Tightening up at the top
Coventry City 3-2 Reading
Championship leaders Reading kicked off the weekend's action away at Coventry City, but they failed to extend their lead at the top and went home empty-handed.
A fantastic low driven effort from Gustavo Hamer Saw the Sky Blues ahead and was the only first-half goal in a five-goal game. Lucas Joao has enjoyed an impressive start to the campaign and he drew the contest level midway through the second half. However, goals from Matt Godden and Sam McCallum gave the Sky Blues breathing space, meaning George Puscas' late goal was only a consolation.
Bristol City 1-3 Norwich City
Ashton Gate was the setting for Saturday's curtain raiser in game week nine and Dean Holden's Bristol City knew that a win would see them climb into the automatic promotion spots if results went their way in the 3pm kick-offs.
However, a brace from Norwich frontman Teemu Pukki seemingly diminished any hopes of that inside the quarter-hour mark. Jack Hunt did half the deficit just one minute later to give the Robins hope, but Emiliano Buendia's first Championship goal of the season saw Norwich two goals to the good at the break and after an eventful first-half, neither side rippled the net after the interval. A strong win for the Canaries who are now unbeaten in five league outings.
Swansea City 2-0 Blackburn Rovers
Swansea's second successive 2-0 victory sees them climb into 2nd position at the expense of a Blackburn side who continue their inconsistent start.
League top-scorer Adam Armstrong couldn't take his tally into double figures as Tony Mowbray's side fired a blank, however, the same can't be said at the opposing end as Andre Ayew and youngster Ben Cabango gifted the Swans three points.
After an impressive end to the 2019/20 season, Swansea have certainly carried that into this campaign and are a real threat in the division at this moment after some astute business in the summer transfer window.
AFC Bournemouth 1-1 Derby County
Jason Tindall's side remain the only unbeaten team in the Championship, but despite sitting in third position they will be keen to turn the draws into victories if the Cherries have the ambition of finishing in the top two.
The hosts had the lion share of possession but Derby did look creative during periods of this encounter and despite taking a 1-0 lead will value a point to take back to the East Midlands.
Athletico Madrid loanee Rodrigo Riquelme made the difference late on, off the bench, as he cancelled out Graham Shinnie's first-half goal for a share of the points on the south coast.
Barnsley 1-0 Watford
Watford failed to keep ground on the league's front runners after falling to defeat at Oakwell.
The Hornets will be disappointed with their showing, as they slipped behind early on and never came back.
Barnsley skipper Alex Mowatt fired the hosts in front on the six-minute mark, with the result taking the Tykes five unbeaten.
The Yorkshire outfit have shown courage and grit since the departure of Gerhard Struber and have climbed the table after a positive string of results.
The battle at the bottom
Wycombe Wanderers 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday
Even at this early stage in the season Wycombe vs Sheffield Wednesday set up to be a vital clash at the summit.
Wycombe have been unlucky on many occasions this season but they struck gold at Adams Park, to register their first-ever win in the second tier of English football.
David Wheeler's goal on the stroke of half-time was all the difference between the sides.
It's worrying times for Wednesday who are 10pts adrift from safety, after starting the campaign on -10pts.
With a fixture run-in, that on paper looks very tough, the Owls need a resurgence in form if they want to beat the drop.
Middlesbrough 1-0 Nottingham Forest
Chris Hughton witnessed his first defeat as Forest boss at the Riverside Stadium this weekend.
Forest's woes continue, with Marvin Johnson scoring the only goal of the game in the North East.
Middlesbrough have been superb this season under Neil Warnock and after a season flirting with relegation, they now find themselves occupying a playoff spot in 5th.
Forest now have two massive home fixtures coming up against newly-promoted Coventry and Wycombe, before a catalogue of tough fixtures. Points need to come soon, as the Reds look to stop the barren run of form that has extended on from last season.
Stoke City 1-0 Rotherham United
The Potters moved within a point of the playoffs after a 1-0 victory at home to newly-promoted Rotherham United.
Stoke were rewarded for their early pressure and James McClean dinked the ball home to put the hosts ahead on 27 minutes, for the only goal of the encounter.
It was a disappointing showing for Paul Warne's Rotherham side, as they failed to register a shot on target and now sit 19th in the division, three points above the drop zone.
Middle of the pack
Luton Town 0-3 Brentford
A comprehensive away victory sees Brentford up to eighth, knocking on the door of the play-offs.
Rico Henry scored the first on the 20th minute before Ivan Toney notched his ninth goal of the campaign. The frontman joined from League One side Peterborough United in the summer and is currently the joint top scorer in the division.
Marcus Forss added extra assurance that all three points would be going back to West London, when he added the Bees third of the afternoon.
The Finish international continues to take every opportunity he gets in the side, scoring just a minute after coming on.
Millwall 0-3 Huddersfield Town
A first-half goal from Josh Koroma and a late collapse that saw Millwall concede two, condemned the Lions to their first defeat in five.
It was Huddersfield's first away victory of the season and it moves Carlos Corberan's side into the top half of the table.
Second-half substitutes Pipa and Juninho Bacuna combined late on to confirm the victory, however, just moments later Bacuna was on hand to provide the goal once again and Lewis O'Brien added more gloss to the scoreline as the Terriers ran out 3-0 victors.
Preston North End 1-2 Birmingham City
A late header from Gary Gardner gifted Birmingham the victory in Lancashire, as Preston set an unwanted record of six straight home defeats.
After making Deepdale a tough place to go in recent years in the Championship, the Lilywhites are now struggling to muster a point on home soil.
Riley McGree smashed Birmingham into an early lead, on his first start for the club but Jayden Stockley drew the hosts level midway through the first-half.
Birmingham originally thought Lukas Jutkiewicz had nicked the winner but his header was ruled out for offside and Gary Gardner headed home to seal all three points for the Blues.
The win sees Birmingham climb to 11th with Preston dropping too 16th.
Queens Park Rangers 3-2 Cardiff City
The Hoops moved level on points with their Welsh opponents after a stunning strike in stoppage time sealed the victory.
QPR looked as though they were in cruise control during the first-half, when both Ilias Chair and Todd Kane found the net and took them into the break two goals to the good.
Cardiff fought hard in the second-half to claw it back to 2-2. Joe Ralls scored four minutes after the interval and four minutes from time and it looked as if Cardiff had got something from the game, until a moment of magic in additional time.
Substitute Dominic Ball rifled the ball into the top right-hand corner, a superb finish to win the game and certainly goal of the weekend.