Championship Round-Up: West Ham Score Six at Nine-Man Lincoln, Swansea Win Late and Borges Scores at Both Ends

Bristol City had twenty attempts on goal and lost to a team that managed three. For the first half-hour they had nine of them and six corners, and Blackburn's goalkeeper, Balázs Tóth, kept out everything on target. He stopped Dom Ballard's low shot after Ballard had dinked the ball over Hayden Carter, tipped another Ballard header, from a Sam Greenwood cross, over the crossbar three minutes later, and tipped George Tanner's far-post header back across goal and past the upright, the pick of his seven saves.

Blackburn's first shot of the game was their goal, on 38 minutes. Oladapo Afolayan turned just outside the box and sent a shot from 20 yards to Sam Tickle's right, and Tickle appeared to have guessed the opposite corner. It followed a run of corners, three of them squandered by Todd Cantwell, and Rovers did not have a second shot until the 71st minute, when Ryan Alebiosu came inside from the right and blazed over. Fifteen minutes from time City thought they had levelled: the substitute Tomi Horvat turned Jed Wallace's low cross in off the bar, but the offside flag ruled it out, and the decision looked a very close call.

City pressed on, and Tóth kept answering. He plucked Scott Twine's 25-yard free-kick out of the air, raced off his line to block Yu Hirakawa's low shot with his legs on 55 minutes, turned away Horvat's curler and, in stoppage time, steered Elijah Adebayo's deflected shot round the post. Adebayo headed City's twentieth and last attempt over the bar in the dying seconds. Tony Mowbray, who said he never plays five at the back but liked the extra defender, had his side's first away league win since his return. Michael Skubala called Tóth magnificent and the result a hard one to swallow, and it was City's fourth home defeat in all competitions this season in which they had failed to score. Blackburn are ninth on fifteen points, City twelfth on fourteen.

Burnley had fourteen seconds of added time left to survive, and did not. Ivan Mesík's equaliser arrived in the 96th minute, his first goal for Charlton, after the Burnley substitute Hjalmar Ekdal could not cope with a high ball and Gregoire Coudert made a mess of the shot. It cost Burnley the win that would have ended 360 days without a home league victory, and it was the second game running at Turf Moor in which stoppage time had taken points off them.

Burnley led twice. In the 36th minute Jacob Bruun Larsen came in off the left on to his right foot and sent a shot through the Charlton defence and between the legs of Arthur Okonkwo, his second goal in successive games. It woke Charlton up. Kyle Walker had to clear a Billy Koumetio effort from the line, Coudert saved from Lloyd Jones and Karlan Grant, and after Miles Leaburn's header at the back post went astray they drew level in the 50th minute, when Coudert could not deal with a corner and Kayne Ramsay hammered it high into the net from a few yards. Largie Ramazani put Burnley back in front in the 57th minute, Charlton standing off the on-loan Leeds winger and inviting him to finish into the far corner, which he did.

Jamie Vardy, at 39, started for Burnley for the first time, replacing the injured Zeki Amdouni, and had one real chance, which he fired well over. Burnley had eighteen shots to nine and still only four on target to Charlton's five. Nicky Hayen said his side had done well for "95 minutes and 40 seconds" and that the last twenty seconds had to count too, while Nathan Jones said Charlton had been excellent and that he was proud of the performance. Burnley are twenty-first on eight points. Charlton, thirteenth on fourteen, are still without a win in seven.

Four goals before half-time settled it. Cardiff took the lead in the 11th minute, when Mattie Pollock brought down Jack Moylan and Moylan scored the penalty, and he added a second in the 35th, drilling in after Cian Ashford played him through. Pollock headed Joel Bagan's corner into his own net, and Ollie Tanner, given all the space he wanted, curled in the fourth in first-half injury time. Moylan, a midfielder pushed up to striker because Cardiff had no recognised one, has been in superb form since arriving from Lincoln City.

Watford had begun with a chance. Myron Boadu out-muscled Dylan Lawlor for a one-on-one after two minutes and could not make it count, and on the counter-attack Othmane Maamma and Martin Payero both had openings. None of it papered over the evening. Moylan could have had a hat-trick in the 64th minute, when Edo Kayembe fouled him in the area, but Willock took the penalty himself and Federico Ravaglia saved it. Callum Robinson turned in the fifth with five minutes left, and Hector Kyprianou headed a consolation two minutes later that denied Cardiff their first clean sheet of the season.

Alessio Dionisi said he was angry with himself and his players and that the game had been over by the interval. Watford have lost four in a row and six of their last seven, and the supporters who travelled booed the players and staff at the final whistle and voiced their anger at the owner, Gino Pozzo, while supporters' groups have issued open letters of no confidence. They are twenty-second on eight points. Cardiff, nineteenth on ten, have won only twice in the league since returning to the Championship, and Brian Barry-Murphy, whose side had lost at Blackburn on Saturday, called the response hugely satisfying. They go to Middlesbrough on Saturday, and Watford host Charlton.

