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Championship

⚽ SCORES

✍️ BIG STORIES

Matt Watts

For the second time in three seasons, Ipswich have finished 2nd in the Championship. The Tractor Boys beat QPR 3-0 to make it three promotions in four seasons under Kieran McKenna. Town ended the intrigue surrounding the second automatic promotion spot, dashing the hopes of Millwall and Middlesbrough in the process, at approximately 12:40pm. In the opening ten minutes of their game, Ipswich had five shots, four on target and they scored twice through George Hirst and Jaden Philogene. Kasey McAteer added a third late on before yet another pitch invasion at Portman Road and yet more scenes of Ed Sheeran leading a celebratory singalong in the changing room. Ipswich’s class of 25/26 might not have set hearts racing like the class of 23/24, but some of that is by design, and the circumstances are very different. After relegation from the Premier League, a summer of squad churn and a season of expectation, Kieran McKenna can reflect on a job well done.

Millwall beat Oxford 2-0 to finish 3rd on 83 points - a single point behind Ipswich - thanks to a brace from Femi Azeez, who won’t be playing in the Championship next season, whatever happens over the weeks ahead. Alex Neil’s side will face Hull in the play-offs, after the Tigers came from behind to beat Norwich 2-1. Oli McBurnie’s brace, coupled with Wrexham’s 2-2 draw at home to Boro means that, despite being winless in six heading into final day and significantly out-performing their underlying numbers all season, Sergej Jakirović’s men still have a shot at promotion. Was McBurnie’s winner offside? Quite possibly, but the Tigers’ luck was in. As for Wrexham, despite a phenomenal free-kick from Josh Windass, their run of successive promotions will have to stop at back-to-back-to-back. The poor things.

Boro will take on Southampton in the other semi-final. Tonda Eckert’s charges beat Preston 3-1 to make it 14 wins (and no defeats) in their last 19 league games. The Saints really are marching into the post-season.

There was a time on Saturday afternoon when it looked like Derby might crash the play-off party. A tap-in from Sammie Szmodics gave the Rams the lead at home to Sheffield United and, with Hull and Wrexham either losing or drawing, Derby were 6th in the live table. However, second-half strikes from Tom Cannon and Sydie Peck saw the Blades come from behind to win 2-1. Thankfully for Derby, Oli McBurnie’s winner at the MKM Stadium meant that their somewhat feckless performance after the break wasn’t the reason why they missed out on a play-off berth. Nevertheless, like Wrexham, those of a Derby persuasion can point to the fact that their final position would have been good enough for a shot at the play-offs next season.

How about some news from the beach to finish? Champions Coventry signed off in style with a 4-0 victory over Watford, who have since parted company with Ed Still. An Ellis Simms hat-trick and a trademark Victor Torp banger from range took the Sky Blues to 95 points and 97 goals scored. Roy Hodgson won his final game in charge of Bristol City - and, potentially, the final game of his illustrious managerial career. The Robins beat Stoke 2-0 - in part due to Viktor Johansson’s blunder in the opening minute. The curse of the new contract video prank? Quite possibly. August Priske scored the equaliser for Birmingham in their 1-1 draw against Portsmouth at Fratton Park. Priske’s father, Brian, played for Pompey 20 years ago.

Last and by no means least, we need to talk about Sheffield Wednesday. After a long and tumultuous season, the Owls saved by far and away their best day of the 25/26 campaign for final day. Their new owner, David Storch, was introduced to the Hillsborough faithful pre-match. Using a countdown on the big screen, they revealed that Wednesday will start next season on 0 points, without a 15-point deduction. Speaking of zero points, Henrik Pedersen’s side beat West Brom 2-1 to secure their first home win of the season and finish a campaign where they were deducted 18 points on… 0 points!

📊 STATS

🔁 Straight back up — Ipswich are the 30th side to go straight back up to the Premier League after being relegated the previous season.

💪 Minute men — Alongside Cameron Burgess, Dara O’Shea was the only outfield player to play every minute of the Championship season. Remarkably, the Ipswich captain didn’t receive a single yellow card.

⚽️ Sky Blues strike — Coventry are just the fourth side to score 97+ goals in a single Championship season after Reading in 2005-06 (99), Bournemouth in 2014-15 (98) and Fulham in 2021-22 (106).

⛔️ Wallwall — No team kept more clean sheets in the Championship this season than Millwall (18), their most in a single season since 2017-18 (19).

😩 Pottered about — Since being relegated from the Premier League, Stoke have finished 16th, 15th, 14th, 14th, 16th, 17th, 18th and 17th.

📺 HIGHLIGHTS

1. A couple of bangers from the Champions!

2. Josh Windass putting his free-kick ‘top bins’.

3. Introducing Leo Walta.

4. The moment when Sheffield Wednesday fans found out that they will start next season on 0 points.

🧮 LEAGUE TABLE

League One

⚽ SCORES

✍️ BIG STORIES

Huw Davies

There were 47 goals in League One, very nearly four per game, but a 1-0 is the only place to start. Three points for Stevenage would render all other results irrelevant in the play-off battle, and in the end, they got over the line. Mostly.

There’s understandable debate about Dan Sweeney’s winner, after 91 minutes in which Wigan came closest to scoring when Harrison Bettoni’s shot hit the underside of the bar – although Sam Tickle also made a miraculous save at 0-0, and arguably did so again for the goal. It’s completely unreasonable to criticise the officials: there is no goal-line technology in League One and the incident is impossible to judge in real time, because we can’t even agree based on slo-mo, pause and alternative angles. But the facts are these:

1. All of the ball must be over all of the line.

2. There is no definitive angle showing it is or isn’t. This, below, is probably the best we can get – a screenshot taken at the exact moment the ball hits the goalkeeper and bounces out – though some Stevenage supporters prefer this angle.

   

3. Considering the position of the goalkeeper’s leg as it stops the ball at its furthest point towards/into the goal, and considering where his foot is placed in relation to that, and considering what we know about the size and shape of a football, it isn’t physically possible for all of the ball to have crossed all of the line.

That’s my reading, anyway, and if that is the case, then Luton can consider themselves unlucky. They’d come from behind to beat Bolton 3-2 in stoppage time of a thrilling encounter, and even had a penalty saved after that. It didn’t matter. It mattered for Bolton, though, who slipped carelessly to 5th after Steven Schumacher had expressly said they wanted to secure 3rd or 4th. Giving up seven big chances at home doesn’t bode well for their play-off hopes, either, even if they can look irresistible going forward.

There was more shuffling as Bradford climbed to 4th and Stockport to 3rd. They beat Barnsley 3-1, yet this viewer’s highlight was an astonishing Corey Addai save that promises more play-off shenanigans from the big fella (even if Adam Phillips did tap in the rebound on this occasion).

Plymouth narrowly missed out on the top six despite winning 3-2 from 2-0 down at Northampton, who were reduced to 10 men at 2-2. Brendan Wiredu’s winner could have been a moment of redemption after his Argyle career began with own goals, red cards and penalty concessions, but it wasn’t to be, largely because Argyle were still in the relegation zone on New Year’s Day; averaging more than two points per game across the subsequent half-season just wasn’t enough.

Michael Jacobs scored a peach for Cobblers but their defeat rounded off a miserable 2025/26 in which they were extraordinarily inept for a third of the campaign:

You may have noticed that Exeter aren’t in the first table. Losing 2-1 to Bradford on Saturday relegated them but the writing was on the wall before that – failing to have a single shot in the first half of a must-win match just added the final arrgghhhh.

Exeter had 39 points with 16 games remaining when Gary Caldwell left with their blessing to join Wigan on February 16th. The points tallies required for survival in the past five League One seasons were 47, 40, 45, 44 and 46. Those at the club wouldn’t have been so blasé as to say it, but two wins would surely be enough. They managed one. It took just 40 days and 40 nights for the Grecians to fall into the relegation zone, and there they stayed.

MEANWHILE…

Mansfield beat Cardiff 5-4, scoring inside two minutes, leading 3-0 after 30 and romping into the final five minutes 5-2 to the good. Louis Reed had a hand in creating four goals for a team having tremendous fun in the sun. Brian Barry-Murphy gave debuts to a couple more teenagers, with Paul Moreno becoming Cardiff’s youngest ever player in a league fixture, as the Bluebirds ended the season having scored more goals than runaway champions Lincoln, which is the real quiz. Lincoln were busy setting a third-tier record by going a 29th consecutive match unbeaten, with a 2-0 win at Port Vale. Show-offs.

Billy Sharp hit a hat-trick in his final Doncaster appearance, a 3-1 win over Peterborough, 21 years after scoring his first EFL treble for Rushden & Diamonds against a Boston United side managed by Steve Evans with Jason Lee in attack. Sharp had a fourth (rightly) disallowed that would’ve taken him to 300 career goals.

