EFL Matchweek 7 Round-Up: 19-20 September

While the Premier League was busy with hat-tricks and birthday parties, the EFL did what the EFL does best: late drama, daft scorelines and at least one manager clearing out his desk before the car park had emptied. Here's what you might've missed across the Championship, League One and League Two.

Lost 4-3. Again.

Norwich City have found a very specific way to lose football matches. Last Saturday it was 4-3 at Middlesbrough. On Sunday, at home to newly promoted Bolton Wanderers, it was 4-3 again. Same scoreline, same result, same collective head in hands around Carrow Road.

What makes this one sting more is that Norwich led twice. Mo Touré smashed a first-time finish in from outside the box in the 5th minute, only for Thierry Gale to cut inside and beat Vladan Kovačević at his near post 3 minutes later. Touré, who also had one ruled out for offside, then had to go off after a quarter of an hour having hurt his arm in a fall. Ruairi McConville headed in an Oscar Schwartau corner off the upright in the 19th minute for his first Norwich goal, before the Canaries made a proper mess of playing out from the back in the 42nd. Max Conway fed it low into the box and Gaizka Larrazabal thumped a half-volley in from 20 yards. 2-2 at the break.

Sam Dalby chipped Kovačević 2 minutes after the restart to put Bolton in front for the first time, Jack Stacey levelled at 3-3 just after the hour with a shot in off the far post, and then substitute Atsuki Ito ran straight through the middle of the Norwich defence and won it in the 72nd minute. Bolton's first away win of the season.

Norwich's second 4-3 defeat in 8 days.

Hero to Early Bath

Millwall v West Ham. The first meeting between the two since February 2012, 400 Metropolitan Police officers on duty, and West Ham arriving at The Den top of the Championship and chasing a 5th straight win. Game's BACK.

Millwall were excellent in the first half. Caleb Taylor bundled one in from close range after 16 minutes, Mark Sykes had a 30-yard drive tipped onto the bar, and in first-half stoppage time a long Lyndon Dykes throw dropped for Camiel Neghli to make it 2-0. Nuno Espírito Santo, clearly not enjoying himself, threw on Mohamadou Kanté and Pablo Felipe at the break.

Kanté, 21, changed the game. In the 74th minute he drilled a low shot from 25 yards through a crowd of bodies and into the net, and with 10 minutes left Konstantinos Mavropanos headed in the equaliser from a set piece. 2-0 down to 2-2 in the space of 6 minutes. 

Then Kanté, having been caught in possession, dragged down Kyrell Lisbie as the last man in the closing minutes. Straight red.

Hero to early bath in about a quarter of an hour, and the 4th red card in the last 7 meetings between these two, which feels about right for this fixture. Dykes blasted over a last-gasp chance, West Ham held on with 10.

Nearly, Burnley. Nearly.

Burnley haven't won a league game since February. That was back in the Premier League, which tells you how long ago it feels at Turf Moor. New head coach Nicky Hayen, only in the job since July, called Saturday's visit of Derby County a must-win, and for 93 minutes it looked like he'd get exactly that.

Zeki Amdouni gave them the lead in the 34th minute, bouncing a far-post header in after Derby keeper Josh Vickers flapped at a Lucas Pires corner. Vickers will want that one back. Derby, sat in the bottom three themselves and with a long injury list, didn't offer much after that, and Turf Moor was just about starting to believe.

Then Mohammed Fuseini, a deadline-day loan signing from Union Saint-Gilloise, picked the ball up on the run in the 93rd minute and drilled an angled shot across goal, in off the inside of the far post. His first goal for Derby, and not a scruffy one either: struck on the move, from a tight angle, with the whole of Turf Moor willing it wide.

Burnley stay bottom with 4 points from 8 games, and Hayen admitted afterwards that he knows the sack is a possibility. A tough watch for anyone in claret and blue.

Lose to the Bottom Side, Lose Your Job

Doncaster Rovers turned up at Peterborough United on Saturday bottom of League One and still waiting for their first league win. They went home with a 2-0 victory. Peterborough went home without a manager.

Alfie May put Donny ahead after 15 minutes and Isaac Hutchinson made sure in the 88th. By full time, Luke Williams had been relieved of his duties, 11 months and 47 matches into the job, with 2 wins in his last 22 games. Posh sit 23rd, above only Wigan.

In truth, it had been coming. After a rare win over Barnsley in the EFL Cup in midweek (on penalties, mind), Williams picked holes in his own team selection, then went further before the weekend, calling his own opinion on selection irrelevant and suggesting the club was effectively being managed by a consortium. When a manager starts talking like that in public, the ending tends to write itself.

First Touch, First Goal

Down in League Two, Sheldon Kendall had the kind of afternoon you'd dismiss as too far-fetched in a Football Manager save. The 18-year-old Millwall loanee came off the bench for Gillingham against Bristol Rovers with the Gills 1-0 up through James Brophy's 55th-minute strike, and with his very first touch he volleyed in Freeman's cross from the right. His first ever Football League goal.

Then, in the 89th minute, the Bristol Rovers defence stopped, convinced a free-kick was coming that never did. Will Goodwin crossed, Kendall's first effort was saved, and he tucked away the rebound. 3-0 at Priestfield. And on the same weekend his parent club were going toe to toe with West Ham at The Den, it was Millwall's teenager grabbing the headlines a bit further down the A2.

That's the EFL for another weekend. Go on then, what did we miss? Let us know in the comments.