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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
Sport
Ricky Charlesworth

Winners and losers from latest EFL fixtures as Blackburn dazzle but Burton capitulate

The EFL season is well and truly back after another drama-filled weekend of action.

All three divisions saw games take place over Friday and Saturday, with West Bromwich Albion hosting Watford in the Championship on Monday night to round off the action.

Among the highlights at the weekend was Vincent Kompany's Burnley playing out a 1-1 draw at home to Luton in what was the Belgian's first taste of Turf Moor. Elsewhere, Dean Smith's Norwich bounced back from a shock defeat at Cardiff on day one to post their first point of the campaign in a 1-1 stalemate at home to Wigan.

Here, Mirror Football looks at the winners and losers to emerge from the second matchday of the season.

Winners

Blackburn Rovers

We're only two games into the new season but Blackburn Rovers stand proudly as the only Championship side with a 100 per cent record.

It is a quirk of this strange and unpredictable division that Rovers, rather than the likes of heavily-fancied Norwich or Burnley, stand afoot as the only side boasting an unblemished record after just 180 minutes of football.

Plenty of Ewood Park regulars will no doubt have been second-guessing what the new campaign would have in store for them as they entered an unpredictable fresh start under Jon Dahl Tomasson after years of familiarity under predecessor Tony Mowbray.

But the Dane has so far delivered an exciting brand of football with a smattering of new faces giving them fresh impetus. Saturday's straightforward 3-0 win at Swansea was as convincing a win as any across the EFL's three divisions. It bodes well, albeit with 44 games still to go.

Ellis Simms

Everton attacker Simms came to prominence two seasons ago with a fruitful loan spell at Blackpool ending with promotion.

After a semi-decent stint at Hearts last term, Simms is back in the EFL with Sunderland. Saturday saw him notch twice on his debut for the Black Cats as they sealed a first win since winning promotion back to the Championship, sealing a 3-2 victory at Bristol City.

While many expect Ross Stewart to plunder the goals for Sunderland this term, Simms has shown he too will be a vital output for Alex Neil's men.

Doncaster Rovers

It's been a miserable 2022 for Doncaster so far, with just six wins and relegation back to the fourth tier coming last term.

After going behind on Saturday at home to Sutton United, the groans were again out in force in that particular corner of South Yorkshire. As the game wore on Rovers' pressure was not getting the reward they seeked. Heading into stoppage time many fancied Sutton to hold on for the points. But Doncaster had other ideas and a strike from George Miller levelled matters before Kieran Agard found enough time to score an unlikely winner.

It completely flipped the emotions of the majority inside the Eco-Power Stadium and gives Gary McSheffrey's side a huge shot in the arm.

Losers

Coventry City and Rotherham

Plenty of games get called off each season after failing pitch inspections.

But not many occur in the normally balmy conditions of August. Sunday's clash between Coventry and Rotherham at the Coventry Building Society Arena was already moved back 24 hours due to the Commonwealth Games ' rugby sevens taking place there.

But it impacted even further when on Saturday night the Championship clash was called off with less than 24 hours notice due to an "unplayable" surface.

Coventry's chief executive Dave Boddy told the BBC : "Quite frankly, I'm embarrassed by the situation." The call-off means the Sky Blues and Millers will have had two weeks off from league action by the time they next play a Championship game, on Saturday.

Burton Albion

It is hard to know what would constitute success for the Brewers this term.

Their last three seasons have seen them post 12th and then two consecutive 16th-placed finishes. Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's second spell in charge has outlasted his first but many more results like the one suffered on Saturday and he is unlikely to be in situ for much longer. Albion capitulated 4-0 at home to newly-promoted Bristol Rovers. The game was over at half-time with the damage well and truly done.

Having lost 3-0 to Wycombe on day one, Burton boast the leakiest defence in the country. Plenty to ponder.

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