Category: Bristol City

Carabao Cup: Gillingham beat Brentford on penalties; Everton soundly beaten | Carabao Cup


There was elation in the away end as League Two side Gillingham advanced to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup with a 6-5 win on penalties over Premier League opponents Brentford. The Bees were ahead inside five minutes when Mikkel Damsgaard’s fine pass found England hopeful Ivan Toney, who tapped in the opener.

Brentford enjoyed 80% possession but the resilient visitors struck back on 75 minutes when the substitute Mikael Mandron headed home Alex MacDonald’s cross at the near post, ensuring the Gills’ only shot of the match counted. A thrilling battle from the spot ended when the Gillingham midfielder Alex MacDonald scored their sixth penalty and Damsgaard saw his effort hit the bar, sealing victory for the underdogs.

Victory capped a memorable a day for the Kent club given that they had to walk the last part of their journey to Brentford, which meant kick-off was delayed by 20 minutes. “We had to walk here, we had to climb over barriers and help each other get over fences,” said the Gillingham manager Neil Harris.

“We got to about a quarter of a mile from Chiswick Roundabout and we got stuck. Fortunately we had a tactics board on the bus. But we couldn’t move and they couldn’t get a police escort to us. So we got in touch with the officials and decided to walk – probably about a 10-minute walk.”

Frank Lampard suffered an embarrassing Carabao Cup exit as his Everton side were thrashed 4-1 by Bournemouth at the Vitality Stadium. The Toffees were made to pay for a number of defensive mistakes as Bournemouth ended their run of four successive Premier League defeats to ease into round four.

Jamal Lowe, Junior Stanislas, Emiliano Marcondes and Jaidon Anthony were on target for the hosts, with Demarai Gray replying for Everton. Frank Lampard admitted Everton’s fringe players had come up short. “We were poor,” Lampard said. “I made a lot of changes, but the reality of my job is that we want to win every game we play.”

Jamal Lowe of Bournemouth celebrates scoring his side’s fourth goal against Everton.
Jamal Lowe of Bournemouth celebrates scoring his side’s fourth goal against Everton. Photograph: Robin Jones/AFC Bournemouth/Getty Images

Lincoln bounced back from FA Cup embarrassment to storm into the fourth round of the Carabao Cup with a 3-1 victory over Championship club Bristol City at Ashton Gate. The League One side took a seventh-minute lead when midfielder Matty Virtue was allowed time and space 25 yards out to the left of goal and netted with a sweetly struck right-footed drive.

It was 2-0 on 15 minutes as Ben House robbed young defender Joe Low, making his first start for the Robins, and ran through to slot home from inside the box. Four minutes into the second half Lincoln were in dreamland as Paudie O’Connor headed the third from virtually on the goal line after a free-kick was not dealt with.

The substitute Tommy Conway shot home from close range on 80 minutes but Lincoln, dumped out of the FA Cup by non-League Chippenham at the weekend, were in no mood to surrender their advantage.

Two late goals from substitute Anass Zaroury broke Crawley’s stubborn resistance and gave Burnley a hard-earned 3-1 win to reach the Carabao Cup fourth round. The third-round tie at Turf Moor looked as if it might have to be settled by a shootout as the Championship side spurned chance after chance to kill off the League Two outfit, who had taken the scalps of League One Bristol Rovers and Premier League Fulham to earn the trip to Turf Moor.

But Zaroury, who had been sent on as a 56th-minute substitute, eased their frustrations when he tapped the ball home from a couple of yards in the 79th minute after Ashley Barnes had touched on Manuel Benson’s low cross. And he added his second with a similar close-range finish in the 90th minute from his fellow sub Vitinho’s cross.

Goals either side of half-time from Warren O’Hora and Matthew Dennis ensured MK Dons earned a place in Thursday’s fourth round draw as they beat League One rivals Morecambe 2-0. Charlton edged a close contest with fourth-tier Stevenage, advancing with a 5-4 win on penalties. Stevenage went ahead through Luke Norris’s 22nd-minute penalty and defended their lead deep into the second half, when Chuks Aneke equalised to take the match to penalties.

Championship roundup: Coventry stun Blackburn and West Brom edge to win | Championship


Jamie Allen dragged Coventry out of the Championship relegation zone as he denied Blackburn the chance to go top. Allen fired City in front four minutes before the break and Rovers’ hopes of a fightback were effectively dashed five minutes from time when the substitute Jake Garrett was dismissed for a foul on Callum Doyle.

