Sheffield United beat Hull to go top of Championship

London, Sept 4, 2022 (AFP) - Sheffield United moved to the top of the Championship with a 2-0 win at Hull on Sunday.

Oli McBurnie's third goal in as many matches -- following a 43-game drought -- gave the Blades the lead in the 20th minute.

Sander Berge made the game safe for the visitors 15 minutes from time when he made the most of slack marking inside the penalty area to score with a shot that deflected off defender Jacob Greaves.

Sheffield United are now unbeaten in the league since the opening day of the season and this win took them a point ahead of previous leaders Norwich.

Reading were left third in the table, a point adrift of Norwich, after a 2-1 win at home to Stoke, who have now earned just one point from two matches since Alex Neil took over as manager a week ago.

Lucas Joao, on his 29th birthday, gave the Royals a second-minute lead but Stoke were level five minutes before the break through a close-range effort from Ben Wilmot.

Reading, however, went ahead again through Joao's 57th-minute penalty and held on for their fourth successive home league win this season.

"It's just good to get a good performance," said Reading manager Paul Ince.

"As I've said to the players, it's not about winning, it's about performing. We performed today. That's all you can ask for," the former England midfielder added.

Sunday's other Championship match saw Canada international Theo Corbeanu's third goal in four games prove enough for Blackpool to win 1-0 away to struggling Huddersfield.

The on-loan Wolves striker's first-half effort consigned the hosts to a sixth defeat in eight games in all competitions.