U's hand Boro first defeat

An exciting weekend in League One saw one of the three unbeaten records left in the division come to an abrupt end as Stevenage suffered a shock defeat to lowly Colchester on Saturday.

The Us had been priced at odds of 9/5 to triumph over a Stevenage side who were second in the table having not lost a match so far this season, but a 55th-minute strike from Sanchez Watt secured the win for Joe Dunne’s side, who have now won three of their last four league encounters.

To add insult to injury for Stevenage, Anthony Grant was dismissed from the field after two bookable offences and, despite the defeat, they retain second spot in the table behind Tranmere, who were responsible for one of three comebacks on Saturday.

The table toppers were trailing by 2-0 after 29 minutes at Prenton Park against a struggling Yeovil side, who looked as if they would land Coral’s pre-match odds of 21/5 to inflict Tranmere’s first defeat of the season.

However, Ronnie Moore’s men weren’t ready to surrender their unbeaten record just yet and goals from James Wallace, Jake Cassidy and Danny Holmes completed the comeback against the Glovers, who had Joe Edwards sent off after picking up two yellow cards.

Rovers continue to be third favourites to secure promotion at odds of 15/8 with Bet365, behind Sheffield United who are priced at 11/8 and MK Dons at 13/8.

The Blades and the Dons were both held to draws this weekend against Oldham and Preston respectively.

The 1-1 draw between United and the Latics was overshadowed by an alleged racial insult from Oldham striker Lee Croft towards a ball boy at Bramall Lane, who appeared to be wasting time as Croft tried to obtain the ball – an allegation that Croft vehemently denies.

Elsewhere in the league, Bournemouth recorded their first home win of the season to give returning manager Eddie Howe a successful start to his second tenure at the south-coast club.

Howe and his assistant Jason Tindall watched from the stands as Lewis Grabban and Marc Pugh scored within two minutes of each other to secure the 2-0 win over Leyton Orient.

Notts County returned to winning ways in emphatic fashion this weekend as they hit Carlisle for four at Brunton Park.

The Magpies brought home pre-match odds of 19/10 to take the three points and set a new club record of 13 successive away games without defeat thanks to goals from Jeff Hughes, Neal Bishop, Francois Zoko and Jamal Campbell-Ryce.

The result sees them jump back up to fifth place, just one spot behind a Crawley side who were pushed to the limit by bottom-placed Bury.

Crawley had earned themselves a two-goal cushion with goals from Nicky Adams and Hope Akpan in the 43rd and 53rd minute respectively, but the Bees rallied and pulled two goals back in the space of three minutes to level the score with just twenty minutes left to play.

And, just as it looked as if they would hold out to record an impressive draw against the fourth-placed club, an injury-time winner from Adams stole the win for the home side and left Bury rooted at the foot of the table with just four points.

Results: Bournemouth 2-0 Leyton Orient, Carlisle 0-4 Notts County, Colchester 1-0 Stevenage, Crawley 3-2 Bury, Hartlepool 1-1 Doncaster, Portsmouth 2-0 Crewe, Scunthorpe 1-1 Brentford, Sheff Utd 1-1 Oldham, Swindon 2-2 Coventry, Tranmere 3-2 Yeovil, Preston 0-0 MK Dons (Sunday), Shrewsbury 1-0 Walsall (Sunday).

Tranmere to get promoted at 15/8