And we’ll leave it to Richie Wellens to sign off the regular League One season for 2025/26. This is the message he gave his Leyton Orient players after Exeter’s defeat saved them from relegation, one year on from being in the play-off final:

📊 STATS

👴 Generational talent — Billy Sharp, has now scored an English Football League hat-trick in his teens, twenties, thirties and forties.

👶 Rambo IV — Paul Moreno (16y 111d) became Cardiff City’s youngest ever player in a league fixture, a few months after Rob Tankiewicz (16y 117d) and then Axel Donczew (15y 234d) became Cardiff’s youngest in any fixture, meaning that Aaron Ramsey’s record from 2007 has been surpassed three times in a single season.

☁️ Cloud nine — With nine goals, Mansfield 5-4 Cardiff was the highest-scoring match in the EFL this season.

👣 39 steps to success — Mansfield’s 10th-place finish in the third tier is their highest for 39 years (1986/87, also 10th)…

🙌 Boro’s time — …and Stevenage’s 6th-place finish is their joint-highest in history, level with 2011/12.

⁉️ Wait what — Can anyone explain how Wycombe’s success in BOTH halves did not translate over the season?

📺 HIGHLIGHTS

1. The satisfying crunch of a Jacobs cracker

2. Jack Holmes scores his first (and then his second) EFL goal in style

3. Corners are easy, Bolton-style

4. Headers and volleys, Burton-style

🧮 LEAGUE TABLE

League Two

⚽ SCORES

✍️ BIG STORIES

Sam Parry

It wasn’t simply a Ronan Coughlan overhead kick for Fleetwood that cost MK Dons the title. Almost 300 miles away, where Kent meets South London, Bromley met Walsall and Andy Woodman named an attacking XI to win at all costs – four at the back rather than three, Ben Thompson in, and two wingers.

But it wasn’t Bromley that cost MK, either. It wasn’t Ben Thompson’s hammer-struck beauty, nor Mitch Pinnock’s second-half bobbler, nor an archetypal Omar Sowunmi header. What cost MK was a ragged performance, as they cancelled out Coughlan’s goal but failed to improve upon it. And Bromley, unbeaten at home, did what champions do: they won, won well, and took the League Two crown.

In the battle for the final automatic spot, Cambridge had a chance to take their rivals out of the equation with a penalty against Crewe. Ben Knight missed it. And if Crewe goalkeeper Ian Lawlor was the U’s chief antagonist, producing point-blank saves late on to preserve the 0-0 draw, he could well have become an unlikely hero for Salford or Notts County – a win for either and 3rd place would have been theirs.

The most perverse shock of final day, perhaps, is that neither managed it. At Meadow Lane, there were penalty shouts at both ends before Nicholas Tsaroulla put Notts County ahead and into the top three. They had chances to extend the lead, too, before Bristol Rovers levelled through Ellis Harrison. If not for an offside flag following Jacob Bedeau’s tap-in, Notts would have done it. But they didn’t.

Salford, meanwhile, were battering away at Crawley. The Ammies hit the bar twice, missed glaring chances and watched as a bang-to-rights penalty went unawarded. It somehow remained 0-0, which meant Cambridge survived the wobble and chalked up an impressive promotion back to League One at the first attempt.

Those results confirmed the top five. Grimsby looked nailed on for 6th: already assured of a play-off berth, they led relegation-threatened Tranmere through a slick passing move finished emphatically by Justin Amaluzor. There was a loser, though, or rather another draw, as Tranmere found a fourth-tier foothold at just the right time to avoid relegation. Grimsby finished 7th – so who took 6th?

A straight shootout between Swindon and Chesterfield kept the permutations simple. Dilan Markanday missed a sitter and Ryan Stirk ballooned another chance over, but the Spireites eventually broke through when a fortunate slip-shot assist teed up Lee Bonis. Late in a half that Chesterfield dominated, Swindon hit back through Ben Middlemas after a brilliant solo run by Aaron Drinan, which jack-knifed the situation heading into a nervy second half.

Swindon gained momentum but allowed the tie to skid away as Armando Dobra, producing his own silky assist, squared to Markanday to put Chesterfield 2-1 up. A draw wouldn’t be enough for Swindon, who duly pushed for goals but met with too much resistance – so, 2-1 it finished.

Paul Cook’s side head into the post-season having beaten each of their play-off rivals twice, with an aggregate score of 11-3. How it looks:

And finally, the toughest chapter of the season. At times, relegation seemed inevitable for all five candidates for the final drop. Tranmere collapsed after a promising start, but one win in the last five under Pete Wild (W1 D1 L3), including a final-day draw, was enough to save them. Crawley never found rhythm under Scott Lindsey but Colin Kazim-Richards’ seven-game tenure returned nine points (W2 D3 L2), including a death-defying 0-0 against Salford, where one goal conceded would’ve meant relegation.

Barrow were sliding even before Andy Whing’s departure and then came freefall under Paul Gallagher, then Dino Maamria, then Sam Foley. They required goals on final day against Newport to have any sort of chance. That left Harrogate and Newport as the only real climbers; the sides that started badly, but whose late-season form offered a glimpse at both sides of hope.

If hope looked slim for Harrogate when Barnet scored early, it soon flickered when Simon Weaver’s side converted a penalty to level the game. They had further chances. Shawn McCoulsky shrugged off his marker, drove towards goal and saw his shot brilliantly tipped onto the post. Another opening followed when McCoulsky slipped Tobias Brennan through one-on-one, only for his lob attempt to go horribly wrong. Yet hope remained because, at half-time, Barrow were beating Newport 1-0.

Not only that, but a minute into the second half, Barrow won a penalty. Jordan Wright dived left, the spotkick was drilled centrally, and he somehow saved it with a dangling, relegation-busting boot. It woke Newport up. Not long after, Bobby Kamwa crashed one against the crossbar after darting inside. Then came chaos, as a mix-up gifted an equaliser that Tom Davies took with happy calm. Newport were safe… unless there was a goal at Harrogate. Which there was.

But not for Harrogate. Having missed the chance to take the lead, the Sulphurites allowed Phillip Chinedu, just off the bench, to put Barnet ahead and extinguish all remaining hope. As it turned out, a draw wouldn’t have been enough anyway because back in Barrow-in-Furness…

Lights. Kamwa.

Same angle. Same action.

This time, no crossbar. Saviour Bobby Kamwa smashed home a Hollywood finish for a fifth goal in his last eight starts, all in winning matches – one, an equaliser in a win, and four the actual winners themselves. If he’s the main character of this Newport story, Christian Fuchs has been the auteur director. What a job he has done. What an achievement. And what a tough day for Harrogate and Barrow, who came so close, took it so late, and almost escaped the gravity of the pyramid pushing down.

📊 STATS

🏆 Ravens soar — Bromley are League Two champions in just their second-ever EFL season.

📈 MK Dominance — No League Two side spent longer in front than MK Dons, who led for 46% of all minutes played this season.

🎟️ Mariners in the mix — Grimsby Town have finished in the League Two play-off places for the first time since 2005/06, when they also finished on 78 points.

🎯 Double-double Vernam — Charles Vernam is the only League Two player to record 10 goals and 10 assists in 2025/26, hitting both marks exactly.

⚡ ColU in a hurry — Colchester United scored three first-half away goals in an EFL game for the first time since May 2019 — also the final game of that season.

🛟 County survive — Newport County came from behind to beat Barrow and avoid relegation, winning back-to-back league games for the first time since February.

🎉 U’s go u’p — Cambridge United’s promotion-winning 82 points represent their best tally since winning the Third Division in 1990/91, and they did it conceding just 33 goals – the fewest of any team in League One since Shrewsbury 11 years ago.

📊 Draw ‘specialists’ — No side in League Two drew more games (16) or won fewer (8) than Crawley Town this season.

⏱️ Slow starters — Gillingham lost the opening 10 minutes of matches 10-0 on aggregate.

📺 HIGHLIGHTS

1. Basking Bromley lift the trophy

2. Neil Harris’ speech after Cambridge won promotion

3. The goals that kept Newport in League Two

🧮 LEAGUE TABLE

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Championship

⚽ SCORES

✍️ BIG STORIES

Sam Parry

Here endeth the relegation battle. Veni, veni, veni; nunc descendo. Don’t stick that in a Latin translator.

When it came, the end for Oxford was taken out of their hands by events at The Valley, whose ‘Shadow of Death’ I’ll come to. At 3pm, the Yellows bottled a bit of lightning in beating bottom-three bedfellows Sheffield Wednesday 4-1.

