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Championship early KOs: Stoke 4-0 Charlton, Preston 2-1 Blackburn, Lincoln 1-1 Southampton

The Championship early KOs have played out… Stoke 4-0 Charlton, Preston 2-1 Blackburn, Lincoln 1-1 Southampton.

The home and away fans inside the bet365 Stadium were left stunned when Stoke hit four past a Charlton side who came into this unbeaten.

Stoke’s Justin Devenny had a debut to remember, starting it off by scoring a penalty 15 minutes in, and scored another just before half time.

Ethan Galbraith doubled the Potters’ lead on 22 minutes and George Hirst added a third on the half hour mark.

Charlton’s day went from bad to worse on 50 minutes, when Dan McNamara, who was subbed on in the 26th minute, received a second yellow.

Stoke’s Mark Robins said, as per Sky Sports:

“If we could have written a [perfect] script, then that would have been it. I thought we played really well. There was a lot to be pleased about.

“On the back of the other night [a 1-0 home win over Norwich] it was really important we had a really good performance against a side that was unbeaten before the game. And we certainly got that.

“We created some momentum with our play and, I’ve got to say, all four of the goals were fantastic.

“We’ve got the penalty and then we’ve scored some good goals. “Shooting has been really lacking for a long time, but they did that well today.

“When you look at what we have, then you’re looking for goals. We’ve got players that are really hungry for that.

“If we can get that throughout the team, well, then that really bodes well, because I’d like to see us scoring more from set-plays as well.”

Charlton’s Nathan Jones:

“I’ve gone in and seen him [the referee]. I’m bitterly disappointed with my own team’s performance, but I’m as bitterly disappointed with another performance as well.

“There were so many things that went against us but straight after the penalty we went under for 20 minutes – and my teams don’t normally do that.

“But we’ve done it twice here. That’s the thing that hurts me and hurts my teams, us going under like that.

“I think they [Stoke] need me to come here because they get better results when I get back.

“We had a great start and wanted to silence the crowd, but we gave away an absolute gift [for the opening goal]. That can’t happen.

“But after the penalty, fair play to Stoke, they never looked back. After that gift of the penalty they were far better.

“I’m definitely going to get it [a hostile reception] when I come back here, but I expected that. I had it when I was manager, so I’m definitely going to get it as an opposing manager.”

Meanwhile at Deepdale, Preston ended their losing run of four games by beating Lancashire rivals Blackburn thanks to Callum Lang’s double.

Blackburn got one back through Stan Mills’ own goal on 51 minutes.

Harry Clarke and Ryoya Morishita received yellow cards after they clashed in an off the ball incident, before Blackbur’s Jayden Fevrier struck the bar, unlucky not to have scored what would have been an worldie.

Preston’s Paul Heckingbottom as per Sky Sports:

“[Lang’s] worked really hard in the closed season. He was training all summer, but he’s still been careful, sensible within the pre-season and the start of the season with his schedule.

“We want to build up that resilience in his body, definitely. But more importantly, when he’s playing, we want to make sure he can go flat out like he did today.

“Lang [attacks] the ball really well in the box and I think his two goals are a good example of that.

“Two really good goals [from] Lang’s point of view and [that’s] where we wanted him and the deliveries in the box [were good]. But for me, the best thing about us today is that spirit and the determination to see the game out.”

Blackburn’s Tony Mowbray:

“I think if you fall below the standard you set yourself, then you shouldn’t really expect that you’re going to win. We came here believing we were going to win and we conceded two really soft goals, which is so unlike us.

“We went to Lincoln just three days ago and it felt like you chased a thousand crosses and we headed them all out. We never really got to the level we needed to to get our second goal.

“At the end of the day, and I don’t think I’m talking out of turn, I think we were ultimately on top for most of the game, possession-wise, pace, field-tilt they call it these days. [Preston’s half] is probably where the game was played mostly.

“But they carried the threat and they scored two goals. That’s probably the game they were looking for. From what I’ve watched, they played a little bit better than losing five games on a bounce, if that’s what it was, so, good luck to them.”

And at Sincil Bank, Welington produced an absolute screamer for his first goal for Southampton, putting them ahead against Lincoln as the first half was coming to an end.

Not long into the second half, Leo Scienza had a curled effort come back off the post, bounced across goal and hit the other post before being saved by the Lincoln keeper.

The Imps went level on 87 minutes, Mikkel Ladefoged making it three games unbeaten for the hosts.

Lincoln’s Tom Shaw said, as per Sky Sports:

“We’ve got a player who’s a real problem in the penalty area and we’ve got to help him and he’s got to help himself in getting up to speed and understanding what we want, but he’s got the physicality and mentality to do that. He’s a real nuisance.

