LONDON: Bournemouth beat Sheffield United on Saturday to open up a three-point lead at the top of the English Championship as Coventry bounced back from a humiliating defeat to crush Fulham. The Cherries’ status as the last remaining English Football League team yet to taste defeat looked under threat when Morgan Gibbs-White gave United the lead 11 minutes into the second half. But Scott Parker’s side hit back with two goals in the space of three minutes — a controversially awarded Dominic Solanke penalty followed by Philip Billing’s strike. Bournemouth are on 25 points after 11 matches, three clear of West Brom, who lost 1-0 at Stoke on Friday. Coventry, in third place, also have 22 points.
Parker praised the character his young side showed to turn the match around. Viktor Gyokeres scored twice as Coventry maintained their 100 percent home record in the Championship with a 4-1 win over Fulham. The Cottagers took the lead through Kyle McFadzean’s own goal, but Gyokeres’ two goals alongside Matt Godden’s penalty and Ian Maatsen’s thunderbolt meant Coventry leapfrogged Marco Silva’s men in the table. Mark Robins, who made four changes after his side’s 5-0 midweek drubbing at Luton, said he told his Coventry players to believe when they were trailing at half-time. Ilias Chair scored the winner as QPR came from behind to beat Preston 3-2 and climb to sixth in the table. Blackpool beat Blackburn 2-1 while Bristol won 3-2 at Peterborough. There were also wins for Millwall, Nottingham Forest, Reading and Hull. The game between Wayne Rooney’s Derby and Swansea and the match between Luton and Huddersfield ended as 0-0 draws.