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Oscar Schwartau climbed off the bench to fire Norwich to a 2-1 win against Millwall – and do their fierce rivals Ipswich a big favour.
The Lions, who started Easter Monday in second, had taken the lead through substitute Mihailo Ivanovic shortly after half-time. But a long-range rocket from Pelle Mattsson and Schwartau’s winner condemned them to defeat to give the chasing pack – including Norwich’s East Anglian foes Ipswich – a major boost in the race for automatic promotion.
It was a tame first half from the Lions, who only threatened when Femi Azeez wriggled past a couple of challenges only to fire off target and Tristan Crama flashed a late header wide. Kenny McLean had a heated discussion with the Millwall manager, Alex Neil, who used to manage Norwich, just before half-time to at least give the home crowd something to get animated about.
Neil sent on Ivanovic for the ineffective Luke Cundle and the move paid dividends 11 minutes into the second half. Crama played a delightful ball out to Casper de Norre, whose cross found the head of Ivanovic to guide home from four yards.
But eight minutes later Norwich hauled themselves level when the ball was worked to Mattsson 20 yards out and the Dane crashed his first-time shot into the top corner. Then, in the 76th minute, Norwich broke forward three-on-two and Mohamed Touré kept his nerve to play in fellow sub Schwartau for a simple finish past the exposed Patterson to win it for City.
Tommy Conway scored a second-half penalty equaliser as promotion-chasing Middlesbrough earned a precious point from a 2-2 draw at Swansea.
Alex Bangura had opened the scoring for Kim Hellberg’s side before Zan Vipotnik’s double for Swansea. Bangura made the most of an error by Sam Parker to surge forward before exchanging passes with Conway and smashing the ball past a startled Lawrence Vigouroux in the Swansea goal.
It was Bangura’s first goal in almost two years and the opening salvo in an eventful first half for the Boro wing-back. Midway through the period, Bangura lunged at Liam Cullen just as the Swans forward was sliding the ball out of his opponent’s reach and the hosts were awarded a penalty. Vipotnik made no mistake from the spot to level things up at 1-1 after 20 minutes.
In the fourth minute of first-half stoppage time, another reckless Boro challenge enabled Vipotnik to score his second penalty. This time, it was the goalkeeper Sol Brynn who dragged down Eom Ji-sung, even though it appeared an unnecessary intervention. Vipotnik deployed the same stuttering run-up as in his first kick, but this time rolled the ball into the opposite corner.
Matthew Donohue awarded his third – and least convincing – penalty in the 75th minute. Eom found himself on the wrong side of Callum Brittain and when the full-back went down, it was judged sufficient for another spot-kick that was slotted home by Conway to make it 2-2. Cullen drew a late save from Brynn but Boro clung on for a precious point.
The Charlton manager, Nathan Jones, said that Conor Coady had been taken to hospital after being knocked out during the 1-1 draw at Watford. The former England international, 33, needed nine minutes of treatment after being hit on the head by Tom Ince’s shot as the match moved into second-half stoppage time.
“He lost consciousness and we are just assessing it now. He has gone off to hospital, so hopefully he will be OK,” Jones said. “You ask defenders to put their bodies on the line and he literally did that. It is a ball, at the end of the day, it’s not like he has been hit by a boxer. Hopefully it is just precaution, he recovers and he can be with his family tonight.”
Matty Godden put Charlton ahead with his first touch after coming on as a substitute, stylishly converting Kayne Ramsay’s flick on from Harry Clarke’s long throw in the 62nd minute. Charlton’s Will Mannion made a string of saves, with the hosts amassing 31 attempts in total, before Nestory Irankunda produced an emphatic low finish to finally break his resistance.
Andre Dozzell’s 87th-minute equaliser saved a point for 10-man Portsmouth in their fraught 2-2 relegation dogfight at home to Oxford United. Keshi Anderson gave Pompey a ninth-minute lead but Connor Ogilvie’s straight red card seven minutes later gave them an uphill battle.
The Portsmouth left-back had attempted to win the ball, but Ogilvie’s trailing leg trapped Mills’ in a scissoring motion. It was only Portsmouth’s second dismissal of the campaign. In the aftermath of the sending-off, a bottle was thrown towards the officials from the home support.
Brodie Spencer equalised before a diving header from the Tottenham loanee Will Lankshear gave him his 10th goal of the season and seemingly his side the three points. But Dozzell steered home late on to give Portsmouth a place and point advantage over Oxford, with the two sides split by the relegation line.
An inspired second-half performance from the goalkeeper Radek Vitek helped Bristol City make it maximum points from two games under their interim head coach, Roy Hodgson, with a 1-0 victory over Sheffield United at Ashton Gate.
The home side took a 23rd-minute lead when United goalkeeper Adam Davies advanced from his area to win a 50-50 challenge with Emil Riis and the ball ran loose for Mark Sykes to guide home past covering defenders with a cool low finish.
The visitors sprang to life after the break and forced a series of superb saves from Manchester United loanee Vitek and some fully committed defending to keep them at bay. United kept pressing in more than eight minutes of stoppage time, but could find no way past Vitek.
Second-half goals from Jaydon Banel and Carlton Morris earned Derby a comfortable 2-0 home win over Stoke and boosted their chances of a playoff place. The hosts dominated the first period in an exciting half and made their dominance count after the break as Banel jumped off the bench for the injured Patrick Agyemang and scored his first goal for the club since joining on loan from Burnley before Morris finished the job a minute from time.
The downside of the first victory for Derby came when top scorer Agyemang landed awkwardly and was carried off on a stretcher – with his right leg strapped – which could put an end to his World Cup hopes for the US.
Thierry Small scored an unfortunate own goal to help QPR extend their unbeaten run to four games with a 1-1 draw at Preston. QPR, who had won their previous three Championship matches, lacked a spark until Small’s wayward clearance beat Daniel Iversen in the 82nd minute. It came after Preston were managing to hold off the away side’s dangerous attacks and maintain the lead that was given to them by Brad Potts a minute into the second half.
QPR failed to display any goalscoring threat for large parts of the game at Deepdale while Preston, who extended their unbeaten run to three, showed more intent early on.
Jordan Ayew’s late goal denied Sheffield Wednesday their first home league win of the season but it was not enough to drag Leicester out of the relegation zone as they drew 1-1 with the division’s bottom side. Jerry Yates’ second-minute goal nearly proved enough to secure the hosts their first three points since September but Ayew’s quality finish in the 84th minute meant it was only the one point for the Owls.
Later on Monday, Coventry visit Hull at 8pm.
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This story will be updated
