West Ham United’s tough start to life back in the Championship continued as they fell to a 2-1 home defeat to Charlton Athletic.
The Hammers, bookies favourites to go straight back up to the Preipmier League, sit on just one point after two matches after they were stunned by the Addicks in their own backyard.
Lloyd Jones’ stunning overhead kick put the visitors in front early on to silence the majority of 62,000-plus crowd before Tyreece Campbell doubled the lead just after half-time. The hosts halved the arrears through debutant Joel Piroe and then had a golden chance to take a share of the spoils in stoppage time – only for Valentin Castellanos to botch his penalty in stoppage time.
Beaming Charlton chief Nathan Jones said afterwards: “Our fans were magnificent, so it’s a wonderful away day. You’d have taken any result here, and that’s not me being pessimistic. To win here, away from home, in the second game after [West Ham] coming down from the Premier League – it’s a wonderful win.”
Charlton are one of just three teams sitting on 100 per cent records after the opening two rounds of matches, along with Millwall and West Brom.
Millwall were in impressive form as they saw off ten-man Norwich City 3-0 on Saturday lunchtime whilst the Baggies beat Burnley 3-1 24 hours later, with Isaac Price hitting a brace.
Wolves continued their decent start to life back in the second tier as they breezed past Preston North End 3-1 with Fer Lopez finding the net twice. Other victors on Saturday were Portsmouth, won racked up an impressive 3-1 win at newly-promoted Lincoln City.
Southampton remain bottom of the pile, thanks to their points deduction, although a 3-1 success at home to Stoke sees them move within a point of a clutch of teams who have lost both their opening clashes, including the Potters. The other victors at the weekend were Blackburn Rovers who mounted a spirited comeback to beat last year’s play-off finalists Middlesbrough 2-1.
The other five games ended in stalemates with Brimingham against Bristol City and Derby versus Cardiff City both ending 2-2. Wrexham and Watford played out a 1-1 draw whilst the matches involving QPR and Bolton and Swansea and Sheffield United each ended goalless.
