EFL Weekly Review: Swindon on Fire and Leicester go top
All the biggest action from week four of EFL Season
In a week where European competitions reached their play offs, the EFL tables began to take shape heading towards September
Gnonto returns for Leeds in first win of season
Leeds travelled to Suffolk on Saturday in matchup that didn’t disappoint. An unfortunate attempt from Joe Rodon to block an Ipswich cross rebounded into his own net, giving Ipswich an early lead. Geoginio Rutter levelled the tie just three minutes later, with his first goal since joining in January. Rutter showed glimmers of why Leeds splashed a potential £36 million on him with a fantastic solo run through the Ipswich backline.
From there, momentum shifted towards the away side and Leeds were on fire for the next ten minutes. A pin point ball from Sam Byram landed to Willy Gnonto who gave Leeds the lead two yards from the back post. Despite conceding first for the fourth game in a row, Leeds were now infant for the first time this season. Five minutes later, Joel Piroe opened his account for the South Yorkshire side, despite only signing a day prior from Swansea. Ipswich keeper Vaclav Hladky spilled Luis Sinisterra’s shot into a crowded box, giving Piroe an easy debut goal.
Ipswich were able to pull one back late into added time, a defensive nightmare giving Kayden Jackson the chance to square a ball to Nathan Broadhead to tap in.
Leeds’ goal margin had been cut down going into the second half and Ipswich posed a real threat at getting back into the game. Enter Luis Sinisterra. The Colombian winger breezed past Brandon Williams and calmly placed the ball into the far corner. Conor Chaplin pulled one back in the 97th minute, but it came too late to make a difference. Leeds left with their first win of the the season, while Ipswich picked up their first league loss since January 21st, and their first at home since October of last year.
Swindon puts six past Crawley
Adding to season’s growing list of big wins is Swindon’s demolition job of Crawley Town at the County Ground. Coming off of last week’s ten goal thriller at Wrexham’s county ground, Swindon won by an astonishing six goal margin against the West Sussex outfit.
Things looked concerning from the home side early on, as Crawley swept through the Swindon defence, only for unmarked forward Danilo Orsi to fail to hit the target from 10 yards out. 25 minutes later, Swindon took first blood with an equally open Crawley side allowing Dan Kemp to run through and place his shot into the near post. Once again, Crawley had a fantastic chance just before half time, but poor decision making saw the chance come to nothing.
The second half was where the away side collapsed under the pressure of one man: Jake Young. After two goals and two assists last week, the youngster decided to go one better, with four goals in 24 minutes. The pick of the bunch was undoubtedly his first; beating his man on the left wing before sprinting down the byline and striking into a narrow gap left by Corey Addai. And, despite Crawley being down and very much out, Swindon hit home once more in the 99th minute to give Swindon their joint-highest league win in EFL history.
Jake Young is an undoubted star for the Robins, being the first player to reach ten goal contributions in the EFL this season. After the Eoin Doyle saga in 19/20, it looks like the most efficient method for Swindon to find goal scorers is to take them on loan from Bradford City.
ALL change at the top of the leagues
The EFL saw changes in league leaders as all three sides that had been top at the start of the day dropped points.
As previously mentioned, Ipswich defeat to Leeds gave Leicester the opportunity to move to the summit of the EFL. Two goals from Leicester’s own Kasey McAteer means that five of Leicester seven goals so far have come from academy products.
Cambridge have been a surprise package in League One this season, finding themselves in their highest league position in the 21st century. A short trip to East London to face winless Leyton Orient would’ve held hope to extend that period in first. However, two goals either side of half time from Shaq Forde and Theo Archibald. In their place is Oxford United, a side that, much like Cambridge, narrowly avoided relegation. Their win against Charlton sees them pick up as many wins in the opening five matches of this season, as they had in the closing 23 matches of last season.
Much like Cambridge, Gillingham hosted a side yet to win this season in Colchester. A trio of second half goals from the U’s Gillingham drop to 2nd. MK Dons are back into first thanks to their strong goal difference and a 2-1 victory at home against Doncaster Rovers. Should both Gillingham and MK Dons keep performing so well, their meeting in early October will undoubtedly be box office.
Next week’s update will include news from the second round of the Carabao Cup, as well as the final round of fixtures before the first international break.
