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Ibane Bowat’s second-half goal was enough to give Portsmouth a crucial 1-0 win at home to their relegation rivals Leicester as the Foxes plunged a huge step closer to League One. Bowat’s scruffy 63rd-minute strike from a corner earned Pompey a third straight win, leaving them one victory from staying up.
It is now one win in 17 for Leicester, whose demotion to the third tier 10 years after winning the Premier League could be confirmed as soon as Tuesday night, when they host Hull.
Gary Rowett lamented his side’s lack of quality, adding: “I think it’s been rinse and repeat of what I’ve said after the last five games. It was a very physical game and Portsmouth made it very difficult. They want to smother you. I thought we actually dealt with it OK and I didn’t think there was much in the game.
“I think a lack of fight is something that’s been labelled at the team over the course of a season. I don’t know whether that’s fair but I think we showed a lack of quality, a lack of composure. I thought we showed a lack of toughness to do the basics.”
Millwall made a blistering start as they earned a 2-0 victory over QPR at the Den that lifted them back up to second in the table. One win from their previous five games had stalled the Lions’ promotion push, but early goals from Derek Mazou-Sacko and Camiel Neghli meant they controlled this London derby almost from the first whistle. Alex Neil’s side moved one point above third-placed Ipswich, who host their fellow promotion hopefuls Middlesbrough on Sunday, and Southampton in fourth.
Alex Neil said his Millwall side’s fast start, with Mazou-Sacko’s goal coming on just three minutes, was what they needed after their poor run. “We needed to get the fans onside, we needed to be aggressive, we needed to try to pin them in, sustain pressure. We just needed to get ourselves on top of them, and we certainly got that monkey off our back. I thought we attacked it, I thought we were aggressive.”
Cameron Archer struck a superb late winner to maintain Southampton’s remarkable surge towards the automatic promotion places with a 2-1 victory at Swansea. The Saints substitute volleyed home in the 90th minute to rack up a seventh successive league victory for Tonda Eckert’s men. That sequence has propelled Southampton to within a single point of Millwall and level with Ipswich, in third, who have two matches in hand.
It is now eight wins on the trot for Saints in all competitions after their recent FA Cup success against Arsenal. Swansea, who led at half-time through Marko Stamenic’s 20th-minute opener, drop one place to 15th.
A stunning equaliser from midfielder Tomoki Iwata dented Hull’s playoff hopes as Birmingham fought back to earn a 1-1 draw at the MKM Stadium. The Tigers looked to be heading for a valuable three points to cement their grip on sixth thanks to Joe Gelhardt’s 14th goal of the season midway through the first half, until the Japan international’s sweetly-struck long-range effort flew into the top corner 13 minutes from time.
Defender Semi Ajayi blazed a close-range shot wide to spurn a chance to win it for Hull as stoppage-time approached. A fourth league game without a victory represents their worst run of the season and leaves Sergej Jakirovic’s side two points ahead of Wrexham in seventh, with both clubs having three games left to play.
Wrexham kept up the pressure with a 2-0 home victory over Stoke. There was an air of anxiety around the ground after consecutive defeats to Southampton and Birmingham, but first-half goals in the space of 69 seconds through George Thomason and Josh Windass eased the mood. For Stoke, it was a sixth successive away defeat and the season cannot end quick enough for the Potters, who drop to 17th.
Jaydon Banel kept Derby’s playoff hopes alive with the winner in a 1-0 victory that pushed Oxford closer to League One. The home side dominated for large parts of a game both teams needed to win for contrasting reasons and came out on top thanks to Banel’s fine individual effort. In the 22nd minute he won the ball in his own half and surged forward, holding off two defenders, before firing low into the bottom left corner from the edge of the box. Oxford offered little in the first half but improved in the second only to miss two big chances with Myles Peart-Harris and Yunus Konak failing to hit the target.
Mohamed Touré struck a second-half hat-trick as Norwich came from behind to beat Roy Hodgson’s Bristol City 4-2 in a mid-table battle at Ashton Gate. The home side were ahead inside two minutes through Sam Morsy, but Norwich equalised after 51 minutes when Touré had a glancing header brilliantly saved by Radek Vitek, but recovered to stab home the rebound in a crowded six-yard box. He struck again with a tap-in on 70 minutes, then completed his treble five minutes later by deflecting in Paris Maghoma’s 25-yard strike.
José Córdoba made it 4-1 after 78 minutes with a far post header from Kenny McLean’s cross. Substitute Sam Bell fired a stoppage-time consolation for the home side, but could not prevent Hodgson’s first defeat in his fourth game as interim head coach.
West Brom made it eight games without defeat as they pulled further clear of relegation trouble by beating Preston 2-0 at Deepdale. Josh Maja showed great composure in the 11th minute to put the Baggies ahead and Daryl Dike came off the bench to seal the result with a decisive 77th-minute finish.
Interim manager James Morrison’s stint started with defeat to Oxford but since then the Baggies have not been beaten, in stark contrast to the reign of former manager Eric Ramsay, who failed to win any of his eight league matches in charge. This latest success leaves West Brom five points clear of danger with three games to play – albeit with the threat of a points deduction looming over them.
Charlton edged nearer to safety as they drew 1-1 with Sheffield Wednesday. The Addicks took the lead from Matty Godden’s early second-half goal but Gabriel Otegbayo rescued a point for the Owls with a quarter of an hour to play. The draw moved Charlton six points clear of the drop zone with just three games remaining, while Wednesday are now three games unbeaten in a positive end to an otherwise awful season.
Patrick Bamford scored a second-half double as Sheffield United claimed a 2-0 victory over Watford on an afternoon when both sides confirmed they were safe from relegation this season. The striker’s sharpness in front of goal made the difference and lifted Chris Wilder’s side above their opponents in the spring sunshine at Vicarage Road.
