Championship round-up: Blackwell wins sack race after Blades lose

Kevin Blackwell was the fall guy as Neil Warnock came back to haunt his old team on the second weekend of the Championship season and left them looking for a new manager.

Sheffield United responded to the 3-0 defeat at home to Warnock's QPR by parting company with Blackwell. Barely an hour after the final whistle, the Blades called time on a tenure which began two and a half years ago and almost carried them into the Premier League in his first full season.

Rangers were 3-0 up inside 23 minutes, though, thanks to goals from Hogan Ephraim, Jamie Mackie and an Adel Taarabt penalty, and the "Blackwell Out" chants were soon answered. A club statement read: "Sheffield United and Kevin Blackwell have jointly agreed to part company with immediate effect. [He] has worked tremendously hard ... and his record in terms of results is equal to, if not better than, most previous managers at Bramall Lane. He will always have a warm welcome at Sheffield United. However, it is time for us to move on... "

Swansea romped to a 4-0 victory over a poor Preston side thanks to three first-half goals in the City manager Brendan Rodgers' first home Championship game in charge.

Chris Burke struck late on as Cardiff came from a goal down to win 2-1 at Derby, and Clarke Carlisle's stoppage-time goal secured 10-man Burnley a 1-1 draw with Ipswich.

Jimmy Kebe struck three minutes from time as Reading denied Portsmouth their first win of the season in a 1-1 draw at Fratton Park. The teenage forward Nadir Ciftci put Pompey ahead eight minutes into his first league start for the club, but the Mali winger Kebe got on the end of a Gylfi Sigurdsson cross to level.

Leicester and Middlesbrough earned their first points of the season with an entertaining 0-0 draw at the Walkers Stadium, and Grant Holt nodded home a dramatic header late on to get Norwich's campaign going with a 1-0 win at Scunthorpe.

Billy Sharp converted a last-minute penalty to complete a 1-1 draw for Doncaster against a Bristol City side that showed no ill effects from last week's shock resignation of Steve Coppell.

An 88th-minute strike by David Bell and Lukas Jutkiewicz's last-gasp penalty saw Coventry battle back for a point in a 2-2 draw at Watford.

Patrick McCarthy's own-goal handed Barnsley their first points of the season as they held on for a 1-0 win over Crystal Palace at Oakwell.