Hughton happy to lead Toon

Newcastle caretaker manager Chris Hughton is waiting to learn whether he has a long-term future at the club.

An update is due tomorrow on owner Mike Ashley's ongoing efforts to sell the club.

Hughton has done his cause no harm by guiding Newcastle on an unbeaten run at the start of their Coca-Cola Championship campaign, and yesterday's win at Crystal Palace was a third in eight days for the Magpies.

Ashley was expected to decide by the end of this week whether to sell the club to one of the prospective buyers, or to stay on at the helm in what could be a promotion season.

Local businessman Barry Moat, as well as two other consortia, have been talking to Newcastle, with Ashley seeking £100million for the club.

Hughton said: "At this moment we are waiting for a decision to be made on whether the club is sold, or what will happen if the club is not sold.

"I'm very happy to be in this position and very happy to do this job for as long as I am asked to.

"It's not about me putting down a marker for the job, it's about winning games for this club and the players have responded."

Goals from Kevin Nolan and Ryan Taylor gave Newcastle their latest victory, keeping them tied at the top of the table with Middlesbrough and West Brom, the teams who joined them in being relegated from the Barclays Premier League in May.

Ipswich were expected to be challenging, however their 2-0 defeat to West Brom means Roy Keane's side have just one point from four games.

Keane saw first-half goals from Youssouf Mulumbu and Robert Koren condemn Ipswich to defeat at the Hawthorns, where Ipswich goalkeeper Richard Wright kept the score down by saving a 74th-minute Luke Moore penalty.

Keane said: "I always knew that the job would be difficult but there is no getting away from the fact that it is a massive, massive challenge over the next few months. It is sink or swim for the players.

"We don't look much of a goal threat and we are giving bad goals away. That is a recipe for trouble so it is going to be very, very hard."

Middlesbrough manager Gareth Southgate still wants more from his side after a 2-0 win over Doncaster at the Riverside.

Tuncay Sanli and Leroy Lita scored but Southgate picked holes in the performance and admitted his team were "hanging on a bit at the end".

Southgate said: "We have set high standards in the opening few games and if we want to get back up where we want to be as a club then we must stick to them."

Like Ipswich, Brendan Rodgers' fancied Reading side are without a win after losing 3-1 at home to Sheffield United.

Preston stand fourth but received bad news when midfielder Barry Nicholson suffered a broken leg in the 2-0 Coca-Cola Championship victory over Peterborough.

Sheffield United and Leicester are level on eight points with Preston. Leicester were 1-0 winners against Barnsley, thanks to Matt Fryatt's strike.

Coventry suffered their first league defeat of the campaign, crashing 1-0 at home to Swansea, while Miles Addison grabbed a 90th-minute winner as Derby beat Plymouth 2-1.

Jim Magilton remains without a league win as QPR boss after they drew for the third time in four matches, 1-1 at home against Nottingham Forest, while Sheffield Wednesday swept Scunthorpe away 4-0 and Watford were held 2-2 at home by Blackpool.