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Frank Lampard hailed Coventry’s win against Leicester as “massive” after Haji Wright’s first goal since early October secured a 2-1 victory. Jordan James had opened the scoring for the visitors before Ellis Simms equalised shortly after half-time. Wright came off the bench to grab an 85th-minute winner as Coventry claimed a much-needed three points after a run of two victories in eight.
“It was a massive win because it was a tough match,” said Lampard. “They’re a quality team, you can’t get fooled by their league position because if they turn up and play well they give you problems. They gave us problems in the first half which makes us happier that we had half-time, dealt tactically with the problems and the feeling of the game and owned it in the second half.
“It was tense in the first half, they played well but we grabbed it back. Over the course of a season of course you’ll have games like this and full credit to the lads. We’ve set really high standards here and we’re used to having a lot of momentum in games and it’s normal that you don’t always have that. It’s my job to remind players because there was tension in the stadium.”
The former Blackburn player Sam Szmodics scored a late third goal against his old club as Ipswich extended their unbeaten run to six matches in all competitions with a 3-0 victory at Portman Road. Two goals in the opening 12 minutes set Ipswich on their way and they remain third in the table.
Injury-hit Blackburn conceded an own goal from the debutant Eiran Cashin, while the midfielder Jack Taylor scored the second and Szmodics was on target in the 88th minute in a match where the hosts spurned a series of chances. Blackburn, who failed to have a shot on target, were left languishing in 20th spot, four points above the relegation zone.
Blackburn’s manager, Valérien Ismaël, said: “The two goals in the first half just killed the momentum and everything in the game. In the first half Ipswich got nothing, just the two goals and apart from that it can’t be possible that we concede every time and come back into the game away against a strong team.”
Femi Azeez returned to the club that once released him to inspire Millwall to a 2-0 victory over Watford at Vicarage Road. Goals from Azeez, a Watford youth product until he was let go at the age of 14, and Josh Coburn kept Millwall in the playoff positions and brought a shuddering halt to Watford’s four-game winning run in the Championship. A stop-start game was delayed by numerous injuries and an incident when a ballboy entered the playing area and caught the ball in the mistaken belief the ball had curled out of play.
Goals from Kyle Joseph and Charlie Hughes extended injury-hit Hull’s unbeaten run on the road to five matches with a 2-1 win at Southampton. Joseph and Hughes both took advantage of weak defending to make it six wins from Hull’s last nine away matches. The Tigers were without 11 players for their visit to the south coast but returned to the playoff places, despite Ross Stewart’s consolation.
League One roundup: Cardiff victory extends lead at top
ShowTable-topping Cardiff tightened their grip on an automatic promotion place in League One with a 2-1 win at third-placed Bradford. First-half finishes from David Turnbull and Calum Chambers moved them nine points clear of Bradford, who pulled a goal back through Jenson Metcalfe.
Second-placed Lincoln slipped six points behind the leaders after surrendering a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 at Luton. Freddie Draper and Rob Street put Lincoln in control, but Gideon Kodua and Nahki Wells brought Luton level before the break.
Stockport climbed to fifth after Benony Andresson secured a 3-2 success over second-bottom Rotherham in a game featuring three own goals.
Josh Sheehan earned fourth-placed Bolton a 1-0 derby win at Wigan, while Dom Ballard hit a hat-trick in Leyton Orient’s 3-1 victory over Reading.
David McGoldrick’s double earned Barnsley a 2-1 win, which left lowly Blackpool outside the relegation zone on goals scored.
Burton climbed out of the drop zone thanks to a surprise 3-1 win over Huddersfield.
Doncaster moved within three points of safety after their captain Owen Bailey scored in the ninth minute of added time to secure a 1-0 success at 10-man AFC Wimbledon, who had the defender Joe Lewis dismissed in the 90th minute.
Wycombe sit three points off the playoff places after Fred Onyedinma’s double earned a 2-1 victory which pushed Northampton into the bottom four, while Stevenage’s top-six hopes were damaged by a 3-0 defeat at Exeter.
Rock-bottom Port Vale are 11 points from safety after two goals from Oliver Irow helped Mansfield to a comfortable 3-0 victory.
Plymouth won 1-0 at Peterborough, who had Peter Kioso sent off late on, following a first-half goal from Aribim Pepple. PA Media
Patrick Agyemang scored a deserved late winner as Derby beat Preston 1-0 at Deepdale. The Rams created more opportunities throughout the match and the 25-year-old United States international claimed victory with a well-directed header in the 82nd minute. It was just a third league home defeat of the season for Paul Heckingbottom’s playoff hopefuls and they remain in the top six. Stoke drew 0-0 at home to QPR in a match-up between two teams just outside the playoffs.
