Championship Roundup: Kamil Grosicki Stuns Millwall as Swansea Move Top of the Table

01 September 2019 11:39

We're six games into the Championship season now, and fans are getting good ideas of what to expect from their sides this season.

The likes of Swansea City, Charlton Athletic and Leeds United are all performing well, but the same definitely cannot be said for Stoke City and Huddersfield Town, who already look to be in real trouble.​

Here's a look at this weekend's action from the Championship.

Cardiff City 1-1 Fulham

Harry Arter's return to ​Cardiff on Friday evening was certainly memorable, but for all the wrong reasons.

The new ​Fulham signing, who spent last year on loan with the Bluebirds, was shown two yellow cards within the space of two second-half minutes to earn himself an early bath.

Against the run of play, Cardiff took the lead in the first half through Josh Murphy, but ​Aleksandar Mitrovic fired Fulham level shortly before the break. The Cottagers looked to be in control of the game, but two moments of madness from Arter left them unable to capitalise on their dominance. ​

Bristol City 2-2 Middlesbrough

Niclas Eliasson,Paddy McNair

There was plenty of excitement at Ashton Gate as ​Bristol City and ​Middlesbrough played out an enthralling 2-2 draw which saw the two sides combine for 40 shots. Yep, one of those games.

​Kasey Palmer gave the hosts the lead before half time, but Taylor Moore's unfortunate own goal levelled things up. Britt Assombalonga netted his 100th career goal to give Boro the lead soon after, but Tommy Rowe's late header earned the Robins a hard-fought point.

However, it wasn't all good for Bristol City, who lost right-back Jack Hunt and midfielder Han-Noah Massengo to injury during the game. With so many key players already sidelined, things aren't looking good.

Birmingham City 2-1 Stoke City

Lukas Jutkiewicz

Teenager Jude Bellingham wrote his name into the ​Birmingham City history books by becoming their youngest-ever goalscorer in the 2-1 win over ​Stoke City.

The visitors actually took the lead after the interval through Liam Lindsay's header​, but Lukas Jutkiewicz hit back with his own header 15 minutes later to set up an exciting conclusion.


Just moments later, Bellingham - at 16 years and 63 days old - stole the show with a deflected effort which saw him break the record set by the great Trevor Francis 49 years ago. Not a bad end to your home debut.

Brentford 3-0 Derby County

Philip Cocu's start to life as ​Derby County manager could have hardly gone worse, and their problems were on full show as the Rams were comprehensively thumped by ​Brentford.

The Bees dominated the first half and deservedly took the lead through Bryan Mbeumo. Ollie Watkins netted twice before the break, but Brentford could have easily scored five or six in the first half alone.


They continued to control the game after the interval, but looked happy to take a 3-0 win. Derby did not have a single shot on target, and Cocu certainly needs to find a solution soon.

Leeds United 0-1 Swansea City

Borja Gonzalez,Ben White

​Swansea City leapfrogged ​Leeds United to the top of the ​Championship table with a 1-0 win at Elland Road.

Truthfully, Leeds were in control of the game, but their attacking was simply not good enough as they failed to create any real problems for the Swans. They were made to pay in the 90th minute as Wayne Routledge fired home from a corner to leave the home fans stunned.

Life under new manager Steve Cooper is going pretty well for Swansea, who remain unbeaten in the league.​

Luton Town 2-1 Huddersfield Town

Harry Cornick,Jaden Brown

​Luton Town are enjoying life in the second tier, but the same cannot be said for ​Huddersfield Town, who have picked up just one point so far.

The Terriers took the lead shortly after the break through Karlan Grant, but Luton were level soon after when James Collins fired home from the penalty spot. Andrew Shinnie went on to net a spectacular winner, on what was a fantastic day for Luton.


Huddersfield's frustrations were on show throughout as several players threatened to lose their cool - this certainly wasn't how their return to the Championship was supposed to go.

Millwall 1-1 Hull City

​Millwall and ​Hull City played out an exciting 1-1 draw, but this game was all about Kamil Grosicki's free kick.

Jed Wallace's penalty put Millwall ahead, but then Hull were awarded a free-kick out near the touchline after 18 minutes. Up stepped Grosicki who, from all of 40 yards, unleashed a curling effort which looped over ​Bartosz Bialkowski and into the back of the net. Did he mean it? Probably not. Does he care? Absolutely not.


Hull's Josh Magennis was shown a second yellow card in stoppage time, but the Tigers held on to secure a point.

Nottingham Forest 1-1 Preston North End

It was a tale of two halves at the City Ground as ​Nottingham Forest and ​Preston North End played out a 1-1 draw.

Preston were on top for the first 45 and deservedly led through Billy Bodin. However, Sabri Lamouchi's team talk certainly worked wonders as Forest were an entirely new team after the break.


Albert Adomah came off the bench to snatch a point for Forest, whose unbeaten run now stands at seven games.

Reading 0-2 Charlton Athletic

Lee Bowyer

​Charlton Athletic are well and truly back in the Championship, and the Addicks moved up to second with an impressive 2-0 win over ​Reading.

They may be one of the newly promoted sides, but you wouldn't have guessed that at the Madejski Stadium. ​Jonathan Leko broke the deadlock after half time, and Lyle Taylor's late penalty ensured the fairy tale continued.


Lee Bowyer's side are undefeated and are now behind just Swansea in the standings. The question is, how long can they keep this up?

Sheffield Wednesday 1-2 Queens Park Rangers

​Queens Park Rangers finally recorded consecutive victories for the first time since December 2018 as they picked up a huge 2-1 win over ​Sheffield Wednesday.

Wednesday threatened to spoil the party when they took the lead through Steven Fletcher's first-half penalty, but Rangers were ready for a fight. They eventually snatched an equaliser through Jordan Hugill's composed finish, and the striker added a second soon after to earn all three points for the visitors.

Lee Bullen's side arguably did enough to win but were let down by some sloppy finishing at times. Unfortunately for them, QPR were firing on all cylinders.

West Bromwich Albion 3-2 Blackburn Rovers

Some of the best excitement of the day was found at The Hawthorns​, where ​West Bromwich Albion fought back to pick up an exciting 3-2 win over ​Blackburn Rovers.

Blackburn needed just seconds to open the scoring through Bradley Dack, but Matt Phillips, Jake Livermore and Grady Diangana all fired back to give West Brom an impressive 3-1 lead.


Bradley Johnson got one back for the visitors on the stroke of half time, but West Brom managed to hold on during a goalless second half to pick up the points.

Wigan Athletic 0-0 Barnsley

Last and almost definitely least, it was a battle of the strugglers between ​Wigan Athletic and ​Barnsley, who had to settle for a goalless draw.

Admittedly, this wasn't the worst 0-0 draw you'll ever see, with both sides having chances to open the scoring. Barnsley perhaps edged it, but neither had enough about them to make the breakthrough.

Barnsley's ​Ben Williams was shown a straight red card for a nasty challenge in stoppage team, and that's about as exciting as it got.

Source: 90min