Anass Zaroury took less than a minute to announce his return from the World Cup as Burnley secured a 3-0 win over Birmingham. The Morocco winger, who played for his country in the playoff for third place just 10 days earlier, was thrown straight back into the action by Vincent Kompany and responded by scoring the quickest goal in the Championship this season, with 50 seconds on the clock. Connor Roberts, who tasted World Cup action with Wales, netted just before half-time and Nathan Tella rounded things off late on. The win puts Burnley three points clear of second-placed Sheffield United and 11 ahead of neighbours Blackburn, who are third. And Vincent Kompany, the Clarets’ manager, gave some insight into Zaroury’s recent time with his country. “I don’t think the normal mortal human being will understand the challenge there is to go on a bus tour in front of millions of people in your country and then turn up the next day and still do your job as if you have not done anything yet in your life. As long as he keeps doing that, the sky is the limit. It’s a terrific way to come back.” Paul Ince said his Reading side put him through “the manager’s worst nightmare” in their 2-1 victory over Swansea. Andy Carroll gave Reading a 27th-minute lead from close range and Yakou Méïté should have added to it before half-time but blazed over from the penalty spot. Tom Ince doubled the hosts’ advantage eight minutes into the second half and although Liam Cullen reduced the gap for Swansea in the 71st minute, the visitors were unable to find an equaliser. “We made hard work of it in the end but that’s us, isn’t it?” Ince said. “That’s the way the lads are in this moment of time. We’re at a club that is not used to winning games consistently but I’m delighted that is now three wins out of four. “But we just have to feel comfortable in winning games and feel comfortable when you’re in a winning position. It’s the manager’s worst nightmare. You’re trying to get the players up the park [to move forward] but they just don’t move.” Swansea are now winless in eight matches. “We’ve had this same conversation too many times,” head coach Russell Martin said. “We dominated every aspect of the game – shots and better chances. But again, today, we gave away a penalty from a set piece because we didn’t want to fight properly. And then we gave away that second goal, that was just pathetic.” Martin confirmed that, after the game, he approached a Reading player – thought to be goalkeeper Joe Lumley, who was celebrating in front of the Swansea fans. After a brief altercation, the pair were swiftly parted. “I wanted to grab the guy by the throat and fight him,” Martin said. “But that’s not a wise thing to do.”