Football round-up - Saturday, 10 August

By Simon Wright – Follow me on Twitter @Siwri88

The Football League’s second set of matches were the highlights of today’s football agenda, though it did lack the action and stories from the opening weekend.

In the Sky Bet Championship, it was Watford who stole the show and went top of the table.  Gianfranco Zola’s side thrashed newly promoted Bournemouth 6-1 at Vicarage Road, as the Cherries got a reality check of what it is like to play in a higher tier of football.  Troy Deeney was in top form, as he became the first player to score a hat-trick in the Championship this season. There was also a first goal at his new club for Lewis McGugan (pictured)

Blackburn’s miserable week continued.  After shock elimination from the League Cup at the hands of Carlisle United in midweek, Rovers were beaten by a late Darius Henderson strike at home to Nottingham Forest.  Forest have made a perfect start to the season and claimed their first success at Ewood Park since a Premier League victory in 1999.

Blackpool is the other side to still have a 100 per cent record in the division.  An injury time own goal from Scott Wiseman sent plucky Barnsley crashing to a second successive defeat.  QPR were denied joining them on six points, as they were held to a 1-1 draw by Huddersfield Town.

Brighton’s poor start to the new season shows no signs of letting up.  Albion have now lost all of their first three games after going down 2-1 at home to Derby County.  The winner came from Chris Martin just after half-time, his second of the match.  Brighton are one of six sides to still be pointless after two games.  Millwall prop up the table following a heavy 3-0 defeat in East Anglia to Ipswich Town, where an impressive 17,000 were in attendance.

Sheffield Wednesday and Charlton Athletic also sit in the group on no points.  Both lost at home on Saturday to Burnley and Middlesbrough respectively.

In League One, four clubs have maximum points after two games.  There was another impressive victory for Leyton Orient.  After thrashing Carlisle 5-1 away last week, they comfortably overcame Shrewsbury Town 3-0 in London.  Carlisle themselves have now conceded nine goals in their first two matches after shipping four goals away to Bradford City.

Peterborough United, Walsall and Colchester United also have six points on the board.  Peterborough won an entertaining duel at Notts County, triumphing 4-2 at Meadow Lane.  Walsall achieved a narrow 1-0 victory against Oldham Athletic, whilst Colchester recorded a similar result at home to Port Vale.

It is a similar story in League Two, with perfect records for Oxford United, Fleetwood Town, Chesterfield and Southend United.  Oxford edged out Bury 2-1 to build on their impressive victory away at Portsmouth last week.  Fleetwood were 2-0 winners away to Plymouth Argyle.  Chesterfield were very impressive in their 2-0 triumph over one of the pre-season favourites in Cheltenham Town and Southend won 1-0 at Hartlepool.

The Conference Premier started on Saturday, and the result of the day came from Forest Green Rovers who thumped Hyde 8-0.  In Scotland, there were victories in the Premiership for Inverness CT and Partick Thistle and Rangers forgot their off-field troubles in League One as they began their league campaign with a 4-1 win against Brechin City.