Cov compound Cherries woes

Managerless Bournemouth continue to struggle in League One after suffering their fourth consecutive defeat at the hands of Coventry, whose win was only their second of the season so far.

The Cherries parted company with Paul Groves on Wednesday – the day after their 3-1 loss away to Crawley – after having only won one match out of ten this term.

Coventry’s slim victory, which means new boss Mark Robins has now pocketed nine points out of a possible 12 since he took charge of the Sky Blues, saw them leapfrog Bournemouth in the table, moving up to 20th while condemning the Cherries to a spot in the relegation zone.

Bournemouth’s caretaker boss Dennis Rofe ruled himself out of the running for the management vacancy, while bookmakers StanJames have placed Burnley’s Eddie Howe as strong favourites for the vacancy at odds of 4/7 ahead of Steve Cotterill, who’s priced at 4/1 to fill the role.

At the top end of the table, Tranmere continued to display their dominance as they landed Bet365’s odds of 2/1 to comfortably brush aside a Notts County side whose sparkling form has faded in recent weeks.

The Magpies were enjoying second spot in the league table but after only having won one out of their last six encounters, they’ve been knocked down to seventh spot.

Ronnie Moore's side, meanwhile, were without top-scorer Andy Robinson and lost fellow striker Jean-Louis Akpa through injury in the 18th minute. However, that didn’t stop them recording their eighth win of the season to move them four points clear at the top and slash their odds of promotion to 11/4 with SkyBet.

Elsewhere, Yeovil finally ended their dire run of results with a convincing 3-1 victory over Colchester.

Prior to the win, the Glovers had lost six matches on the bounce, conceding 12 goals along the way, making their opposition easy favourites for the win with odds of 8/5 for Gary Johnson's troops to take the three points.

They did so thanks to a brace from debutant Paddy Madden, who joined the Huish Park outfit on loan from fellow League One side Carlisle.

There was a surprise result at Stadium:MK where high-flying MK Dons were held to a 2-2 draw with Portsmouth, who had held a two-goal lead after 20 minutes.

Bet365 had placed odds of 1/2 for the home side to triumph as they were unbeaten in five heading into the match, while Portsmouth had also had back-to-back victories under their belt ahead of the meeting.

Instead, an Adam Webster own goal and a Darren Potter equaliser secured the Dons a draw to land odds of 3/1.

Swindon recorded a comfortable 1-0 victory to continue to deny Bury their first win of the season, while Doncaster, Sheffield United and Stevenage all recorded solitary-goal wins over Shrewsbury, Leyton Orient and Scunthorpe respectively.

Results: Brentford 2-1 Crawley, Bury 0-1 Swindon, Coventry 1-0 Bournemouth, Crewe 2-1 Hartlepool, Doncaster 1-0 Shrewsbury, Leyton Orient 0-1 Sheff Utd, MK Dons 2-2 Portsmouth, Notts County 0-1 Tranmere, Oldham 3-1 Preston, Stevenage 1-0 Scunthorpe, Walsall 1-2 Carlisle, Yeovil 3-1 Colchester.

Tranmere to win promotion at 11/4