“We felt the goal was coming – we sort of reverted to plan B. We created loads of volume, loads of chaos and we’re good in the chaos.”

Southampton’s Tonda Eckert:

“Credit to Lincoln for a performance of courage, manliness and energy. The job was to make sure we brought the ball down quickly and stayed on the floor.

“There were a couple of spells where we did that and not so well, but then we went 1-0 up. I think there’s two ways to bring the game home; the first is to score the second goal and if you don’t manage that we need to find ways of grinding games out and that was the disappointing thing about today.

“The second half gave us enough moments to score a second goal but we need to do better with balls that come into the box. They showed a lot of physicality but it is up to us to deal with that.”

Here’s the social media reaction after Championship early KOs: Stoke 4-0 Charlton, Preston 2-1 Blackburn, Lincoln 1-1 Southampton…

@StokeyyG2: Who needs Sorba eh, incredible lads. We look really exciting, full credit to Robins for turning this around at a very low point. #stokecity

@Mr_Prizm: Would just like to say a big thank you to Crystal Palace for giving us an absolute bargain, Devenny what an absolute baller, Galbraith’s too good for this league, the way he glides around the pitch with ease, Buzzing for Hirst to get his First too! What an unbelievable game! UTMP #stokecity

@charliescfc_: That midfield has cured my footballing depression 🥹 #stokecity

@KieranSCFC: Well in! Game was done at HT so no need to exhaust ourselves in the second half. Look a different team to the one that started the season, let’s hope we can keep it up. #stokecity

@olly_hodgey94: Sensational. How we’ve managed to sign devenny I’ll never know 😂 new shape is tidy. Galbraith is the best player in the league and we are winning the lot UTMP 🔴⚪️ #stokecity

@ChrisWo30990144: Horrible day but would have snapped anyone’s hands off for 10 points in 5 games. At least this game has made it very clear who’s in the starting XI moving forward #cafc

@owencafc1417: Write it off, forget about it and we go again at home Wednesday. We’ve shown in the first 3/4 games what we’re capable of #cafc

@Marc_CAFC: Totally accept we were very poor but the officials need to be investigated. Don’t want to see that tosser referee us again #cafc

@BigBadBraz: That’s the Championship for ya, always going to be bad days at the office and by the sounds of it dodgy refs. Chalk it off and focus on QPR at home. Up the Addicks #cafc

@Sfc_debs: Awful game management, and not enough quality on the bench. Sport Republic to blame for the weak squad and Tonda got his line up and subs completely wrong. This was a great chance to get up the table and we fucked it up. Fuming. #saintsfc

@benyedda19: Good point for Southampton, should’ve been 3-0 Lincoln

@Mortgage_Stu: Yet again our weaknesses upfront shown….Mubama not a threat at all. If Azaz doesn’t turn up against a physical side, it’s like playing with 10. #saintsfc

@JordonOloughlin: Apart from the goal, awful performance and we tried to shut up shop at 1-0 why? 2 points wasted #saintsfc

@BenDodds44: Absolutely gutted with that should have been a Lincoln win with the chances they missed unlucky lads #saintsfc

@SailorGirl30: Points dropped? But we didn’t lose, & I guess the players have had a taste of this kind football & need to learn from this… if they don’t we are in for a long season and won’t be challenging for the top places like this. #saintsfc

@BaggleyBri20725: HARRY CLARKE 😯😯😯 what a player 👏👏 #pnefc

@SamJayne11: God that was needed! What a relief. Thompson was outstanding. Not a single lad that stepped onto the pitch today that didn’t give 110%. Not pretty silky football, but ground out job well done 🤍 #pnefc

@Elijah_Shaw: Rovers fan in peace, we were shite defensively, but better on the ball than you guys, we also have like 10 squad players injured… will be a long season for both of us this, good luck anyway 🤙🏼 #pnefc

@MikeCookson1: Thank god for that. Wasn’t the best performance but you’ll take that all day long. Lang will get the headlines but Jordan Thompson was superb for me this afternoon. Hopefully this kick starts our season. #pnefc

@RHazza12: It’s all IFs and Buts that if the injuries go away we’ll be good. But it’s about NOW. TODAY. Not tomorrow, not next week… Lads tried their best which means alot but board have set us up. Relying on a 17yo sub to get us an equali

@PNEChatter: Thanks for coming. 2-1 on your big day out?

@PNEPlug: Normality resumed. Thanks for coming

@Blackburnfanat1: Don’t wanna hear anyone slag the players or the gaffer. All on the Venkys and all the higher ups that. If we had experience coming off the bench we win that.

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