Round two of the League One season ran from Thursday night at Hillsborough to a full card on Saturday 22 August. All twelve games are reviewed here, along with what the table looks like now that every club has played twice.
Leicester City were booed off their own pitch on Saturday, beaten at home by Burton Albion, two goals down inside 25 minutes and a man short from the 29th. The King Power held 27,744 people who had come to watch a promotion campaign and were instead shown a lesson in what this division does to reputations. Two rounds in, Leicester have one point. Burton have four. Two nights earlier, in front of 33,188 at Hillsborough, Bradford City had won without conceding and would end the round as the only club in League One with a perfect record.
The shape of the round
Twenty-four clubs have now played twice, and exactly one of them has won both. Bradford City sit top with six points, three goals scored and none conceded. Behind them comes a queue: Huddersfield Town, Luton Town, Oxford United, Cambridge United, Blackpool, Burton Albion and Bromley are all on four, separated only by goal difference and the alphabet's indifference. That is seven clubs within two points of the summit after a fortnight, which tells you roughly what everyone already suspected about this division.
The round was not generous with goals. Twenty-five went in across the twelve games, six of which finished level and two of which finished goalless, and no side managed more than two in a single afternoon. Stoppage time did the heavy lifting instead. Peterborough United won it in the third minute of added time, Stockport County pulled one back in the fifth, and Stevenage scored in the eighth minute of an allowance the fourth official had announced as seven. It got them nothing.
At the bottom, Wigan Athletic are alone on zero. Seven clubs sit on a single point: Reading, Leicester City, Stevenage, Doncaster Rovers, Barnsley, Plymouth Argyle and AFC Wimbledon. Two of those seven, Barnsley and Wimbledon, have yet to score at all.
Leicester City 1-2 Burton Albion: twenty-nine minutes, then a reckoning
Five minutes had gone when Charlie Webster carried the ball into the Leicester half and Kyran Lofthouse slipped it through for Matthew Dennis to beat Alex McCarthy. Twenty minutes later Lofthouse had a shot deflected into Kgaogelo Chauke's path, and Chauke reacted before anybody in a blue shirt did. The King Power does not go quiet often. It went quiet then.
Oliver Skipp walked after 29 minutes for a cynical foul on Curtis Tilt, which left Leicester ten men and forty-five minutes short of a rescue. Wes Burns gave them one before the break, converting at the far post from Will Alves' cross for his first goal since joining from Ipswich, and the mood in the ground moved from mutinous back to merely furious. Harry Souttar headed over. Substitute Tommy Watson went close. Burton defended their eighteen-yard box like men who had read the fixture list in June and circled this one.
Russell Martin's assessment afterwards was short: "We started the game terribly." He is not wrong, and the arithmetic is unkind. Former Premier League champions, says the match report. Eighteenth, says the table.
Sheffield Wednesday 0-1 Bradford City: the only perfect record left
Hillsborough was full and expectant on Thursday night, and for forty-five minutes it had reason to be. Barry Bannan shot wide and then forced Jon McCracken into a save. Louie Barry curled an effort off target and had the ball nicked off his toe inside the area by Matthew Pennington. Bradford weathered it, which is a phrase their goalscorer reached for afterwards.
Two minutes after the restart, Ibou Touray's corner was headed on by Pennington and Aden Baldwin volleyed it in. "We weathered the storm in the first half and they had a lot of opportunities," Baldwin told Sky Sports. "We were aggressive and nullified their threat." Antoni Sarcevic described a half-time conversation in similar terms: "We went in at half-time and had a word with ourselves and I think in the second half we deserved it."
Jamal Lowe should have levelled in stoppage time and fired wide from six yards. It was Graham Alexander's 150th game in charge of Bradford and his 74th win, and it leaves the Bantams with three wins from three in all competitions and no goals conceded. Jon Newsome, watching for BBC Radio Sheffield, called it a reality check for a Wednesday side rebuilt over the summer: "We finished on zero points last season and we've brought in a multitude of players to this club."
Stevenage 1-2 Oxford United: Ramsey's first, eight minutes too late
Aaron Ramsey made a double substitution in the 65th minute and had his first win as Oxford United manager two minutes later. Stanley Mills crossed from the right, Gatlin O'Donkor steered a header past Filip Marschall, and a game that had been decided by nothing much was suddenly decided by a change of personnel.
O'Donkor then ran clear with three minutes left, got to the ball ahead of Marschall and was fouled. Cameron Brannagan put the penalty low to the goalkeeper's right. Jordan Roberts pulled one back with practically the final kick, in the eighth minute of added time, by which point the result had been settled for some while. Both sides lost players to injury in a scrappy first half, Oxford losing goalkeeper Jamie Cumming and Stevenage losing Jasper Pattenden.
Stockport County 1-2 Blackpool: the goalkeeper who set up the opener
Bailey Peacock-Farrell spent the afternoon making saves at one end and, in the 22nd minute, providing the assist at the other. His long ball in behind found Tom Bloxham, who finished low into the corner. Josh Bowler tapped into an empty net on 40 minutes after Bloxham's effort was saved by Ollie Whatmuff, and Blackpool went in two up having barely had the ball.
Stockport had two good chances to level between those goals, and Jack Diamond and Ryan Glover both missed the target with free headers from positions that did not require much. Diamond was denied from point-blank range before the break, had a long-range shot rattle the crossbar late, and watched Benony Andresson's header brilliantly saved. Mikael Mandron scored from Che Gardner's cross in the fifth minute of stoppage time, which was a consolation in the strict sense of the word. Blackpool climb to sixth. County drop to ninth having won on the opening day.
