The Football League entered its fourth week over the weekend. While the leagues haven’t yet taken their full shape, a number of teams are beginning to set a tone for what is to come from them in this campaign. This week’s Football League Roundup continues to look at the early pace-setters, the high-scorers and those who’s seasons are just getting started.
Football League Roundup: Week Four
Leeds Continue Unbeaten Start
Leeds’ unbeaten start to the season continued as goals from Kemar Roofe and Ezgjan Alioski gave them a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest.
The win puts Leeds in third place, with three wins and two draws from five games. Forest, meanwhile, remain high up in the table. They lie in sixth, with three wins and two losses from their opening five games.
Roofe opened the scoring with his fourth goal in two games after 24 minutes. Matt Mills’ poor defensive header went only as far as Liam Cooper. Cooper headed back towards Roofe, who diverted the ball beyond Jordan Smith.
Forest piled on the pressure in the second half, going in search of an equaliser. It didn’t come, however, and Leeds punished them. Alioski’s wonderful strike beat Smith, flying into the bottom corner.
If Leeds can continue their early form, expect another good season from them. However, don’t rule out Forest either. After an extremely strong start from them, it’s likely that this is just a blip.
Peterborough on Fire on Derby Day
Peterborough stormed to the top of League One with a resounding 4-1 derby win over Northampton.
The Posh now have four wins from four at the start of this campaign, while Northampton sink to the bottom of the league. The Cobblers are yet to register a point so far, and have scored only once.
Gwion Edwards put the visitors in front just after the half hour mark. His terrific solo run was rounded off by a brilliant curling effort beyond Luke Coddington.
Junior Morias doubled the advantage with a rasping shot from outside the area.
Jack Maddison put the game beyond doubt to make it 3-0, but Alex Revell did give the home side some hope by heading in from a corner.
Marcus Maddison made sure of the points, however. Aaron Pierre was penalised for tripping Danny Lloyd, and Maddison converted the resulting penalty.
Crawley off the Mark
Harry Kewell’s Crawley got their first points of the season with a 3-0 win over Swindon Town.
The Australian former Leeds and Liverpool winger took over at Crawley in the summer after previously having a coaching role at Watford.
Crawley took the lead in the 36th minute when Swindon’s Oliver Lancashire headed into his own net.
Lawrence Vigouroux in the Swindon goal made numerous saves to keep his side in the game, but Crawley’s lead was doubled with 11 minutes to go. Jordan Roberts fired in from outside the box to secure the points for the visitors.
The result was rounded off late on when Jimmy Smith also struck from outside the area to get Kewell’s reign at Crawley off the mark.
Sunderland Thrashed at Barnsley
Sunderland continued their slow start to life in the Championship at Barnsley. The Black Cats have just one league win under Simon Grayson, as well as two wins in the Carabao Cup.
Barnsley stunned the visitors with two quick-fire goals midway through the first half. First, Chelsea loanee Ike Ugbo scrambled home after confusion in the Sunderland penalty area. Just five minutes later, another loanee doubled the lead. Harvey Barnes volleyed in to give Barnsley a strong lead at the break.
George Moncur then sealed the points for Barnsley, firing into the roof of the net in the 67th minute to condemn Sunderland to their second loss of the season.
Elsewhere…
Championship
In the Championship, Reading continued their steady start with a 2-0 away win at Birmingham. Fulham also won by the same scoreline as they inflicted a first defeat on Ipswich Town.
Burton Albion rescued a point as they drew 1-1 at home to Sheffield Wednesday. Other draws came at Griffin Park and the Riverside at Brentford and Middlesbrough played out stalemates with Wolves and Preston respectively.
Cardiff maintained their 100% start, coming from behind to beat QPR. Sheffield United also maintained their positive run by dispatching Derby 3-1 at Bramall Lane.
Finally, Norwich continued to disappoint as they were thumped 4-0 by a rampant Millwall. The Canaries now sit in the relegation zone.
League One
In League One, AFC Wimbledon got their first win of the season as they beat Doncaster 2-0. Their rivals MK Dons continued their poor start, however, as their long trip to Blackburn resulted in a 4-1 loss.
Blackpool won again as they ensured Oldham remained without a point. It finished 2-1 at Bloomfield Road.
Bristol Rovers climbed the table as they convincingly beat Fleetwood, as did Charlton with a 2-0 win away at Rotherham.
There were two 3-3 draws in the division. Firstly at Gillingham, where Tom Eaves’ hat-trick, including an 80th minute equaliser, helped them to a point against Southend. Walsall and Bradford also shared six goals. Bradford were 3-0 up after 49 minutes, but a remarkable comeback from Walsall saw them rescue a point.
Points were also shared as Oxford were held by Shrewsbury at 1-1, Portsmouth drew at Wigan and Rochdale and Bury playing out a 0-0 draw in the Greater Manchester Derby.
Finally, Plymouth continue to struggle in League One as Scunthorpe ran riot. The visitors inflicted a 4-0 defeat on the Pilgrims. They are now just one point above the relegation zone.
League Two
Finally, in League Two, Tom Pett’s flying volley gave Stevenage a 1-0 away at Barnet. This saw them climb to third in the table, behind just Exeter and Newport.
Exeter comfortably won at Cheltenham, despite the 4-3 scoreline. Newport also scored four as they thrashed Chesterfield at Rodney Parade.
Colchester were the big scorers as they handed Forest Green a 5-1 defeat, whereas the other promoted side, Lincoln, were 4-1 winners over Carlisle.
Adebayo Akinfenwa’s double helped Wycombe to an entertaining 3-2 win away at Grimsby. The home side continued their unfortunate record of having someone sent off in every game so far.
Crewe were the victors on derby day as they won 1-0 at Port Vale. Chris Dagnall scored the only goal of the game.
Coventry lost for the second time in two weeks as they fell to a 2-0 defeat away at Yeovil.
Luton came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 at Manfield, and finally, Cambridge also draw as they were held to a goalless draw by Morecambe.
There’s no league action this week, however the controversial EFL Trophy gets underway. All the groups are in action, as they once again include Category One youth teams.
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