Birmingham were on the receiving end of the biggest Championship surprise as they lost their unbeaten league record with a 1-0 home defeat by Blackpool
Birmingham, for whom Cameron Jerome squandered two excellent first-half chances, found it difficult to establish any form of momentum. They conceded their first home goal of the season when Gary Taylor-Fletcher applied the finishing touch to a pass from an unmarked Ben Burgess. With Birmingham in disarray, Taylor-Fletcher would have added another but for a good save by Maik Taylor.
The first return of Iain Dowie to Coventry since his sacking as their manager in February ended in the disappointment of his QPR team - like Birmingham, strongly fancied for promotion - losing 1-0. The only goal came through a penalty by Elliott Ward - whom Dowie brought to Coventry from West Ham - following a foul by Damien Delaney on Jay Tabb. Dexter Blackstock should have put QPR on level terms, but after controlling Delaney's cross, he slid the ball wide .
Blackstock, though, cannot have felt as badly as Iain Hume did in bottom-of-the-table Barnsley's goalless draw at Southampton. He had an outstanding chance to break the deadlock five minutes from the end, but after taking the ball around Southampton keeper Kelvin Davis, he somehow failed to put it into the open net.
Barnsley are the Championship's joint lowest scorers with Doncaster, whose reputation as the best 'passing team' at this level again counted for little in terms of results as they were hammered 4-1 at Bristol City. The home team were inspired by substitute Marvin Elliott , and others who played a big part in City's first home league win were Nicky Maynard and Michael McIndoe. The latter, a former Doncaster player, scored twice.
Sheffield United's Chris Morgan and Lee Hendrie were involved in a furious on-pitch row - with each other - following the superb late Lee Croft strike that condemned their team to a 1-0 defeat at Norwich. The two players, appearing to blame each other for the goal, went forehead-to-forehead before being pulled apart. United manager Kevin Blackwell denied reports that the argument had got physical in the players' tunnel.
In the League One match of the day, Carlisle's hopes of avenging their play-off semi-final defeat at home to Leeds last season ended in the despair of another 2-0 scoreline in Leeds' favour at Brunton Park. One visiting player with particular cause to relish this was left-back Aidan White, who was selected for his league debut at only 16. Carlisle's players were told to put as much early pressure on him as possible, but White and his defensive colleagues stood up well to it and Leeds seized the initiative through Luciano Becchio. White had to go off through injury early in the second half, but Jermaine Beckford - who had a loan spell at Carlisle two years ago - ensured that the teenager would be on the winning side when he converted a Robert Snodgrass cross.
The outstanding result in League Two was the 3-1 home defeat that the leaders, Bradford City, suffered against struggling Bournemouth. It was Bournemouth's first league win of the season, and was in sharp contrast to their midweek performance in the 1-0 home defeat by Macclesfield, when their fans booed their players off the field.
Quite apart from that 17 points deduction, Bournemouth have inevitably struggled to compensate for the absence of strikers of Sam Vokes and Jo Kuffour, who were transferred in the summer to Wolves and Bristol Rovers respectively, and Alan Connell, who is out of action through injury. But you would not have guessed it on the evidence of their finishing at Valley Parade.