Reading manager Ruben Selles urged the club’s fans to end their mid-match protests after the goalless draw with fellow League One strugglers Burton was halted in the first half.

For the second-successive Reading home fixture, the game was held up in the 16th minute as Royals fans threw tennis balls onto the pitch in protest at the running of the club by controversial Chinese owner Dai Yongge.

After a 10-minute delay, the match was restarted – with Burton clinging on throughout for a desperate point mostly thanks to a string of fine saves from goalkeeper Max Crocombe.

“I don’t think that the stoppage affected the momentum of the game,” Selles said.

“I understand the protests, the fans are not happy. But I would like to play the game in a normal format.

“From the meeting before the game, the referee (Sam Purkiss) decided that we would have to come in (to the dressing-rooms) so that it is like another half-time period.

“We needed to adapt and adjust to that. But that’s two games in a row here now and I would not like to get used to that.”

Of the game, Selles said: “The frustration that we had came from not scoring from the chances that we had.

“We created more than enough chances to have won the game.

“We had great situations that we wanted but we need to be more ruthless in the last third. It is a game that we should win.

“I don’t think that Burton had one shot on target or one situation. I don’t think that they had one situation to score a goal.”

Burton are now unbeaten in four matches in all competitions.

“When you come to places like this you have to defend resolutely and stay close as a team,” Burton manager Dino Maamria said.

“It was a really tough game, as we knew it would be, but I thought our players were brilliant.

“We had good moments when we could have made things out of our transition but we couldn’t do it.

“But if you come here and get a clean sheet and a point, you take it.

“The games come thick and fast but the players have stepped up as a group lately. You can see the resilience and mentality that we are trying to create.”

Caretaker boss Kevin Russell backed new Cheltenham manager Darrell Clarke to take on the challenge of turning their season around at full tilt.

Clarke watched from the stands at Sincil Bank as a first-half double from Lasse Sorensen earned Lincoln a comfortable 2-0 win.

It means the Robins have failed to score in their first 10 league games of the season – a new EFL record – and have taken just one point, leaving them rooted to the foot of the table behind Tuesday’s opponents Fleetwood Town.

Clarke will have just one day to work with the players before that already crucial looking game, but Russell says the former Bristol Rovers, Walsall and Port Vale boss will be up for the fight.

“The manager will have his own philosophy and how he wants to do things,” Russell said.

“He has some experienced boys in there he can tap into and he’s an experienced manager for this level, so hopefully he can find the formula.

“But it’s going to be a battle, it’s going to be tough.

“The position we’re in isn’t great so it’s going to be a battle, but speaking to him earlier, it looks like he’s relishing the challenge so hopefully he can get what’s desired out of the players.”

Danish wing-back Sorensen struck after five minutes to put the Imps in front after Ted Bishop’s pass.

His second arrived in the 21st minute after Aidan Keena lost possession for Cheltenham, allowing Reeco Hackett to supply Sorensen, who beat Luke Southwood with another low finish.

Hackett was close to adding a third two minutes later, curling a shot just past the post with Southwood at full stretch.

Hakeeb Adelakun saw a shot blocked in the box by Lewis Freestone as Lincoln dominated proceedings.

Adelakun had the ball in the net in the 66th minute, but the offside flag was raised and it was ruled out.

Lincoln boss Mark Kennedy insisted the afternoon’s work from his 10th-placed team was not as straightforward as it may have appeared.

“I was never really comfortable on the side, however it looked,” Kennedy said.

“We played really well until Cheltenham changed their shape in the first half and after that, it knocked us and we didn’t recover from that.

“But we’d arguably done enough and I kept thinking to myself ‘it’s a big ask for anyone to score three goals against us here’, which gave us the confidence with how we are.

“But it was a really tough game, so credit to Cheltenham and thankfully we had a strong lead.”

Derby head coach Paul Warne admits home comforts are in short supply after his team were held to a goalless draw by Cambridge.

Warne saw his side dominate but fail to break down a resilient Cambridge team, leaving County with only one league win at Pride Park this season.

Tom Barkhuizen should have done better with a chance in the first minute which he fired at Will Mannion and the winger had another goal-bound shot blocked before half-time.

