Wayne Rooney was pleased to see Birmingham keep a clean sheet after his side drew 0-0 with Bristol City at St Andrew’s.Rooney, who has had only two wins from his first 14 games as Blues boss, unashamedly admitted that after shipping nine goals in the previous three matches, he wanted to end that defensive rot.“I am really pleased with the clean sheet, from the last three games and the

Stockport boss Dave Challinor admitted his league leaders deserved no more than a point in their goalless draw at Bradford.It was a competitive contest on a difficult Valley Parade pitch that had only passed referee Lewis Smith’s inspection 90 minutes before kick-off following the recent wet weather.Challinor said: “You always want to win a game but I can’t stand here and say we

Lincoln boss Michael Skubala believes Paudie O’Connor’s game-changing red card in his side’s 2-1 defeat to Northampton was harsh.Jon Guthrie and Kieron Bowie put the visiting Cobblers 2-0 up with goals either side of the break at Sincil Bank.Timothy Eyoma halved the deficit on the hour mark, before O’Connor was sent off for a stray elbow with 15 minutes to go.Skubala said:

Cheltenham boss Darrell Clarke said he would have “snapped your hand off” to be on 20 points at the halfway stage of the League One campaign after their 2-2 home draw with Reading.The Robins led 2-0 before a quickfire double from the Royals just before half-time levelled things up and Cheltenham had to settle for a point against the team directly above them in the table.But when Clarke

Jon Dahl Tomasson felt lacklustre defending was the key factor behind the 3-2 defeat at Hull as Blackburn slipped to a fourth consecutive defeat in the Sky Bet Championship.Rovers were twice sloppy early in the game when Liam Delap and Aaron Connolly gave the hosts a commanding lead.Sammie Szmodics and Harry Pickering thrust the visitors back into the match by half-time but Alfie Jones scrambled h

Crewe manager Lee Bell saw his depleted side slip out of the League Two play-off places after a 1-1 draw at Newport but he was full of praise for their character and resilience at Rodney Parade.Bell’s men drop to eighth in the table after a sixth game without a win in the league, but he was pleased to hang on for a draw after defender Zac Williams hobbled off with an ankle injury late on and

Leyton Orient boss Richie Wellens was satisfied with his side’s 0-0 draw against Wycombe.Although the O’s recorded back-to-back clean sheets in the league for the first time since August, they were unable to find a way past Chairboys keeper Max Stryjek even with the seven minutes of added time caused when a linesman sustained an injury in the first-half and swapped roles with the fourt

Derby head coach Paul Warne hailed his team’s 3-2 comeback win at League One promotion rivals Oxford as “magical”.The U’s led 2-0 after 13 minutes when Cameron Brannagan converted a penalty then hammered in a 25-yard free-kick.But the Rams fought back brilliantly.Craig Forsyth gave them a lifeline by turning in a flick-on corner at the far post in stoppage time at the end o

Tranmere boss Nigel Adkins hailed his team’s “fantastic” first-half performance in a 2-0 triumph at Harrogate even though they failed to register a single shot in the opening 45 minutes.The visitors secured a third successive win thanks to second-half goals from Charlie Jolley and Tom Davies but Adkins was just as impressed by the resilience his players showed before the break on

Port Vale boss Andy Crosby felt it was about time his side beat one of the bigger sides in League One after their 3-0 victory over Blackpool.Ben Garrity’s opener was added to after half-time by James Wilson and Nathan Smith for a first win in three matches as Vale ended 2023 on a high.And Crosby reserved particular praise for the likes of youngsters Ben Lomax and Jack Shorrock, who made thei