Championship highlights and round-up: West Brom thump Sheffield United; Derby win
West Brom thump Sheffield United 4-0 at The Hawthorns; Derby County claim first win of the season as they beat Hull 1-0; ten-man QPR ran out 3-2 victors at Middlesbrough; Bournemouth beat Birmingham 2-0; Blackburn win 2-1 at Nottingham Forest.
Thursday 19 August 2021 05:59, UK
West Brom continued their unbeaten start to the season with a one-sided 4-0 win at The Hawthorns against fellow relegated side Sheffield United, whose goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale is poised to join Arsenal.
Ramsdale was omitted from United's squad for the Sky Bet Championship game as the transfer neared completion after the clubs agreed an initial fee of around £24m.
Ramsdale's place went to Michael Verrips, who endured a torrid time, allowing a corner to slip through his hands for Albion's second goal then beaten in the air for the fourth as West Brom went top of the table after three games.
Debutant Sam Baldock ended Derby's nine-game run without a victory by securing a 1-0 triumph at Hull.
The 32-year-old forward, who did not manage to find the net in any of his 23 outings for Reading last season, settled the contest with a predatory 57th-minute finish.
Dominic Solanke and Jaidon Anthony showed Bournemouth boss Scott Parker there is life without Arnaut Danjuma after hitting late goals to claim a 2-0 win at Birmingham.
Solanke's classy 77th-minute finish put the Cherries ahead. Former Arsenal trainee Anthony, 21, sealed the points by hooking home Bournemouth's second after 87 minutes for his first professional goal.
QPR continued their unbeaten start to the season with a 3-2 win at Middlesbrough - despite falling behind and being reduced to 10 men.
Moses Odubajo was shown a second yellow card in the 50th minute. That formed part of a dramatic second half which started with Middlesbrough captain Jonny Howson turning Lee Wallace's cross into his own net to cancel out Uche Ikpeazu's seventh-minute penalty.
Six minutes after Odubajo was sent off, QPR took the lead when striker Lyndon Dykes hammered the ball low and through former team-mate Joe Lumley's legs.
It looked like Middlesbrough would still make the extra man count when Matt Crooks' cool finish levelled things up again after 72 minutes. But less than four minutes later Chris Willock, who set up QPR's second, found the net himself with a calm finish into the bottom corner to give his side seven points from nine.
Nottingham Forest suffered a third straight Championship defeat as Blackburn claimed a 2-1 win at the City Ground.
Philip Zinckernagel looked to have earned Chris Hughton's side a point when he hammered Forest level in the 69th minute, to cancel out Daniel Ayala's goal, which had come two minutes into the second half.
But Hughton finds himself under pressure after Darragh Lenihan's 86th-minute header piled on the misery, which was only added to when Jordan Gabriel collected a second yellow card in the 90th minute.
