Scott Parker was furious with the match officials as Bournemouth suffered a 2-0 Championship defeat at home to promotion rivals Blackburn to extend their winless run to five matches.
Ben Pearson’s unlucky first-half own goal and the Dutch defender Jan Paul van Hecke’s first in Blackburn colours made it four straight wins for Tony Mowbray’s side – but Parker was adamant that the visitors’ opener should not have been allowed to stand by referee Simon Hooper and his assistants.
Parker said: “There were two players who were blatantly offside. I spoke to the official at half-time and he said that if he made a mistake, he was sorry. I could sense in his body language he was not sure. It wasn’t even tight. You need to do your job at that moment.”
Second-placed Bournemouth have now won only one of their last seven games after starting the season with a 15-match unbeaten league run.
Parker said: “I sensed an anxiousness in the stadium as the game wore on and that made it very difficult for us. We will stick to our principals and stick to what I stand for. It is easy to play when you are unbeaten in 15 and everything is going well – the real test is now.”
Nathan Jones praised his Luton side’s fearlessness as they held Championship leaders Fulham to a 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road. Fulham went ahead through Aleksander Mitrovic’s 22nd goal of the season, but the hosts deservedly equalised through Elijah Adebayo’s diving header just after the hour.
“They have slightly more quality than us because they’re probably on a £100m a year budget,” said Jones. “They probably have a little bit more composure and a little bit more quality. If we had just a bit more of that, we would have won the game today. But for us to get toe-to-toe with them just shows the great place we’re in.”
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A Freddie Ladapo brace helped Rotherham pull clear at the top with a 3-1 win against Burton.
The striker scored 24 minutes into the first half, but Kane Hemmings pulled one back for the Brewers before half-time.
Ladapo responded, scoring two minutes into the second half, and a goal from Daniel Barlaser’s free-kick ensured the Millers have a two-point cushion in top spot.
Second-placed Wigan slipped off the pace after dropping points in a 1-1 draw with Ipswich, in which James Norwood cancelled out Callum Lang’s opener, while Wycombe slipped to fourth after relying on a stoppage-time Joe Jacobson penalty to salvage a 2-2 draw at home to AFC Wimbledon.
Jack Rudoni scored in the fourth minute for Wimbledon, before Adebayo Akinfenwa’s second-half lob levelled the scores.
Rudoni scored again two minutes into stoppage time, but a foul from Paul Osew gave the Chairboys a lifeline for Jacobson to steal a point.
Sunderland moved above Wycombe to third after beating Plymouth 2-1.
The Black Cats took an early lead through Dan Neil and Nathan Broadhead doubled the advantage 10 minutes later with a neat backheel flick into the net. Dan Scarr netted a consolation goal for the Pilgrims, who drop to sixth in the table.
Oxford came back to beat MK Dons 2-1 after the hosts initially went 1-0 up through Hiram Boateng 11 minutes in.
Goals from Matt Taylor and Mark Sykes saw the U’s take the lead, but they were reduced to 10 men deep into stoppage time when Jordan Thorniley was dismissed after being shown a second yellow card.
A Conor Washington brace saw Charlton beat Cambridge 2-0, and Portsmouth remain unbeaten in their last nine league games after goals from Marcus Harness and Connor Ogilvie saw them win 2-0 against Morecambe.
A goal from Matty Blair five minutes into stoppage time earned Cheltenham a point against Lincoln, drawing 2-2.
Tommy Leigh scored the sole goal for Accrington to beat Bolton, while Doncaster moved off the bottom of the table after Joseph Olowu scored 10 minutes from time for Rovers to beat Shrewsbury 1-0. The result saw Crewe sink to the bottom of the league after being defeated 2-0 by Sheffield Wednesday.
Bailey Peacock-Farrell saved Chris Porter’s spot-kick and Lee Gregory doubled Wednesday’s lead two minutes into the second half.
Fleetwood made it back-to-back wins by beating Gillingham 2-1. Harrison Biggins and Tom Clarke got the goals for the Cod Army and Robbie McKenzie scored a consolation for the Gills.
West Brom’s head coach Valerien Ismaël revealed the club had asked for their game against Reading to be postponed because of a Covid-19 outbreak. Ismaël’s side won the game 1-0 at the Hawthorns through Callum Robinson’s 61st-minute goal despite being without four players who tested positive for the virus. Albion’s bench was full of academy players apart from goalkeeper David Button.
