Sports

Potters ending penalty hoodoo among five things you may have missed


Lee Gregory scored Stoke’s first league penalty since December

Stoke City finally scoring a penalty, a stunning comeback in the Championship and a perfect send off for Leyton Orient’s interim boss were all part of another busy day in the EFL.

BBC Sport takes a look at five things you may have missed.

Fifth time lucky for Potters

When you’re struggling near the foot of the table and goals are hard to come by, you’ve really got to take your chances when they’re handed to you on a plate.

But, for Stoke City, sticking penalties in the back of the net had become something of a distant memory.

That finally changed on Saturday. Having missed their last four in the Championship, summer signing Lee Gregory made it fifth time lucky to wrap up a 2-0 win against Fulham – a result which moved them off of the bottom of the table.

It was in fact the first penalty the Potters have been awarded this campaign, having only scored two of their eight spot-kicks last season.

Maybe a bit of luck is finally swinging Nathan Jones’ way?

Griffin Park hosts action-packed derby

Brentford are playing their final season at Griffin Park and the 115-year-old ground will not have seen many London derbies more dramatic than Saturday’s visit of Millwall.

The Bees dominated the first half but spurned their chances, with Ollie Watkins having a penalty saved when the game was goalless.

The Lions went ahead on the stroke of half-time and, straight after Watkins had an equaliser ruled out for offside, made it 2-0 through a penalty of their own 10 minutes after the break.

But, the west Londoners had hope when Josh Dasilva found the bottom corner with six minutes remaining – and Bryan Mbeumo stuck one in the top corner via a deflection to level things up in the 88th minute.

Ollie Watkins netted his eighth league goal of the season in their victory over Millwall

Brentford continued to press and completed the turnaround in the fourth minute of added time when Mbeumo crossed for Watkins to tap in and complete the comeback.

Head coach Thomas Frank hailed his side’s determination as they recorded just their second home win of the campaign.

“When you are 2-0 down with six minutes to go, to have that capacity, strength and character to turn it around is massive,” the Dane said.

“Once we scored we had momentum and when you get that anything can happen – especially at Griffin Park.

Three is the magic number

From batsmen getting out in the 90s to snooker players missing the final black when a 147 beckons, sport is full success stories tainted by near misses.

You could say that’s been the story of Fleetwood Town striker Paddy Madden’s career in front of goal.

The 29-year-old, with more than 300 English Football League appearances to his name, has struck two goals in a match on 14 separate occasions but, somehow, never ended up walking away with the match ball.

Until Saturday, that is.

Madden left the field clutching the ball – and, presumably, hasn’t let it out of his sight since

The former Yeovil Town and Scunthorpe United forward scored his first-ever league hat-trick in his side’s 4-1 victory over Burton Albion – although he did have to wait until the 90th minute before eventually completing his treble.

“I just couldn’t get over the line in recent years but, thankfully, today I’ve finally scored one,” he said.