Watford were the Championship team of the week as they recorded a brilliant 5-1 victory away to Barnsley.
Coming into the game, Watford had scored the most Championship goals with Barnsley conceding the most and the stats weren’t going to change.
Troy Deeney continued his goal scoring form as he netted his sixth of the competition, beating the offside trap within eight minutes. Six minutes later however, David Flitcroft’s side were level as Jason Scotland pounced on a defensive mistake by Iriney Santos just outside the Watford area.
But that was the only success the Tykes would see as Faraoni regained Watford’s lead after latching onto a deflected cross. Forestieri then made it three for the Hornets just before half time.
It was more of the same in the second half as Gianfranco Zola’s side remained comfortable, grabbing another two goals through Sean Murray and Scottish international Anya as well as their first victory at Oakwell in 13 years.
Watford have now scored 104 goals in 54 games under Zola.
Manchester United loanee Jesse Lingard delighted his new supporters at Birmingham City netting four times at St Andrews on his debut for the club.
Debuts don’t get much better than Jesse Lingard’s performance for Birmingham as he single handedly took Sheffield Wednesday to the cleaners scoring four times, including a 15 minute hat-trick in the first half.
Wednesday’s Zayatte was able to grab a consolation goal in the 66th minute but the damage had been done by the Manchester United youngster leaving the Sheffield team with only four points from seven games.
Manager Lee Clarke will undoubtedly be looking to extend Lingard’s initial one-month loan deal.
Leicester City dropped out of the top two as Thomas Ince converted a penalty for Blackpool in stoppage time.
The first half was a quiet affair at Bloomfield Road but a Ricardo Fuller cross managed to find a recipient in Chris Basham to put the Seasiders ahead.
After the break, Leicester wasted a couple of great chances as Luke Varney’s mishit went wide and David Nugent drilled his volley into the floor watching it bounce over the bar.
It wasn’t long however, until Leicester struck level as Luke Varney was brought down for a penalty, leaving the hard work to Paul Konchesky who slotted home from 12 yards. Two minutes later, Andy King caught Blackpool’s defence off guard scoring a fantastic half volley from nearly 25 yards out putting their 100% home record in jeopardy.
Tom Ince was able to secure a point for the home side when Kasper Schemeichel clumsily clattered Gary MacKenzie to the ground for an injury time penalty.
Nigel Clough’s Derby were left still seeking their first three points at home when they were comfortably beaten by Championship new boys Reading.
This was the Rams’ third defeat in four home games having gained only one point at Pride Park this season. A two goal brace from Reading’s Pavel Pogrebnyak helped Nigel Adkins’ side to victory.
Derby put up a fight when 18-year-old Will Hughes scored a brilliant curling effort from the edge of the area to make it 2-1 but Reading were just too strong and were able to finish the home team off when Nick Blackman made it 3-1 to the Royals.
Results:
Barnsley 1 – 5 Watford
Birmingham City 4 – 1 Sheffield Wednesday
Blackburn Rovers 0 – 0 Huddersfield Town
Blackpool 2 – 2 Leicester City
Brighton & Hove Albion 3 – 1 Bolton Wanderers
Derby County 1 – 3 Reading
Doncaster Rovers 2 – 2 Nottingham Forest
Leeds United 1 – 2 Burnley
Middlesbrough 3 – 3 AFC Bournemouth
Wigan Athletic 2 – 0 Ipswich Town
Yeovil Town 0 – 1 Queens Park Rangers