Holdsworth sent off after fracas

The confrontation at Loftus Road last night of two clubs who had to explain their poor disciplinary record to the FA during the summer brought a mass brawl, a sending-off and seven yellow cards as Wimbledon beat Queen's Park Rangers 3-0.

In the 56th minute, Dean Holdsworth added to Oyvind Leonhardsen's first- half opener for Wimbledon but only three minutes later, his face-to-face confrontation with Danny Maddix generated a 13-man fracas. As Holdsworth had been booked only five minutes earlier, his fate was inevitable. In the space of three dramatic minutes in a no-love-lost match there were seven other bookings.

Jon Goodman later added the Dons' third, but they had to thank their new goalkeeper, Paul Heald, a bargain pounds 125,000 buy from Leyton Orient, for keeping Rangers at bay early on. He twice denied Kevin Gallen early on and then preserved his side's lead with saves from Trevor Sinclair and Danny Dichio.

Dion Dublin made sure Coventry won the points they deserved when he scored an 86th-minute goal that beat Manchester City at Highfield Road.

When Paul Telfer scored for Coventry in the 12th minute, they threatened to overwhelm City but they missed a string of chances and Alan Ball's men weathered the storm to hit back late on. Uwe Rosler scored a brave equaliser eight minutes from the end and he needed treatment for a bang on the head after bravely forcing home Nicky Summerbee's far-post cross.

He had just taken his place back in City's attack when Coventry surged upfield for Dublin to head the winner from a perfect cross by their summer signing, John Salako.