Wolves sink teeth into Preston; Blackburn stun Boro
Southampton’s late show leaves Stoke pointless
Charlton maintained their perfect start to the Championship season with a 2-1 victory at West Ham in a pulsating London derby to pile more pressure on the Hammers manager, Nuno Espírito Santo.
Lloyd Jones and Tyreece Campbell put Charlton 2-0 ahead before Joel Piroe, signed on loan from Leeds, marked his first appearance for the home side with a goal that set up a frantic finish. Taty Castellanos then missed a stoppage-time penalty for West Ham that would have salvaged a point.
West Ham have not won their past 10 derbies, losing nine of them, but Hammers head coach Nuno defended the decision for Castellanos to take the spot-kick instead of Jarrod Bowen.
He said: “We trust Taty to take the penalties. I don’t know [if he will take the next one], we will have to decide. We started badly again. We got punished from a situation where we know Charlton create problems. It became much harder but we still created a lot of situations but were not accurate enough in the boxes. Football is this – to be accurate in the offensive box and we have to defend much better.
“We had a lot of possession and tried to break them, which is not easy. We should have finished better. Of course, I feel under pressure. West Ham is pressure every day – it is a big club. You see that with 62,000 fans in the stands and we let them down. This is the more disappointing feeling. The boys tried until the end. We are going to repeat, repeat and repeat in training, in the final third, to create situations that allow us to score. We will keep the belief and the process.”
Fer López bagged a double as Wolves secured their first victory of the season with a convincing 3-1 success over Preston at Deepdale. The Spaniard put Wanderers ahead with an eighth-minute rocket and substitute Adam Armstrong tucked home a 71st-minute second, just four minutes after stepping on to the pitch.
López put a cherry on top of the cake with a poacher’s finish in the 82nd minute as César Peixoto’s men flexed their muscles, but substitute Jordan Thompson bagged a 25-yard consolation in the first minute of stoppage time to give the home faithful something to cheer.
It was a much-needed victory for the relegated Premier League side but Preston are now without a win in their opening two Championship matches.
Blackburn stunned Middlesbrough with two goals in the space of six second-half minutes to earn a 2-1 victory at Ewood Park which continues their impressive start to the season. After conceding late against Wolves, the early signs pointed to more misery for Rovers as Kim Hellberg’s side smothered them early and were rewarded through Jeremy Sarmiento’s composed 12th-minute finish.
Rovers created enough in that first half to give their fans encouragement and pounced after the break through Andri Gudjohnsen’s 49th-minute header – his second goal in as many games – and Todd Cantwell’s diving header six minutes later to complete the turnaround.
Leicester’s poor start to the League One season continued with a 2-1 defeat by Burton at the King Power Stadium, where Oliver Skipp was sent off (pictured).
Russell Martin’s side – held 1-1 at Notts County in their opening league game following relegation – were behind to an early goal from Matthew Dennis, with Kgaogelo Chauke adding another for the Brewers in the 25th minute. Skipp was then shown a straight red card for a late challenge by the Foxes’ midfielder on Curtis Tilt, before Wes Burns reduced the deficit ahead of the break. Despite Leicester dominating possession in the second half, they could not find an equaliser.
Jack Wilshere was happy his Luton players were disappointed to only claim a point from their 2-2 draw with Notts County at Kenilworth Road. The hosts had led through Nahki Wells’ 42nd-minute penalty but then found themselves 2-1 down with just over an hour gone, Cal Roberts netting before the break and Ollie Cooper also on target. Callum Marshall came off the bench to earn a point and Wilshere said: “I’m happy they’re disappointed we didn’t take all three points, we want that. However, my message to them was we’re not going to win every single game. We want to and we prepare every game like we want to win, however this league is demanding."