The highlights were two very different and utterly brilliant Will Lankshear strikes. Obviously, those didn’t gloss over the lowlight. As George Elek put it, relegation for newly promoted sides in this league is often gravitational. As Thom Yorke put it, gravity always wins.

Right, what’s still alive?

Charlton confirmed Oxford’s relegation in the lunchtime kick-off, beating Hull 2-1 to dent the Tigers’ top-six chances at the same time. Another pair of brilliant goals did the damage, sandwiching a John Egan header. Charlie Kelman stepped inside and bent one top-right with just enough whip; Jayden Fevrier did similar from the other side, chopping, moving central, and fizzing a shot low into the corner.

Penny for the thoughts of Sergej Jakirović, watching in the stands. Hull are out of the play-off places with one game to play. Luckily for him, Wrexham lost 3-1 to CHAMPIONSHIP CHAMPIONS Coventry on Sunday, meaning 6th and 7th are level on points and the goal difference is actually a touch tighter than it was.

Less lucky for Hull was Derby’s result.

If I told you that QPR were the better side for 70 minutes – 2-1 to the good and dominating the data (2.30 xG to 0.18, 21 shots to 5, 10 on target to 1) – you might agree that Derby’s late turnaround was a touch fortunate. But a set-piece header changed the tone, and Jaydon Banel delivered a 88th-minute winner: flip-flap, cut-in, bend, goal. Special talent. Big win. Huge final day for all three. Derby play Sheffield United (H), Wrexham play Middlesbrough (A) and Hull play Norwich (H).

From play-offs to automatics, and Hull to Hellberg.

Middlesbrough beat Watford 5-1. Does the scoreline flatter Boro, Watford having had good chances at 0-0 and 1-0? Probs not. But they were unusually ruthless, scoring through a Morgan Whittaker free-kick, David Strelec sliding in, Whittaker tapping in, Conway converting a penalty and then Conway again finishing a flowing counter. Kim Hellberg’s side were so clinical it was painful, not just for the Hornets but for the fans of a previously profligate Boro. They must’ve been thinking, “What if?”

What if Boro had picked up a couple more results over the past few weeks? They might be in 2nd place with a cushion, because those around them lost ground without losing.

That started with Millwall on Friday night, as they drew 1-1 with Leicester. Alex Neil’s team had the better of it and can probably count themselves unfortunate to run into long-term Foxes absentee Harry Souttar, who returned from injury for his first appearance in more than a year, scored, and stuck his head on everything.

A late Macaulay Langstaff leveller gave the Lions a share of the points and kept them in touching distance of 2nd place, because Ipswich v West Brom ended 0-0. That leaves Southampton, who almost-nearly-but-didn’t-quite shock Manchester City in the FA Cup semi-final, leading briefly late on before losing 2-1.

Finally, I’ve got to end on the lone Championship hat-trick. Adrian Segečić scored all three for Pompey as they beat Stoke 3-1. It wasn’t perfect but what I’ll call the Ned Flanders variety: left foot, left foot, left foot. That’s seven goal contributions for the Australian Croatian in his last five appearances.

📊 STATS

🔢 Championship Numberwang Streaks — Saints are unbeaten in 17, Derby haven’t drawn in 16, West Brom are unbeaten in 10, Millwall haven’t lost away in 9, Stoke haven’t won away in 8, and Sheffield Wednesday have broken all kinds of records.

🛑 Charlton’s Valley of Life — Charlton Athletic ended a run of four straight home defeats with victory over Hull City, securing Championship survival.

🏟️ Blades blip — Sheffield United have lost 10 home games – only the second time they’ve hit double figures outside the top flight. In total this season, they’ve lost two more games than Oxford and four more games than Leicester, who’ve both been relegated.

🎯 Lankshear lands — Will Lankshear scored his first career brace, taking him to 11 league goals for Oxford United.

📺 HIGHLIGHTS

1. Flip-flap fantasique from Derby’s Jaydon Banel

2. Not so mellow Yellow – a thunderstrike from Will Lankshear

3. Cometh the hour, Kelman the… Kel… man? What a hit!

🧮 LEAGUE TABLE

League One

⚽ SCORES

✍️ BIG STORIES

Huw Davies

THE PLAY-OFF RACE

Top-six mainstays Bradford and Bolton drew 1-1, with great finishes by Kayden Jackson and Johnny Kenny easing each side’s nerves. Bradford do still need to avoid defeat to Exeter; remarkably, only Bolton are assured of their play-off place as we enter the final week, although it’s likely that Stockport will pick up the point they need against Port Vale on Tuesday.

They picked up three against Peterborough, as Louie Barry reminded everyone of his quality. His hat-trick in the 3-1 victory doesn’t tell the full story, but our Stats section below gives a little more. Posh had led through a fine three-man move involving Harley Mills (20), Bolu Shofowoke (17) and Harry Leonard (22), so the future seems bright, as it often does at London Road. The present is a little more worrying: they’re not safe yet, though goal difference is heavily in their favour.

Luton and Plymouth beat Barnsley and Port Vale, Argyle doing so despite Conor Hazard’s red card for handling outside the box, after Bim Pepple and Lorent Tolaj had combined nicely for 1-0 – and that was just the first five minutes. Pepple’s second goal, to win the game, required strength, composure and a precise, sweetly-struck finish. He produced all three. He wasn’t far off joining the day’s array of hat-trick scorers, either, with a powerful shot from the edge of the box.

And so, Stevenage had a rough day. A 1-1 draw at Doncaster, coupled with those 2-1 wins for Luton and Argyle, deflated their cushion from three points to one, with goal difference against them. They host Wigan on Saturday and only a victory will do, because Argyle are likely to beat Northampton (sorry, Cobblers). After good work by Hakeeb Adelakun, Billy ‘still’ Sharp cancelled out a superb goal by relative whippersnapper Matt Phillips. Donny hit the post, had a penalty shout denied and forced a goal-line save in the 98th minute, so Stevenage cling to 6th… for now?

THE RELEGATION CRAWL

Peterborough and Leyton Orient are learning that nobody’s safe if they take two points from six games (Posh) or one from a run of five (Orient). The latter lost 1-0 to Blackpool – who rubber-stamped their own safety and have jumped from 20th to 13th in the space of a fortnight – which means last year’s play-off finalists must beat Burton Albion on final day to guarantee survival. Richie Wellens, banned again, could only watch from the East Stand’s roof as Dale Taylor’s penalty hit the post, rebounded off his goalkeeper’s boot and bobbled in.

Yet it could’ve been worse for the O’s. Exeter would have dumped them into the relegation zone with a win at Burton, and indeed they led for half of the match thanks to Ilmari Niskanen’s 16th goal contribution of the season (most of them from wing-back until his recent shuffle forward). But Burton equalised, having already forced Jack Bycroft into an excellent double save. Exeter may have asked them for a favour at full-time, because in order to stay up, the Grecians now have to beat Bradford while hoping the Brewers deny Orient.

It meant Burton had a good weekend, as they celebrated survival with long-overdue relief. And Wimbledon had a GREAT weekend, securing another year in League One just when things looked as dark as they had all season, following one point from their previous nine games. After Wigan took 16 shots without once hitting the target, Antwoine Hackford stole across Morgan Fox to score in the 90th minute. Job done.

RUNNING CLEAR

Any Other Business? Just some funny business. Mansfield won 4-1 at Huddersfield, scoring four goals from three shots on target, while fun in the sun was top of the agenda at the top of the table.

While Cardiff dismantled Northampton 5-1, a 100-point Lincoln reached their century with a classic knock. Their 4-3 win over Wycombe featured a brilliant goal by Jack Moylan, a brace for Reeco Hackett and a comedy fourth from a big hoick upfield. Mike Duff said afterwards that he’d told his Wycombe players they had “wasted 10 and a half months of their lives”, which sounds harsh after a second half away at the league leaders in which Wycombe had 21 shots, eight on target, with four big chances, but maybe he was talking about a different 10 and a half months of their lives. Don’t tell Mike Duff about your gap year.

Let’s not undersell Lincoln’s relentlessness. They haven’t just kept their foot on the gas; they’ve pushed the accelerator pedal through the floor, forcing everyone else – even Cardiff – to eat their dust. Observe their position approaching this season’s halfway point, and compare it to their lead over the rest of the top half today.

📊 STATS

🌟 Louie Louie… Louie — As well as scoring three goals, Louie Barry had 10 shots against Posh – 9 of them from inside the box – and created 4 chances, while making 10 tackles, interceptions or ball recoveries, two of which (both on David Okagbue) resulted in goalscoring opportunities for Stockport. He played 73 minutes in all.

💨 Pepple dash — With 14, Plymouth Argyle’s Aribim Pepple leads all players in England’s top four tiers for goals scored in 2026.