Norwich inflicted Wrexham’s first home league defeat since September with a 2-1 victory. Anis Ben Slimane gave Norwich a ninth-minute lead before the in-form Sam Smith restored parity before the break. Jovon Makama struck after 58 minutes to take his league goals tally into double figures and end Wrexham’s 10-game unbeaten home league run that stretched back to 13 September. Norwich remain in the relegation zone despite an upturn in results since Philippe Clement succeeded the sacked Liam Manning in November, but are within a point of Blackburn and Portsmouth in 22nd.
League Two roundup: Gillingham deny Newport precious win
ShowNewport missed the chance to move out of the relegation zone after conceding two added-time goals to lose 3-2 at Gillingham. Goals from Michael Spellman and Cameron Antwi, either side of Conor Masterson’s equaliser, put Christian Fuchs’s side in front at Priestfield, but Armani Little levelled with a late penalty before Garath McCleary grabbed a dramatic winner for the Gills.
Bromley edged six points clear at the top despite being held to a goalless draw at Chesterfield. Salford, in fourth, moved level on points with Swindon, their second-placed opponents, with a thrilling 3-2 victory at the County Ground secured by goals from Oliver Turton, Kelly N’Mai and Kallum Cesay.
Third-placed Walsall also have 46 points after goals from Priestley Farquharson, Daniel Kanu and Jamille Matt earned a 3-1 victory at Tranmere.
First-half goals from Ben Wiles and Aaron Collins secured fifth-placed MK Dons a 2-0 win at Accrington.
Cambridge remain sixth after extending their unbeaten run to 11 matches courtesy of goals from Sullay Kaikai and James Gibbons in a 2-1 success at Fleetwood.
Notts County climbed into the final play-off spot after Jodi Jones and Alassana Jatta were on target in a 2-1 victory at struggling 10-man Crawley, who remain a point above the relegation places.
Shrewsbury pulled away from the drop zone by stretching second-bottom Harrogate’s winless run to 16 games with a 1-0 win.
Eighth-placed Colchester beat lowly Bristol Rovers 1-0 thanks to Owura Edwards’s 85th-minute goal.
Elsewhere, Grimsby defeated 10-man Barnet 1-0, Oldham came from behind to beat Cheltenham 2-1 and Crewe registered a 3-1 victory over Barrow. PA Media
Sonny Carey’s second-half goal earned Charlton a 1-0 victory over nine-man Sheffield United at the Valley. Djibril Soumaré and Japhet Tanganga both saw red in the first half to leave Chris Wilder’s side with a huge uphill battle. The Blades had dominated before their two dismissals. Soumaré was sent off in the 35th minute after the midfielder produced an ugly, late, high tackle on Harvey Knibbs, who was carried off on a stretcher with what appeared to be an injury to his right ankle. Tanganga was sent off in the second minute of added time before the break as he led with an elbow and caught Carey in an aerial duel.
Portsmouth claimed an important three points in their bid for survival as they beat Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 at Hillsborough. The Owls may have fancied their chances as their only league win in an otherwise miserable season came against the visitors back in September but Adrian Segecic’s second-half goal was enough to give Pompey the victory in a game with a lack of any real attacking quality shown from both sides.
Oxford and Bristol City played out a messy goalless draw at the Kassam Stadium in Matt Bloomfield’s first match as the home side’s manager. The point leaves the Us second bottom.
Swansea were denied a first win in three games as Patrick Roberts brought Birmingham’s poor away sequence to an end in a 1-1 draw. Roberts scored a 72nd-minute equaliser for the visitors to prevent them from falling to a seventh straight defeat on the road in the Championship. Zan Vipotnik had given Swansea a first-half lead with his 14th goal of the season.
On Friday, Delano Burgzorg climbed off the bench to help Middlesbrough snatch a dramatic 3-2 victory over West Brom in Eric Ramsay’s first game in charge at the Hawthorns. It looked like Ramsay would take a point away from his first game after his new side fought back from two goals down but Burgzorg’s late strike consigned the Baggies to their 14th league defeat of the season.
Middlesbrough made their first-half possession count when Alex Gilbert’s strike bounced off the post and forced Charlie Taylor to put into his own goal, before Sam Silvera doubled his season account in the second half. It took West Brom going two goals down for them to awaken. An Isaac Price free-kick halved the deficit and within minutes Jed Wallace climbed off the bench to strike an equaliser – only for Burgzorg to grab the points back for Boro.
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