Coventry climbed a point clear of the relegation zone as a result of their 1-0 win, while Blackburn could find themselves five points adrift of the leaders Burnley if they beat Rotherham on Wednesday evening.

Iliman Ndiaye’s header dragged Sheffield United to within a point of Rovers after a 1-0 victory at Bristol City. Ndiaye struck four minutes after the restart to hand the visitors the advantage, although the goalkeeper Wes Foderingham needed the help of an upright to preserve his clean sheet after George Tanner took aim from distance.

Tanner’s evening took a further turn for the worse deep into stoppage time when he was sent off for an ugly challenge on James McAtee which sparked something of a melee.

It proved a better night for the new managers Michael Carrick and Carlos Corberán as both tasted victory for the first time in their posts.

Carrick’s Middlesbrough won 3-1 at Hull, with a significant helping hand from their hosts. Chuba Akpom headed Boro into a 30th-minute lead from Tommy Smith’s cross, but Hull responded and, after Jean Michaël Seri had rattled a post, the Boro old boy Cyrus Christie levelled on the hour in front of the watching Liam Rosenior, who is expected to be named as Shota Arveladze’s replacement on Wednesday.

However, the visitors were back in front within three minutes when Tobias Figueiredo bundled into his own net under pressure from Dael Fry, and Christie was similarly unfortunate when he defected Ryan Giles’ cross past his own keeper with 10 minutes remaining.

West Brom’s need was even greater as Corberán guided them to a 1-0 victory against Blackpool in his second game at the helm even after furious fans turned on the owner Guochuan Lai. They left it late, however, with Okay Yokuslu making the decisive intervention with just five minutes remaining to end West Brom’s three-match losing streak and clinch a first home win since 20 August.

Albion fans mobilised against Lai in the 12th minute with the chairman, in charge since 2016, the target of their anger having borrowed £5m from the club during the Covid pandemic. The home supporters turned on their torches to ‘shine a light’ on the club’s problems, a move planned by group Action for Albion, and chanted for Lai to go.

A Brad Potts goal was enough to hand Preston victory against high-flying Swansea. Potts put the home side ahead on the half-hour mark when he followed up after Ched Evans’ attempt had been saved, in the process sending Preston level on points with sixth-placed Swansea.

Luton and Reading had to make do with a point apiece after a 0-0 draw at Kenilworth Road on a night when Jeff Hendrick and Andy Carroll both went close for the visitors after the break.

Championship roundup: QPR stay top while Burnley roar back at Sunderland | Championship


QPR remain top of the Championship after a 2-1 win over Wigan at Loftus Road capped a perfect week for the west London club.

Sam Field put Rangers ahead on 12 minutes, and Leon Balogun quickly restored their lead after Nathan Broadhead’s equaliser. Rangers’ victory was their fifth in six matches and came 48 hours after manager Mick Beale delighted fans by turning down the chance to manage Wolves.

Burnley staged an incredible second-half comeback with three goals inside 19 minutes to beat Sunderland 4-2 at the Stadium of Light.

The hosts made an impressive start, securing a 2-0 lead through quickfire goals from Amad Diallo and Dan Neil inside the opening 20 minutes. But with Sunderland hoping for only their second win in seven games, Burnley showed their promotion credentials by turning things around after the break.

Nathan Tella pulled one back in the 50th minute before Vincent Kompany’s Belgian compatriots Manuel Benson and Anass Zaroury put the visitors on course for maximum points with goals in the 61st and 69th minutes. There was still time with three minutes left for captain Josh Brownhill to put the seal on another win for Burnley, who remain third, while Sunderland sit 13th.

Burnley celebrate Manuel Benson’s equaliser at the Stadium of Light.
Burnley celebrate Manuel Benson’s equaliser at the Stadium of Light. Photograph: Alex Dodd/CameraSport/Getty Images

Teenager Adam Wharton’s first senior goal helped high-flying Blackburn to a battling 2-1 win over Birmingham. The Rovers academy graduate fired in a fine low strike just before the break, adding to the hosts’ 17th-minute opener from former Birmingham loanee Sam Gallagher. Scott Hogan pulled one back with ten minutes to go.

