Barnsley 1 Howard 84 Cardiff 1 Hasselbaink 73

Attendance 10,709

Simon Davey, the Barnsley manager, paid tribute to his defence for the way they coped with Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and Robbie Fowler to secure a 1-1 draw with Cardiff at Oakwell. Hasselbaink had broken the deadlock for the visiting team in the 73rd minute when Stephen McPhail, the former Barnsley midfield player, picked out the veteran striker, who outmuscled two defenders and headed powerfully past Heinz Muller.

Davey, though, was generally pleased with his back four. “Our defence has coped with two players who have proven Premiership quality,” Davey said. “They stood up to the challenge and kept them out for the majority of the game.”

Dave Jones, the Cardiff manager, believed that the decision by Phil Dowd, the referee, not to award Cardiff a first-half penalty cost them.

Burnley 1 Duff 13 Crystal Palace 1 Hudson 5

Attendance 10,711

Michael Duff cancelled out an early opener from Mark Hudson, the Crystal Palace defender, but highflying Burnley were forced to settle for a draw at Turf Moor.

Hudson headed Palace in front after five minutes, but Duff, the Burnley right back, slotted home eight minutes later. He then departed, injured, six minutes before the break.

Paul Dickov, the veteran Palace forward, had an early chance to score, but volleyed narrowly wide from the edge of the area. Minutes later, Alan Mahon fouled Tom Soares to give the visiting side a free kick near the right-hand touchline. Ben Watson delivered the set-piece and Hudson arrived at pace to head past Gabor Kiraly, the former Palace goalkeeper. But Burnley drew level when Robbie Blake, the striker, crossed from the left and Duff fired home from six yards.

Colchester 0 Scunthorpe 1 Hayes 41

Attendance 5,218

Nigel Adkins, the Scunthorpe manager, celebrated his side’s first away win of the season after Paul Hayes’s fine strike sank Colchester at Layer Road.

Hayes struck in superb style in the 41st minute, controlling a high ball, flicking it over Adam Virgo, the Colchester defender, with his left foot and then volleying home with his right as Scunthorpe moved into sixth place in the Championship. “It was a fantastic goal,” Adkins said. “Everybody who wasn’t here should make sure they watch it on TV.”

Geraint Williams, the Colchester manager, was left frustrated by his side’s lack of end product. “That’s as disappointing as we’ve been this year. We’re among the top goalscorers in the league and yet, if we were still out there now, I don’t think we’d have scored,” he said.

Coventry 1 Mifsud 84 Charlton 1 Sam 15

Attendance 19,021

Alan Pardew, the Charlton manager, believes that the referee’s decision not to award his side a first-half penalty proved decisive in their draw with Coventry at the Ricoh Arena. Leading after Lloyd Sam’s sixteenth-minute goal, Charlton were denied the chance to double their advantage when Luke Varney was wrestled to the ground by Ben Turner, but Neil Swarbrick, the referee, waved away appeals. Michael Mifsud, the Carling Cup hero against Manchester United in midweek, then equalised late for the home side. “It looked like a definite penalty from the sidelines and it has cost us the game,” Pardew said.

Iain Dowie, the Coventry manager, paid tribute to Mifsud after the diminutive striker followed up his brace at Old Trafford. “He is a terrific player and had a good game again,” Dowie said.

Hull 3 Pedersen 11, 40, Brown 45 Ipswich 1 Harding 45

Attendance 15,456

Henrik Pedersen scored twice as Hull compounded Ipswich’s away-day blues at the KC Stadium. Faultless at home, but poor on their travels, Jim Magilton’s Ipswich team were possibly handicapped by the 12.30pm kick-off in Yorkshire. But the early start was hollow justification for the consistently bad defending that resulted in Hull scoring three first-half goals.

Jay-Jay Okocha’s superb corner triggered panic, while Pedersen’s movement and aerial presence completed a nononsense move. Pedersen’s second also smacked of Premier League guile before Wayne Brown weighed in with the third.

Dan Harding cut Ipswich’s deficit with a terrific drive from distance on the stroke of half-time, but Hull produced the ideal remedy for their midweek Carling Cup humbling by Chelsea.

Leicester 1 Fryatt 47 Stoke 1 Fuller 15

Attendance 23,654

Gary Megson, the Leicester manager, started with Matty Fryatt and Iain Hume, his strike partner, on the bench for his side’s draw with Stoke after the pair had shown signs of tiredness in the wake of their Carling Cup defeat of Aston Villa in midweek.

Stoke took a fifteenth-minute lead through a superb strike from Ricardo Fuller, but when Megson threw on his strike pair at half-time, he reaped an instant reward, Fryatt levelling within two minutes. Megson said: “We brought on Matty and Iain and, although the tiredness was still there, we were more threatening.”

Tony Pulis, the Stoke manager, said that his side lack the quality to threaten the contenders. “We are not looking like a promotion side yet,” he said. “But we are looking to get more quality players in and, if we do that, who knows?”