🍊 Binary Blackpool — Five of the Seasiders’ last six matches have finished 1-0 (four in their favour and one in losing to fellow binary boys Stevenage).

📉 Cobblers collapse — Northampton Town have suffered 27 defeats, equalling their worst-ever EFL season tally.

🟥 Ready steady chaos — Plymouth Argyle became the first English league side since 2016 to score and see red inside the first five minutes of a match.

⏳ Good things come to those who wait — Antwoine Hackford’s survival-sealing goal in the 90th minute against Wigan was the latest that Wimbledon have scored a winner in a league game since Ronan Curtis in March 2024 against MK Dons – a fixture that’s back on the League One card next season.

📺 HIGHLIGHTS

1. Moylan, muy bueno

2. A Phillips fillip for Stevenage

3. Stephen Regan Hendry finds the corner pocket

4. And you’re going to hear me roar

🧮 LEAGUE TABLE

League Two

⚽ SCORES

✍️ BIG STORIES

Matt Watts

“So, let me get this straight. We’re 45 games into a 46-game season and we still don’t know who is going to win the league, who is going to claim the third automatic promotion spot, who is going to claim the last two play-off berths and who is going to fill the two relegation places?”

Welcome to League Two, my friends.

MK Dons secured promotion with a 3-0 win at home to Tranmere. More than that, they went top of the league, thanks to Bromley’s 2-0 defeat at Salford. The Ravens had been No.1 in the League Two charts since 29th December, but now they’re playing catch-up. Paul Warne is yet to win a league title as a player or as a manager, despite several promotions, but a win at Fleetwood on Saturday would change that.

Salford’s Thursday-night victory moved them up to 3rd, only for Cambridge to reclaim the final automatic promotion spot by beating Barrow 3-0. James Gibbons scored the pick of the goals for the U’s, who kept their 19th clean sheet of the season – the most in League Two. Notts County ensured it’ll be a three-way fight for 3rd on final day, as Nick Tsaroulla’s goal steered them to victory over Colchester.

A Jaze Kabia-inspired Grimsby shot up to 6th with a 4-0 victory over Ian Holloway’s Swindon, who slipped out of the top seven altogether after Chesterfield’s 2-0 win at home to Crewe. Kabia’s first EFL hat-trick took him to 18 league goals for the season, second only to Aaron Drinan (22) in the Golden Boot stakes. Grimsby go to Tranmere next weekend, while Swindon host Chesterfield. Tasty.

That fixture means that Barnet can’t finish in the top seven, despite being only three points behind Chesterfield. Nevertheless, Dean Brennan’s side put on a clinic in their 6-2 victory over Gillingham. Callum Stead became the first player to score five goals in an EFL game since Jordan Rhodes in 2012.

With 19 points taken from the last 21 available, the Bees will no doubt be ones to watch next season – as will Bristol Rovers. The Gas beat Cheltenham 4-0 for an eighth win in a row, which is the longest winning run in the EFL this season. As a man of his word, Steve Evans spent the final 10 minutes of the game in the Thatchers End, in amongst the Gasheads. Ellis Harrison’s hat-trick was a good enough excuse.

In the battle to stay up, Newport won a five-goal thriller against Oldham thanks to Bobby Kamwa’s winner in the 19th minute of stoppage time. Kamwa was the hero when he scored a beauty to put the Exiles 1-0 up, the villain when he missed a penalty in the 105th minute, then the hero once again.

Elsewhere, Crawley came from behind three times in their 3-3 draw with Accrington and Harrogate made it back-to-back victories by winning 2-0 at Walsall. It. Is. Tight.

Finally, congratulations to York, who scored an equaliser in the 103rd minute against their title rivals Rochdale to seal a return to the EFL after a decade away.

What a day!

📊 STATS

🤯 Steady on — Callum Stead scored five goals for Barnet, the first player to do so in the EFL since 2012 and the first in the top four tiers since Sergio Aguero in 2015; Stead’s hat-trick inside 16 minutes is the fastest on EFL record (i.e. since 2004/05).

🔥 Unstoppable Gas — Bristol Rovers have won eight straight league games – just the second such run in their Football League history.

🎩 Kabia magic — Jaze Kabia scored Grimsby’s first Football League hat-trick since 2020, and the second perfect hat-trick in League Two this season.

📺 HIGHLIGHTS

1. Bowling, Shane. Warne celebrates promotion at Stadium MK.

2. He’s under there somewhere: Steve Evans in the Thatchers End!

3. Welcome to the world of ‘why not?’ A stunning last minute-equaliser from Shrewsbury’s Ismeal Kabia

🧮 LEAGUE TABLE

▶️ NTT20 EFL Fantasy League — Join Now

Top 5 Scorers (Total)

Top 5 Scorers (Gameweek)

NTT20 League leaderboard (Overall)

NTT20 League leaderboard (Gameweek)

Thanks for reading!

*We noticed that…

Our tables didn’t work on some devices last week. We’ve corrected that now, and they should be working for everyone now. They’re exciting tables to look at, too!

Championship

⚽ SCORES

✍️ BIG STORIES

Huw Davies

On Friday night, the Championship wrote the final chapter in a 25-year EFL story, before letting Leagues One and Two dictate the drama on Saturday.

Coventry City were relegated from the Premier League in 2001, after so many narrow escapes (including nine final-day survivals in their 34 consecutive top-flight seasons) that The Telegraph wrote, “There was a suspicion that it was written in the Premier League rules that Coventry could never be relegated”. In 2012 they fell into League One; in 2017, into League Two. But within a decade of that nadir – a period that took in two seasons playing in Birmingham, amazing progress under Mark Robins, back-to-back shootout defeats at Wembley and Frank Lampard more than justifying his surprise appointment – Coventry are back into the Premier League.

It was a 1-1 draw at Blackburn wot won it. Various qualities have driven Cov’s title-winning season – Carl Rushworth looking every inch a Premier League goalkeeper, attackers hitting form at different times, a supporting cast stepping up – but a defining asset in the first half of the campaign was set-piece goals, so it was fitting that they returned to finish the job. As a wide free-kick was swung into the box in search of a promotion-winning equaliser, Bobby Thomas rose highest, and Coventry rise with him.

In their endeavours to join them, Ipswich and Middlesbrough played out a ding-dong Desmond on Sunday. After each side scored a beauty in a first half Ipswich dominated, Boro retook the lead and looked like throwing their hat of cats into a massive ring of pigeons. At that moment, a single point separated four teams between 2nd and 5th. But Adilson Malanda impeded George Hirst and Jack Clarke tucked home the penalty, so Ipswich are back in the top two with a game in hand.

Elsewhere in the promotion battle, Millwall, Wrexham and Derby all won to nil, against QPR, Stoke and Oxford respectively, but Hull were denied by a brilliant Tomoki Iwata equaliser for Birmingham. Cameron Archer’s 90th-minute strike against Swansea gave Southampton an eighth consecutive win in all competitions. Having taken 42 points from the last 48 available (W13 D3 L0), Saints are just one point off the automatics. Surely they couldn’t…

In the race to avoid relegation, Portsmouth beat Leicester 1-0 despite losing two players to injury in the first 15 minutes. They’re safe, thanks to three consecutive wins, but for Leicester this was yet another dire performance devoid of pride and purpose. They threatened only from throws and corners before Ibane Bowat bundled in a set piece; you could say, ‘Live by the sword, die by the sword’, but set pieces aren’t bringing Leicester much life, either. Rowett has picked up nine points from his 11 games while blunting the attack, failing to inspire his players and giving 16-year-old livewire Jeremy Monga just half an hour of football across 10 matches. Bleak.

If Leicester have it all to do, Oxford have it… most to do? There was some to-do when Yunus Konak turned this golden opportunity to equalise against Derby…

…into this desperate slash at goal:

Konak missed, Jeon Jin-woo went spare at his Yellows team-mate, and Derby held on to their 1-0 lead.

West Bromwich Albion made it eight games unbeaten with a 2-0 win at Preston that lifts them five points clear of the dropzone… for now. A potential two-point deduction looms with quiet menace. More happily, Daryl Dike scored his first goal since the final day of last season (his third in three years). Fingers crossed that his injury nightmare may finally be ending, because he has been in every WBA matchday squad for the past six months.

Blackburn played well in their 1-1 draw with Coventry and Charlton, well, played in their 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday. The Owls are now three unbeaten, and it’s a sad state of affairs when that is a noteworthy statistic.

Finally, some fun in the sun. Norwich came from behind to beat Bristol City 4-2 thanks to a prime poacher’s performance from Mohamed Touré: four shots, three goals, two passes attempted, one pass completed. Son of Lineker?

Touré’s first goal – after Bristol City had one strangely disallowed – came at the precise moment that the Sun emerged from behind a cloud. That’s just clumsy scriptwriting. His third wasn’t even a shot, as the ball just ricocheted in off his hand.