Martyn Waghorn should have broken the deadlock in the 66th minute, but his header bounced over the bar with the goal at his mercy and, despite late pressure, Derby could not break through.

Warne said: “Our form at home hasn’t been good enough to justify a top-three spot, has it?

“If we’d hung on against Wigan and Portsmouth and scored late here we’d have been in the top three or four and it’d look great.

“Collectively we have to find a way to take our chances at home. When we’re on top we need to be clinical and at the moment we possibly aren’t.

“There wasn’t a lot wrong with the performance, but people don’t turn up to watch us draw 0-0, they want to see us smash teams up. But that wasn’t the case and that’s the disappointment for us.

“We need to be better at things if we’re going to be successful, we have to score goals.

“We didn’t have enough to finish the game off and we didn’t take our gilt-edged chances. We created enough chances, we had maybe four very good ones, and I’d expect us to take 50 per cent of them.”

Cambridge head coach Mark Bonner said: “A fifth clean sheet in nine league games and a brilliant point for us.

“I think every time we go to the top teams we know how hard it is over the last couple of years, so to get a result on a day where we had to defend so often in our box keeps us ticking along nicely.

“We played better at Wigan two weeks ago and lost, but that’s just how football works.

“I think our performance levels against the top teams have been okay and there’s definitely things we can do better, but this is a big, big point for us and gives us some confidence that we can go and get results against teams.

“We’ve had some horrible days against the biggest teams, so it’s not like a tourist day out, you’ve got to take something from the game, then you do learn from them and they are ones that can inspire you.”

Michael Appleton remains unbeaten since taking charge of Charlton but demanded more after a poor first half in the 0-0 draw with Shrewsbury.

Lloyd Jones and Louie Watson went close in the second half while at the other end, Harry Isted denied the Shrews’ Morgan Feeney and Tom Flanagan and scrambled to keep out a fantastic Carl Winchester effort.

Appleton said: “I enjoyed the second half. I didn’t enjoy the first half very much, but I thought the response and performance (was good) and the keeper made some good saves, as they did ours in the first half.

“But a clean sheet is a positive, which they have not done since the opening day of the season.

“So pleased with the way we reacted but ultimately, as a group, they know – and there are certain individuals who know it more than others – that we have to be more competitive than we were in that first half.

“We were braver (in the second half). We passed the ball forward and were more aggressive in our approach with the ball, which means we got higher up the pitch, and we were obviously playing a lot of the game in their half of the pitch, and the stats tell us that.

“I have to be mindful and slightly disappointed with the way we started the game, but at the same time, don’t take too much away in the way the lads responded.”

The Addicks went close to breaking the deadlock early into the second half when Watson’s cross was met by Jones but Marko Marosi tipped it over the bar – before then saving Watson’s long-range strike.

The home side were close to registering their first goal of September with under 20 minutes remaining through Winchester. The right wing-back unleashed a strike from his own half after seeing Isted off his line, but the Addicks keeper scrambled back and pushed it away for a corner.

Shrews boss Matt Taylor said: “The players have given me and the fans and everyone who has watched today everything, I thought physically we were excellent.

“The first half, they couldn’t live with us. Why? Because the players ran, they harried, they chased, and they made good decisions and got to some unbelievable positions on the pitch. I have never come off a pitch where we have had 30 crosses, 15 shots.

“We have missed some glorious chances. The defenders have done their job and the goalkeeper, when Marko was called upon, did his job. I just feel today, regardless of the result, our performance was really good.

“We are all disappointed that we didn’t get three points, but leading up to this, we had lost the last three games. I have never shied away from the facts, and I never will.

“We have to use this as a springboard going into Tuesday night at Oxford. If we play like that and the players reproduce that, whoever plays in the team, then we are going to pick up positive results in this league.”

Lee Johnson was delighted with his Fleetwood players after they got their first win of the League One campaign, beating Leyton Orient 1-0.

The Cod Army had to withstand early pressure before Jack Marriott hit the game’s only goal 10 minutes into the second half.

And manager Johnson was happy that his team got to show their quality after weathering the early storm.

