Championship
With leaders Leeds making a dramatic comeback against Blackburn, second-placed Norwich produced an equally riveting display by battling back from 3-0 down at home against Nottingham Forest – though Onel Hernández’s 98th-minute equaliser did not prevent the gap at the top widening to three points.
Two more promotion contenders faced off at Bramall Lane, where Leon Clarke put the finishing touches on a 3-1 win over Derby County that took Sheffield United to fourth. Elsewhere towards the top, Middlesbrough’s promotion hopes were dealt a blow by a former player as Adam Reach’s well-taken finish clinched a win for Sheffield Wednesday at the Riverside, while Jay Rodriguez took his tally for the season to 12 by netting both in West Brom’s 2-0 defeat of Wigan.
Albion’s two fellow top-flight dropouts met at the Liberty Stadium, where Conor Hourihane’s goal was enough to earn victory for Dean Smith’s rejuvenated Aston Villa at the expense of Swansea. In Birmingham, Garry Monk oversaw a 2-0 defeat of Stoke that saw his side climb above the Potters.
In two key clashes in the battle to avoid the drop, Bolton edged past Rotherham thanks to Gary O’Neil’s smartly dispatched winner, and Jed Wallace’s vicious free-kick secured a vital victory for Millwall over nine-man Reading. Rock-bottom Ipswich are seven points off safety after their recent mini-revival was brought to an end with a defeat at QPR, who are neck and neck with Birmingham immediately underneath the play-off spots.
League One
In the day’s early game, leaders Portsmouth fell to a shock 2-0 defeat at Gillingham, which gave Luton Town the chance to reduce the gap at the top to a single point when sides at opposite ends of the form table met at Glanford Park. They duly obliged, the hosts’ 2-0 win extending their unbeaten run to 11 league games and making it a bleak seven defeats on the spin for imperilled Scunthorpe. In Barnsley, Daniel Stendel’s side landed a blow on their play-off rivals Peterborough, climbing above the Posh into fifth with a 2-0 win. Aidan McGeady helped Sunderland bounce back from defeat at Portsmouth by putting Bradford to the sword in front of 46,000 Mackems, while Charlton’s recent momentum was halted with a 2-1 loss to Coventry.
The game between the two clubs at the foot of the table featured Boxing Day’s furthest away trip, and Plymouth’s 211-mile journey home from AFC Wimbledon will feel all the longer after they let slip an early lead to go down 2-1 and enter the new year as the division’s bottom team. Bristol Rovers’ win at Walsall leaves an exquisitely poised race to beat the drop, with four relegation spots to go round and three points separating the bottom five.
Gillingham 2-0 Portsmouth, Accrington 2-1 Shrewsbury, Barnsley 2-0 Peterborough, Burton 3-1 Wycombe, Coventry 2-1 Charlton, Fleetwood 3-0 Doncaster, Oxford Utd 0-1 Southend, Rochdale 2-1 Blackpool, Scunthorpe 0-2 Luton, Sunderland 1-0 Bradford City, Walsall 1-3 Bristol Rovers, Wimbledon 2-1 Plymouth
League Two
The race for automatic promotion received a jolt as both the top two sides tasted defeat, Lincoln falling at Crewe and MK Dons bestowing a valuable win on struggling Cheltenham. Just below them, a quartet of promotion hopefuls faced off, Mansfield vanquishing Bury to go third and take their unbeaten run to 16, and Forest Green steaming to a 4-1 win away at Newport, George Williams bagging a hat-trick.
Elsewhere Carlisle’s Jerry Yates helped take his side to within three points of the play-offs with two goals in his side’s rampant 6-0 defeat of Oldham. Jayden Stockley’s late winner for Exeter leaves Yeovil looking nervously over their shoulders, especially with another late decider, from Jabo Ibehre, ending Cambridge United’s six-game winless streak to secure a vital three points against Crawley Town and lift his side out of the relegation places.
Which meant that the Football League’s most fraught festive fixture was the meeting between its two bottom clubs. And after seeing their early lead cancelled out, Macclesfield prevailed away at Notts County thanks to Scott Wilson’s deflected winner – causing the two clubs to swap positions at the bottom of the table. Sol Campbell now has two wins and seven points from his first four league games in charge.
