Championship
• Ipswich tasted victory at Portman Road for the first time since April as Paul Lambert toasted his maiden victory in charge of the club, thanks to Freddie Sears’s second-half winner against Wigan. A second win of the season was enough to pull Ipswich to within five points of safety and four off struggling Bolton, who lost at home to Leeds. Patrick Bamford stepped off the bench to score the only goal of the game on his comeback from injury, striking just five minutes after replacing Kemar Roofe. Bamford, a £7m summer arrival, celebrated by high-fiving Leeds physio Rob Price, a nod to the medical team after being sidelined with a knee problem since September.
• Swansea scored two goals in as many second-half minutes to seal a fine comeback and pile pressure on under-fire Sheffield Wednesday manager Jos Luhukay. Marco Matias handed Wednesday the lead but they have now lost seven of their past 10 matches and teeter five points above the relegation zone after defeat in south Wales. Reading squandered all three points late on at Rotherham, meaning Millwall dropped into the bottom three after slipping up at in-form Preston. Brentford continue to slide down the table after coming unstuck at Hull, where Fraizer Campbell scored his seventh and eighth goals of the season to earn victory and leapfrog Thomas Frank’s side. Hull are in a different vein of form, having lost just once in their past eight matches, though extended their unbeaten run to four matches in front of 10,530, a record-low crowd for a league game at the KCOM Stadium. Elsewhere, QPR returned to winning ways with victory over a stuttering Middlesbrough at Loftus Road.
Aston Villa 2-2 Stoke, Blackburn 2-2 Birmingham, Bolton 0-1 Leeds, Hull 2-0 Brentford, Ipswich 1-0 Wigan, Preston 3-2 Millwall, QPR 2-1 Middlesbrough, Rotherham 1-1 Reading, Swansea 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday, Bristol City 2-2 Norwich
League One
• Liverpool loanee Herbie Kane helped extend Doncaster’s good run, with the 20-year-old scoring his sixth goal in eight matches to help Grant McCann’s side into the play-off picture after a 3-0 win. At the top, Portsmouth stalled at Oakwell, with Barnsley earning a 1-1 draw, while Luton maintained the feel-good factor around Nathan Jones’s side after victory at Coventry. Sunderland fought back from behind, with Josh Maja’s 13th goal of the season enough to see off managerless Bristol Rovers.
• There was drama inside 39 seconds at the Valley, with Naby Sarr sent off for Charlton. Lyle Taylor scored the opener in a 2-0 victory over Wally Downes’s AFC Wimbledon, who were also reduced to 10 men in the first half, when Mitchell Pinnock picked up a second yellow card for simulation. It was a bad day all round for the Dons, who slip to the foot of the table after Bradford picked up a rare win, demolishing Walsall 4-0 on home soil. Elsewhere, a howler – a harrowing air-kick – by goalkeeper Josh Lillis gifted Plymouth victory at Rochdale.
League One results
Doncaster 3-0 Scunthorpe, Barnsley 1-1 Portsmouth, Bradford City 4-0 Walsall, Charlton 2-0 AFC Wimbledon, Coventry 1-2 Luton, Fleetwood 1-0 Burton, Gillingham 2-2 Wycombe, Oxford Utd 2-0 Blackpool, Rochdale 1-2 Plymouth, Shrewsbury 2-2 Peterborough, Southend 3-0 Accrington, Sunderland 2-1 Bristol Rovers
League Two
• Sol Campbell celebrated his first league win in charge of Macclesfield, though floodlight failure threatened to ruin his Moss Rose bow against Crawley. They remain marooned to the bottom of the table, with Neal Ardley picking up victory in his first home game in charge of Notts County thanks to Jon Stead’s late winner to edge them closer to safety. At the summit, Lincoln regained top spot after breezing beyond Morecambe, with MK Dons not in action after Storm Deidre wreaked havoc in Newport, forcing their game in south Wales to be postponed 20 minutes before kick-off.
• Chris O’Grady struck a hat-trick as Oldham brushed aside in-form Bury, while Carlisle hammered high-flying Colchester. And Cambridge got into the festive spirit at the Abbey Stadium, with groundsman Ian Darler marking the pitch with an elaborate Christmas tree – fit with baubles and decorations – though ultimately the U’s had little to shout about in a stalemate with Yeovil.
P.s. Gary Deegan is very much aiming for the 🎄 points today #CamUTD pic.twitter.com/px9OZFoQH0
— Cambridge United FC (@CambridgeUtdFC) December 15, 2018
League Two results
Cambridge 0-0 Yeovil, Carlisle 4-0 Colchester, Exeter 1-0 Crewe, Forest Green A-A Mansfield, Grimsby 2-1 Swindon, Lincoln 3-1 Morecambe, Macclesfield 2-0 Crawley, Newport P-P MK Dons, Northampton 1-1 Stevenage, Notts County 3-2 Tranmere, Oldham 4-2 Bury, Port Vale 2-2 Cheltenham
