Roundup of latest Sky Bet Championship action which saw the automatic promotion race take centre-stage.
A huge matchweek saw the battle for automatic promotion take centre stage in a potentially season-defining weekend for the top four contenders, whilst the play-off race continued to stay ever tight and there was a relegation six-pointer showdown amongst two rescheduled fixtures in midweek.
Weekend
Pascal Struijk’s second-half headed brace saw league leaders, Leeds come from behind to snatch an injury-time victory over fourth-placed Sunderland, having fell behind at half-time to Wilson Isidor’s strike as the Black Cats were eventually left 10 points behind their hosts come the final whistle.
Anel Ahmedhodzic’s close-range finish fired second-placed Sheffield United to a narrow away victory at rock-bottom Luton.
Burnley remained third following a scrappy goalless draw at Preston which saw the Clarets slip five points off the automatic promotion spots.
Adam Forshaw scored against his former team as fifth-placed Blackburn boosted their play-off ambitions with a 2-0 home win over second-bottom Plymouth, in which Tyrhys Dolan wrapped up the victory with Rovers’ second goal.
West Brom rounded out the top six with a 1-1 draw away at Millwall after Joe Bryan’s own-goal gifted them a vital point, having fell behind to Jake Cooper’s header.
Down in the relegation zone, Derby slipped back into the bottom three in 22nd position following a 4-0 loss at QPR as Ilias Chair struck twice for the Hoops whilst Koki Saito and Ronnie Edwards also netted to inflict a heavy defeat on the Rams in their first game under John Eustace.
Hull consequently moved out of the relegation zone before they even drew 1-1 against Norwich at home, with Matt Crooks’ opening goal cancelled out by Josh Sargent.
Cardiff moved three points clear of the drop after Yousef Salech’s 90th minute close-range equaliser rescued them a 1-1 draw at home against Bristol City, having fell behind to Jason Knight’s header on the hour mark in the Severnside Derby.
Elsewhere, Wouter Burger, Bae Jun-Ho and Lewis Baker found the net as Stoke came from behind to beat Swansea 3-1 after ex Potter, Josh Tymon put the Swans ahead in what ultimately was their final game under Luke Williams before he was sacked.
Ellis Simms’ brace fired Coventry to a 2-1 win at Sheffield Wednesday and to within one point of the final play-off spot, despite Joel Latibeaudiere’s own-goal having pulled the Owls level in the second half.
Middlesbrough suffered a fourth consecutive loss after Moussa Sissoko’s header handed Watford victory at the Riverside Stadium.
Second-half goals from Andre Dozzell and Mark O’Mahony fired Portsmouth to victory as their 12-match winless away run ended at Oxford United.
Midweek
Emil Riis Jakobsen’s long-range strike rescued Preston a 1-1 draw at home to Millwall after Mihailo Ivanovic fired the Lions into a half-time lead.
Luton and Plymouth both remained at the foot of the table but cut their deficits to two points and one point respectively following a 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road, which saw Jacob Brown put the Hatters in front before Maksym Talovierov equalised for the visitors.
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