Savage wins on debut and Boro move into top two, Sam Parkin's EFL takeaways
Sam Parkin offered his takeaways from the English Football League after a full programme of matches following the three-week international break on 10 October 2026. His round-up covered fixtures across the Championship, League One and League Two, including Robbie Savage's managerial debut and Middlesbrough's '150 Fixture' victory.
Parkin, a Final Score pundit and former Swindon, Luton Town and Northampton Town striker, selected observations from the Championship, League One and League Two on a day he described as full of talking points. He assessed results, managerial changes and emerging form across the three divisions.
Robbie Savage won his first game as an EFL manager as Peterborough United beat Leicester City 3-1 at the King Power Stadium, a result the report said added to Leicester and Russell Martin's misery. Parkin judged it a promising start for Savage, saying he had heard the new manager wanted to play with intensity and aggression from the front; he noted Savage had inherited a prolific scorer in Harry Leonard, that the squad is young and could use experience in the transfer window, and that Peterborough’s traditional attacking profile should suit the approach.
Middlesbrough celebrated their '150 Fixture' with a narrow victory over Wolves that lifted them into the Championship's top two, the article reported, and Parkin linked that progress to their summer recruitment, specifically citing Will Lankshear. Parkin pointed to the need Boro had for an out-and-out goalscorer last season and said Lankshear's start — having scored eight goals since his summer move from Tottenham — could prove pivotal; he added that Kim Hellberg had his best back four available and keeping a clean sheet against Wolves was a standout moment.
Birmingham City won the lunchtime derby 1-0 away at West Bromwich Albion, their third away victory of the season and enough to move them into the expanded play-off places in seventh, the piece stated. Parkin said the club had altered their style from the League One promotion season to a more direct, better-balanced side that is stronger from set-pieces, and he suggested the timing of that change had eased pressure on manager Chris Davies while noting the club still need wins at St Andrew's after four draws there.
Graham Alexander left Bradford City to take charge of Preston North End and returned to Deepdale, where his tenure began with a home defeat by Millwall that left Preston bottom, according to the report. Parkin described Alexander as a club legend with organisational strengths, questioned whether the current squad offered the attacking quality he might want, and said survival this season followed by consolidation in future transfer windows would be a reasonable target.
Salford City sit top of League Two after a 2-0 win at Cheltenham Town that made it six wins in seven matches, the article said. Parkin noted Peter Cklamovski had inherited a good squad following Karl Robinson's departure last season, cited the additions of Macaulay Langstaff and Luke Molyneux as influential, and pointed to early-season threats from Barnet, Crewe, York and Bristol Rovers.
"I'll withhold judgement on Salford until I see a little bit more football," Parkin said. Sam Parkin was speaking to BBC Sport England's Adam Lanigan.
