In the Championship – Stoke beat leaders and go top

Wayne Thomas - scored twice for Stoke as they went top

Wayne Thomas scored two of the Stoke goals where the fans are responding to this good start to the season, there were over 23,000 there on Tuesday and that’s 5,000 more than the previous best this season.

West Ham looked to have the easiest match on paper but it took a Matthew Etherington goal twenty minutes from the end to secure a 1-0 against bottom club Rotherham.

That was always going to be enough against a side that have scored just twice all season, both of which were scored by former Burnley loan player Paul Shaw.

The biggest win of the night was Watford’s 3-0 victory at Cardiff and the league’s current leading goalscorer Danny Webber was on target again with two of the goals.

Watford are a surprise packet this season and are currently sixth whereas Cardiff are languishing just above Rotherham at he bottom. Cardiff did win one battle over Watford though, coach Terry Burton was left behind after he accepted an offer he couldn’t refuse to work with Sam Hammam at Ninian Park.

Billy Davies suffered his first defeat as Preston manager, losing 3-1 at the Madejski Stadium against Reading where Nicky Forster once again scored twice against the club he snubbed.

There were no moans and whinges from the new Preston boss suggesting things really have changed at the end of the M65.

Wolves finally recorded their first win of the season with a 1-0 win at the delightful Withdean Stadium against Brighton, a first half goal from Kenny Miller was enough to secure the three points for the pre-season promotion favourites.

A first half goal was enough for Leeds as well as Plymouth suffered their first home defeat since September last year. It was a scrappy own goal from Marino Keith that gave Leeds their first away win of the season.

Julio Arca - scored an early goal for Sunderland against Forest

“We need new blood,” cried Kinnear as he complained at the size of his squad which has been hit by injury.

Sheffield United left their comeback at Leicester just a bit too late – they were 3-0 down early in the second half but two goals in nine minutes left the home side with a nervous last few minutes.

Neil Warnock was pleased with the fight back but described the defending as diabolical. “We committed suicide, I cannot believe the individuals concerned,” he said after the game.

Incredibly Dario G is coming under pressure from the Crewe fans who see this season as nothing other than a desperate fight to try and avoid relegation.

Dario didn’t even bother with the press conference after the 2-0 home defeat against QPR and left the talking to assistant Neil Baker who admitted the players needed to work harder and show more aggression. I wonder if that got through to Mark Rivers and Dean Ashton.

Last night Gillingham came from two down to earn a point in a 2-2 draw at Coventry with Patrick Agyemang getting both goals, his first of the season.

Coventry’s second had come from the penalty spot and was scored by new signing Stern John who arrived from Birmingham the day before in a £200,000 move. John had decided against rejoining his old club Forest before signing on the dotted line for Peter Reid.

Two other players have moved in at Championship clubs this week. On Monday leaders Stoke snapped up Steve Guppy after Leeds decided against offering him a contract. He has signed initially for a month.

Finally Cardiff’s former Crewe and Bradford midfielder Gareth Whalley as signed for Wigan. He has been training at the JJB for the last three weeks and Wigan have now negotiated his release from Cardiff and signed him until the end of the season.

As for the Clarets, we are still waiting for the Italian FA to get their fingers out and sort out the international clearance to allow us to play new signing Amadou Sanokho. If anyone knows anyone at the Italian FA could you please ask them to get a move on.