Teemu Pukki spurned the chance to earn Norwich victory and complete his hat-trick as a poor penalty ensured Sheffield United took a share of the spoils in a 2-2 draw at Bramall Lane. Goalkeeper Adam Davies made a comfortable save as goals from Ben Osborn and Ollie McBurnie earned the Blades a point following Pukki’s first-half double.

Substitute Tyler Burey struck a 90th-minute winner as Millwall made it four league wins in a row by coming from behind to defeat West Brom 2-1 at The Den. The hosts are now up to fifth in the table after making their pressure count against the Baggies, who had Kyle Bartley sent off with five minutes left, after Callum Styles had cancelled out John Swift’s opener.

Hull made it back-to-back wins under interim head coach Andy Dawson after a resounding 4-2 win at Rotherham. The Millers headed into the game full of confidence after recording two wins on the bounce under their new manager Matt Taylor, but they were swept aside by their neighbours from East Yorkshire, with goals from Jacob Greaves, Cyrus Christie, Ryan Longman and Ozan Tufan.

Reading ended a run of three successive league defeats with a hard-earned 2-0 victory over Bristol City at the SCL Stadium. Neither side offered much going forward in a drab first half, but Reading made the breakthrough in the 52nd minute, when loanee Mamadou Loum headed in from a Tom Ince corner. And, deep in stoppage time, Andy Carroll made the points safe for the hosts by clinically finishing a quick counter-attack.

Andy Carroll makes the three points safe for Reading.
Andy Carroll makes the three points safe for Reading. Photograph: Jasonpix/Shutterstock

Blackpool upset the division’s tightest defence with a four-goal display to beat Preston 4-2 in a pulsating Lancashire derby. CJ Hamilton sealed the win at Bloomfield Road with the last kick of the game, placing the ball into an open goal from 45 yards.

Jerry Yates had opened the scoring on 30 minutes but Preston hit back quickly when Ben Whiteman scored from the spot. Teenager Charlie Patino then fired the hosts back in front on 68 minutes, before teeing up Yates for his second. A Callum Connolly own goal on 89 minutes gave Preston hope, but Hamilton made it safe in added time, finding the empty net with Freddie Woodman out of his goal having gone forward for a corner.

Coventry’s revival continued as they secured a third successive victory with a 2-0 win at Stoke. The Potters, who slumped to a second home defeat in the space of five days, dominated but to no avail. Gustavo Hamer created the opener for Jamie Allen in the second half and added a second as the visitors closed the gap to safety to just one point.

Leo Percovich’s reign as Middlesbrough’s temporary manager continued with a goalless draw at home to Huddersfield. While Michael Carrick has been widely touted as Boro’s likely new manager, the former Manchester United midfielder was nowhere to be seen at the Riverside as the Teessiders were frustrated by a dogged Huddersfield side, who nevertheless remain rooted to the bottom of the table.

Championship: Blackburn go top and Swansea pull off brilliant comeback | Championship


Blackburn went top of the Championship as they defeated their former manager Tony Mowbray’s Sunderland 2-0 on his first return to Ewood Park.

Ben Brereton Díaz put Rovers ahead when he curled a left‑footed effort into the top corner from the edge of the box, seconds after a Sunderland penalty appeal was turned down. Scott Wharton’s close-range header soon after half‑time put Rovers in control despite a hint of offside. Sunderland pushed to try to get back into the game but they could not find a way past a resolute home defence as Ryan Hedges’s effort from almost halfway with the final kick of the game glanced the Sunderland post.

Jay Fulton scored a spectacular long-range winner as Swansea City fought back from 2-0 down to claim a thrilling 3-2 win against Reading.

Classy finishes from Yakou Méïté and Tom Ince put Reading on course for an away triumph. But Harry Darling’s header made it 2-1 at half-time before Ollie Cooper swept in the equaliser. Fulton’s stunner in the 74th minute earned Swansea a sixth win in eight games as they bounced back from a weekend thrashing at Burnley.

This was a third successive home win for the Welsh club, who climb to seventh in the table, while Reading drop to ninth after their third successive defeat.

There were echoes of Sunday’s power failure at Leeds when the lights went out inside the opening 60 seconds of the game, prompting a six-minute delay.

