A fourth official 'farce' and a milestone

Published on: 25 November 2017

Rainbow-coloured corner flags, captain's armbands and laces were commonplace across the EFL on Saturday

Rainbow-coloured corner flags, captain's armbands and shoelaces were seen across the EFL on Saturday as players, managers, officials and fans came together to support lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people in sport.

That wasn't the only thing to light up stadiums across the country though - as a fan covering as fourth official and a comeback to rival the very best brightened proceedings.

BBC Sport brings you five things you may have missed from Saturday's EFL action.

Coleman earns first win as Sunderland bossRelive Saturday's EFL actionFan as fourth official 'farce'

When you work in the sports industry, you accept that you need to give up weekends - but an unsuspecting referee ending up being called into action on his day off.

Qualified official David Thornhill, a Norwich City fan, was happily watching his side take on Preston at Carrow Road when one of the assistant refs picked up an injury in the 88th minute.

A tannoy announcement and a 10-minute delay followed, but Thornhill stepped forward to take on the role of fourth official - it was certainly novel, but the managers didn't see the funny side.

'How does this board work? We don't have them in the local leagues'

"The referee's not done anything wrong - it's just circumstances that have proceeded to make the game a bit of a farce really at the end," said Preston boss Alex Neil on his return to the club.

Norwich head coach told BBC Radio Norfolk: "In earlier times there was just the referee and you could play football.

"Perhaps I'm a little bit old fashioned - I thought we could play this game with the referee and two linesman without a problem, but there are some rules and we have to accept it."

Thornhill is unlikely to have been pleased with the 1-1 draw - the Canaries are seven without a win at home, their worst run since 1999.

Robins comeback tames Slutsky's Tigers Josh Brownhill completes a stunning comeback which left the Hull players in disbelief

He's admitted that his bosses would be within their rights to sack him and questioned the mentality of his team - so when Hull led Bristol City 2-0 at home with 23 minutes to go, you can understand why Tigers manager Leonid Slutsky might have thought his squad had turned a corner.

After all, each of Hull's four Championship triumphs this season have come against sides beginning with B - but Lee Johnson's Robins pulled off an epic comeback to win 3-2 thanks to Aden Flint, Bobby Reid and Josh Brownhill, who struck the winner in the last minute.

"I think if we had levels of frustration now - this would be the maximum level," Slutsky told BBC Radio Humberside after the match.

"It is a normal situation, we haven't won in our last six matches. It is a normal to change coach in this situation, but it will be his (owner Assem Allam's) decision."

Hull are now winless in five and 20th... you'd think former Russia boss Slutsky might've thought twice about giving his employers permission to dismiss him again.

Vydra's revival & Adomah's purple patch Albert Adomah (left) and Matej Vydra take the appreciation of their adoring fans

They're the sharpest shooters in the Championship for a reason - and Saturday saw seven of the division's top eight scorers in action score.

Sunderland's Lewis Grabban was the odd one out, while Derby's Matej Vydra has had a massive turnaround of form in front of goal this season.

In his past two campaigns at this level he managed a meagre eight goals in 64 appearances, but the Czech has already found the net 11 times in 14 league games for the Rams in 2017-18.

That's not where the mindboggling numbers end...

Leon Clarke has scored nine goals in his past four Sheffield United games.Aston Villa's Albert Adomah has netted on five occasions in three matches - and he's a winger.Leo Bonatini has been directly involved in more goals for Wolves this season than any other Championship player (16 - 11 goals, 5 assists).Bobby Reid, a midfielder before being converted into a striker in the summer, has more than doubled his career goal tally this season. Keith's not over the Hill

Rochdale boss Keith Hill celebrated his 500th league game as a manager with a 2-0 victory over Peterborough in League One.

But the former Barnsley boss was not in a good mood after the match - pointing the finger at a section of the club's supporters, who were reportedly starting negative chants about the team.

"I don't like it when our own supporters are signing disrespectful songs about us," he told BBC Radio Manchester.

"I can't turn water into wine, it's as simple as that. I love working for this football club on behalf of the people and I expect better support."

You make 500 games as a football manager and you still can't turn water into wine...Bradford's home away from home

Bradford managed to go the whole of the 2015-16 League One campaign without losing at home, but have suffered defeat on five occasions so far this term.

It sounds demoralising, but the Bantams have flipped their formbook upside down and find themselves top of the third-tier away table.

What's the big deal, you might be thinking - well, Stuart McCall's side won at second-placed Shrewsbury on Saturday, ending their unbeaten home record.

It came a week after they inflicted a first home defeat of the season on Wigan.

Southend are now the only League One club not to be beaten in front of their own fans. Bradford go there on 16 December... watch out Phil Brown!

Source: bbc.com

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