Aaron McLean, the former Peterborough United and Hull City striker now working as a BBC Final Score pundit, has given his five takeaways from the weekend’s Championship, League One and League Two action. His assessment covered Wrexham’s statement win over Southampton, QPR’s promotion credentials, Bradford City’s rise to the top of League One, Bromley’s resilience and Gillingham’s strong form in League Two.
Wrexham ended Southampton’s five-match unbeaten run with a 2-1 victory, their first home win of the season and only their second win of the campaign. McLean said he does not probably think Wrexham are a candidate for automatic promotion, but the win will give them huge confidence. He noted that pressure has grown after last season, when they were outstanding and, in his view, overachieved, raising expectations that the team has not quite lived up to. Beating Southampton, one of the in-form teams in the division, will do Wrexham and Phil Parkinson no end of good, McLean added. He also said they need to be more clinical, pointing to West Ham’s 22 goals and Middlesbrough’s 16 goals as examples of top-end sides with players who find ways to kill games off. Wrexham have drawn four games because they have not been able to kill games off, but if they are in the shake-up, McLean would not bet against their owners acting in January to get the missing piece of the puzzle.
QPR’s 2-2 draw with Preston may feel like two points dropped given Preston’s position near the foot of the Championship, but McLean was impressed by the comeback. QPR fought back from 2-0 down and played for 75 minutes with 10 men after Dennis Cirkin’s red card in the 15th minute. Julien Stephan’s side are fifth in the Championship and remain firmly in the promotion mix. McLean said he has been so impressed with QPR, calling them outstanding and capable of staying around the play-off places. He singled out Glen Kamara as an outstanding midfielder who could play in the Premier League, and praised the club’s first-class recruitment. McLean said QPR have addressed previous spending mistakes and can look forward to a competitive season, adding that Stephan has done a hugely impressive job and that the 7-1 defeat to Coventry at the start of last season has been the making of them.
Bradford City’s 58-year wait for a win over Luton Town ended with a 1-0 victory that took them above Sheffield Wednesday to the top of League One. The Bantams have scored only seven goals in seven games but have conceded just four, the joint-best defensive record in the EFL. Graham Alexander, in charge since November 2023, has been linked with the vacancy at Preston North End. McLean said Bradford are a massive club and Alexander is an outstanding manager who is at the right club to continue progressing. He highlighted Bradford’s bouncebackability: after winning their first two games, back-to-back defeats raised questions, but they responded with three straight wins. McLean said their lack of goals is probably not sustainable for a promotion challenge, but it has not needed to be because they have been so good defensively and hard to beat from front to back. He expects their conversion rate to improve and tipped Bobby Pointon as a fantastic young striker who could be one of the best in the division over the next few seasons.
Bromley ended Huddersfield Town’s unbeaten start to the season with a 2-1 victory. It has been a challenging first few weeks in the third tier for the first time in their history, with three straight defeats and 14 goals conceded, but Andy Woodman’s side showed resilience. McLean said it is easy to lose sight of how quickly Bromley have risen and the jump that exists between League Two and the top end of League One. He said beating Huddersfield, the form team in the division, will do them the world of good and shows they have the character and belief in the dressing room to respond. McLean said Woodman will be absolutely delighted and that consolidation in League One will surely be the goal this season, with these three points going a long way to helping achieve that.
Gillingham’s 3-0 win over Bristol Rovers made them the form side in League Two, with three wins and three draws in their past six, and moved them up to fourth. Since dropping into League Two four years ago, they have never finished higher than 12th. McLean said he spoke to Gareth Ainsworth in the summer and Ainsworth admitted he got it wrong last season, with early overachievement creating a false impression of where the squad was. McLean said Ainsworth has ripped up the script, the team has looked positive and is playing its way into form. He noted that Ainsworth is huge on the psychological aspect of management and players emptying the tank, and that players must buy into that. McLean compared it to Ainsworth’s Wycombe sides, saying you do not have to be the biggest club in the division as long as everyone is pulling in the right direction. James Brophy has scored three goals in his past three games.
McLean was speaking to BBC Sport England’s James Piercy.