The Luton striker Carlton Morris scored against the club where he began his career as Norwich City lost their third successive Championship game. Morris, signed from Barnsley in the summer, fired home his seventh goal of the season from Allan Campbell’s assist as the Hatters stretched their unbeaten run to seven games. Norwich went down to 10 men four minutes later when the Scotland international Kenny McLean was shown a straight red card after appearing to raise an arm to Tom Lockyer.

Jay Fulton scored a brilliant goal to give Swansea a 3-2 win against Reading.
Jay Fulton scored a brilliant goal to give Swansea a 3-2 win against Reading. Photograph: Ashley Crowden/JMP/Shutterstock

Teemu Pukki whistled a shot past the post as the Canaries pressed for an equaliser, but there was no way back for Dean Smith’s side as they slipped two places to fifth in the table – below Luton, who moved up to fourth.

Managerless West Brom endured a fourth defeat in seven games as they were beaten by two first-half goals from a resurgent Bristol City. The City top scorer Nahki Wells helped to create the first for the midfielder Joe Williams and then headed the second as the former Albion assistant manager Nigel Pearson made a happy return to the Hawthorns.

The Baggies had made a great start to life after Steve Bruce’s sacking when their caretaker manager Richard Beale led them to a 2-0 win at Reading on Saturday. But limp defending was the root cause of their latest defeat which leaves them a point above the drop zone in 20th.

Preston moved to within two points of the playoff places courtesy of Greg Cunningham’s second-half header as they defeated Huddersfield 1-0 at the John Smith’s Stadium. Both sides had come into the game in stuttering form and it showed, with Preston’s Alvaro Fernández having the best chances towards the end of the first half.

Cunningham headed North End in front five minutes into the second half and Huddersfield failed to get a shot on target as they slipped to their ninth league defeat of the season.

Rotherham moved up to 10th after they beat Stoke 1-0 at the Bet365 Stadium thanks to Ollie Rathbone’s sixth-minute goal.

Championship: Willock stuns leaders Sheffield United as QPR go fourth | Championship


QPR stunned the Championship leaders Sheffield United with a 1-0 victory at Bramall Lane as Norwich missed the chance to go top of the table after drawing against Reading.

Chris Willock’s 51st-minute strike sent the Blades spinning to a first home defeat of the season and pushed in-form Rangers up to fourth place. Willock’s winner came after he played a clever one-two with Ethan Laird and squeezed his shot from an acute angle between goalkeeper Wes Foderingham and the near post. Tommy Doyle came closest to a Blades equaliser from distance, with his effort just going wide, but Rangers held on to make it five wins from seven games.

Second-placed Norwich moved level on points with United despite taking the lead at Reading. Grant Hanley put Norwich ahead from a corner five minutes after half-time but Reading claimed a share of the spoils through Jeff Hendrick’s excellent dipping strike from outside the box 10 minutes later. Paul Ince’s Reading remain in third, two points adrift of the top two.

Luton and Huddersfield shared a six-goal thriller at Kenilworth Road – with five goals coming before half-time. Huddersfield twice led in the first period through a Carlton Morris own goal and a Jordan Rhodes penalty. But Elijah Adebayo’s double saw the Hatters level before Jordan Clark struck seconds before the interval. Ben Jackson equalised for Huddersfield after 70 minutes, but the Terriers finished with 10 men as David Kasumu was sent off in added time for two bookable offences.

Cardiff claimed a first win under their interim manager Mark Hudson as they beat Blackburn 1-0 in the Welsh capital. In a dramatic finale, substitute Mark Harris fired Cardiff ahead with a rasping 20-yard shot seven minutes from time.

Mark Harris celebrates Cardiff beating Blackburn
Mark Harris scored the winning goal for Cardiff against Blackburn Photograph: Cardiff City FC/Getty Images

Ryan Allsop then saved an injury-time penalty from George Hirst after the Bluebirds goalkeeper had brought down Dominic Hyam as Cardiff struggled to clear a free-kick.

Bottom-placed Coventry drew 0-0 at Bristol City. Han-Noah Massengo and Antoine Semenyo went close for the hosts as the Robins sought to end a three-game losing streak. But Coventry were much-improved after the break and Matty Godden saw his second-half header cleared on to the bar by home defender Mark Sykes. Bristol City had late appeals for a Callum Doyle handball in the penalty area waved away.

Sunderland also had to settle for a goalless draw against Blackpool. It was Sunderland’s second such result at the Stadium of Light in the space of three days after they were held by Preston on Saturday.