“First and foremost I’m delighted with the first win of the season, both for myself and, mainly, for the players and the staff,” said Johnson, who got his maiden win in charge.

“If I’m honest the first 20 minutes was really poor from us, I thought we were passive, we didn’t play with anywhere near the right enthusiasm, both to press and to make angles and space for our team-mates, we had to change our shape a little bit and we got a lot closer to Leyton Orient and from 30 minutes on we were the better side.

“We could have had a second but we stayed organised and the work we did on the training ground bore fruit and that’s nice to see.

“They had half-chances early on but we made them look like Barcelona by not applying pressure. We have to be a front-foot pressing team, that’s my style and that’s what I demand.

“Once we did that you can see the quality of individual players coming out, because there are good players in that dressing room. They are getting fitter and starting to show what they’re about.

“I’m delighted for Jack to get his first goal of the season and he’s going to be so important for us.”

O’s manager Richie Wellens was critical of his side’s failure to make their early pressure count.

Though they rallied late on in a bid to salvage a point, they returned home empty-handed, with second yellow cards shown to Fleetwood’s Carl Johnston and Orient’s Ethan Galbraith the final act of the afternoon.

“We’ve wasted three points today,” said Wellens.

“In the first half hour we were totally dominant, the atmosphere in here was really quiet, they’ve obviously been struggling and we had an opportunity to be ruthless and we should have been one or two up.

“Fair play to them, they stuck at it and turned the game around with about 10 minutes to go in the first half, and then we started the second half really poorly.

“They got the crowd involved, but I still think it’s a game we should have won. We had a couple of chances late on but with the amount of balls we’ve had in the box and with the amount of opportunities early on, the amount of situations we had in the first half we’ve got to score, and if you don’t then you run the risk of the opposition coming into it.

“Fair play to Fleetwood, they ran a little bit more, won second balls and won a few duels and that’s probably won them the game. We’ve got to take shots on, we turned too many shots down.

“We need to be more ruthless, attack quicker and make decisions quicker and if we do that we probably win the game today.”

Bolton manager Ian Evatt praised the “bravery and courageousness” of his side after they beat Port Vale 1-0 to leapfrog their opponents in the League One table and move into fourth.

Dion Charles struck just before half-time to ensure the Trotters’ rise from seventh with 17 points – the same tally as Vale, who dropped to sixth as a result.

“I think the first half was excellent from our perspective,” Evatt said.

“The slight criticism and critique would be that we should have got more than one goal.

“But we had a lot of control, a lot of domination, which at a place like this isn’t easy to do.

“They’re a good team, they’ve improved a lot since they’ve been promoted.

“Second half, yeah – you can’t come here and expect to have it all your own way for 90 minutes.

“There’s going to be spells where your backs are to the wall.

“They’re going to put you under pressure and the adversity that we came through second half (was fantastic).

“The intelligence with our defending, but the bravery and courageousness, the way we put our bodies on the line and defended our box.

“You have to do that to get results away from home, but in particular here and we did that superbly well.”

Charles scored the winner in the 43rd minute, breaking through and finding the bottom corner with his left foot.

Vale nearly equalised moments later, but Ben Garrity’s effort was well saved by Nathan Baxter.

Randell Williams threatened to double Bolton’s advantage in the 53rd minute, forcing a good stop out of Connor Ripley after a long, mazy run.

Kofi Balmer headed just wide from Conor Grant’s corner as Vale pushed for a leveller, but it was not to be for the hosts.

Valiants boss Andy Crosby felt it was the proverbial game of two halves.

“If you give them too much room to play, they can do what they did in the first half, which is spend a lot of time in possession and we had to do a lot of running because the pitch was too big,” he said.

“We had to do a lot of chasing and then, when you get the ball back, you’re invariably more tired than you are normally.

“And we probably turned the ball over more than we have done recently.

“But the response of the players in the second half – we got on the front foot, we were more assertive, we were more aggressive – both with and without the ball and we penned them back for long periods of time.

“It was probably like what they did to us in the first half and we just couldn’t create that clear-cut opportunity to get ourselves back in the game.”

Furious Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton criticised one of his own players after falling to a 2-0 defeat at Peterborough.