Swansea have made their best start to a league season in 103 years, and for eighty-nine minutes at The Den they looked unlikely to add to it. Mark Sykes ran in behind Josh Tymon after five minutes and seemed to have set up Kyrell Lisbie to score from a yard, but Filip Lissah stretched out a boot and diverted it for a corner. Lisbie, Sykes and Jenson Metcalfe all came close before the break, and Swansea almost took the lead by accident when Filip Marschall raced out of his area and his clearing kick bounced off Caleb Taylor for a corner. After the restart the league leaders improved, and twice a goalmouth scramble denied them, once when the ball struck the post and ran along the goal line, and Jordi Osei-Tutu reached the loose ball ahead of Joseph Opoku and cleared.

Around the middle of the second half Edward Duckworth, the referee, halted the game and talked to both benches for several minutes. A message on the stadium speakers warned against racism of any kind and said police were working to identify offenders through CCTV, and Vitor Matos, Swansea's head coach, alleged afterwards that the reported abuse was aimed at Ji-sung Eom, who was warming up with the substitutes. The Metropolitan Police said officers had engaged with witnesses to gather statements, that no arrests had been made and that enquiries were ongoing. Millwall's statement referred to an alleged, individual incident of discriminatory abuse towards a Swansea player, said it was supporting the police investigation and that the club operates a zero-tolerance policy. Matos said the referee and Millwall had done the right thing, and that he was sad it had happened.

Millwall kept coming after the restart. Lyndon Dykes was denied at close range by Lawrence Vigouroux in the 89th minute, and from the corner Tristan Crama rose highest and headed on to the roof of the net. In the 90th minute Ronald, on since the 84th, got on the end of Opoku's cross at the far post and volleyed it first time into the bottom corner. He had been strongly linked with Millwall on transfer deadline day before the move collapsed at the last hour. Swansea scored with one of their two shots on target, while Millwall had thirteen corners to two. Alex Neil told BBC Radio London that the matter was for the authorities and that he did not see the point of stopping a game, which in his view only killed the momentum, though he accepted the incident needed to be dealt with, and the anti-racism group Kick It Out criticised him after he appeared to question the decision to stop the game. Swansea are two points clear of Middlesbrough and four clear of West Ham, with Millwall eleventh on fourteen.

Wolves gave Bolton two of their goals, and Bolton scored the third for themselves. José Sá spilled the first, after Bolton had played a short corner and Ladislav Krejčí could only head it partly clear, and Atsuki Ito fired home in the 28th minute. Jean-Ricner Bellegarde levelled early in the second half, controlling a high ball and finishing low past Gavin Bazunu with all the time he needed, but the second gift came later. Wolves lost the ball needlessly deep in their own half, Gaizka Larrazabal threaded a pass through, and Sam Dalby finished inside the box in the 72nd minute.

The third came from 25 yards. Josh Sheehan hit a dipping shot in the 82nd minute that left Sá well beaten, and it capped a night on which Wolves had most of the territory and little to show for it. They had nineteen shots to ten and nine corners to three, and only three of those shots were on target to Bolton's six. Fer López headed Hugo Bueno's delivery straight into Bazunu's hands, Mateus Mané curled one wide and later fired over, and Adam Armstrong shot at Bazunu from Rafiki Saïd's cross.

Wolves have lost both league games since the international break. César Peixoto said he was the man responsible and that his players had to finish their chances in the box more cleanly. Steven Schumacher called it a brilliant team performance and said the players left out of the side had got on with it without sulking. Bolton have won three of their last four league games and are fourteenth on thirteen points, up three places. Wolves have fallen from fifth to tenth, though with nine games played they have one fewer than everyone except Portsmouth.

Wrexham had the goal of the night and not the points. Kieffer Moore picked up the ball 30 yards out in the 64th minute and hit it into the top right-hand corner, a goal Phil Parkinson called fitting to win a game at this level, and for fifteen minutes it looked as if it would. Moore's header in the last minute of the first half had been kept out by Max O'Leary and Isaac Price between them, with the ball staying on the right side of the line.

West Bromwich Albion had begun the second half well, Price shooting at Anthony Patterson and a George Campbell header clipping the crossbar, and they answered with their substitutes. Jimmy-Jay Morgan's cross in the 79th minute was deflected into Price's path, and Price, who took three goals off Wrexham last season, fired past Patterson for his fifth of the campaign. Five minutes later he crossed for the other substitute, Aune Heggebø, who slotted in the winner with six minutes left.