“We tried to postpone the game but the EFL forced us to play,” said Ismaël. “It wasn’t only positive cases – some had symptoms as well. We explained to the EFL and the doctor from the EFL said it was an outbreak but they forced us to play. So I’m more than proud with the win and I congratulate the guys. You can’t imagine what a very difficult week this has been.”
Steve Cooper insisted his winning return to Swansea was no more special than any other victory. Cooper’s Nottingham Forest stretched their unbeaten Championship run to eight games as Philip Zinckernagel, Lewis Grabban, Brennan Johnson and Cafu scored in a 4-1 win. Cooper left Swansea in July after taking them to the Championship play-offs twice in his two years in charge, and celebrated animatedly in front of the Forest fans at the final whistle.
“The person who thought about coming back the least was me, I was just so focused on the game,” said Cooper. “Tactically we were perfect. We came here to win, full of confidence, expecting to win the game, but we knew we had to do it in a certain way. The guys played the game-plan exactly as we wanted it to go.”
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A 10-goal thriller entertained the fans in attendance at Boundary Park as Oldham and Forest Green scored five each and shared the spoils in the highest scoring game this season.
Davis Keillor-Dunn rifled the hosts in front before Jack Aitchison levelled things up and Jamille Matt’s double in the first half gave the visitors a 3-1 lead heading into the break.
The goals continued to flow in the second period when Matt Stevens bagged but Oldham threatened to come back with two quick-fire goals from Hallam Hope and Keillor-Dunn again.
Stevens got his second of the game to stretch the visitors’ advantage to 5-3 but the Latics would not go away as Jack Stobbs and a Kane Wilson own goal made it 5-5 to give both sides a point each.
An Otis Khan double helped Walsall picked up their first victory in five games across all competitions with a 3-0 win over Colchester.
The 10 men of Bradford twice came from behind to take a point against Sutton.
Skipper Niall Canavan was given his marching orders just after the half-hour mark when he brought down Omar Bugiel in the penalty area and Rob Milsom dispatched the resulting penalty.
The Bantams fought back through Theo Robinson but Alistair Smith regained the advantage for the visitors before Lee Angol rescued an unlikely point.
Bristol Rovers scored two goals in the final six minutes to earn a 4-2 victory over Rochdale.
Exeter have now failed to win in their last four league games after suffering a 1-0 defeat at the hands of Tranmere.
Nevitt fired an effort into the far corner early in the first half to get the goal but Callum McManaman’s dismissal in stoppage time took some of the shine away from the result for Micky Mellon’s men.
Defensive pair Fraser Horsfall and Jon Guthrie were on the scoresheet to help Northampton defeat Harrogate 2-1 .
George Francomb and Kwesi Appiah scored either side of a Glenn Morris own goal to help Crawley beat Leyton Orient 2-1 for their first win in four games.
Mansfield came from a goal down to end Salford’s six-game unbeaten run with a 2-1 win. Newport cut the gap to the promotion places to a solitary point as they came from behind to beat Port Vale 2-1.
Jon Mellish and Jordan Gibson helped Carlisle climb above Stevenage with a 2-0 win.
The deadlock could not be broken at the Suit Direct Stadium as Hartlepool and Scunthorpe played out a goalless draw.
Luke Plange scored his first senior goal to give depleted Derby a 1-0 win over Blackpool at Pride Park, while Stoke and Middlesbrough played out a goalless stalemate.
Ryan Lowe’s first game in charge of Preston ended in a 2-1 victory as Daniel Johnson scored a late winner to sink struggling Barnsley. Alan Browne put Preston ahead and Tykes captain Cauley Woodrow brought his team level before Johnson claimed the winner.
It was also 2-1 at London Road where Peterborough came from behind to defeat Millwall, who had led through Tom Bradshaw’s 16th-minute strike. A Danny McNamara own goal and an effort from substitute Jonson Clarke-Harris turned the game on its head.
Matt Godden’s injury-time header rescued a point for Coventry as Huddersfield had to settle for a 1-1 draw, having taken an early lead courtesy of Danny Ward’s opening goal. And Matty James’ stoppage-time equaliser salvaged a point for Bristol City in a 2-2 draw at Hull, who had twice led in the match with goals from Ryan Longman and George Honeyman. Antoine Semenyo hit the Robins’ first equaliser before James struck late on.
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It was also 2-2 at St Andrew’s where Cardiff came from two goals down to snatch a point. Troy Deeney and Ivan Sunjic scored first-half goals for Birmingham but Kieffer Moore and Mark McGuinness, who headed home in injury time, replied for the Bluebirds.