The rest of the round
Doncaster Rovers 0-0 Barnsley
The South Yorkshire derby gave both clubs their first point of the season and neither their first win. Owen Bailey headed over early, then met Alfie May's cross ten minutes after the break and watched his low shot rebound off the crossbar. Rogan Ravenhill tipped a Hakeeb Adelakun shot around the post and saved well from Bailey. George Broadbent threaded a superb ball to May, who beat his man and clipped it wide of the far post. Two clubs still looking for a goal between them at the second attempt.
Luton Town 2-2 Notts County
Luton lost Jordan Clark to a stretcher early after a clash of heads with Darius Lipsiuc, went ahead through Nahki Wells' 42nd-minute penalty when James Gibbons handled, and were pegged back three minutes later by Callum Roberts' deflected half volley. Ollie Cooper put the promoted side in front just past the hour from Nick Tsaroulla's pass. Callum Marshall levelled seven minutes later with his first goal for Luton, beating James Belshaw from outside the box. Two late Luton penalty appeals were turned down in front of 11,515 at Kenilworth Road.
AFC Wimbledon 0-0 Reading
A game of few chances at Plough Lane, and the few belonged mostly to Reading. Jack Marriott forced Joe McDonnell to palm his shot across goal after 14 minutes. Josh Stokes had close-range efforts blocked by McDonnell five minutes into the second half, with Dan Sweeney denying Kyreece Lisbie from the follow-up. Wimbledon's best moment came in the 68th minute, when Ryan Johnson's effort from a Zack Nelson free-kick was cleared off the line. Wimbledon are still without a goal this season.
Bromley 1-1 Cambridge United
Two of the division's new arrivals, both still unbeaten. Ben Knight drew a fine save from Shamal George inside five minutes and eventually beat him in the 67th, latching onto Kaikai's cross-field pass and slotting underneath the goalkeeper. Bromley changed shape at half-time to match Cambridge and needed a substitute to rescue them: Victor Adeboyejo, who scored the winner at Barnsley a week earlier, smashed into the top corner with nine minutes left. Isaac Heath had already forced a parry from George straight after the restart, with Kamarl Grant clearing the rebound off the line.
MK Dons 1-1 Huddersfield Town
Huddersfield led after nine minutes through Joe Taylor, released by Ryan Ledson's through-pass, and then spent an hour finding ways not to score again. Craig MacGillivray saved from Taylor and Jay Sway. Taylor's long-range drive hit the bar and was judged not to have crossed the line. Ashley Fletcher hit the post. MK Dons equalised in the 54th minute when Ben Wiles fed Aaron Collins, who cut inside and curled in his second goal in as many games. Both sides had strong penalty appeals waved away.
Peterborough United 2-1 Mansfield Town
Peterborough went ahead five minutes after the interval, the ball forced home from close range with the help of a deflection after Liam Roberts had earlier kept them out. Ten minutes later Rhys Oates surged forward and squared unselfishly for the equaliser. It looked like ending there until Harry Leonard reacted quickest in the dying minutes and fired home from ten yards, giving Luke Williams' side their first win of the season in the third minute of stoppage time. Jon Russell had a shot cleared off the line after 90 seconds for the visitors.
Wigan Athletic 0-2 Leyton Orient
Two games, two defeats, no points. Orient took the lead after 15 minutes when Wigan failed to clear and Tony Springett finished from close range, then doubled it on 58 when Jon Mellish's error was punished by Yusuf Akhamrich from ten yards. Dara Costelloe chased a lost cause, forced the last defender into a mistake and lobbed the ball onto the roof of the net. Reggie Walsh, on loan from Chelsea, thought he had scored on his Wigan debut with a volley from 15 yards and was denied by an offside flag. Gary Caldwell threw on five substitutes in the last half hour.
Wycombe Wanderers 1-1 Plymouth Argyle
Will Evans scored his first goal for Plymouth on 25 minutes, a left-footed finish from inside the box, and had a second ruled out for offside in first-half stoppage time. Wycombe had hit the bar inside ten minutes through Jamie Mullins. Cauley Woodrow came on and went close twice in quick succession, Emre Tezgel had an equaliser disallowed for offside on the hour, and Connor Taylor finally headed one in at the back post from Ewan Henderson's deep free-kick with fourteen minutes left. Adams Park held 6,065.
What the table says now
Two rounds is not a season, but it is enough to notice who has adjusted and who is still arguing with the fixture list. Bradford City have adjusted. Three clean sheets in three matches across two competitions is not a hot streak, it is a defence that knows its job, and Graham Alexander has now had 150 games to teach it.
Leicester City have not adjusted. One point, 18th, a red card and a home crowd that has already found its voice. Russell Martin has to work out whether what is missing is quality or temperament, and he has to do it while the division makes up its mind about his team.
The interesting group sits in the middle. Seven clubs on four points, two of them promoted this summer, and Bromley unbeaten in the third tier in the second week of their first season there. Wigan, meanwhile, have the only zero in the column and a trip that will not wait for them to be ready. Somebody in that pack of seven will go on a run in September. Nobody yet knows which.
Sources: Match reporting by PA Media, as carried by BBC Sport, with player reaction to Sky Sports and analysis from BBC Radio Sheffield and BBC Radio Leeds.