Barton was angered by the actions of winger Luke Thomas, who went down with a hamstring injury in the build-up to the crucial second Posh goal.

David Ajiboye doubled the hosts’ advantage in the match-defining 47th minute incident after a deflected Archie Collins strike had given them a 26th-minute lead.

Barton said: “Their first goal was a deflected hit that went through a crowd of bodies and our keeper had no chance.

“Then to compound it one idiotic young boy – I can’t even call him a man – has compromised the team with his behavioural standards and we find ourselves 2-0 down with a mountain to climb.

“Unless we man up – and I know you have to be careful saying that in the modern era – and absolutely eradicate these weak, feeble-minded individuals that are currently inside our unit, we won’t get promoted out of this division.

“I’m frustrated, disappointed and gutted for the travelling fans who came in their numbers and I think anyone who has been here today will see we were more than a match for Peterborough.

“We didn’t get that little bit of luck and we were sabotaged from within with an idiotic decision from Luke Thomas. It’s three points dropped because we’re better than them.”

Collins had opened his Posh account following a summer move from Exeter with a deflected blast from outside the box.

Aaron Collins was denied by a goal-line clearance from Rovers transfer target Jonson Clarke-Harris and substitute Jevani Brown hit a post as Barton’s men failed to respond.

Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson said: “The reaction has been one I expected. We looked more aggressive today and got what I’d call a gritty win.

“It was a really pleasing result and the clean sheet is very important as well. In fact it’s probably overdue.

“The performance was solid even though we maybe didn’t create as many chances or have as many shots as we have been doing.

“Once Archie scored we got on top and grew into the game, and we then got a great start to the second half.

“But I felt about 15 minutes after the second goal that we started to get sloppy and a little bit lazy.

“I needed to change the midfield as Rovers were getting too much control and the subs who came on did really well.

“David works his socks off, puts a real shift in, gave us some really good moments and scored a goal so I’m delighted with his performance.”

Liam Manning insisted Oxford will not get carried away after a 3-1 win at fellow high-flyers Stevenage strengthened their position inside the top two.

The game of the day in League One pitted third against second and Greg Leigh’s birthday brace ensured the points returned with the Us, who came from behind following Jamie Reid’s opener.

Oxford skipper Elliott Moore sealed the points late on to take Oxford three points clear of their opponents with a game in hand but Manning will not be resting on his laurels at this early stage.

“We’ve achieved nothing yet,” he said. “We’ve got off to a good start, but there’s still a long way to go.

“There’s no feeling like we’ve cracked anything. We’ve got to stay together, stick together. I’m pleased with the players, I keep saying it but they’re the ones who go out and do the job.

“It’s a big win. It’s a really tough place to come with their style and their relentless nature.

“They build up a lot of momentum with their directness and we really stood up to that.

“The big thing was we showed some real bravery. The lads are terrific, I can’t speak highly enough of them.

“It was another experience we’ve ticked off with going behind in a game to then respond and bounce back.

“Greg was excellent. We know what we’ve got with Greg. He gives us that physicality and gives us a threat going forward.

“He took his goals really well. I’m really pleased for him.”

Boro flew out of the traps and saw Carl Piergianni’s header cleared off the line before Reid’s seventh of the season gave them a 15th-minute lead.

But Leigh equalised just eight minutes later and blasted the visitors in front early in the second half, with Moore sealing the outcome late on.

Stevenage boss Steve Evans said: “It was a good start, we were the dominant side and got the goal.

“In the second half, those back boys who have been real leaders for us were poor. We were poor defensively and that gave them a little bit of a lifeline to go 2-1 in front.

“I think there’s only Luther Wildin who can go home happy that he did his job tonight. The other four have not.

“They’ve not done their jobs and two or three of them had bad games individually and were as poor as I’ve seen them.

“But they’re good players, they’re good men. They’ll take that criticism where it’s meant.

“We’re only 10 games in and I see guys next to me celebrating like they’re 35 games in. When they’ve won a promotion they can come and talk to me and I’ll respect them more.”

Northampton boss Jon Brady hailed a perfect away showing from his side as they ran out deserved 2-0 winners at Exeter.

