Fulham thrash Huddersfield
The biggest wins of the weekend went to two West London clubs; Fulham gained a superb 5-1 victory away against Huddersfield with Marco Silva enjoying his first win as manager.
Serbian striker Aleksander Mitrovic opened the scoring after nine minutes with a freakish goal while Josh Onomah added a second in the 37th minute before Matt Pearson halved the deficit for the Terriers four minutes later.
Their two-goal lead was restored almost immediately thanks to youngster Fabio Carvalho.
A second half sending off for Harry Wilson didn’t seem to hinder them either, with two late goals for substitute Ivan Cavaleiro securing the 5-1 victory.
QPR win comfortably
Queens Park Rangers were the other big winners, securing a 3-0 away success against a Hull City team who had won so convincingly on the opening day against Preston.
🤯 𝘎𝘰𝘢𝘭-𝘴𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘦
🤩 𝘎𝘰𝘢𝘭-𝘴𝘤𝘰𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩This is getting ridiculous now, @RobDickie96! 😅#QPR | #HULQPR pic.twitter.com/R6zVis5RwV
— QPR FC (@QPR) August 15, 2021
Defender Rob Dickie got his name on the scoresheet for the third game in succession, with the other goals coming from Chris Willock and Lyndon Dykes. Both the R’s and Fulham have picked up four points from their opening two games after opening day draws.
Parker gets first win
Two sides yet to get off the mark are Nottingham Forest and Preston, with AFC Bournemouth picking up the three points at Forest’s City Ground and giving Scott Parker his first league win as the Cherries manager.
David Brooks opened the scoring early on and a bullet effort from Danish midfielder Phillip Billing secured the win, both goals coming either side of a Scott McKenna headed goal for Forest. Brooks was sent off late on for a second yellow card.
Preston went down 2-1 at Reading, who themselves picked up their first win of the season. A Daniel Johnson penalty cancelled out a first senior goal for Reading’s Femi Azeez.
A 69th minute strike from John Swift secured the win. It’s been a bad start for Preston manager Frankie McAvoy, who has lost his first two games as permanent manager after taking over from Alex Neil and is already under pressure.
The Scotsman was Neil’s assistant and then took over as interim manager, winning five of his eight matches to secure the permanent role.
A return for Bamba; Peterborough stun Derby
Other results included wins for Middlesbrough and recently relegated West Brom.
The latter went 3-0 up against Luton, only to see their two-goal lead slip to 3-2, courtesy of goals from Harry Cornick and Pelly Ruddock-Mpanzu.
Middlesbrough secured a 2-1 victory against Bristol City, which included goals from new recruits Uche Ikpeazu and Matt Crooks.
The game was also significant as Sol Bamba made his first league appearance for the club and his first league game since announcing his recovery from cancer.
In the other games, Blackpool had their first home game back at this level since 2015 but were beaten 2-0 by Cardiff City, courtesy of goals from Leandro Bacuna and Kiefer Moore.
Fellow Championship newcomers Peterborough United completed a stunning comeback victory against beleaguered Derby County thanks to two injury time goals from Harrison Burrows and Siriki Dembele, after youngster Jack Stretton had put the Rams ahead after 77 minutes.
90’+10#pufc pic.twitter.com/d76Kn0tAT4
— Peterborough United (@theposhofficial) August 15, 2021
At The Den, Millwall played out a 1-1 draw with Blackburn whilst Barnsley claimed their first league win under new manager Markus Schopp thanks to Dominik Frieser’s 39th minute strike against Coventry City.
Lastly, Birmingham and Stoke remain unbeaten after they played out a 0-0 draw at St Andrews. The late game saw Swansea City fans return to the Liberty stadium as they took on recently relegated Sheffield United. Both teams remain winless in the league though as they played out a below-par 0-0 draw.
