Birmingham City 1Doncaster Rovers 0

Attendance 18,165

Sean O’Driscoll, the Doncaster Rovers manager, insisted that Mehdi Nafti’s sending-off hindered rather than helped his team’s performance as they dominated ten-man Birmingham City at St Andrew’s, but failed to win. Cameron Jerome netted the only goal 35 seconds into the second half, but Nafti’s 24th-minute dismissal forced the home side to close ranks.

“Beforehand, we were the better team,” O’Driscoll said. “The sending-off made it a bit easier for Birmingham to set their stall out and become solid.” Alex McLeish, the Birmingham manager, paid tribute to his side for picking up all three points against the odds. “It wasn’t pretty, but hats off to the ten men who dug deep, rolled their sleeves up and scored a fantastic goal,” he said.

Blackpool 1 Barnsley 0

Attendance 8,363

An impressive late goal from Steve Kabba gave Simon Grayson’s team victory and three points that the Blackpool manager believed they deserved. The game looked destined to end in a stalemate, but Kabba, on loan from Watford, took matters into his own hands with four minutes remaining.

“We knew Barnsley would give us a tough battle and it needed a great strike to win the game,” Grayson said. “It is going to be a long, hard battle, but we are playing with self-belief and we are playing some good football as well.” Simon Davey, the Barnsley manager, begged to differ and insisted that his side merited a draw. “My team were worth at least a point,” Davey said. “We soaked up a lot of pressure and at times were controlling the game.”

Cardiff City 0 Bristol City 0

Attendance 19,312

Jay Bothroyd will soon start scoring, according to Dave Jones, the Cardiff City manager, despite drawing another blank in the draw with Bristol City at Ninian Park. Bothroyd, the former Blackburn Rovers and Perugia striker, is yet to score in the four league games since his move from Wolverhampton Wanderers to Wales at the beginning of last month. “Jay had a couple of chances early on and I am sure he will start putting them away very soon,” Jones said.

Nicky Maynard, the Bristol City striker, almost secured victory when he struck a second-half shot from a narrow angle with Tom Heaton, the Cardiff goalkeeper, beaten. Gary Johnson, the Bristol City manager, believes that his side had earned a share of the points. “A draw was probably a fair result,” Johnson said. “Both teams tried to win it and Cardiff started well, but I am satisfied with a point.”

Charlton Athletic 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 3

Attendance 21,547

Mick McCarthy, the Wolverhampton Wanderers manager, hailed the impact of Sam Vokes, a second-half substitute, after his late double at The Valley kept them on top of the Championship table. Vokes, the former Bournemouth striker, was brought on with the score at 1-1 and struck twice in six minutes to secure victory.

“I was delighted to sign him in the summer and he scored two great goals here,” McCarthy said. “I’m not holding Sam back because he’s 18. This is a great result, especially at a team like Charlton.” Conversely, Charlton Athletic have lost three matches out of five and Alan Pardew, the manager, is aware that they need to improve their resilience. “As a group, we cannot be proud of the performance,” Pardew said. “Tying down games and reacting to goals is something we need to talk about and get right.”

Coventry City 0 Preston North End 0

Attendance 16,544

Coventry City finally stopped the rot after three successive defeats with a hard-earned point goalless draw against Preston North End at the Ricoh Arena, much to the relief of Chris Coleman, the manager. Preston, still unbeaten in the Championship after five matches, defended well against an attack-minded home side.

Coleman, whose side lost away to Doncaster Rovers a fortnight ago, said: “That was a lot more positive than our previous outing and we have to remember Preston North End are a good side. We were on a run of three defeats and it was important we stopped that.” Alan Irvine, the Preston manager, said that he was satisfied with a point as his highflying side slipped to third in the table. “I think it was a fair result,” Irvine said. “Both teams had their chances, but I’m a bit disappointed because we didn’t play as well as we have been.”

