leapfrog the Blades after Cantwell’s 22nd-minute spot-kick secured Rovers’ third successive win and boosted their play-off challenge.

Burnley moved into second by beating Stoke 2-0 to make it four straight wins and five consecutive clean sheets. Jay Rodriguez’s opener shortly after the break was added to by substitute Josh Brownhill’s late penalty as Scott Parker’s side took full advantage of Leeds’ defeat earlier in the day. The Clarets, who trail leaders Sheffield United by two points, have now kept a total of 12 clean sheets this season and have still only conceded six goals - the fewest at this stage of any previous Championship season.

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Tom Davies’ late winner proved to be the difference as Sheffield United edged a compelling and often chaotic tussle with promotion rivals Sunderland to send the Blades to the top of the Championship on a night when both sides had a man sent off.

Both sides have made a magnificent start to the new season and are firmly in the promotion mix as December approaches. They each knew victory here would move them above Leeds ahead of their game against Blackburn on Saturday and despite the game looking as though it would be heading for a stalemate for large periods, Davies’ strike was six minutes to go ultimately was decisive.

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• Former England midfielder takes over from Mark Robins
• Team are 17th in Championship, two points above drop

Frank Lampard has been confirmed as the head coach of Coventry, returning to the dugout 18 months after he left Chelsea. He succeeds Mark Robins, who was sacked after almost eight years in charge, with the club 17th in the Championship, two points above the relegation zone.

Lampard has been out of coaching since leaving his interim role with Chelsea at the end of 2022-23. That was a third Premier League managerial job in a row for the former England midfielder, who had a previous spell at a Chelsea and period with Everton, but he is familiar with the Championship.

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• Leeds 3-0 Luton, Middlesbrough 0-1 Blackburn
• Pompey v Millwall postponed after lights go out

Leeds United moved back to the top of the Championship with a comfortable 3-0 victory over Luton Town at Elland Road.

Sam Byram gave the home side an early lead when he reacted quickest to volley into the far corner after seeing his initial shot blocked. Joel Piroe made it 2-0 from close range in first-half injury-time after Pascal Struijk’s header from a corner was parried by Thomas Kaminski.

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• German appointed at the end of May on three-year deal
• First-team coach Andy Dawson to take interim charge

Hull City have confirmed the departure of Tim Walter as head coach. The Championship strugglers’ 2-0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday was their ninth match without a win and left them in the relegation zone.

The club said in a statement: “Hull City can confirm we have parted company with head coach Tim Walter with immediate effect. Assistant head coaches Julian Hubner and Filip Tapalovic have also left the club.

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• Former Derby and Chelsea coach to replace Mark Robins
• ‘Next appointment is very important,’ says owner King

Frank Lampard is closing on a return to management with Coventry, 18 months after exiting Chelsea. Lampard is expected to succeed Mark Robins, who was sacked after almost eight years in charge, with the club 17th in the Championship, two points above the relegation zone.

Lampard has been out of coaching since leaving his interim role in charge of Chelsea at the end of 2022-23, but the 46-year-old former England midfielder is poised to return to the dugout in a division he knows from his time in charge of Derby, whom he guided to the playoff final in 2019.

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Leeds went top of the Championship as Daniel Farke’s side twice came from behind to win a wild game at Swansea 4-3.

Manor Solomon scored twice – his first Leeds goals – and Ben Cabango turned the ball into his own net before substitute Wilfried Gnonto struck a stoppage-time winner. Swansea had led through Harry Darling’s early opener and Liam Cullen – who scored for Wales against Iceland on Tuesday – restored their advantage on the stroke of half-time. Substitute Florian Bianchini appeared to have rescued a point for the hosts in the final minute, but Leeds went straight up the other end and Gnonto slid home from Daniel James’s pass to end their away-day blues.

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• Managerless Coventry draw with Sheffield United
• Burnley win at Bristol City; Middlesbrough hit six

Sunderland were denied three points in dramatic circumstances as Millwall’s Femi Azeez levelled three minutes into stoppage time, earning the hosts a 1-1 draw. Aaron Connolly’s goal had put the Black Cats ahead in a a game heavily delayed by medical emergencies in the crowd, but they were unable to hold out.

Chris Wilder called Sheffield United’s 2-2 draw at Coventry “a point gained”, despite seeing his side pegged back twice in a hard-fought game at the CBS Arena. Tyrese Campbell opened the scoring before Norman Bassette scored his first Coventry goal. Jesurun Rak-Sakyi put the Blades back in front before they had Anel Ahmedhodzic sent off for grabbing Bassette by the throat and throwing him to the floor in a rush of blood just before half-time. Coventry piled on the pressure in the second half and Bobby Thomas headed them level with 10 minutes remaining.

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• Club’s leading goalscorer collapsed at auction event
• Watford chairman: ‘We will do all we can to help’

Watford have sent best wishes to their record goalscorer and appearance-maker, Luther Blissett, after he was taken ill at the weekend. According to the My Local Hero charity, the 66-year-old Blissett was taken to hospital after collapsing following an auction event at the Grove hotel in Watford on Saturday.

Watford’s chairman and chief executive, Scott Duxbury, said: “Luther and all of his loved ones know they have our full support. We will do all we can to help.” The club said in a statement: “Everyone connected with Watford FC would like to wish Luther the fullest possible recovery.”

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• Robins sacked last week after seven years in charge
• Doug King, the club’s owner, confirms Lampard’s interest

Doug King, the Coventry owner, has revealed that Frank Lampard is a contender to replace Mark Robins as the Championship club’s next manager.

King has said the former Chelsea, Derby County and Everton coach is among a large number of interested parties in the vacant post.

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The Steel City derby may not be played quite as regularly as some others or quite have the same pull on a national scale but there is no doubting that what you do in this ­fixture can make you a legend in this particular part of the world.

That was evident enough here before the first meeting between Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday in over 2,000 days. To whet the appetite, and perhaps even stir up some emotions, United opted to welcome the goalscorers from their last derby win in 2017 – John Fleck, Leon Clarke and Mark Duffy – on to the Bramall Lane pitch.

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