Championship
Both West Brom and Leeds hit last-ditch winners as Preston dropped out of the automatic promotion spots on an afternoon of late drama.
At the Hawthorns, Charlie Austin converted an 88th-minute penalty to keep West Brom top of the Championship. Hal Robson-Kanu’s fourth goal in six games had given his side the lead against Sheffield Wednesday, but a Steven Fletcher penalty looked to have secured a point for the Owls until Matheus Pereira drew a foul in the box in the game’s final stages and Austin slammed home.
Leeds left it even later to seal a win of their own against Luton Town, Patrick Bamford’s sixth goal of the season drawing a reply in the form of James Collins’ bullet header. But Matt Pearson’s 90th-minute own-goal – again forced by Bamford – saw Leeds take the points. They move into second, leapfrogging Preston who came unstuck at Derby County, first-half substitute Martyn Waghorn making an immediate impact to fire home the winner.
Swansea fell to sixth with a home defeat to Millwall, Jed Wallace’s sublime free-kick making the difference, while Nottingham Forest shared the spoils with fellow promotion hopefuls Bristol City, Ryan Yates seeing red at Ashton Gate in a game full of chances but devoid of goals.
At the other end of the table, rock-bottom Barnsley came out the losers from a seesawing game at Blackburn, Cauley Woodrow chesting home a late leveller only for Bradley Dack’s second goal of the game to clinch a win for the hosts, while Stoke took a valuable three points against imperilled Wigan, Mame Biram Diouf striking deep into stoppage-time to seal a 2-1 win.
Huddersfield remain within three points of the drop zone after Birmingham’s Marc Roberts cancelled out a well-taken goal from Frazier Campbell to leave the scores at 1-1.
Blackburn 3-2 Barnsley, Brentford 1-0 Reading, Bristol City 0-0 Nottingham Forest, Derby 1-0 Preston North End, Huddersfield 1-1 Birmingham, Luton 1-2 Leeds, Stoke 2-1 Wigan, Swansea 0-1 Millwall, West Brom 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday, Charlton 2-2 Cardiff
League One
The leaders also left in late in League One, Wycombe snatching a late victory over 10-man Doncaster thanks to Joe Jacobsen’s 92nd-minute spot-kick, a win that extended their lead at the top to five points after Ipswich were held to a 2-2 draw at home to Blackpool, Jay Spearing and Luke Garbutt exchanging penalties after Joe Nuttall’s close-range finish had cancelled out Gwion Edwards’ opener.
Coventry also lost ground on the leaders with a 1-1 draw at Sunderland, Benjamin Mgunga-Kimpioka stealing a point for the hosts in the last minute after Dominic Hyam’s first-half header.
Joe Ward’s injury-time strike gave third-placed Peterborough a 1-0 win over Burton Albion, while MK Dons gave up a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 at home to Rotherham to make it 10 defeats in 11. AFC Wimbledon put daylight between them and their loathed rivals with a nervy 1-0 win over Gillingham, Scott Wagstaff scoring the game’s only goal against his former club.
Bolton’s season of misery continued apace, losing 7-1 at Accrington Stanley and having to play most of the game with 10 men after Josh Earl’s early red card. They remain on one point, only four behind Sol Campbell’s Southend, who fell to a 4-0 defeat at home to Oxford United – they climb into the play-off places.
Accrington 7-1 Bolton, Fleetwood 2-1 Tranmere. Ipswich 2-2 Blackpool, MK Dons 2-3 Rotherham, Peterborough 1-0 Burton Albion, Rochdale 0-3 Portsmouth, Shrewsbury 3-4 Bristol Rovers, Southend 0-4 Oxford Utd 4, Sunderland 1-1 Coventry, Wimbledon 1-0 Gillingham, Wycombe 1-0 Doncaster
League Two
Swindon’s retained their two-point lead at the top of the table, Eoin Doyle 17th goal in as many league games sealing a 1-0 win against Mansfield, and Forest Green stayed closely on their tales as an Ebou Adams double steered them towards a 4-2 victory at his former club Leyton Orient.
Crewe moved into the third automatic promotion spot, speeding into a three-goal half-time lead over 10-man Morecambe in a game that finished 5-0, while Bradford dropped to seventh after a 2-1 loss at Plymouth. Exeter’s 1-0 win at Crawley took them up to fourth in a congested table where seven points separate the top eight, while a Conor Thomas penalty rescued a 1-1 draw for Cheltenham at home to Colchester but could not prevent his side being overtaken by Northampton, who prevailed 2-0 over managerless Grimsby.
A game that had the look of a six-pointer ended a point apiece, with neither Walsall nor Stevenage able to break the deadlock at the Bescot Stadium in a result that leaves the two sides third- and second-bottom respectively.
Carlisle 0-0 Cambridge, Cheltenham 1-1 Colchester, Crawley 0-1 Exeter, Crewe 5-0 Morecambe, Leyton Orient 2-4 Forest Green, Newport 0-1 Oldham, Northampton 2-0 Grimsby, Plymouth 2-1 Bradford City, Salford City 0-0 Macclesfield, Scunthorpe 2-1 Port Vale, Swindon 1-0 Mansfield, Walsall 0-0 Stevenage
