Round-up: Cotterill relishing rapid response as Forest fire

Steve Cotterill has called his Nottingham Forest side "fantastic" after a 2-1 win at Blackpool maintained his 100 per cent start as manager. Forest were in the relegation zone when Cotterill took charge but the former Portsmouth boss has produced instant results, with Saturday's result the second win in as many games.

"We knew it would be a tough game," said Cotterill, "but the team have done a fantastic job beating a team that have just come down from the Premiership."

Dougie Freedman has admitted his "surprise" at Crystal Palace's recent form after their 1-0 away win at Ipswich moved the London club up to third in the table. "It's surprised me, how well we're doing. We're trying to mould a new team and things are taking shape quicker than I thought."

Freedman also paid tribute to Paddy McCarthy after Palace's captain scored the only goal of the game: "He's got good values in life, and he leads by example. He's got pretty much everything I look for in a captain."

Huddersfield stretched their unbeaten run in League One to 39 games with a 3-1 win over Preston, who suffered their fourth successive defeat. Jordan Rhodes grabbed a hat-trick – making it 13 goals in five games. Lee Clark was keen to praise the Scotland striker: "He's a natural goalscorer, a record like that is unheard of."

In League Two, Crawley stayed top with an impressive 5-2 win over AFC Wimbledon, with two goals from Dannie Bulman.