Image source, Rex Features

Wednesday night might have been a bit of a slow burner, but my word, when it caught fire it was quite something.

Sheffield United's quest to bounce straight back to the Premier League remains on track as they saw off Swansea while Preston climbed away from trouble with a thumping win over Watford.

Sheffield Wednesday stopped the rot with a stalemate on the road at Bristol City but tonight was all about Stoke City, and, to a lesser degree, Portsmouth.

While Pompey were largely the architects of their own downfall, Narcis Pelach's men were inspired from the first minute and a remarkable burst of five goals in 13 minutes either side of half-time was something you just don't see in professional football of this standard.

Tom Cannon's four-goal blast will be spoken about for years at the Bet365 while Portsmouth will aim to lick their wounds on their four-hour drive home and renew their focus on Oxford at the weekend as they seek to end their worst start to a season since World War II.

We'll be back here on Friday night for a mouthwatering clash between leaders Sunderland and now fifth-placed Leeds.

Can't wait. See you then!

What a night for Stoke City fans!

• Sheffield United's 1-0 victory over Swansea sees them climb into the top three and keeps their unbeaten streak going. They are one only of four sides in the top three divisions yet to taste a league defeat, joining Manchester City, Arsenal and Birmingham City. Not bad company to be in.
• Bristol City kept an undefeated run of their own going with a goalless draw against Sheffield Wednesday, stretching their unbeaten streak at Ashton Gate to nine games as the Owls claimed their first away point of the season.
• Milutin Osmajic's brilliant second-half performance helped Preston North End sail to a 3-0 win against lacklustre Watford, a victory which takes them out of the bottom three.
• But the biggest performance of the night goes to Stoke, who thrashed Portsmouth 6-1 to fly away from the danger zone into 15th position, leaving winless Pompey 23rd and level on points with bottom side Cardiff City.

Stoke City

Stoke City head coach Narcis Pelach told BBC Radio Stoke:

“Great win. Very, very happy for the players, for the staff and for the fans.

“The players fought a lot from the beginning. We gave them a difficult start. I think we have been good in all of our games. Very pleased because the performance was good and it’s a totally deserved result.

“We were more clinical. I think the level of energy and competitiveness today was very, very high.

“I am pleased with both games we have played at home. The lads gave it all. Of course last week was a more difficult game but today has been fantastic. Lots of goals as well which we needed. The performance was exceptional.”

Sheffield United's 1-0 win over Swansea might not live long in the memory but Chris Wilder has steered the Blades into the Championship's top-three.

Without their two-point deduction they'd be joint-top. They are also the only side to remain unbeaten after eight matches in the second tier.

Portsmouth

Portsmouth manager John Mousinho speaking to BBC Radio Solent:

"Difficult to summarise right now. The game went away from us very, very quickly five minutes before half-time and then five minutes after half-time. We just had this mad 10-minute spell.

"But my overall thoughts on the game were that we started abysmally. The first 10 minutes, I don’t know what we were thinking. We thought we were going to come here and play in some sort of way which is just completely foreign from a decent away performance.

"We gave ourselves a mountain to climb going a goal down, which we deserved to go a goal down. We got back into the game and then things were fairly even until about the 40th minute.

"The two goals we concede before half-time were just abysmal. Then second-half, Stoke killed the game off very early.

"I think the biggest positive is that it finished six."

Tom Cannon came into tonight with 10 goals in 37 appearances in the Championship, for Preston, Leicester and new-club Stoke, over the past three seasons.

It worked out as a goal every 210 minutes on the pitch.

Tonight the 21-year-old Ireland international, on loan from the Foxes, scored four in 38 minutes, two with either foot.

He didn't quite match-up to the Potters record, however.

Neville Coleman scored seven in Stoke's 8-0 win over Lincoln City on 23 February, 1957.

For a time there looked a very real chance Portsmouth might actually concede enough goals to have gone bottom tonight.

Stoke declared at 6-1 after 54 minutes and winless Pompey remain above Cardiff by three goals of goal difference, though Preston's win over Watford means those two sides already have a gap to close to try and haul themselves away from the basement.

Stoke are up to 15th after picking up their first points under Narcis Pelach, and if they play as they did tonight, there are plenty more points coming too.

