Championship
On a free-scoring day on which the top club Leeds set the tone with their 4-0 shellacking of Middlesbrough, Brentford and Bristol City also treated their fans to home goal feasts. Thomas Frank’s Bees hit seven without reply against Luton, with the 21-year-old midfielder Josh Dasilva scoring a hat-trick. Brentford were in the mood to make amends for their midweek loss at Blackburn, racing into a 5-0 lead at half-time with goals from Bryan Mbeumo, Ollie Watkins, Mathias Jensen and Dasilva’s first two strikes. Said Benrahma made it 6-0 with a penalty in the 71st minute before Dasilva was handed the chance to complete his hat-trick, also from the spot.
It was a chastening afternoon for Luton, but they stay a place above the relegation zone after Wigan let slip a lead to lose 1-3 at home to Reading. The visitors’ star was George Puscas, who scored a five-minute hat-trick late in the second half. The home side looked in control after Joe Garner’s 34th-minute opener but Puscas levelled from the penalty spot on 79 minutes, scored his second a minute later, and completed his match-winning salvo in the 84th minute.
Wigan stay third bottom as Stoke were beaten by Sam Gallagher’s late goal for Blackburn, which condemned Michael O’Neill’s new side to a 1-2 home loss. Bradley Dack scored at both ends for Blackburn, his 10th goal of the season in the right end opening the scoring in the 13th minute before his own goal 10 minutes from time put Stoke level. Fortunately for Dack, Gallagher was on hand to slot in four minutes later and secure victory. It was a happier afternoon for the bottom club, Barnsley, who ended a dismal winless run stretching back to the first weekend of the season with a surprise 3-1 victory over Hull at Oakwell. Goals from Alex Mowatt and Mike-Steven Bahre put Barnsley in control and though Keane Lewis-Potter’s 81st-minute goal for Hull set up an anxious finale, Conor Chaplin’s injury-time strike wrapped up the win.
Bristol City bounced back from their midweek mauling by West Brom by hammering Huddersfield 5-2 to move up to fifth place. Josh Brownhill and a Terence Kongolo own goal got City off to a flier before Karlan Grant reduced the deficit for Danny Cowley’s team. Headers from Niclas Eliasson and Ashley Williams put the home side 4-1 up at the interval and after Andrea Weimann extended City’s lead, Juninho Bacuna replied for the visitors.
Arguably the most impressive performance of the day came at the City Ground, where Cardiff jolted Nottingham Forest’s gathering momentum with a 1-0 win. Nathaniel Mendez-Laing’s shot from outside the area in the 14th minute gave the Bluebirds victory to continue the bright start to Neil Harris’s tenure as manager.
The buoyant mood at The Valley, following the agreed sale of Charlton Athletic by the unpopular Roland Duchatelet to the East Street Investments consortium, was deflated in a 1-3 defeat by Sheffield Wednesday, for whom Steven Fletcher scored twice. The visitors took a 17th-minute lead through Fletcher’s firm header. Lee Bowyer’s side responded nine minutes later when Macauley Bonne capitalised on skilful approach play by Alfie Doughty to score his sixth goal in 11 games. But Fletcher’s 60th-minute penalty, awarded for Erhun Oztumer’s trip on Jacob Murphy, put Wednesday back in front before Atdhe Nuhiue headed a third in the last minute of stoppage time.
Wayne Rooney sat in the Derby dugout for the first time but the new player-coach could not inspire his side to victory over QPR. Martyn Waghorn’s 23rd minute free-kick put the home side ahead but the striker then conceded the penalty from which Eberechi Eze equalised for the visitors. Birmingham drew 1-1 with Millwall at St Andrew’s.
FA Cup
On a day devoid of major upsets, Altrincham were agonisingly denied a place in the third-round draw when Brett Pitman’s 93rd-minute goal gave Portsmouth a 2-1 win at Fratton Park. After both sides hit the woodwork during the first half, Pompey opened the scoring in the 56th minute through Ben Close’s volley. The National League North side, though, levelled when Josh Hancock converted a penalty with seven minutes left to keep alive hopes of a first third-round appearance in 25 years. However, Pitman’s back-post header following a corner dashed those dreams.
Eastleigh of the National League go into Monday’s draw after Marcus Barnes’s 86th-minute equaliser earned them a replay against Crewe. The League Two promotion-challengers took the lead nine minutes before half-time through Owen Dale’s header but their non-league hosts got the leveller they probably deserved when Marcus Barnes struck from close range with his left foot.
AFC Fylde advanced to the third round for the first time with a 2-0 win at seventh-tier Kingstonian. The Isthmian League Premier Division side had beaten League Two Macclesfield 4-0 in the first round but there was to be no repeat as Jordan Williams put the visitors in front after nine minutes. Fylde doubled their lead in first-half stoppage time when midfielder Williams struck from close range.
Reading’s Puscas was not the only player to score a swift second-half hat-trick. Port Vale’s Tom Pope did likewise within eight minutes to seal a 3-1 win at Cheltenham. The home side had led from the third minute through Reuben Reid’s penalty but Pope equalised on the hour, headed in a second three minutes later and completed his treble in the 68th minute with a close-range finish.
Shrewsbury finished with 10 men but managed to score twice late on to beat Mansfield 2-0. The League One side had Ollie Norburn sent off on the hour following a foul on Jacob Mellis. But Josh Laurent broke the deadlock when he bundled the ball in with a minute left and Brad Walker added a second goal in stoppage time.
