EFL roundup: Charlton down to Earth with a bump, Millwall and Hammers back in business, QPR miss out

The Hammers were on song ; Picture @CapitalFootballUK

Having swept to the top of the table with three wins out of three, Nathan Jones' Charlton Athletic travelled to Stoke City full of optimism, but a chastening first 45 minutes saw them well and truly humbled.

Two goals from Justin Devenny, a deadline signing from Crystal Palace, one from Ethan Galbraith and another from George Hirst gave the Potters a 4-0 half-time lead.

The Addicks did well to avoid further embarrassment after having Danny McNamara sent off five minutes into the second half for a second yellow card offence.

"I'm bitterly disappointed with my own team's performance," Jones said, hinting that the performance of the referee was another bone of contention.

"There were so many things that went against us but straight after the penalty [for the opening goal] we went under for 20 minutes and my teams don't normally do that. That's the thing that hurt me and hurt my teams, us going under like that."

In far better mood at the weekend were West Ham United, who followed up the 4-2 midweek win over Wolves with another resounding home success - Derby County beaten 3-0 at the London Stadium.

Joel Piroe got eh ball rolling after just five minutes but the crowd of 61,180 had to wait until the end for the points to fully wrapped up. First sub Edvin Austbo scored his first goal for the club, then Mohamadou Kante also came off the bench to add icing on the cake in the 95th minute.

The win comes after Daniel Kretinsky increased his stake at the club to 46 per cent, effectively closing the door on attempts by former Newcastle director Amanda Staveley to invest in the club.

"It's very good to have games where we achieved good results and good performances, which is so positive," said boss Nuno Espirito Santo. "There is always that concern at 1-0 but at the same time, if you can defend it well, a clean sheet is so important for us."

Even more on song were Millwall, who raced to a much needed win following the midweek flop at home to Wrexham. Caleb Taylor's first-half header from a Jenson Metcalfe corner set the Lions on their way to a 4-0 win against Bolton Wanderers at the Den. Lyndon Dykes claimed a late double, with further gloss added in injury time by Camiel Neghli.

Metcalfe was sent off along with Bolton's Josh Sheehan after a player melee in the 86th minute. But two minutes later, Dykes for the first of his two to make the game safe.

"It's been a tough week," said boss Alex Neil. "We lost Femi Azeez at the end of the window, had two disappointing defeats and lost quite a few players in terms of availability.

"It was important we tried to bounce back and get a result. I thought we did the basics well. We need to be effective more than pretty at the moment."

QPR suffered a first defeat of the season in the Championship at the hands of Middlesbrough - 1-0 the final score at Loftus Road. Will Lankshear grabbed the only goal in the 20th minute - his seventh since a summer move from Spurs.

The R's were not helped by first-half injuries to Ilias Chair and Richard Kone.

Boss Julien Stephan said: "We played a fantastic second half with a lot of intensity and a lot of quality collectively. We created enough chances to score a minimum one goal.

"I said at half-time we needed to play with full energy and full intensity because when we do that, we can compete against all the teams in the league."

Meanwhile, a goal in the 36th minute from jimmy-Jay Morgan was enough to give West Brom all three points at the Hawthorns against Watford. It followed a 2-0 midweek defeat at Swansea.

"It's not easy at this moment because of our situation with new players arriving a few days ago," said Hornets boss Alessio Dionisi. "I thought we deserved a draw. we had a lot of chances."

In League One, where Bromley and AFC Wimbledon square up tonight, Leyton Orient claimed a very useful point at Luton Town - Jaze Kabia cancelled out an opener from Jamie Donley for the Hatters. The O's are ninth in table after two wins, two defeats and a draw in their opening five fixtures.

In League Two, Barnet remain unbeaten after a thrilling 3-3 draw at Chesterfield. But it could have been better. They shipped an injury time goal with Joel Randall's 93rd minute strike annulling the 88th minute lead Kabongo Tschimanga gave them for what looked like being a winner.

First-half goals from Tom Knowles and Zac Williams had given the Bees a 2-1 lead at the break, but Louie Marsh, who had netted for the Spirerites, claimed his second of the afternoon in the 7st minute to set up a grandstand finish.

Barnet are third, just behind West Country duo Bristol Rovers and Swindon Town.