Edwards feeling the love on Teesside after leading Middlesbrough to best-ever start
Middlesbrough 2-1 West Brom
It has been the stuff of dreams for Rob Edwards at Middlesbrough. Five wins and a draw in six games, Boro’s best-ever start in 149 years.
“I’ve fallen in love with them [the fans], they were great tonight,” he told Sky Sports after their win over West Brom on Friday night. And he has played a huge role in the results with his recruitment and decision-making.
The two scorers at the Riverside were David Strelec and Kaly Sene in each half, and it was Edwards who switched between the two at the break. Not often a goalscorer is removed at half-time for tactical reasons.
“It was a tactical one and it’s always nice when it comes off!” he told Sky Sports after the game. “Like a lot of the lads here, David is getting up to speed. We felt Kaly’s energy and intensity would have helped us.
“Both are going to be big players for us. We’ve got a squad here, and I’ve said if we need to go early with subs we will. It doesn’t always have to be on 65 or 70 minutes.”
Boro have momentum, firepower and a revitalised manager getting big decisions right. It is a clinical combination, and they could well be here to stay in the promotion race.Simeon Gholam
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Still falling flat in early stages at Southampton
Hull 3-1 Southampton
It is not all going according to plan for Will Still at Southampton.
Just one win all season, and none in their last five since beating Wrexham on the opening day. Even that required a last-minute turnaround to sneak it 2-1.
Southampton dominated possession on Saturday at Hull City and Still insisted they controlled the game. But 71 per cent of the ball is irrelevant if you find yourself 3-0 down and being dominated in terms of Expected Goals.
Still is still young and still learning about this league. But in the Championship an impressive reputation counts for little if you are not producing results. And Southampton have the quality to be doing a lot better.
Improvements are needed. And fast.Simeon Gholam
Reality check for Wilder as Charlton spoil Sheff Utd return
Sheff Utd 0-1 Charlton
As the rain teemed down and a banner bearing the face of Chris Wilder rippled up the Bramall Lane Kop, the scene appeared set for a returning hero to jump-start Sheffield United’s sorry season.
There was an early tenacity on the field to match an imploring roar from the stands, but the renewed intent was fleeting as deficiencies in recruitment were laid bare and fragility told that Wilder admitted after the game that he had “underestimated”.
Tyrese Campbell, and later Tom Cannon, were peripheral in attack as goalkeeper Michael Cooper errantly kicked long. Sydie Peck was determined but overworked in a rookie midfield. Ben Godfrey was recruited in haste and regularly pulled out of position at right-back in a newly-assembled defence.
United have been shorn of an experienced spine and the summer’s damaging upheaval told as they shifted the ball backwards and sideways; more compact but risk averse, still unsure of themselves and each other. The side who were 15 minutes from the Premier League are as short on personality now as they are on patterns of play.
Charlton had not offered sustained threat during the sodden encounter but sensed an opportunity as the clock ticked down and Nathan Jones’ touchline encouragement grew more frenzied. The wild celebrations that greeted Tanto Olaofe’s 90th-minute winner reflected the context as well as the dramatic conclusion and the subdued home side – who have lost all seven competitive games this season – could hardly argue.
The rebuild that Wilder oversaw last summer, one that appeared to necessitate only modest tweaks, is now alarmingly more significant in scope.Kate Burlaga
Relief for Sheff Wed as they finally get off the mark
Portsmouth 0-2 Sheff Wed
It came at the sixth time of asking, but finally Sheffield Wednesday have won their first league game of the season – and deservedly so.
It was the perfect away performance from the Owls against a Portsmouth side that had started their own campaign so positively. The expectation was a home win, Wednesday’s season has been dominated by protests about the disconnect with the owner, wages not being paid and a lack of new signings creating the headlines, but this weekend it was their football that people were talking about once again.
Barry Bannan’s free-kick 12 minutes in and a touch of fortune about George Brown’s first goal of the season to double their advantage handed Henrik Pedersen’s side all three points in what has hopefully become a punctuation mark in their season. They looked solid defensively and it was very much a team all on the same page, regardless of what is happening off the field.
The fact the 35-year-old Bannan was still charging around and closing down in the 90th minute showed you just how important the win was, and just how committed to the club this group still are.
I wanted to hug Henrik Pedersen in the tunnel after the game, the relief on his face was there for all to see. He knew what it meant to the fans, and in the 52 days he has been in the hotseat, it’s clearly taken its toll.
The task now is to ensure this doesn’t become a result in isolation. Not only did Wednesday get their first league win – they swapped places at the foot of the table with fierce rivals Sheffield United, to make their first win of the season just that little bit sweeter.Mark McAdam
Swansea pay for controversial disallowed goal
Birmingham 1-0 Swansea
All things considered, things are looking pretty bright for Swansea at the moment.
Alan Sheehan’s side came from 2-0 down to beat Nottingham Forest 3-2 in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday and, ahead of their trip to Birmingham, were five unbeaten in the Championship.
But that run might have been extended to six, but for a controversial call to disallow Zan Vipotnik’s opener at St Andrew’s on Saturday lunchtime.
Josh Tymon’s inch-perfect cross from the left found the Slovenian striker, who jumped at the far post and guided a first-time shot into the bottom-left corner. He peeled away and celebrated, but was stopped in his tracks by the assistant referee’s flag, which he wagged his finger at as soon as he saw it.
The officials adjudged he had strayed ahead of Blues captain Christoph Klarer as the ball was played, despite replays suggesting Vipotnik was level, or just behind, the defender. With no VAR, of course, the decision stood.
