Championship roundup: Dykes sends QPR top, Coventry sink Sheffield United | Championship

Lyndon Dykes scored twice as QPR moved to the top of the Championship with an easy 3-0 victory against 10-man Cardiff at Loftus Road. Dykes struck a 19th-minute penalty after Jack Simpson was shown a straight red card for bringing down Sinclair Armstrong, then doubled his side’s lead before the break.

Kenneth Paal added a third to make it four wins from five for QPR, whose manager, Michael Beale, is set to hold talks with Wolves over their vacancy this week having joined QPR from Aston Villa this summer.

Sheffield United missed the chance to go back to the summit as their winless streak extend to five games with a 1-0 defeat at Coventry. The home side were positive throughout and got their reward three minutes from time when Martyn Waghorn converted a penalty to lift Mark Robins’ side off the foot of the table.

Robins praised Waghorn’s “oustanding” contribution from the bench after the striker scored his first goal for more than a year. “He’s ended up being the matchwinner and rightfully so,” the Coventry manager added. A bad night for United was compounded by Rhys Norrington-Davies’ hamstring injury, which leaves the Wales defender in doubt for the World Cup.

Burnley also failed to grasp top spot as they were held to a 1-1 draw at Birmingham. Johann Berg Gudmundsson belted the visitors in front in the 74th minute. The Clarets were denied a third straight win when Scott Hogan equalised six minutes later for the hosts to leave Vincent Kompany frustrated.

“We gave away such a cheap goal. That was annoying,” the Burnley manager said afterwards. “We had done a good job until then. But we were playing a team in form, and it’s a good point.” Hogan earned praise from his manager, John Eustace. “That’s why Scott is a top player, he gets a chance like that with 10 minutes to go, a fantastic finish.”

The impending arrival of Michael Carrick appeared to inspire Middlesbrough to a thumping 4-1 win at Wigan, despite the hosts grabbing a 34th-minute lead through Will Keane. Isaiah Jones equalised just before the break and second-half strikes from Duncan Watmore, Hayden Hackney and a Chuba Akpom penalty left Middlesbrough in full control.

Elswhere, Goals from Ryan Longman, Greg Docherty and Regan Slater saw Hull end a run of two straight losses with a 3-1 win at Blackpool, who had equalised through Kenny Dougall. Tom Bradshaw scored a first-half hat-trick as Millwall cruised to a 3-0 victory over Slaven Bilic’s Watford at the Den.