Sheffield Wednesday slip a place to 19th after their stalemate at Ashton Gate.

Lee Bullen
Former Sheffield Wednesday caretaker manager on BBC Radio Sheffield

Sheffield Wednesday manager Danny Rohl was almost joining in the press in the second half with his clapping, so that was good to see.

We occupied City's 18 yard box and the players will hopefully leave feeling a bit more confident.

A point away from home and a clean sheet are positives.

Image source, Getty Images

Boos echo around Ashton Gate as the full whistle is blown and Sheffield Wednesday collect their first point away from home of the season.

The draw means Bristol City remain unbeaten at home but Liam Manning will probably feel like they could have come away with more having applied so much pressure towards the end of the first half.

But then, so will Sheffield Wednesday boss Danny Rohl, as his side began to show their own attacking intent as the second half progressed.

Owls keeper James Beadle put his gloves to good use throughout the match, saving both Joe Williams' effort in the first half and beating out Mark Sykes to stop a heart-breaker in the dying minutes.

Neither side will be disappointed but neither will be thrilled either.

City's Mark Sykes gets on the end of a one-two counter-attack and goes for goal but James Beadle is there, yet again, to make the save.

Shea Charles puts in a high volley to stop a Bristol City press forward.

It's collected by Barry Bannan, who puts it towards the six-yard box but they can't capitalise.

Four more minutes for either side to come away with the three points.

Can someone take it?

Guy Whittingham
Former Portsmouth manager on BBC Radio Solent

I'm sure John Mousinho will learn something from this.

You have to as a young manager.

What I'm certain of is that the journey home will be very quiet.

A big performance from Milutin Osmajic sets Preston apart from Watford and has given Deepdale a Wednesday night to remember.

His two goals gave the home side all the energy to steer towards a win as Ali McCann's strike from a free-kick put them out of reach from a subdued Watford.

The Hornet's passing significantly improved in the second half as they raised their percentage to 80 for successful passes but their low energy wasn't enough to keep the Lancashire club at bay.

It means Preston are now on a 20 game unbeaten run at Deepdale during the midweek. Something about these games gets North End singing the right kind of tune.

Watford's Ryan Andrews goes running up the right-hand side as he tries to make sure the away fans don't go home with nothing to shout about.

It's to no avail. Andrews has been a bright spark for the Hornets since coming on but no where near the wattage of the Preston players.

Nobody saw this coming. Nobody.

Stoke were absolutely rampant and had their way with Portsmouth as Narcis Pelach picks up his first points as Potters boss.

They had scored just four goals in their opening seven league games but bagged six tonight, five of them in an extraordinary 13-minute spell either side of half-time.

Tom Cannon stole the show with four goals, a couple of them quite sublime, while Sam Gallagher also fired home a rocket and Andrew Moran fizzed the low sixth on 53 minutes.

Portsmouth have had a lot of fun in the past couple of seasons but this will be a truly chastening night for their players, and especially John Mousinho.

Image source, Getty Images

Josh Tymon's excruciating own goal just before the break settles this one.

Both sides spurned a number of chances to add to the scoring, Kieffer Moore and Tyrese Campbell striking the woodwork for the hosts while Myles Peart-Harris somehow shot wide with the goal at his mercy for the Swans.

Blades remain unbeaten and will probably never think about this match again.

Three points and a clean sheet on a Wednesday night is how you get promoted from the Championship.

Chris Wilder and Blades fans know that formula only too well.

Image source, Getty Images

Nearly a consolation for the visitors as Paddy Lane drifts to the back post to meet a curling free-kick but his first-time effort from an angle is blocked down low by Viktor Johansson who has been largely a spectator tonight.

This game feels dead in the water and it's unlikely that Watford are going to claw anything back from this one as they enter seven added minutes.

The Hornets have lacked any kind of composure tonight. Hungover from the ecstasy of their Saturday afternoon win over Sunderland perhaps?

Montenegro fans will be very pleased watching their freshly called up striker leave the Deepdale pitch to a standing ovation.

It's been a strong match-winning showing from Milutin Osmajic and he will surely be missed should his FA hearing not go his way.