Sam Hoskins ran through to open the scoring in the 20th minute before Patrick Brough sealed victory in stoppage time, ending a run of three consecutive League One defeats.

The Cobblers could easily have been bigger winners against an Exeter side that were a far cry from the one that beat Premier League Luton 1-0 in the Carabao Cup in midweek.

“It was a good day all round,” Brady said.

“It was a really strong performance from the group. I felt the movement for the first goal was excellent and the way Sam goes in one-on-one and finishes it, brilliant.

“Sam has run in from 35 yards and put it in the corner and he has beaten a very good keeper and he has finished it well.

“In the second half, we were brave to stay in the shape we were for as long as we did. And we kept catching them on the counter-attack and we had a fair few chances to be fair.

“They didn’t have a chance second half and we nullified them. We were aggressive and did the ugly side well, won our battles and played forward really well and it was a good performance.

“We reduced Exeter to one shot on target and it is really pleasing, everyone in the team was great in terms of how they worked. Exeter have got a massive squad and we haven’t, we need those players.

“Our fans were brilliant, they have travelled and we wanted to give them something back.”

Exeter boss Gary Caldwell had few complaints with the outcome.

He said: “It was a really disappointing performance. We didn’t get going at any point or didn’t deserve anything from the game. All credit to Northampton, they were better than us and deserved to win.

“I think we were sluggish and that’s a result of Tuesday night. I think it’s the realisation of playing Saturday-Tuesday but if we want to be a big team and a big player, then you have to stand up to that test.

“We did everything to recover the players on Wednesday and Thursday and prepared yesterday, as we normally do, but when the game comes, you have to be ready emotionally, physically to give everything to win a game of football and we were nowhere near the level we expect.

“Some players are getting opportunities and not taking them. Coming out and showing what you are all about on a Saturday is the true test of a footballer but, too often, people have come out and not delivered and we have to change that very quickly if we want to have a successful season.”

Troubled Reading gained the welcome boost of a precious point with a goalless League One draw against fellow strugglers Burton.

Reading – who were deducted four points this season for various financial breaches – dominated for most of a scrappy contest as Burton were grateful to goalkeeper Max Crocombe for a series of fine saves.

For the second home game running, Reading fans staged a protest against controversial Chinese owner Dai Yongge by throwing tennis balls on to the pitch in the 16th minute.

After a 10-minute delay, during which the players returned to the dressing-rooms, referee Sam Purkiss restarted the game.

In a poor first period – before and after the enforced break – neither side were able to create any clear-cut openings.

Joe Powell blazed the ball well off target for Burton early on while, for the hosts, Charlie Savage curled a long-range effort narrowly over.

Femi Azeez went closer with a firmly-struck attempt in first-half stoppage time but the ball was smartly saved by Crocombe.

Reading were comfortably superior after the interval, with Crocombe forced into action to save a thunderous shot from Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan.

And as the hosts desperately sought a late winner, Crocombe made a superb double stop to first deny Ehibhatiomhan and then Azeez on the follow-up.

Dion Charles’ first-half strike proved enough as Bolton edged a 1-0 League One win at Port Vale to leapfrog their opponents in the table and move into fourth.

Charles struck just before half-time to ensure the Trotters’ rise from seventh with 17 points – the same tally as Vale who drop to sixth as a result.

Bolton started the better of the two sides, with Charles’ shot from Josh Dacres-Cogley’s pass just missing the target in the eighth minute.

There was not any further goalmouth action of note until the 43rd minute, when Charles broke through and found the bottom corner with his left foot for his sixth league goal of the season.

The Valiants came close to an equaliser moments later, but Ben Garrity’s effort from James Plant’s pull-back was well saved by Nathan Baxter.

Randell Williams threatened to double Bolton’s advantage eight minutes after the restart, forcing a good stop out of Connor Ripley after a long, mazy run from right to left.

Kofi Balmer headed just wide from Conor Grant’s corner in the 74th minute as Vale pushed to restore parity, but it was not to be for the hosts as Bolton held on for maximum points.

Luke Leahy and Sam Vokes scored either side of half-time as Wycombe saw off 10-man Carlisle 2-0 at Adams Park.

