Sheffield Wednesday and Queens Park Rangers victorious once more, Ipswich Town continue an unprecedented title charge, Leicester City collect all three points and Birmingham City’s blues continue.
The EFL Championship threw up some shocking and also unsurprising results in what was another chaotic weekend of action in England’s second tier. Here’s a run-down of what happened in each fixture.
Stoke City 0-1 Sheffield Wednesday
Sheffield Wednesday scored a late winner to move off the bottom of the table as they mounted the pressure on Stoke City boss Alex Neil.
Anthony Musaba came off the bench in the second half to break the Potters’ hearts. This is the second win in a row for the Owls as they’ve now taken seven points from nine available to overtake Rotherham United and move off the bottom.
Leicester City 4-0 Plymouth Argyle
Leicester City tightened their grip at the top of the table with a resounding 4-0 victory against Plymouth Argyle.
The Foxes scored three of their goals within a devastating six-minute spell as a Stephy Mavididi brace and goals from Patson Daka and Wilfried Ndidi dismantled the Pilgrims.
Rotherham United 1-2 Swansea City
In the battle of the managerless clubs, Alan Sheehan’s Swansea City beat 10-man Rotherham to send the Millers bottom of the table with no wins since the end of October.
Daniel Ayala was sent off in the 17th minute for the hosts before Charlie Patino fired in the opener on the stroke of half-time. Sam Nombe then equalised for the Yorkshire outfit in the second half before Jerry Yates went on to get the winner to snatch all three points.
Coventry City 2-0 Birmingham City
Clinical Coventry City were brilliant on Friday evening, in particular Callum O Hare. The Solihull-born player scored both goals as an unimpressive Birmingham City added another defeat to their season.
Following Saturday’s result at Loftus Road, Wayne Rooney’s side are now closer to the relegation zone than to the playoff spots, having been inside the top six before his arrival in October.
Blackburn Rovers 0-2 Leeds United
Leeds United kept up the pressure on the top two with a dominant performance against Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.
Sammie Szmodics was on a high, having won Player of the Month for November but the Whites kept him quiet throughout the games before goals from Dan James and Cryscencio Summerville either side of the break sealed the three points for the visitors.
Sunderland 2-1 West Bromwich Albion
Mike Dodds, who was in interim charge following the sacking of Tony Mowbray on Monday night, got his first win in charge of Sunderland in a battle against promotion rivals West Bromwich Albion.
The two Dan’s, Ballard and Neil, scored the goals for the north-east side, while Brandon Thomas-Asante’s late strike was nothing but a mere consolation for the Baggies who dropped out of the top six.
Middlesbrough 0-2 Ipswich Town
Ipswich picked up their third win in as many games with a victory at the Riverside Stadium, while Middlesbrough have won just one in three following the battle of the former Manchester United coaches.
Conor Chaplin and Omari Hutchinson bagged the goals in each half for the visiting Tractor Boys, who remain second, just one point behind leaders Leicester City.
Cardiff 1-0 Millwall
Cardiff moved to within one place of the playoffs as they overtook Hull City with a home win against a poor Millwall side. Dimitris Goutas scored the only goal of the game as Joe Edward’s Millwall have merely one win in their last five games.
QPR 2-0 Hull City
A poor Hull City side were well beaten by Queens Park Rangers in West London, which was their second defeat in their last two games as Liam Rosenior’s men fell out of the top six.
QPR were as impressive as Hull were poor and have now won their last three games to take them within two points of escaping the drop zone. Chris Willock and Ilias Chair found the net, clawing Marti Cifuentes.
The Rest Of The Games
In the rest of the matches, there were three draws as Norwich City and Preston North End played out a goalless tie at Carrow Road.
Meanwhile, Watford equalised late on against Southampton. Che Adams scored for the visitors before Rhys Healey equalised for the Hornets. Saints head coach Russell Martin will certainly be disappointed that his side failed to keep up with the top three after dropping two massive points.
Finally, Huddersfield Town drew by the same score at home to Bristol City. Delano Burgzorg found the net for the home side before Tommy Conway equalised for the Robins as the spoils were ultimately shared.
There are more exciting matches to look forward to in midweek as the Championship shows no signs of slowing down in the build-up to Christmas.
