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The Sky Sports Football writers analyse the weekend's Championship action. .. Sunday 19 October 2025 21: 56, UK Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player It is often said that a marker of a team's championship capabilities is that they are able to win while they play well. Make no mistake, Middlesbrough played incredibly well against what many expected to be a tough test in Ipswich. However, it's the context surrounding the performance that is all the more impressive. Having gone three games without a win beforehand - failing to score in two of them - another contest without maximum points could have heaped some serious pressure on Middlesbrough. Yet, Edwards was able to shut out the noise and come up with a masterplan that worked to perfection. The scoreline suggests a close game. But look deeper and you will see that a Boro team impacted by the international break were in command throughout. The fact that the stars of the show where Hayden Hackney, a player who turned down Ipswich to stay at the Riverside, and Morgan Whittaker, someone who Edwards has shown immense faith in, only gives the table-toppers even more vigour. The Championship is a brutal league. To make any prediction in October would be foolish. But, Middlesbrough have at least shown the spirit needed to be at the forefront of any promotion talk. Callum Bishop Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Coventry had won their previous three matches by an aggregate score of 12-0. However, the 2-0 home victory over lowly Blackburn will have been just as rewarding for Frank Lampard. This fourth straight victory was another box ticked as they further solidify their promotion credentials.
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Such was Coventry's dominance in recent weeks that you could sense the frustration amongst the home support as Rovers defended resolutely with a three-man defence fielded by Valerian Ismael for the first time this season. Some problem solving and patience was required from the usually free-flowing Sky Blues. Lampard made a small tactical tweak at half-time to move Victor Torp and Brandon Thomas-Asante further forward. It was the two in-form players who provided the goals just minutes later - courtesy of very similar strikes - to put Coventry back on top of the pile. Championship top scorer Haji Wright has gained plenty of plaudits for his exploits in front of goal this season. But it's the added contributions of Thomas-Asante, with four in four matches, and the midfielder Torp, who bagged his sixth of the season, that are helping ensure Lampard's side are front-runners at this early stage. James Savundra Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player It is just not happening for Will Still at Southampton. There was much fanfare when the former Reims and Lens boss - who recently turned 33 - took over at St Mary's. That has worn off a touch now. He has taken charge of 10 games in the Sky Bet Championship and won just two. Six draws are keeping Saints in mid-table, but that's not good enough for a team with eyes on an immediate return to the Premier League. Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Boos from the home fans followed the final whistle on Saturday, and the discontent was understandable. Still's side had 21 shots and generated an Expected Goals figure of 3. 26 against Swansea, but somehow drew 0-0. Caspar Jander should have scored the winner, but instead he missed an incredible chance from just inches out. They have created 18. 7 x G since the start of the season, yet scored just 11 times - an underperformance of 7. 7. "I don't think a team can play any better and not score a goal, " he said after the Swansea game. "We are doing all the right things, I don't know what karma or bad luck there is. I don't know if I've squashed a cat! "I know what it looks like and I get that people are disappointed but I'm dead proud of what we are actually doing, " he said. "I'd be worried if we weren't getting there but we are getting there and we are doing everything so right. " Saints fans just want something to cheer about again. Dan Long Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Javi Gracia returned to take charge of Watford, but it was Chris Wilder who claimed a vital 1-0 Championship win. The first half was dominated by an early applause for George Baldock, as Blades fans commemorated a year since his tragic passing, and the game bubbled up in the second on the pitch as Callum O'Hare bundled the ball over the line for the only goal of the game. From there, both sides showed renewed energy, with Gracia making all five substitutions in a desperate search for an equaliser. But Sheffield United held firm, and the roar from the home crowd at full-time showed just how much those three points meant to a side that has been rooted to the bottom of the table. Post-match, Wilder was typically forthright, speaking about his pride in the players and their need to turn this result into momentum. Gracia, meanwhile, was left to reflect on missed chances but remained optimistic, insisting that his team can respond in their next fixture. A huge win for Sheffield United, and perhaps the spark they've been waiting for. Kyle Walker Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Millwall have historically relied on their home form but they are unbeaten away this season and came up with another impressive result on the road at London rivals QPR on Saturday to ensure they signed off the weekend in the Championship play-off spots. They were effective in the first half and hung on in the second to get maximum points. The start to the campaign has been hampered by a series of injuries to key players and that perhaps has made keeping it tight and capitalising on moments away from the Den easier than making the play in south London. But Alex Neil's absentee list has now shortened and there's confidence in the camp after the 3-0 win over West Brom before the international break was backed up with the defeat of in-form Rangers. Femi Azeez's return to fitness is certainly a big boost. He scored a stunner against the Baggies and set up another in that game before latching onto a Billy Mitchell ball over the top to eventually convert the opener at QPR. It was then his deflected cross which allowed Mihailo Ivanovic to nod in his long-awaited first goal of the season. It's been an up and down 2025/26 for Millwall so far but with important players finding fitness and form the feeling is they are ready to go up a level - and are launching from an already strong position thanks to their performances away from home. Peter Smith Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player It could hardly have been a more challenging start for Liam Manning at Norwich City, after defeat home to Bristol City made it five losses in a row at home at Carrow Road in the Championship. That equals a club record, and it is a situation further compounded by the fact that Manning left Bristol City for the Canaries in the summer. He needed a result after a long international break following that defeat at Ipswich - the first for Norwich against their rivals in 16 years. It is hard to see where they go from here. They don't look like scoring a goal and Josh Sargent - who began the season with five in four in the league - has not scored since the end of August. He was left out of the most recent USA squad, and with the World Cup on home turf coming up next summer he must be slightly agitated as well. "I seem to be repeating myself after every match here, we are just too nice to play against, " Manning said at full-time. "I'll own my performance in all this but a few of the players need to own their performances as well. "They need to show the necessary toughness to go out there and win a game of football in a tough atmosphere like it was today. " Only a few positive results will lift the feeling around the place, that's for sure. Simeon Gholam Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player What happens when the joint best defence in the EFL (just six conceded for Stoke City in 10 games) comes up against a Wrexham side that have scored in every single league game this season? It was the first league meeting between Stoke City and Wrexham since 2002 and with both sides coming into this contest off the back of three consecutive draws, an opportunity for one team to turn one point into three. Having won four of their opening five league games and flying high, Stoke came into this contest without a win in four. Their breakthrough came in the 36th minute, when - in the second phase of a corner - Sorba Thomas crossed the ball (sorry Sorba, it was definitely a cross, not a shot! ), which nicked Kieffer Moore's boot and evaded everyone to nestle into the back of the net. It was a scrappy contest afterwards, with Million Manhoef hitting the crossbar and Stoke's No. 9 Divin Mubama providing a handful for Wrexham's defence, but one goal proved decisive. Wrexham stay 18th but the result moves the Potters into third; not pretty, but a confidence-boosting afternoon for a team eyeing promotion. Harriet Prior Friday Saturday Super 6 are starting the season by guaranteeing a £1, 000, 000 winner! Play for free.
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