Carlisle goalkeeper Jokull Andresson was sent off in the 29th minute after handling outside his area and Wycombe took full advantage.

The visitors defended well before Gareth McCleary won a penalty just before half-time, which Leahy converted to give Wycombe a half-time lead.

Vokes missed a fine chance to put Wycombe 2-0 up shortly after half-time with a header from close range that went over the bar before being denied by substitute keeper Tomas Holy inside the box.

Carlisle had chances of their own, Joe Garner blazing over when well-placed and Sam Lavelle heading narrowly wide from a corner.

However, Vokes sealed the points 16 minutes from time, rolling his marker and sliding the ball into the bottom-right corner from 20 yards, with Wycombe moving up to ninth in the table and Carlisle just a point above the bottom four.

Jack Marriott’s second-half goal gave Fleetwood their first League One win of the season, beating visitors Leyton Orient 1-0.

The O’s had dominated the first half without turning their superiority into goals and they were made to pay when Marriott struck 10 minutes into the second period to give boss Lee Johnson his maiden victory in charge.

With Orient firmly in control early on, Theo Archibald let fly twice, sending one shot wide and the other straight at Fleetwood keeper Jay Lynch.

Archibald supplied a cross for Ruel Sotiriou but his header was also directed into Lynch’s hands. Lynch then denied right-back Tom James, diving at full stretch to push the right-back’s shot from distance wide.

The closest they came to a goal was Joe Pigott’s header that narrowly cleared the bar.

Fleetwood showed signs of life late in the half but Ryan Broom’s shot, deflected wide by Brandon Cooper, was as close as they came to breaking the deadlock.

But Fleetwood came out for the second half a changed side and Junior Quitirna should have scored when Bosun Lawal sent in a terrific cross. Arriving late, Quitirna somehow put his finish wide. Moments later, Marriott was equally wasteful from a Josh Vela cross.

The breakthrough came when Vela released Quitirna on the left flank and he picked out Marriott in the centre for a well-taken first-time finish.

Quitirna was inches wide of sealing victory with a second goal 20 minutes from time, and though they had to survive the odd nervy moment over almost 10 added on minutes – and with Carl Johnston and Ethan Galbraith both being shown their second yellow cards – they held out.

Archie Collins scored his first Peterborough goal in a 2-0 triumph against Bristol Rovers.

Collins opened his Posh account after a summer switch from Exeter as the hosts made the breakthrough after 26 minutes.

His 25-yard half-volley flew into the far corner with the aid of a helpful deflection off Rovers defender Josh Grant.

Anthony Evans landed an ambitious effort from long range on the roof of the Posh net as Rovers failed to find a leveller before the break.

The deficit doubled two minutes into the second half when David Ajiboye pounced for his first Football League goal in Posh colours.

Ajiboye was on hand to finish after Rovers keeper Matthew Cox had superbly denied Hector Kyprianou following a fine pass from Ricky-Jade Jones.

Posh striker Jonson Clarke-Harris, who saw a club-record return to Rovers collapse on transfer deadline day, prevented his suitors from hitting back with a goal-line clearance to deny Aaron Collins from point-blank range.

Substitute Jevani Brown’s strike against a post was the closest Rovers came to replying before keeper Cox prevented further damage late on with another stunning stop from Kyprianou.

Greg Leigh’s birthday brace ensured Oxford United earned a fourth successive away league win with a 3-1 victory at Stevenage.

The on-song Us kept the pressure on league leaders Portsmouth with their impressive victory at the Lamex, coming from behind to secure all three points.

Captain Elliott Moore had already cleared Carl Piergianni’s header off the line before Stevenage’s in-form striker Jamie Reid opened the scoring with his seventh goal of the season in the 15th minute, tapping in from Kane Hemmings’ pass.

But Leigh opened his account for the Us just eight minutes later, hooking home the rebound after Billy Bodin’s effort hit the bar.

The Jamaica international then blasted the visitors in front 10 minutes after the restart with a powerful half-volley after turning inside the box.

Elliott List was denied an equaliser by a super save from James Beadle with 15 minutes to go before Moore secured the points as he nodded home Josh Murphy’s cross.