Championship
Dwight Gayle scored a hat-trick in a rampant 4-0 win at Rotherham which extended West Brom’s unbeaten run to seven games and ensured they remain in the hunt for automatic promotion. It was the sixth away win of the season for Darren Moore’s third-placed side and kept them within five points of leaders Norwich, who won 1-0 at Blackburn.
Middlesbrough moved fourth thanks to George Friend’s goal in the 77th minute which secured a 1-0 win at Reading, who left it until after full-time to confirm José Gomes as their new manager. The club has agreed a severance package of around €1m with Rio Ave for the 48-year-old from Portugal, who takes over with the club one place above the relegation zone and without a win since 3 November. Boro’s win meant they pulled away from Derby, who drew 1-1 at home against mid-table Bristol City, and Sheffield United, who needed a second-half Billy Sharp strike to earn them a point against bottom-of-the table Ipswich, who remain four points adrift.
Toni Leistner’s header gave QPR their second win in a row. They secured their first away win over Nottingham Forest in 35 attempts, holding on 1-0. Wigan sank to a 3-0 home defeat by Birmingham, who are making steady progress towards the play-offs, while Brentford gave their survival hopes a boost with a 1-0 win over Bolton thanks to Neal Maupay’s 14th goal of the season. Michael Hector’s second half-header gave managerless Sheffield Wednesday a 1-0 win over 10-man Preston and Saido Berahino scored the only goal of the game as resurgent Stoke beat Millwall 1-0 at home.
Blackburn 0-1 Norwich, Brentford 1-0 Bolton, Derby 1-1 Bristol City, Ipswich 1-1 Sheff Utd, Nottm Forest 0-1 QPR, Reading 0-1 Middlesbrough, Rotherham 0-4 West Brom, Sheff Wed 1-0 Preston North End, Stoke 1-0 Millwall, Wigan 0-3 Birmingham, Hull 3-2 Swansea
League One
Portsmouth strengthened their position at the top of the league as the biggest crowd at Fratton Park since 2011 watched the home side run out 3-1 winners against third-placed Sunderland. The match was goalless when Glenn Loovens was sent off for bringing down Oli Hawkins in the 47th minute. Gareth Evans converted from the spot and it was an uphill struggle for the away side from then on. Second-placed Luton pulled four points clear of Sunderland as they made it six league wins in a row with a 2-0 victory against Burton. Promotion hopefuls Charlton won 2-0 at Gillingham thanks to first-half goals from Ben Reeves and Tariqe Fosu. In the other play-off spots, Peterborough drew 1-1 with Walsall and Doncaster were held to a 2-2 draw at home against Oxford United and Barnsley won 1-0 against fellow play-off hopefuls Blackpool.
Blackpool 0-0 Barnsley, Bradford City 2-0 Scunthorpe, Bristol Rovers 2-1 Fleetwood, Charlton 2-0 Gillingham, Doncaster 2-2 Oxford Utd, Luton 2-0 Burton Albion, Peterborough 1 -1 Walsall, Plymouth 0-3 Accrington, Portsmouth 3-1 Sunderland, Shrewsbury 1-0 Coventry, Southend 1-2 Rochdale, Wycombe 1-2 AFC Wimbledon
Down at the bottom, Jake Jervis secured Wimbledon’s first away win since September as the bottom side won 2-1 at Wycombe to move them within three points of safety. Plymouth are second bottom after being hammered 3-0 by Accrington but Bristol Rovers came out 2-1 winners in a feisty game in which James Clarke snatched three points in stoppage-time against Fleetwood, who had striker Ched Evans and manager Joey Barton sent off.
League Two
Goals from John Akinde and Harry Anderson in the first 10 minutes set leaders Lincoln on their way to a 3-2 victory against Newport that took them four points clear of MK Dons, who fell to a 1-0 home defeat to third-placed Colchester. Bury bounced back from their 4-2 defeat at Oldham with a 2-1 home win over Tranmere to stay hot on the heels of the clubs in the automatic promotion places. Mansfield made it two wins in a row with a an impressive 3-1 victory over Stevenage, while Jayden Stockley scored a hat-trick as Exeter won 3-2 at Oldham to stay in the hunt for a play-off place.
Down at the bottom, Sol Campbell’s Macclesfield extended their unbeaten home run to three matches with a goalless draw against Port Vale. It was an important point with second-bottom Notts County suffering a 4-0 hammering at Grimsby and Cambridge, just outside the relegation zone and three points above Macclesfield, going down 3-0 at Morecambe.
Bury 2-1 Tranmere, Crawley 2-3 Carlisle, Forest Green 1-0 Crewe, Grimsby 4-0 Notts County, Lincoln 3-2 Newport, MK Dons 0-1 Colchester, Macclesfield 0-0 Port Vale, Morecambe 3-0 Cambridge, Oldham 2-3 Exeter, Stevenage 1-3 Mansfield, Swindon 0-0 Cheltenham, Yeovil 1-1 Northampton
