Gab Sutton's EFL Winners & Losers - October 11-12
Gab Sutton 
As the international break pauses top-flight football, the EFL continues to take shape across League One and League Two.
Free Bets EFL expert Gab Sutton highlights the standout winners and losers from the latest round of fixtures.
Winners
Leyton Orient
Leyton Orient fans were fearing the worst on Thursday, when boss Richie Wellens was heavily linked with the vacant Luton job.
The markets changed on Friday, though, in favour of former Norwich coach Jack Wilshere, who got the gig on Monday to allay any concerns about the future of their manager.
Not only that, the O’s thumped Doncaster 4-0 on Saturday, thanks to a Dom Ballard hat-trick, with the Southampton recruit forging an excellent understanding with Aaron Connolly, poached from Sunderland.
It followed a series of performances in which the East Londoners ‘could have scored 20’ in the previous four games, but found themselves somewhat wasteful in front of goal: this time, they brought their shooting boots.
Burton Albion
Anyone who saw Burton lose 4-0 at home to Plymouth Argyle could be forgiven for being surprised that they’ve taken seven points from the surrounding fixtures: Huddersfield and Cardiff away, and Bolton at home.
Gary Bowyer’s side have done just that, defeating the latter 3-0 thanks to some strong shot stopping from Brad Collins, and solid defending from Udoka Godwin-Malife, Finn Delap and Alex Hartridge.
Meanwhile, Jake Beesley was an industrious target man presence up top, Fabio Tavares carries a threat alongside him, while Charlie Webster is demonstrating the considerable talent that saw him spend a decade in Chelsea’s youth system.
Milton Keynes Dons
September’s 2-1 home loss to Accrington Stanley was the ‘bottoming out’ point for MK Dons: since the biggest-budgeted side in League One was defeated by the smallest, Paul Warne’s men have won three on the spin, thanks to a 4-0 victory at Bristol Rovers last time out.
Versatile battler Callum Paterson has been a model of consistency, flying wing-back Aaron Nemane has shown improvement in his defensive game, while Liam Kelly has been a metronomic influence in midfield.
The Buckinghamshire outfit are rising into the automatic promotion equation – and fast.
Losers
Doncaster Rovers
As much as Doncaster Rovers fans would have been delighted to accept 10th place, a quarter of the way into the season, had it been offered them, some of their supporters are concerned by recent form.
Since beating Bradford in early September, Grant McCann’s side have taken just one point from five games, that coming at home to a struggling Burton side.
McCann is untouchable in this part of the world, and rightly so, but he’s been questioned on selection in recent games, including the 4-0 loss at Leyton Orient.
Accrington Stanley
It’s six defeats in 11 to start the season for Accrington Stanley, who have accrued five of their nine points against top seven opposition.
John Doolan’s side seem to be able to pull something out of the bag against the better teams, but their record against the sides around them is nowhere near as good as they’d like.
The Reds faced a Newport side that had accrued just one point after week two, prior to Saturday’s game, and yet mustered just two shots on target all afternoon – despite chasing a deficit for the entirety of the second half.
Tranmere Rovers
It’s just two league wins in 11 to start the season for Tranmere, who lost 2-0 at home to Barnet last time out.
Rovers possess a reasonable best XI, but injuries can really hurt them, because Andy Crosby doesn’t have especially strong options to turn to in reserve – so missing eight at one stage this season has held them back.
Nonetheless, dropping to 18th, nine points off the Play-Offs already, means fans will be asking all the big questions of the club right now, with talk of a change of ownership having gone radio silent.
