Championship goals and round-up: Birmingham lose Wayne Rooney's first home game; Ipswich, Stoke win
New Birmingham boss Wayne Rooney suffers a second straight defeat against Hull on Wednesday; Ipswich beat Bristol City 1-0 in their first game in 18 days; Patrick Bamford's penalty miss costs Leeds dear as Daniel Farke's men fall to a narrow 1-0 defeat at Stoke
Thursday 26 October 2023 12:16, UK
Wayne Rooney's Birmingham were booed off after his first home game in charge ended in a 2-0 defeat to Hull in the Championship - with the new boss admitting he will adapt his "no-fear football" philosophy because his players cannot do it.
The Tigers, managed by Rooney's former assistant Liam Rosenior, ended a four-match winless run to hand Rooney a second successive loss since replacing John Eustace at St Andrew's.
Liam Delap picked off a poor backpass from Emmanuel Longelo to give the visitors a 12th-minute lead and Jaden Philogene's long-range strike settled the contest with 16 minutes left.
"You need to be brave in taking the ball, but it's clear from the first two games that the players aren't comfortable doing that," said Birmingham manager Rooney.
"So there will be slight adjustments of course because we need to pick up points as well.
"I can get players up the pitch, boot the ball up the pitch and look to pick up second balls, but we need to get the balance right.
"This is on me - maybe I've asked them to do too much and I take that responsibility. We're asking them to play out from the back and be more front-footed.
"I said to the lads after the game, 'if you don't feel you can do it, tell me, and we can adjust and adapt'.
"There's so many different elements to no-fear football. They've had snots and guts for the last 10 years and it's been very difficult.
"But it's not going to change within two weeks when the players haven't been used to a completely different way.
"As I'm getting to know players' strengths and weaknesses, we will find that balance to ensure we get it right."
Ipswich showed few signs of rustiness as they kept the pressure on leaders Leicester with a 1-0 win at Bristol City.
Nathan Broadhead's first-half goal earned Kieran McKenna's side a 10th victory in 12 league games as they played their first fixture since October 7.
Patrick Bamford missed a penalty before Pascal Struijk scored an own goal as Leeds' three-match winning run was halted by a 1-0 defeat at Stoke.
Struijk's 80th-minute own goal came five minutes after Bamford blazed over the crossbar from 12 yards.
But Leeds remained third as Preston and Southampton drew 2-2.
Kyle Walker-Peters brilliantly put the Saints into a 33rd-minute lead when he cut in from the right to curl a left-footed effort into the far corner.
Preston turned the game around inside the first 10 minutes of the second half as substitute Milutin Osmajic volleyed in an equaliser from the edge of the box before setting up Brad Potts to make it 2-1.
But Ched Evans put through his own net in the sixth minute of added time as Preston's winless run reached six games.
Sheffield Wednesday's winless start to the season continued as they were swept aside 3-0 by fellow strugglers Plymouth.
Mustapha Bundu's 44th-minute free-kick put Argyle ahead and Morgan Whittaker pounced on a defensive error to make it 2-0 at half-time.
An unmarked Ryan Hardie then swept home a third in the 76th minute to emphatically end their four-match winless run.
Rotherham recorded just their second win of the campaign and a first clean sheet as Lee Peltier's second-half header and Oliver Rathbone's stoppage-time strike saw off Coventry 2-0.