Son of Maradona, then.

📊 STATS

🔵 Pompey rolling — Portsmouth have won three straight league games at the most critical time, and it’s just the second time they’ve managed that feat since their return to the Championship in 2024.

🦁 Millwall mark — Millwall’s 76 points is their third-highest ever second-tier tally; the other records to beat are 82 in 1987/88 and 77 in 2001/02.

🌟 Touré takeover — Since February, Mohamed Touré has 10 goal involvements for Norwich City, more than any other Championship player.

🎯 Windass run — Josh Windass has scored in four of his last five for Wrexham; his 13 goals are his best return since 2015–16.

👟 Marching in - Southampton have averaged 2.625 ppg over the past 16 matches – more than a third of the campaign.

🦉 Owls are not what they seem - Sheffield Wednesday had their joint-highest possession share of the season against Charlton (67%), despite trailing for only 27 minutes of the game.

🦊 A sheep in fox’s clothing - For the first time this season, Leicester would be in the Championship relegation zone even if they hadn’t received a six-point deduction.

📺 HIGHLIGHTS

1. Nothing banal about Jaydon Banel’s winner for Derby.

2. Bamford bags a backheelish brace.

3. What a goal from Tomoki Iwata for Blues.

🧮 LEAGUE TABLE

League One

⚽ SCORES

✍️ BIG STORIES

Matt Watts

Spare a thought for Reading fans. In the last fortnight, two sides have won promotion at the Select Car Leasing Stadium – and neither of them have been Reading. Cardiff followed in Lincoln’s footsteps by beating the Royals and celebrating promotion in Berkshire. Purple Turtle, anyone? Fittingly, two of the three Cardiff goals were scored by two of their eight players on show aged 23 or younger; the pick of the goals, however, was the clincher scored by Perry Ng.

For much of the afternoon, it looked like the Bluebirds might have to wait a little longer to get a (P) by their name, because Stockport were 2-0 up and then 3-2 up at Exeter.

Then, something quite incredible happened.

After Pierce Sweeney had been denied by Corey Addai from the previous corner, Exeter goalkeeper Jack Bycroft headed home a 96th-minute equaliser to send St James Park into raptures and seal Cardiff’s promotion. Bycroft won’t have to buy a pint in the Welsh capital for the rest of his days.

As for Exeter, Bycroft’s impression of a Geordie No.9 who used to light up a stadium with a very similar name moved them a point closer to the teams who currently find themselves above the dotted line with two games remaining.

AFC Wimbledon are now only two points ahead of the Grecians after they fell to a sixth successive defeat – this time, to play-off chasers Plymouth. Leyton Orient are three points ahead of Exeter after they lost 2-0 at home to recently-relegated Rotherham. A point further clear, you’ll find Peterborough and Burton, who drew 1-1 on Sunday. It’s been a disappointing few days for Posh, who lost 3-1 at home to Port Vale on Thursday night thanks to two breathtaking free-kicks from Ethon Archer.

It was another good weekend for Blackpool, who picked up their fourth win in their last five games (and their first away win since before Christmas) by beating Wycombe 1-0 at Adams Park, thanks to Luke Leahy’s own goal – and on his 600th career appearance, too.

Back at the top, Lincoln’s wait for the title goes on – but so does their unbeaten run. The Imps are now 26 league games undefeated, after Rob Street’s late equaliser in their 2-2 draw with Stevenage. Michael Skubala’s side will be promoted with a point at Doncaster on Tuesday. Stevenage are now only two points clear of Argyle and three points clear of Luton, who came from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with Mansfield.

With Stevenage, Argyle and Luton all having three games to play, Huddersfield’s play-off dream effectively died after they let a 3-1 lead slip in their 3-3 draw with Bolton. Ibrahim Cissoko’s stunning left-footed strike in the 11th minute of stoppage time leaves the Terriers four points behind Stevenage. Quite remarkably, there have been seven goals in the 90th minute or later in Huddersfield’s last five games and they’ve conceded late equalisers in their last three.

Finally, Barnsley announced that Conor Hourihane would be leaving the club at the end of the season in a statement released at 9:30 am on Saturday morning. Despite Vimal Yoganathan’s eighth-minute red card, the Tykes drew 2-2 with Bradford thanks to Leo Farrell’s 96th-minute equaliser.

📊 STATS

🌊 Seasiders surge — Blackpool have won five of their last seven to steer clear of the relegation storm; it’s as many as in their previous 18 combined.

🔄 Hatters fightback — Luton Town have avoided defeat from 2+ goals down three times, the joint-most in League One.

🧤 Keeper chaos — Exeter City’s Jack Bycroft is the first goalkeeper to score in a League One match since Iain Turner for Preston against Notts County in August 2011.

⏰ Cozier clutch — Amario Cozier-Duberry has six goal involvements after the 90th minute for Bolton Wanderers, creating more added-time drama than any other player.

📺 HIGHLIGHTS

1. BYCROFT! Jack’s 96th-minute equaliser that was celebrated in Devon, Reading and Cardiff.

2. A Perry Ng strike from range that was celebrated in Reading and Cardiff.

3. Ibrahim is HIM – Cissoko with the latest late goal to haunt Huddersfield.

🧮 LEAGUE TABLE

League Two

⚽ SCORES

✍️ BIG STORIES

Sam Parry

Choose your own adventure: Ali and I were at Hayes Lane on Thursday night to watch a) Bromley clinch promotion, b) Cambridge spoil the party and insert themselves into the title conversation, or c) Kelland Watts doing this…

It was c) on the night during a 0-0 draw, but Andy Woodman’s Ravens will now be leaving the League Two tower after Notts County lost on Saturday. The collective noun for Ravens? An “unkindness”. No such malevolence here.

Bromley have ensnared teams week in and week out. They squash play into the central third, choke the life out of opponents, swing in crosses, fire in corners and fling in throw-ins. They score first. Often – 27 times in 44 games. They are giants. They are set-piece empresarios. They are, quite simply, a League One team for the first time ever. What a story. What a club.

The permutations that sealed the deal? Let’s keep this chronological.

Two teams without any real incentive to win football matches made a big impact at both ends of League Two in the early kick-offs on Saturday.

“Pump three, please.”

Fine at the petrol station. Less so at 14:30 on a Saturday afternoon at Holker Street, where a Walsall side with zip to play for did exactly that to Barrow. One small crumb of comfort was the consolation goal to make it 1-3, which could really matter.

At the same time, Accrington drew 2-2 with Swindon after taking the lead inside 30 seconds and then equalising in the 91st minute – two crash-bangs that walloped Swindon’s automatic hopes. By five o’clock, it called into question their grip on the play-offs.

Right, take a breath.

Hold it.

And consider that a couple of hours later, at 16:34, I sent this message into the Weekend Notes group chat, imagining – pah! – that I was onto a quiet one.

Tranmere had equalised against a Bristol Rovers side that had won seven on the spin, but then Yusuf Akhamrich, who looks a bit too good, jinked and found the bottom corner. Crawley and Shrewsbury remained 0-0. Poor old Newport conceded in the 82nd minute and fell to defeat against Cheltenham despite a good performance and winning the somewhat hollow shot battle 17-8.

That left Harrogate with an opportunity to get another opportunity to save their season. The clock read 90’+9 when they took it, as 21-year-old Jacob Slater, on loan from Brighton, flicked out a boot to meet a mini post-corner melée. Results could hardly have gone better for Simon Weaver’s side. They have a chance.

But that still leaves the top, which was also bloody turvy.

MK Dons won 3-1 against Crewe to edge very close to automatic promotion. Then it was one for sorrow and two for Kabongo Tshimanga as Notts County lost 2-1 to Barnet. It leaves the Magpies with work to do to secure a top-three finish, while the Bees remain just outside the play-off hive.

Salford climbed into 4th with an impressive 2-1 win away at an Oldham side who had looked like mounting a real play-off push. Speaking of the play-offs and pushes: Grimsby were pushy. Mariners stuck their fingers into the Gills, poking at wounds about as fresh as, I don’t know, the 8th of November (see stats). Anyway, Grimsby battered them 4-1 (cue goal difference klaxon) to set up a mouthwatering game-in-hand clash with Cambridge on Tuesday.

And it’s all the more enticing because Chesterfield, a goal down to Fleetwood and playing with 10 men, equalised in the 89th minute.

Breathless stuff all round.

📊 STATS

📉 Ainsworth it? — After taking 25 points from their first 15 games (1.66 PPG), Gillingham were four points off top spot on 8 November. Gareth Ainsworth’s side have managed the same total across their next 29 since then (0.86 PPG).

