After the three-week international break, there was a full programme once again across the EFL on a day full of talking points. Final Score pundit and former Swindon, Luton Town and Northampton Town striker Sam Parkin selects his takeaways from the Championship, League One and League Two. Robbie Savage enjoyed a dream afternoon on his debut as an EFL manager as his Peterborough United side inflicted more misery on Leicester City and Russell Martin with a 3-1 victory at King Power Stadium.
Parkin: "What a start for Robbie Savage, going back to the club where he's probably most synonymous. There's been a lot talked and written about him this week when we don't have too great a knowledge of what he's like as a manager considering his journey so far through non-league. "I'm very open-minded about the appointment and what he can do.
I've heard he wants to play with real intensity and really play aggressively from the front. "I thought this could be a good game for him against a Leicester City team that have a unique style of play but take risks with the ball, so in terms of a game plan, it's probably worked perfectly the way he wants his team to play. "It's only a start but he's inherited a brilliant scorer in Harry Leonard, so he doesn't have to worry about who will convert chances.
It's a young team, it probably needs a bit of experience in the window ahead but I think they've got better players than their current position shows, so it's a great opportunity for Robbie. "Dealing with the heavier scrutiny from where he's been previously will be a challenge and naturally he'll have a target on his back because of who he is and that personality. "Peterborough have always been a really attacking and free-scoring team in the last 10 to 15 years, that's what I associate with them, and it sounds like that's the way he wants to go about things so that should be met with open arms." Middlesbrough celebrated their '150 Fixture' with a narrow win over Wolves, which took them into the Championship's top two.
After the week in which Southampton head coach Tonda Eckert discovered his punishment for his part in the Spygate affair, Boro are going the right way to put those emotional events of May behind them. Parkin: "You look at the way Coventry were promoted last season after their brilliant finish to the previous one and I see a lot of similarities with Middlesbrough - the timescales that the bosses were in charge being one of them. "Boro came very close last season and the one gaping hole in their squad was an out-and-out goalscorer.
They created so many chances, they were brilliant between both boxes, a great watch but they couldn't convert those chances. "So to bring in Will Lankshear and for him to have had the start he's had could be pivotal in their push for promotion. "Today Kim Hellberg got his best back four on the pitch, so I felt that was a real stand-out moment in the season, to keep a clean sheet against a good Wolves team because they have been conceding too many goals.
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