Ten-man Wolves battle for a point at high-flying Brighton

19 September 2015 17:16

In-form Brighton striker Tomer Hemed wasted a golden opportunity to strengthen his side's position at the top of the table as his first-half penalty was saved and the Seagulls had to settle for a goalless draw against 10-man Wolves.

Hemed, a £1million signing from Almeria this summer, arrived at Molineux in a rich vein of form having scored five times in seven Championship games. But his finishing deserted him from the penalty spot in the 23rd minute as Damian Martinez saved his effort.

To make matters worse for Brighton they then could not break down a Wolves side that had to play the final 41 minutes a man down following the dismissal of midfielder Conor Coady.

Wanderers mounted a determined rearguard action to collect a hard-earned point as Brighton's lead at the summit was trimmed to three points.

It is Middlesbrough on the coat-tails of Chris Hughton's team after they won 2-1 at Nottingham Forest in the lunchtime kick-off.

A heroic performance from Dimi Konstantopoulos helped Boro claim a fourth consecutive victory. The Greek goal keeper made a string of saves - including a Henri Lansbury penalty - after a seventh-minute Matt Mills volley had cancelled out an early strike from David Nugent.

Hull are third in the standings after sharing a 1-1 home draw with QPR.

This was a Premier League fixture last season but, after a summer of change at both clubs, there was little of that top-flight quality remaining on this evidence.

Charlie Austin gave Rangers the lead against the run of play but Michael Dawson equalised before half-time, with both goals coming from set-pieces.

At the other end of the table, Rotherham registered their first league win of the season - but despite the last-gasp 2-1 success against Cardiff they remain bottom.

Cardiff captain David Marshall was sent off late in the first half after tangling with Matt Derbyshire. Vadis Odjidja-Ofoe converted the resulting penalty but Peter Whittingham scored from the spot shortly afterwards to ensure it was level at half-time.

Rotherham took until added on time to get their first three-points of the campaign through Matthew Connolly's own goal.

Bristol City are above the Millers on goal difference after a fifth league loss of the season at home to Reading, who climb up into the top six. Nick Blackman and Garath McCleary scored early on for the Royals in the 2-0 victory.

The biggest win of the day came at the John Smith's Stadium where Huddersfield hammered Bolton 4-1.

Liam Feeney put the visitors ahead but Emyr Huws struck either side of a Mustapha Carayol goal before Joel Lynch completed the scoring late on. Bolton's misery was compounded in the 89th minute with Derik Osede's red card.

There were also plenty of goals at Hillsborough as Sheffield Wednesday overcame Fulham 3-2.

Fernando Forestieri, Tom Lees and Michael Turner netted for the Owls with Jamie O'Hara and Tom Cairney on target for the visitors.

Two Jordan Rhodes goals and another from substitute Tom Lawrence saw Blackburn get their first win of the season as Charlton were defeated 3-0 at Ewood Park.

Leeds produced a smash-and-grab display at MK Dons to clinch a 2-1 win courtesy of first-half goals from Chris Wood and Charlie Taylor. Simon Church halved the Dons' deficit in the 74th minute but any chance they had of rescuing a point disappeared with Samir Carruthers' red card four minutes later.

It was also 2-1 at Griffin Park where goals from Marco Djuricin and Lasse Vibe helped injury-ravaged Brentford come from behind to beat Preston, who scored after only 33 seconds through Daniel Johnson.

Source: PA