⏱️ Start to finish — Accrington Stanley scored in the first minute and after the 90th in their draw with Swindon Town; only the second such instance in the EFL this season, after Grimsby Town v Newport County in August.

🔥 Signing of the season? — Jaze Kabia has 15 league goals in his first League Two season for Grimsby Town – if he adds one more to the tally, he’ll equal his record haul of 16 from last season for Truro in the National League South.

⚽ Tshimanga streak — Kabongo Tshimanga has 7 goals in his last 6 games for Barnet and now has three braces in 2026, more than across his previous nine years combined.

📺 HIGHLIGHTS

1. Harrogate leave it late to keep the Football League dream alive.

2. Josh Hawkes with a sweet lob using the outside of his boot.

3. Backheel for Kabongo: Tshimanga at the double

🧮 LEAGUE TABLE

▶️ NTT20 EFL Fantasy League — Join Now

Top 5 Scorers (Total)

Top 5 Scorers (Gameweek)

NTT20 League leaderboard (Overall)

NTT20 League leaderboard (Gameweek)

Thanks for reading!

Order! Order!

A point of order, that is, on the order of our weekly offering. We’ve made a few small tweaks to our Weekend Notes formation. You’ll notice that scores, write-ups, stats, highlights and NEW league tables all fall under their specific league. Hope you like it!

Championship

⚽ SCORES

✍️ BIG STORIES

Sam Parry

If Coventry scored against Sheffield Wednesday, promotion would be done, fini, kaput. Instead they became the fourth side to fail to net against the Owls this season, but we’ll still give them a full-throated, maths-caveated CONGRATULATIONS. Thanks to results elsewhere, the Sky Blues are heading for the stratosphere.

Middlesbrough continued to confound the stats but perhaps not the home fans’ expectations, losing 1-0 in the 97th minute. Connor Chaplin’s effort was the second shot on target for Portsmouth against Boro this season. They scored from both and have taken maximum points in both games.

With Millwall drawing 0-0 against West Bromwich Albion on Friday night, the equation to stop Cov now relies on total failure from Frank Lampard’s side, plus perfect success from Alex Neil’s, including an inconceivable goal difference swing. The next question, though: are Ipswich all but over the line, too?

The East Anglian derby turned early and twisted late, hinging on ropey refereeing decisions that mostly swung in Ipswich’s favour as they beat Norwich 2-0. Now, “ref chat” isn’t my bag. But eeeesh.

Inside 10 minutes, Jack Taylor nicked the ball from Anis Ben Slimane in the Norwich box. He then went down with a grimace that belied the amount of contact with Ben Slimane’s boot. The ref succumbed to the advice of his assistant, and Jaden Philogene converted the spotkick for 1-0. Then, as a stop-start first half came to a close, Ipswich struck again when a long throw found George Hirst.

Villain of the day Marcelino Núñez came on in the second half, was booked, then somehow escaped two more yellow-worthy challenges before being subbed off again. On 74 minutes, Leif Davis picked up a yellow and should have received a second for either a) handling the ball intentionally or b) kicking it away afterwards.

Whilst Norwich had every right to feel aggrieved about the officiating, they offered little in response, instead spamming crosses towards a settled defence and playing down the sides, which Kieran McKenna’s side duly encouraged. When the referee called time with five bookings apiece, it closed out a derby result that will feel all the sweeter, or all the more bitter, due to the man in the middle.

Ipswich take not only the bragging rights but a firm grip on automatic promotion. The points are on the board and the Tractor Boys simply have more road to run on.

Pos Team           Pl  GD   Pts  Last 6
1   Coventry       42  +42  85   🟡 🟡 🟢 🟢 🔴 🟢
2   Ipswich        40  +31  75   🟢 🟢 🟡 🟢 🟡 🟡
-----------------------------------------------
3   Millwall       42  +9   73   🟡 🔴 🟢 🟡 🔴 🟢
4   Middlesbrough  42  +20  72   🔴 🟡 🔴 🟡 🟡 🔴

Elsewhere, Oliver McBurnie put Hull ahead against his former club, Sheffield United. In the second half, John Lundstram received a yellow also against his former club (there were eight cards after an hour). Then another. And a red. But Blades were awarded a very fortuitous penalty, which Gustavo Hamer tucked away, and Danny Ings wrapped up a comeback by scoring his first Blades goal with his second touch off the bench.

With Southampton coming from behind to beat Derby 2-1, it was left to Wrexham (7th) to make ground on Hull by beating Birmingham on Sunday. Instead, they shrunk and suffered a 2-0 loss, and the play-off gap suddenly widened. Not all gloom for Hull, then.

Pos Team           Pl  GD   Pts  Last 6
5   Southampton    41  +20  69   🟢 🟢 🟢 🟢 🟢 🟡
6   Hull           42  +4   68   🔴 🟡 🟡 🟢 🔴 🟢
-----------------------------------------------
7   Wrexham        42  +3   64   🔴 🔴 🟡 🟢 🔴 🟢
8   Derby          42  +8   63   🔴 🟢 🔴 🟢 🟢 🔴
9   Norwich        42  +5   58   🔴 🟢 🟡 🟢 🔴 🟢

That leaves the relegation spots.

Leicester lost 1-0 to Swansea thanks to an attacking set-piece which, to bastardise Edmund Blackadder, was as uncunning as a fox who’s just been appointed Professor of Uncunning at Oxford Brookes. They’re in huge trouble. Since appointing Gary Rowett, they have the poorest PPG record of anyone bar Sheffield Wednesday.

Oxford beat Watford 2-0 with a performance founded on tantalising dead-ball threat – they racked up 1.68 xG from set-pieces. It was just 0.20 from open play and much of that down to Mark Harris, who flew forward and sealed the points on 90’+2. After each goal, their fans must’ve checked the live table to find the dotted line pillow-like beneath them. But… there’s always a but.

But then came the twist. Portsmouth’s winner against Middlesbrough at the Riverside arrived late. Very late. The Yellows were not out of the relegation zone after all. Horrible for them. Horrible for Boro. Huge for Pompey.

Pos Team           Pl  GD   Pts  Last 6
19  Blackburn      42  -12  48   🟡 🟡 🟢 🟡 🟢 🔴
20  West Brom      42  -14  46   🟡 🟡 🟡 🟢 🟢 🟡
21  Portsmouth     41  -16  45   🟢 🟡 🟡 🔴 🔴 🔴
-----------------------------------------------
22  Oxford         42  -13  44   🟢 🟡 🟡 🔴 🟡 🟢
23  Leicester      42  -10  41   🔴 🟡 🟡 🟡 🔴 🟢
24  Sheff Wed      42  -57  -4   🟡 🟡 🔴 🔴 🔴 🟡

📊 STATS

⏳ Barren Boro — Middlesbrough are winless in six league games (D3 L3), their longest such streak since September 2023.

🔥 Soaring Saints — Southampton have won five straight league games for the first time since 2011. Since Tonda Eckert took charge, they have more Championship wins (17) and points (57) than any other team.

🌗 Two halves — Charlton have scored in both halves of a Championship match only once this season.

🔄 Preston persistence — Only three clubs have gained more points from losing positions than Preston (18), who came from 1-0 down to beat Charlton 2-1.

💪 McBurnie is McBack — Oli McBurnie has 14 Championship goals this season, his best return since hitting 22 for Swansea in 2018/19.

🎦 HIGHLIGHTS

#1 — Outfoxed: kamikaze set-piece leaves Leicester languinshing.

#2 — Mark Harris goes full roadrunner to seal Oxford’s win.

#3 — Jack Taylor wins the BAFTA as Ipswich ‘earn’ a penalty.

