GETTY Neil Warnock has been praised by Cardiff star Nathaniel Mendez-Laing

At his ninth club at the age of 25, Cardiff’s new recruit from Rochdale scored twice in a 3-0 home win to lift the Bluebirds to the top of the Championship. It put some deep worry lines into Villa manager Steve Bruce’s face, but confirmed Warnock still has the Midas touch for turning careers around. “The manager is very inspiring,” said Mendez-Laing. “He talks to me during the week. To see the titles he’s won and the times he’s taken clubs up, it’s obvious he knows what he’s doing. “I have heard it said a few times in my career that I’m a player with a point to prove. I didn’t go the way I should have done at a younger age, but hopefully this is the turning point.” Villa were ragged and remain winless, and Bruce admitted it was a “rude awakening”.

Derby are only one point better off after a 2-0 home defeat to Wolves, but defender Curtis Davies insists they have the quality to overcome their slow start. Davies, who arrived from Hull in the summer, said: “I see the right ingredients to get out of this league, but we just need to believe we are a team that is ready to go up.” Wolves outclassed Derby to make it two wins from two under new boss Nuno Espirito Santo and Scottish wing back Barry Douglas, who scored the first, said: “Everyone is buying into the way we are playing. It suits us.” Nottingham Forest won 4-3 at Brentford with two goals from new Greek midfielder Andrea Bouchalakis to remain unbeaten and defender Matt Mills said: “It was a really effective display.

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"We did the ugly things well and we’ve got quality within the side to hurt teams.” Brentford slipped to a second straight defeat and defender John Egan said: “We’re massively disappointed. We’ve got a lot to learn. We need to have a bit of nous about us. If you’re scoring three goals at home you should be winning the game.” Ipswich came from behind to beat Barnsley 2-1 with new signing Martin Waghorn bagging the winner, his first goal since joining from Rangers. “We’ve absolutely nicked Martyn. I got him and Joe Garner for £1million between the two of themm” said Ipswich boss Mick McCarthy.