It ended a run of three league games without a win for West Brom, and James Morrison said the substitutes had played a massive part and that a young team had shown character. Parkinson called the two goals sucker punches, each with two or three small mistakes in the build-up. Albion had ten shots to eight and seven corners to three, though Wrexham had four on target to their three. West Brom are sixth on seventeen points, up three places. Wrexham, beaten at home for the second time this season, are seventeenth on eleven and host Preston on Saturday, while Albion welcome Blackburn.

It was an even contest for half an hour, with Callum Lang's header forcing a fine save from James Beadle, and then it turned on a lost ball. Preston gave it away in their own half, Patrick Roberts cut it back, and Liam Millar scored in the 34th minute. In stoppage time at the end of the first half August Priske scored twice in two minutes: the first from eight yards after Alex Cochrane swung in a drop ball from the left, as Preston complained about the referee's decision, and the second, after Jay Stansfield set it up, a right-footed finish from the edge of the area that clipped the inside of the right-hand post on its way in.

Preston, in their second game under Graham Alexander, were caught dawdling for the second and were down to ten men in the 56th minute, when Stanley Mills collected a second booking for a crude tackle on Cochrane after losing possession. Demarai Gray, on as a second-half substitute, dropped a shoulder to open up the angle on the left of the area in the 76th minute and curled a right-footed finish inside the far post. Alexander said his team had imploded two minutes before the break and that Mills's challenge was a silly decision that would cost him and the team, though he added that the player's heart was in the right place.

Birmingham had nineteen shots to six, seven on target to one, and seventy-six per cent of the ball. Chris Davies called it a great night, said the supporters had understood it would take time, and counted four goals for Priske, a 22-year-old Dane who is now adding goals to the running, pressing and fighting. It was Birmingham's first home win of the season, and it lifts them from seventh to fourth on seventeen points. Preston are bottom on four, with one win in ten.

Neto Borges diverted Junior Tchamadeu's shot past his own goalkeeper, Radek Vítek, to level the game in the 50th minute, and he scored the winner himself a minute into stoppage time. In between came a Will Lankshear goal and a Robert Boženík equaliser, and a Middlesbrough side that had largely dominated the goalless first half found themselves hanging on.

Boro had gone ahead three minutes after the break, when Amario Cozier-Duberry put the ball back into the box and Callum Brittain, scoring for the first time this season, finished into the bottom corner. Stoke were level within two minutes. Then Viktor Johansson, who had saved well from Cozier-Duberry in the first half, kept out his low shot but fumbled it, and Lankshear, the division's top scorer, got there first to poke it over the line for his tenth goal of the season, his eighth in the league. Four minutes from time Luke Ayling's rushed clearance dropped to George Hirst, who laid it across for the substitute Boženík to drive in from twelve yards, his first league goal of the season.

Borges, scoring for Boro for the first time since March 2025, had the last word at the right end. It ended Stoke's six-game unbeaten run, worth sixteen points, and was their first defeat since 29 August, and it stretched Middlesbrough's own unbeaten run to eight. Boro had twenty shots to eight and nine on target to one. Mark Robins called it a harsh lesson that showed what one of the division's top sides looks like, and Kim Hellberg thought the result fair. Middlesbrough are second on twenty-one points, two behind Swansea, and Stoke have fallen from fourth to eighth. Both sides play again on Saturday, their third game in eight days.

Southampton scored in a thirtieth consecutive league match, and it took a rebound to do it. Caspar Jander, a first-half substitute, saw his shot deflected, Norwich goalkeeper Daniel Grimshaw parried it, and Kuryu Matsuki was following up to tap it in from close in, in the 54th minute. It was Southampton's first away win in the Championship this season.

Norwich had done enough to score without doing it. Oscar Schwartau cut inside early on and fired just wide, Jacob Wright's shot went straight at Daniel Peretz, and Córdoba's header was blocked behind by a brilliant intervention from Lewis Dobbin. Southampton grew into the game, with James Ward-Prowse bending a free-kick wide, Finn Azaz volleying close and Samuel Edozie denied by Grimshaw, who was starting because the first-choice keeper, Vladan Kovacevic, had a concussion. Peretz also kept out Mathias Kvistgaarden's header and, late on, Anthony Musaba's low shot, and Jander, found unmarked by an Azaz cross, could not hit the target.

Philippe Clement said an equal game had turned on small margins and that his team had given everything for seventy minutes, though he was not pleased with some of those who came on. The hosts were booed off at the final whistle, their fourth straight league defeat. Norwich are twentieth on nine points, with seven defeats in ten. Tonda Eckert said a couple of his players had stepped up, that Flynn Downes had told him to strap him up for Saturday and that he hoped the ankle injury was not serious. Southampton are seventh on sixteen points, five behind Middlesbrough.