Norwich 0 Sheffield Wed 1 Small 76

Attendance 23,293

Peter Grant, the Norwich manager, refused to condemn the angry reaction of fans after his team crashed to their fifth defeat in six matches against Sheffield Wednesday.

There were chants of “what a load of rubbish” and “you don’t know what you’re doing” directed towards Grant after Wade Small’s 76th-minute goal rounded off a miserable day for Norwich. “I don’t like losing matches, either, and I can fully understand their frustration,” Grant said. “We deserved that reaction because we have lost another match at home.”

Brian Laws, the Wednesday manager, was delighted to see his team follow up the previous week’s first league win of the season over Hull City with another hard-fought success. “We showed a bit of quality and we deserved the three points,” he said.

Plymouth 1 Chadwick 61 Wolves 1 Elliott 41

Attendance 13,638

Wolverhampton Wanderers were denied victory by a virtuoso display from Luke McCormick, the Plymouth goalkeeper, in this draw at Home Park. The visiting team dominated affairs, but Stephen Elliott, Andy Keogh and Michael Kightly were denied goals by a series of outstanding saves by McCormick. Wolves finally got a deserved breakthrough shortly before the interval, Elliott firing Keogh’s inch-perfect cross into the roof of the net from close range.

Plymouth’s inability to get a grip on the game forced Holloway into a double substitution after 55 minutes, Rory Fallon and Nick Chadwick coming on for Sylvain Ebanks-Blake and Akos Buzsaky. The switch had an immediate effect, Chadwick drawing the hosts level with a well-taken finish into the bottom corner from 12 yards.

Preston 0 Bristol City 0

Attendance 12,098

Bristol City stretched their unbeaten run in the Championship to eight matches after a goalless draw against struggling Preston North End at Deepdale. City have made a fine start to their first season at this level for nine years and almost claimed their fourth win, but a shot by Scott Murray, a substitute, flashed off the bar three minutes from time.

In the thirteenth minute, Paul Gallagher, the Preston striker, played the ball wide for the impressive Chris Sedgwick, who drilled a low, diagonal shot across goal that Karl Hawley was inches from turning in at the far post.

Preston had the better chances in the second half, but in the 87th minute Murray nutmegged Youl Mawene and fired goalwards from a tight angle, but his shot came off the underside of the bar.

Sheffield Utd 1 Gillespie 12 Southampton 2 Rasiak 19, Viáfara 31

Attendance 24,561

George Burley, the Southampton manager, hailed his team’s spirit in adversity after they came from behind to beat Sheffield United. Southampton had collected only a point from their past two home games but showed determination after falling behind to Keith Gillespie’s early goal. Grzegorz Rasiak equalised for the visiting team before a calm finish by Jhon Viáfara secured victory over one of the favourites for promotion. “We had to work very hard for the win, but I can’t remember Kelvin Davis [the Southampton goalkeeper] having a serious save to make,” Burley said. “We worked hard as a unit, which is important.”

Bryan Robson, the Sheffield United manager, was far from impressed with his team’s defending and felt that individual errors have cost them too many points this season.

Watford 1 Johnson 41 Blackpool 1 Hoolahan 73 (pen)

Attendance 16,580

Adrian Boothroyd, the Watford manager, has warned his team against complacency after the leaders were held to a draw by Blackpool, who won promotion from League One last season. Boothroyd saw his side lose their 100 per cent home record after a spirited second-half fightback by Simon Grayson’s team and felt that his players showed a lack of application. “It appeared that we thought, because we were top, we would turn up and win, and that is not the case,” Boothroyd said.

Grayson was delighted to see his team extend their unbeaten league run to five matches and insisted that his injury-ravaged squad would continue to upset the odds. “It feels like a win,” he said. “We were down to 16 fit players today and you have to contain the opposition and use the ball well and I thought we did that.”

Leading scorers

7 Beattie (Sheffield United)
6 Phillips (West Bromwich)
5 Howard (Barnsley)
5 Henderson, D (Watford)
5 Rasiak (Southampton)
4 Fuller (Stoke)
4 Gray (Burnley)
4 Paterson (Scunthorpe)

*3 other players have scored four goals

Player of the weekend

Kevin Phillips West Bromwich Albion The striker scored twice and caused constant problems for Queens Park Rangers in a 5-1 win yesterday

Foul play

RED CARDS AND YELLOW CARDS

1 Barnsley 2/16 2 Coventry 0/17 3 Sheffield Wednesday 0/17 4 Norwich 3/10 5 Colchester 2/11 6 Preston 1/13 7 Queens Park Rangers 1/13 8 Scunthorpe 1/12 9 Hull 1/12 10 Leicester 0/13 11 Burnley 0/13 12 Stoke 0/13 13 Watford 0/13 14 Sheffield United 1/9 15 Plymouth 0/11 16 Wolves 0/11 17 Southampton 0/11 18 Ipswich 1/8 19 Charlton 0/10 20 Bristol City 0/10 21 Crystal Palace 0/9 22 Cardiff 0/8 23 Blackpool 0/6 24 West Bromwich 0/4

Two points for red card, one point for yellow card