Neil Warnock’s historic night turned sour as his Middlesbrough side were beaten 3-1 by Luton at Kenilworth Road.
Warnock took charge of his 1,602nd game, an English football record, and Josh Coburn’s 15th-minute goal put Boro ahead. But Luton turned the game on its head in the second half with three goals in five minutes from Sonny Bradley, Elijah Adebayo and Harry Cornick.
“That’s football, isn’t it,” Warnock said afterwards. “I can’t fault them for effort, it’s just that determination to keep your goal intact really that we haven’t got enough of at the minute, with the lads that we’ve got missing.
“We’ve lost the game, three simple goals we’ve given away and yet it’s a game I think we should have won, so it’s disappointing for me on two fronts.”
The 72-year-old manager added: “[Kenilworth Road] is a good football ground. Places like QPR, this – I love the atmosphere like that. I think [Luton fans] respect me, they’ve always given me stick here, and I always give it back if I can – there’s not enough good humour like that.”
Luton’s manager, Nathan Jones, was keen to pay tribute to Warnock after the game. “You only have respect for him,” he said. “If you get to 100 games you’ve been a decent manager … if you get to 1,602, you have to do something very, very well. Fair play, he’s had a wonderful career. You look back in awe and say that’s the career you want to carve out.”
Coventry missed the chance to move into the top three, going down 2-1 at home against Swansea. The away side were two up inside 12 minutes through Jamie Paterson and Joel Piroe and, although Kyle McFadzean pulled one back in the 28th minute, they could not find an equaliser and lost their first home game this season.
The Swansea manager, Russell Martin, was full of praise for his two goalscorers after his side’s fourth win in five games. “Joel and Jamie have been incredible for us,” he said. “Forget all the goals, the defensive job Joel does for the team is really appreciated. Jamie, you run out of superlatives to describe him.”
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Wigan produced a dramatic second-half comeback to defeat Fleetwood 3-2 and go top of the League One table, while Wycombe and Sunderland both suffered heavy defeats.
Fleetwood took an unexpected 2-0 lead at Highbury, with Callum Morton’s penalty adding to Danny Andrew’s early free-kick. Callum Lang sparked the turnaround just past the hour mark, with Will Keane and Curtis Tilt striking in quick succession to complete the comeback.
Rotherham had been on course to go top after taking the lead at Charlton through Mikel Miller’s goal just before half-time – but Conor Washington levelled in the 83rd minute to continue the hosts’ revival under interim manager Johnnie Jackson. The Millers are third, two points behind Plymouth and one above Wycombe, whose perfect home record was shattered by Ipswich.
The Chairboys took the lead in the 17th minute through David Wheeler but Bersant Celina’s deflected effort brought Ipswich level 10 minutes later and the visitors ran away with the game in the second half. Goals from Macauley Bonne, Wes Burns and a second from Celina sealed a 4-1 win as Ipswich climbed to ninth in the table.
Sunderland stay fifth after suffering a third straight league loss, going down 3-0 to Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. Theo Corbeanu, Florian Kamberi and Lee Gregory were on target for Darren Moore’s side, who move up to eighth, just three points behind their opponents.
Doncaster took a point from their trip to Crewe in a battle of the league’s bottom two sides. Joseph Olowu’s leveller kept Rovers three points ahead of their fellow strugglers. Reeco Hackett-Fairchild rescued a point for Portsmouth at home to Cheltenham, while Ben Worman’s volley helped Cambridge earn a 2-0 win at out-of-form Morecambe.
Birmingham were 3-0 winners against Bristol City, with Riley McGree scoring the opener on his birthday. Scott Hogan and Gary Gardner made sure of the points in the second half at St Andrew’s.
After the game the Birmingham manager, Lee Bowyer, said that McGree, who is on loan from the MLS side Charlotte FC, will be returning to the US in January. “Apparently he is going back,” Bowyer said. “That’s a blow. There’s lots of blows at the minute – we are running out of players.”
Benik Afobe’s 71st-minute effort gave Millwall a 1-0 victory against Reading to lift them into the top eight while Nottingham Forest and Sheffield United played out a 1-1 draw. Morgan Gibbs-White struck 12 minutes from time for the Blades but Lewis Grabban levelled matters five minutes later.
Fifth-placed Huddersfield looked like they would take the points when Danny Ward put them in front late on at Peterborough but Jonson Clarke-Harris marked his return from suspension with the equaliser.