🪜 LEAGUE TABLE

Pos Team           Pl  GD   Pts  Last 6
1   Coventry       42  +42  85   🟡 🟡 🟢 🟢 🔴 🟢
2   Ipswich        40  +31  75   🟢 🟢 🟡 🟢 🟡 🟡
-----------------------------------------------
3   Millwall       42  +9   73   🟡 🔴 🟢 🟡 🔴 🟢
4   Middlesbrough  42  +20  72   🔴 🟡 🔴 🟡 🟡 🔴
5   Southampton    41  +20  69   🟢 🟢 🟢 🟢 🟢 🟡
6   Hull           42  +4   68   🔴 🟡 🟡 🟢 🔴 🟢
-----------------------------------------------
7   Wrexham        42  +3   64   🔴 🔴 🟡 🟢 🔴 🟢
8   Derby          42  +8   63   🔴 🟢 🔴 🟢 🟢 🔴
9   Norwich        42  +5   58   🔴 🟢 🟡 🟢 🔴 🟢
10  Bristol City   42  +1   58   🟡 🟢 🟢 🔴 🟡 🔴
11  QPR            42  -5   58   🟡 🟡 🟢 🟢 🟢 🔴
12  Watford        42  +1   57   🔴 🟡 🔴 🟡 🟢 🔴
13  Preston        42  -3   57   🟢 🟡 🟡 🟢 🔴 🔴
14  Swansea        42  -4   57   🟢 🟡 🟡 🔴 🔴 🟢
15  Birmingham     42  -1   56   🟢 🔴 🔴 🔴 🟡 🟢
16  Stoke          42  +3   55   🟡 🔴 🟢 🔴 🟢 🟡
17  Sheff Utd      42  0    54   🟢 🔴 🟡 🔴 🟡 🔴
18  Charlton       42  -12  49   🔴 🟡 🔴 🔴 🟡 🟢
19  Blackburn      42  -12  48   🟡 🟡 🟢 🟡 🟢 🔴
20  West Brom      42  -14  46   🟡 🟡 🟡 🟢 🟢 🟡
21  Portsmouth     41  -16  45   🟢 🟡 🟡 🔴 🔴 🔴
-----------------------------------------------
22  Oxford         42  -13  44   🟢 🟡 🟡 🔴 🟡 🟢
23  Leicester      42  -10  41   🔴 🟡 🟡 🟡 🔴 🟢
24  Sheff Wed      42  -57  -4   🟡 🟡 🔴 🔴 🔴 🟡

League One

⚽ SCORES

✍️ BIG STORIES

Matt Watts

What becomes of the team promoted in early April with five games remaining? Well, it was business as usual for Lincoln, who beat Leyton Orient 2-1. Jack Moylan underlined his credentials by scoring the goal of the game and becoming the first Imp to score 10 goals in League One this season. Lincoln need a maximum of four points from their final four games to win the title and seven points to reach 100.

Since beating Cardiff and claiming top spot on 7th March, Lincoln have taken 19 points from the 21 available. Cardiff had picked up just five points from the 15 available to them – until they beat Bolton 2-0 in the Welsh capital. An Omari Kellyman header and a counter-attack coolly finished off by Chris Willock swiftly took the game away from the visitors at the start of the second half. The Bluebirds are now 10 points clear of 3rd and could be promoted this midweek; they’ve stumbled, but didn’t fall.

Pos Team           Pl  GD   Pts  Last 6
1   Lincoln        42  +43  93   🟢 🟢 🟢 🟢 🟡 🟢
2   Cardiff        41  +34  81   🟢 🟡 🟡 🔴 🟢 🟡
-----------------------------------------------
3   Bradford       42  +6   71   🔴 🟢 🟢 🔴 🟡 🔴
4   Bolton         42  +15  70   🔴 🟡 🟢 🔴 🟡 🟡

Cardiff’s position was strengthened by Bradford’s defeat at home to Stevenage. In true Stevenage fashion, it was 1-0. Also in true Stevenage fashion, Dan Kemp rifled in after a long throw wasn’t cleared by the Bantams’ defence. Defeat for Reading and six goals split evenly by Huddersfield and Wycombe made it a perfect day for Stevenage, who have kept four clean sheets in a row.

Pos Team           Pl  GD   Pts  Last 6
5   Stockport      40  +9   67   🟡 🟢 🟢 🟡 🟢 🔴
6   Stevenage      41  +5   67   🟢 🟢 🟡 🟢 🔴 🟢
-----------------------------------------------
7   Plymouth       42  +8   63   🟡 🟢 🔴 🟢 🟢 🟡
8   Huddersfield   42  +9   62   🟡 🟢 🟡 🔴 🟡 🟡
9   Reading        43  +7   62   🔴 🔴 🟡 🟢 🔴 🟢
10  Luton          41  +7   61   🟢 🟢 🟡 🟢 🟢 🟡
11  Wycombe        43  +12  60   🟡 🔴 🔴 🟢 🔴 🟢

Plymouth Argyle bounced back twice to draw 2-2 with Exeter in the Devon derby. The game sprang into life when a moment of quality from Reece Cole gave the Grecians the lead at the start of the second half, but Matt Taylor’s side struggled to deal with Argyle’s set-piece threat, conceding from a corner and a wide free-kick.

The long and the short of it is: while avoiding defeat to their local rivals, both sides have hurt each other. Exeter have dented Argyle’s play-off aspirations, while Argyle have put another nail in Exeter’s coffin – especially after results elsewhere, later that afternoon.

Pos Team           Pl  GD   Pts  Last 6
15  Wigan          42  -10  52   🟢 🟢 🟡 🔴 🟢 🟡
16  Peterborough   41  +2   51   🔴 🟡 🔴 🟡 🟢 🔴
17  Burton Alb     43  -10  51   🟢 🟡 🟡 🔴 🟢 🔴
18  Blackpool      43  -14  51   🟢 🔴 🟢 🟢 🟡 🟢
19  L Orient       42  -9   50   🔴 🔴 🟡 🟡 🟢 🟢
20  Wimbledon      42  -14  50   🔴 🔴 🔴 🔴 🟡 🔴
-----------------------------------------------
21  Exeter         43  -8   47   🟡 🟢 🔴 🟡 🔴 🔴

Blackpool, Burton, Wigan and Doncaster all won, to leave Exeter floundering and AFC Wimbledon and Leyton Orient stewing. Ian Evatt’s Seasiders beat Peterborough 3-1 to secure their fourth successive home win and leave Posh looking after their shoulders; Gary Bowyer’s Brewers edged past Wimbledon thanks to Kyran Lofthouse’s back-post header after an Alex Hartridge long throw; Gary Caldwell’s Latics made it back-to-back league wins for the first time this season by beating Mansfield 2-1; and Grant McCann’s Donny saw off Reading thanks to yet another vital intervention from Captain Fantastic Owen Bailey.

Finally, congratulations to Luton, who came from behind to beat Stockport 3-1 in the… <frantically racks brain>… VERTU Trophy Final at Wembley. Kyle Wootton played half an hour of it at centre-back due to injuries, so that’s fun for the neutrals, if not for Stockport’s promotion hopes.

📊 STATS

🥇 First-class Donny — Only Lincoln (31) have scored first more times this season than Doncaster Rovers (24).

🏟️ Imps fortress — Lincoln have won six consecutive EFL home games for the first time since 1982; their 17 home wins this season are the most across the top four tiers.

🌟 Taylor-made brace — Dale Taylor (22y 120d) is Blackpool’s youngest home league brace scorer since 2021.

🎯 Bradshaw back — Tom Bradshaw scored his first league brace since April 2023, having netted just twice in his previous 50 games.

🧤 Boro shut up shop — Stevenage have kept four straight clean sheets and became just the second away side to win to nil at Bradford since last season.

🔄 Latics last to double — Wigan became the final League One side to win back-to-back games this season.

🎦 HIGHLIGHTS

#1 — Jack Moylan with a bit of Championship quality in Lincoln’s victory over Leyton Orient.

#2 — Touch and finish - some superb work from Brandon Khela in Peterborough’s defeat at Blackpool.

#3 — Has he got the Nahk back? Wells wins the Vertu Trophy for Luton.

🪜 LEAGUE TABLE

Pos Team           Pl  GD   Pts  Last 6
1   Lincoln        42  +43  93   🟢 🟢 🟢 🟢 🟡 🟢
2   Cardiff        41  +34  81   🟢 🟡 🟡 🔴 🟢 🟡
-----------------------------------------------
3   Bradford       42  +6   71   🔴 🟢 🟢 🔴 🟡 🔴
4   Bolton         42  +15  70   🔴 🟡 🟢 🔴 🟡 🟡
5   Stockport      40  +9   67   🟡 🟢 🟢 🟡 🟢 🔴
6   Stevenage      41  +5   67   🟢 🟢 🟡 🟢 🔴 🟢
-----------------------------------------------
7   Plymouth       42  +8   63   🟡 🟢 🔴 🟢 🟢 🟡
8   Huddersfield   42  +9   62   🟡 🟢 🟡 🔴 🟡 🟡
9   Reading        43  +7   62   🔴 🔴 🟡 🟢 🔴 🟢
10  Luton          41  +7   61   🟢 🟢 🟡 🟢 🟢 🟡
11  Wycombe        43  +12  60   🟡 🔴 🔴 🟢 🔴 🟢
12  Barnsley       40  -2   54   🟢 🔴 🟡 🔴 🟡 🟡
13  Mansfield Tn   40  +7   53   🔴 🟡 🟢 🟢 🟡 🟡
14  Doncaster      42  -21  53   🟢 🔴 🔴 🟢 🟢 🟡
15  Wigan          42  -10  52   🟢 🟢 🟡 🔴 🟢 🟡
16  Peterborough   41  +2   51   🔴 🟡 🔴 🟡 🟢 🔴
17  Burton Alb     43  -10  51   🟢 🟡 🟡 🔴 🟢 🔴
18  Blackpool      43  -14  51   🟢 🔴 🟢 🟢 🟡 🟢
19  L Orient       42  -9   50   🔴 🔴 🟡 🟡 🟢 🟢
20  Wimbledon      42  -14  50   🔴 🔴 🔴 🔴 🟡 🔴
-----------------------------------------------
21  Exeter         43  -8   47   🟡 🟢 🔴 🟡 🔴 🔴
22  Rotherham      41  -26  37   🔴 🔴 🟡 🔴 🔴 🟡
23  Northampton    41  -26  35   🔴 🔴 🔴 🔴 🔴 🔴
24  Port Vale      39  -24  34   🟢 🔴 🔴 🟢 🔴 🟡

League Two

⚽ SCORES

✍️ BIG STORIES

Huw Davies

Bromley would have won promotion with victory at MK Dons. They started the game by kicking for touch, rugby-style, and it did go out on the full – so, really, MK should’ve been given the option of a scrum. They took the line-out throw-in instead and scored 11 seconds later. There you have it: Milton Keynes Dons, guardian angel for the purists.