It proved costly for the Swans, as Lyndon Dykes’ 94th-minute header sealed a 1-0 win.Dan Long
Improving QPR recovering brilliantly from early mauling
QPR 1-0 Stoke
The 7-1 defeat at Coventry City feels like an awful long time ago now for QPR.
Since then, the response has been brilliant, and the 1-0 victory over Stoke on Saturday made it three victories in a row.
Harvey Vale has made a huge difference, starting all three of those wins and scoring his first of the campaign against the Potters – an impressively-taken winner in the closing stages at the MATRADE Loftus Road Stadium.
He signed for the club in the January window but was immediately ruled out with injury during his medical and missed the second half of last season. Now, at 22, he is starting to show some of the promise that made QPR bring him in from Chelsea.
And in attack they have goals in Richard Kone and Rumarn Burrell. What had started as looking like a season of struggle, now looks filled with promise.Simeon Gholam
Off-day for Bristol City – but too early to tell if it is anything more
Bristol City 1-3 Oxford
It will only become clear in the coming weeks whether Bristol City’s first defeat of the season, at home to second-bottom Oxford United, is a blip or the end of their purple patch under new boss Gerhard Struber.
Oxford were well worth their win at Ashton Gate, but it felt eminently avoidable from the Austrian’s perspective. All three of the visitors’ goals came from set-pieces, the first time in almost three years the Robins have conceded three times from set-plays in the same match. The first-half loss of sizeable centre-back Rob Atkinson did not help, but is no excuse.
Collectively it was an off day, but individually there were further concerns. Emil Riis has had a Midas touch since his arrival in the summer but had easily his worst game, and owes one assistant referee a beer after his flag saved him from an early miss-of-the-season contender.
City fans will tell you this is par for the course – a sell-out stadium, an unbeaten start, a seemingly beatable opposition. But it is worth remembering, too, Oxford had held Leicester and Coventry, two sides expected to finish ahead of City this season, to draws in their previous two games.
Just as things never seemed quite as good as the scoreline suggested in big early-season wins over Sheff Utd, Sheff Wed and Hull, neither is this too telling in isolation. A trip to Preston, never a forgiving place to go at the best of times, will tell a lot more next weekend.Ron Walker
Are Preston play-off dark horses?
Derby 0-1 Preston
Imagine a game between the two teams with the fewest shots in the Championship this season. You’ve just pictured Derby 0-1 Preston.
A game that promised to be tight and low scoring was exactly that, but it was a result that moved Paul Heckingbottom’s side into the play-off places on his 50th game in charge.
The Preston manager has previous for producing a team worth more than the sum of its parts and he’s at it again at Deepdale. After a summer of churn Heckingbottom admitted he has taken some gambles in recruitment but young loanees Lewis Dobbin and Alfie Devine combined for the winning goal – a brilliant strike from 21-year-old Devine, borrowed from Spurs.
Preston have now beaten relegated Ipswich and Leicester at home and drawn with leaders Middlesbrough before recording their first away win since February at Pride Park. They’ve not reached the Championship play-offs since 2009 but are they dark horses for a top-six spot?
As for Derby, their head coach John Eustace might have expected a steady start to the campaign having brought in 13 players over the course of the off-season, and they have just one win so far. Patrick Agyemang’s introduction at half-time perked them up, but still Daniel Iversen had only one major save to make.Rob Jones
Blackburn on course for third win of season before abandonment
Blackburn A-A Ipswich
Blackburn started the season with two narrow defeats from two, but Valerien Ismael’s side had won two of their last three before the visit of Ipswich to Ewood Park, and were on course for a third in four with 10 minutes to play.
But the weather had not been playing ball all day in Lancashire and it was at this point that referee Stephen Martin brought the game to a halt.
It was for good reason – the pitch was waterlogged and the ball could not bounce or travel in a straight line before being stopped in its tracks.
The players were taken off the pitch while a decision was taken about whether the game could continue, but just after 5pm, it was abandoned. By then, many had already departed, pre-empting the inevitable.
That is not the end of the matter, however. On Saturday evening, in a statement to Sky Sports News, the EFL said: “The board will consider what action is to be taken as a result of the abandonment, in-line with EFL regulations.”
Whether the result will stand or the fixture is to be replayed in full remains to be seen.Dan Long
Key stats from the weekend
Sheffield United are the first team since Wycombe Wanderers in 2020/21 to lose all of their opening six Championship games of the season. The last two teams to do this (Wycombe and Peterborough in 2012-13) ended up being relegated.Southampton have failed to win any of their last nine away matches in the league (D3 L6), conceding 20 and scoring just seven.Middlesbrough’s 16 points in their opening six matches (W5 D1) is the club’s best start to a season in the top four tiers of English football. They are the only team in the Championship not to drop at point at home so far in 2025/26 (P3 W3).Wrexham have won consecutive away games in the second tier for the first time since December 1980. This is the first time they’ve scored three or more goals on the road in the second tier since they beat Cambridge 3-2 in December 1981.
All Championship weekend results
Middlesbrough 2-1 West Brom
Birmingham 1-0 SwanseaLeicester 0-0 CoventryQPR 1-0 StokeBlackburn A-A IpswichDerby 0-1 PrestonHull 3-1 SouthamptonNorwich 2-3 WrexhamPortsmouth 0-2 Sheff WedSheff Utd 0-1 Charlton
Bristol City 1-3 Oxford
Millwall vs Watford (8pm) – Live on Sky Sports