Championship round-up: Barnes continues Brighton's storming start as Cardiff crash

Brighton joined fellow newly promoted side Southampton at the top of the Championship table last night after a superb 3-1 win at Cardiff, their third league victory out of three.

Gus Poyet's side had looked dangerous throughout the first half at the Cardiff City Stadium and led through Ashley Barnes' 30-yard strike six minutes before the break. Barnes then scored from the penalty spot in the second half, Will Hoskins made it three in added time before Peter Whittingham got a consolation for the home side with a penalty.

"I think this was the best of the three wins without any doubt," Poyet said. "As soon as we scored, we knew we could go on and win the game. And then even at 2-0, we could have just defended but the players wanted more."

Apart from Brighton and Southampton, the only other side in the division with a 100 per cent record are Derby, who won 1-0 at Blackpool last night, midfielder Craig Bryson getting their goal with 21 minutes to go. It is the Rams' best league start since 1948 and manager Nigel Clough said: "We'll be in the 1800s if we get a result on Saturday."

Millwall let slip a 2-0 lead for the second time this season already when held to a 2-2 draw by Darren Ferguson's Peterborough at the New Den. Liam Trotter and Hamer Bouazza put the home side in command, however, two strikes from Lee Frecklington and Paul Taylor in the space of four minutes turned the game on its head.