West Ham secured their first win of the season with a 4-1 comeback victory over Southampton, progressing to the fourth round of the Carabao Cup, while Brentford defeated Birmingham City 6-1.
The Irons made a stuttering start to life in the second tier, with Nuno Espirito Santo coming under scrutiny after failing to win either of his first two Championship outings. A youthful West Ham produced an impressive turnaround to get the better of the Saints.
Southampton started the brighter and Leo Scienza took advantage of some slack defending to put the hosts in front after ten minutes. The response came from 19-year-old Joshua Ajala, making just his third first-team appearance and his first start. He headed home shortly before the break to equalise, then cut out a poor clearance and fired home to put his side ahead early in the second half. The two goals were the first of his senior career.
Subs seal the win
Nuno introduced Jarrod Bowen, Taty Castellanos and Arne Engels on the hour mark, and they were effective in killing off the match. Taty doubled the Irons’ advantage before club captain Bowen buried a fine fourth to set the home support filing to the exits.
Elsewhere, Keith Andrews’ Brentford continued their fine start to the campaign by hitting a sorry Birmingham City for six, Demarai Gray’s first-half equaliser a distant memory by the time the full-time whistle blew. Igor Thiago was named to the PFA team of the year mid-match and celebrated, if unknowingly, by scoring his first goal of the campaign, while Nathan Collins bagged a brace.
Forest dumped out
At the City Ground, Oliver Glasner’s early-season headaches intensified as his Forest were dumped out unceremoniously by Leeds. It was a second meeting between the sides in the past four days, with Forest failing to score in either match and conceding three.
Ipswich and Coventry both secured their progression with relatively straightforward victories over Leicester and Plymouth Argyle, respectively. Millwall edged Cambridge 1-0 to stay in the competition, though the giantkillers Hull City, who beat Manchester United convincingly last time out, required penalties to beat Stoke City at the Bet365 Stadium. So too did Leyton Orient, as Noah Phillips made two stops in the shootout to help the north London outfit past Walsall.
Full results
Cardiff 1-2 Norwich, Doncaster 1-3 Middlesbrough, Barnsley 3-2 Crewe, Blackburn 1-2 Sheffield United, Blackpool 1-4 Lincoln, Cambridge 0-1 Millwall, Fleetwood 4-0 Shrewsbury, Ipswich 3-1 Leicester, Plymouth 2-4 Coventry, Sheffield Wednesday 0-2 Wolves, Southampton 1-4 West Ham, Stevenage 0-3 Reading, Stoke 1-1 Hull (4-5 on pens), Walsall 0-0 Leyton Orient (5-6 on pens), Watford 1-5 Peterborough, Birmingham 1-6 Brentford, Nottingham Forest 0-2 Leeds.