Derby County 2 Sheffield United 1

Attendance 28,473

Derby County’s long, winless streak in league football ended with a deserved victory over Sheffield United and helped to ease the pressure on Paul Jewell, the manager. A 71st-minute goal from Rob Hulse, the first of the season for the former Sheffield United striker, gave Derby their first league win for almost 12 months, encompassing 36 matches.

Derby’s previous victory was on September 17, 2007, at home to Newcastle United. “My feelings are a mixture of joy and relief for everyone at the club because it’s been painful,” Jewell, for whom it was his first league win as Derby manager, said. “We can now get on a decent run.”

Kevin Blackwell, the Sheffield United manager, thought that his team were victims of fate. “Today was the thirteenth, it was nearly a year since Derby had won, so I think Sod’s law was always going to be invoked,” Blackwell said.

Ipswich Town 2 Reading 0

Attendance 21,366

Jonathan Stead has been promised the undying love of Jim Magilton, the Ipswich Town manager, if he repeats the match-winning performance that inspired the home side against Reading at Portman Road. Stead broke the deadlock with a stunning, 20-yard shot midway through the second half and Jonathan Walters sealed victory late on.

Magilton praised the performance of Stead, who is playing for his sixth club at the age of 25. “He needs to be loved a little bit more,” Magilton said. “If he keeps on scoring goals like that, I’ll give him my undying love.” Steve Coppell, the Reading manager, said that his side must acknowledge that teams will raise their game against a team relegated from the top flight last season. “People want to be going against a side that was in the Premier League last year,” Coppell said. “We knew that would be a factor.”

Nottingham Forest 1 Burnley 2

Attendance 20,504

Graham Alexander has relished the midfield holding role that has been handed to him and he weighed in with the goals that gave Burnley victory over Nottingham Forest at the City Ground. Alexander’s first came from a 22-yard free kick and the Scotland player followed up with a penalty 20 minutes from time to cancel Robert Earnshaw’s equaliser.

“We were losing too many goals at the start of the season so I decided to use Graham just in front of the back four because I know that if he gets on the ball he can pass it,” Owen Coyle, the Burnley manager, said. “But he can also strike a ball.” Colin Calderwood, Coyle’s opposite number, was left trying to take positives from the defeat. “I don’t think that we did much wrong to be beaten because there was a good energy about us,” he said. “The players worked very hard.”

Plymouth Argyle 1 Norwich City 2

Attendance 11,185

Norwich City gained their first win of the season in all competitions, to the delight of Glenn Roeder, the manager, who thought that victory was long overdue. Norwich took the three points thanks to goals from Arturo Lupoli, the on-loan Fiorentina and former Arsenal striker, and Antoine Sibierski, who is on loan from Wigan Athletic. “I’m delighted with the win, but we should have put Plymouth to the sword and scored five or six,” Roeder said. “It’s been too long in coming.”

Paul Sturrock, the Plymouth Argyle manager, said that he would shoulder the blame for his side’s below-par performance. “At the end of the day, sometimes you make mistakes with selections and, in hindsight, it is easy to see that I did that here,” Sturrock said. “I hold my hands up. I am seeking honesty from my players and some of them are not giving me that.”

Sheffield Wednesday 2 Watford 0

Attendance 17,066

Brian Laws, the Sheffield Wednesday manager, heaped praised on his team after they beat Watford at Hillsborough. Goals from Marcus Tudgay and Tommy Spurr either side of the interval sank Adrian Boothroyd’s team. “The players deserve every credit,” Laws said. “I thought the performance was very professional and very well organised. Once we got that first goal, I thought we took a grip on the game.”

Boothroyd had no complaints about his side’s defeat, admitting that they were second-best on the day. “We were well beaten and looked like a very average side,” the Watford manager said. “We looked like strangers and it’s very rare that a Watford side plays as bad as that. They outscrapped us in every department and you have to give credit where credit’s due. We didn’t have enough to change the tempo and quieten the Hillsborough crowd.”