Newcastle lose again as Villa pick up first victory

Matt Stead

Newcastle are still searching for their first Sky Bet Championship point after they were beaten 2-1 by Huddersfield at St James’ Park.

Rafael Benitez’s men had been hoping to bounce back from losing the opening game of the Championship season at Fulham last Friday night but were deservedly beaten by David Wagner’s Terriers, who have maximum points from two games.

Nahki Wells put Huddersfield in front just before the break but Newcastle levelled on the hour when Dwight Gayle headed in the rebound after his penalty was saved.

However, the Yorkshire side restored their lead when Kasey Palmer found Jack Payne on a breakaway and he made no mistake with eight minutes to go to emphasise how difficult it will be for Newcastle to win promotion back to the Premier League at the first attempt.

Aston Villa secured their first league win since returning to the second tier at the second attempt as a Rudy Gestede double helped them to a 3-0 win over Rotherham.

Roberto Di Matteo suffered defeats to Sheffield Wednesday and Luton in his first two competitive games as Villa boss but his third outing was far more encouraging, as first Gestede finished off an excellent team move to nod in Aly Cissokho’s cross after 20 minutes and then he chipped in a second deep in first-half injury time.

Jack Grealish put the gloss on the win with a fine individual effort with six minutes to go.

Bristol City and Fulham joined Huddersfield on six points after wins at Burton and Preston respectively.

Sone Aluko headed home Fulham’s first from close range (33) and Matt Smith, the match-winner against Newcastle, scored again when he followed up his own effort to double the lead in the 67th minute. Preston pulled one back with Callum Robinson’s 71st-minute diving header but Slavisa Jokanovic’s men held on.

On-loan forward Tammy Abraham’s brace was enough for Bristol City to beat Burton 2-1 at the Pirelli Stadium.

The man from Chelsea put the Robins 1-0 up just before half-time but the hosts appeared set to take a point when Tom Naylor (88) pulled them level, only for Abraham to add a second in the fifth minute of stoppage time.

Blackburn’s wretched start to the season continued as they were comfortably beaten 3-0 at Wigan.

Owen Coyle’s team lost 4-1 at home to Norwich last weekend and were soon behind against the Latics when Will Grigg diverted Max Power’s shot goalwards (14). The game was arguably beyond Rovers when Nick Powell scored with a 33rd-minute free-kick and their misery was complete when Shane Duffy put through his own goal in the 63rd minute.

Leeds are also still without a point as they lost 2-1 at home to Birmingham.

Jacques Maghoma gave the visitors a lead after lifting the ball over Rob Green following a 15th-minute break but Hadi Sacko levelled 12 minutes later after Tomasz Kuszczak fumbled his effort. Blues’ winner came from Michael Morrison 10 minutes into the second period.

Brentford bounced back from a defeat to Huddersfield first time out as John Egan’s brace saw off Ipswich 2-0, Barnsley beat Derby 2-0 at Oakwell with a Scott Carson own goal and an Alfie Mawson header and Wolves overcame Reading by the same scoreline with goals from Matt Doherty (42) and Joe Mason (47).