Zak Swanson put Portsmouth ahead in the 41st minute with a thunderous right-footed strike from the left, just outside the box, that found the far corner. Within three minutes Sheffield United's Hamza Choudhury, jeered as he went, was sent off by Oliver Langford for a second yellow card, a body check on Ryan Kavuma-McQueen. After the break Kavuma-McQueen, a 17-year-old winger on loan from Chelsea, ran half the length of the pitch with only Michael Cooper to beat and hit his shot straight at him.

He was rewarded in the 54th minute, beating his man down the left and fizzing a pass to Adrian Segečić, who scored from close range to double Portsmouth's lead. They looked set to cruise. Instead Tahith Chong crossed from the left and Japhet Tanganga stroked the ball into the bottom corner in the 59th minute, and in the 67th Tom Cannon headed in from a Kalvin Phillips corner to bring the ten men level.

Ebou Adams, on as a substitute, won it with a minute of normal time to play. He volleyed into the ground, the ball bounced up into the net, and he wheeled away in front of the Fratton End. Portsmouth had twenty-four shots to eleven and ten corners to six. John Mousinho was happy with the three points but furious at times with the decision-making, and said the game had shown how much his side still had to learn. Chris Wilder said several decisions had frustrated him, asked where the young, up-and-coming referees were, and praised the fight his team showed late on. Portsmouth are sixteenth on eleven points with a game in hand on almost everyone, three clear of the bottom three, and Sheffield United fifteenth on twelve.

Queens Park Rangers ended a run of four consecutive draws with a first half that settled the game. They led in the 18th minute, when Ronnie Edwards' long pass found Boy Kemper, who went past Mo Fuseini on the left and cut the ball back for Alfie Lloyd to drive past Josh Vickers. Four minutes later Paul Smyth went down under a challenge from Ryan Hedges in the area, a penalty was given, and Nicolas Madsen rolled it into the bottom left-hand corner. Just before the break Harvey Vale took a half-cleared ball, wriggled free and drove it low with his right foot into the bottom left-hand corner.

Derby's evening had started to come apart earlier. Sondre Langås made a brilliant challenge in the sixth minute to stop Rayan Kolli steering home Smyth's deflected shot, and was forced off with injury a few minutes later, adding to the Rams' defensive problems. They went close in the 51st minute, Bobby Clark's shot blocked after good work by Sammy Szmodics, but Smyth's curling shot took a deflection off Joe Ward and beat Vickers in the 68th minute for a fourth. Lars-Jorgen Salvesen scored a consolation in the tenth minute of stoppage time, and QPR's Amadou Mbengue left on a stretcher with what looked like a knee injury.

Julien Stéphan said the first thirty minutes pleased him most and that the movement in the third goal was a symbol of it. John Eustace thought all four goals were avoidable, called the penalty dubious, and said he felt Hedges had got the ball and the linesman had made the call. QPR scored four from seven shots on target, with only nine shots to Derby's fifteen. Derby have taken two points from their last six games and are twenty-third on six, with Stoke visiting on Saturday. QPR are fifth on seventeen.

Lincoln were a man short after 160 seconds and two short by the 23rd minute, and still they made West Ham wait. Tom Hamer was shown a straight red card for a two-footed challenge on Joel Veltman, and for the next twenty minutes the ten men threw long, loaded the box from set pieces and had the visitors pressed back at times. Then Conor McGrandles took a heavy touch, Jarrod Bowen pounced on it, and McGrandles pulled him down as he was about to run clear on goal. That was the second red card, and the grip Lincoln had kept on the game went with him.

The reward for West Ham's patience came in the 45th minute, when Konstantinos Mavropanos met Bowen's corner with a header. Edvin Austbø, off the bench for the second half, then curled in the best goal of the evening from the edge of the area, and two minutes later Bowen drove in from the right, skipped inside and beat George Wickens at his near post for his eighth goal in thirteen games this season. Pablo headed in a fourth in the 75th minute, from another corner, and by then Lincoln supporters had begun to stream out of the ground.

Tomas Souček, back from an ankle injury picked up at the World Cup and playing for only the second time this season, came on and scored his first goals in the Championship in the 79th and 89th minutes, the second when Wickens spilled a low cross. West Ham had thirty-two shots to five, twelve on target to none, and more than eighty-two per cent of the ball. It was Lincoln's heaviest defeat of the season and leaves them without a home win since coming back to the second tier after sixty-five years away. Tom Shaw, Lincoln's joint head coach, said on BBC Radio Lincolnshire that the club was proud of how the players had stuck at it, and Nuno Espírito Santo, whose side are third on nineteen points with the division's best goal difference, said: "We cannot slow down."