Perhaps not, because they did let their visitors have 59% possession. Still, their early dominance did enough damage to restrict a resurgent Bromley to a consolation goal in the second half; Craig MacGillivray’s saves kept it to 2-1 while MK – who had Jon Mellish sent off on 67’ – didn’t take a single shot. Paul Warne’s side close the gap to four points with three to play, but is it too little, too late?

Hot on MK’s heels are Cambridge. They took Notts County’s place in the top three by demolishing them 4-0, despite goalkeeper Jake Eastwood being sent off in the first half for a semi-automated handball outside the box. Admittedly, Cambridge were 3-0 up by then. All three goals looked similar (set piece, bouncing ball, confusion punished), but James Gibbons’ finish for the third was a lovely little larrup. He later scored again, and again from a set piece. Notts hit the bar but didn’t force EFL debutant Ben Hughes into a single save across 50 minutes.

That’s the top four – time for a whistle-stop tour of the other 20 teams.

Swindon were outplayed by Colchester on Friday night after James Ball dropped a bollock and got himself sent off within half an hour. Salford joined them and Notts County in suffering an autos-chasing setback, drawing 0-0 at home to a purposeless Gillingham side. Rosaire Longelo hit the visitors’ crossbar with a gorgeous effort and Dan Udoh’s offside goal was a very close call.

In the world’s best race for 7th place, Grimsby cut the gap to Chesterfield, who gave Tranmere their second point in 11 games. If anyone deserved to win, it was Tranmere, but they didn’t – and haven’t for two whole months now. Grimsby beat Crewe 3-2, leapfrogging them into 8th. Their first goal was a physics lesson. Q: How does one anticipate spin on a bouncing ball? A: Not like this.

After Kieran Green made it 2-0, Andy Cook doubled his tally to double his tally of braces since joining Grimsby on loan. Good signing. Crewe’s late rally didn’t rescue a point but did take the game to five goals from five shots on target.

While Barnet beat Barrow 3-2 (more on that later), Walsall’s play-off dream died and Oldham’s was kneecapped. The latter, or Latics, lost 1-0 to a classic Big Will Boyle Header for Shrewsbury. Walsall, hosting Cheltenham, were unlucky not to be leading at half-time. Then they lost 4-0, with Harry Ashfield and Isaac Hutchinson scoring respectively neat and tidy goals before George Miller deepened the wound and Josh Martin rubbed salt into it.

It’s Cheltenham’s biggest league win since March 2022 and their biggest away win since promotion from non-league a decade ago. Safety confirmed; that’ll do, Steve Cotterill, that’ll do.

Pos Team           Pl  GD   Pts  Last 6
1   Bromley        43  +25  83   🔴 🟢 🟡 🔴 🟢 🟢
2   MK Dons        43  +36  79   🟢 🟡 🟡 🔴 🔴 🟢
3   Cambridge Utd  42  +31  77   🟢 🟡 🟡 🔴 🟢 🟡
-----------------------------------------------
4   Notts          43  +22  76   🔴 🟢 🔴 🟢 🔴 🟢
5   Swindon        43  +16  74   🔴 🟢 🟡 🟡 🟢 🟢
6   Salford        43  +7   74   🟡 🔴 🟢 🟢 🔴 🟢
7   Chesterfield   42  +11  69   🟡 🟢 🟢 🟢 🔴 🟢
-----------------------------------------------
8   Grimsby        41  +17  68   🟢 🟢 🔴 🟢 🟢 🔴
9   Barnet         43  +11  67   🟢 🟢 🟡 🟢 🟢 🟡
10  Crewe          43  +10  66   🔴 🟢 🔴 🟢 🟢 🟡
11  Oldham         42  +16  65   🔴 🟡 🟢 🔴 🟢 🟢
12  Walsall        43  +2   62   🔴 🔴 🟡 🟡 🟢 🟡
13  Colchester     42  +11  60   🟢 🟢 🔴 🟡 🔴 🔴

Meanwhile, at the bottom…

18  Shrewsbury     43  -26  47   🟢 🔴 🟢 🔴 🔴 🔴
19  Cheltenham     41  -19  46   🟢 🟡 🔴 🔴 🟡 🟢
20  Tranmere       42  -23  37   🟡 🔴 🔴 🔴 🔴 🟡
21  Crawley        43  -24  37   🔴 🔴 🟢 🟢 🔴 🟡
22  Newport        43  -30  37   🟢 🔴 🔴 🟢 🔴 🔴
-----------------------------------------------
23  Barrow         42  -28  33   🔴 🔴 🟡 🟢 🔴 🔴
24  Harrogate      43  -31  33   🔴 🔴 🟢 🔴 🔴 🟢

Newport beating Harrogate 2-1 was huge. Huge. They didn’t turn up for their relegation six-pointer against Crawley the previous week but this was different – actual goalscoring chances, actually being put away, and with some composure by Nathaniel Opoku. Harrogate’s George Evans picked his spot just as precisely for 1-1, but Ellis Taylor couldn’t do the same, and Joe Thomas won it for County.

Barrow, like Harrogate, are four points adrift now. It was another fighting display from Sam Foley’s players/team-mates, who led through a fine Josh Gordon strike. Barnet scored twice but Wyll Stanway made an excellent save, Rekeem Harper went on a slalom to equalise and, and, and… Callum Stead stooped with his head, Barnet winning 3-2.

Finally, Crawley lost a pulsating affair 3-1 to Bristol Rovers. After Tom Lockyer’s red card at 2-1, Harry McKirdy so nearly equalised with one of Town’s 23 shots, but their late charge only led to a late heartbreakaway for the Gas. As with Barrow: positives without the points.

That’s the story at the top and the bottom. Oh, and somewhere in the middle, Fleetwood scored a stoppage-time winner at Accrington.

📊 STATS

🔥 Gas fire — Bristol Rovers have won six consecutive league games for the first time since 2016.

🎯 Robins repeat — Cheltenham have completed the league double over Walsall in three of the last four seasons, with today’s 4-0 their biggest win.

⚡ Lightning start — Nathaniel Mendez-Laing scored after 35 seconds for MK Dons; League Two has now had nine goals in the opening minute, more than the Championship and League One combined.

🎩 Cook cooking — Grimsby’s Andy Cook registered 3+ goal involvements for the first time since December 2023.

📉 Robins ain’t singing early — The last time Swindon scored before the 45th minute was on 7th February, 14 games ago. (They have scored 2 first-half goals since in that time, but both were in time added on).

🎦 HIGHLIGHTS

#1 — Rekeem Harper wheels it solo for Barrow.

#2 — Ifill with a towering inferno of a strike for Bromley.

#3 — Call and response for Cheltenham stunner.

🪜 LEAGUE TABLE

Pos Team           Pl  GD   Pts  Last 6
1   Bromley        43  +25  83   🔴 🟢 🟡 🔴 🟢 🟢
2   MK Dons        43  +36  79   🟢 🟡 🟡 🔴 🔴 🟢
3   Cambridge Utd  42  +31  77   🟢 🟡 🟡 🔴 🟢 🟡
-----------------------------------------------
4   Notts          43  +22  76   🔴 🟢 🔴 🟢 🔴 🟢
5   Swindon        43  +16  74   🔴 🟢 🟡 🟡 🟢 🟢
6   Salford        43  +7   74   🟡 🔴 🟢 🟢 🔴 🟢
7   Chesterfield   42  +11  69   🟡 🟢 🟢 🟢 🔴 🟢
-----------------------------------------------
8   Grimsby        41  +17  68   🟢 🟢 🔴 🟢 🟢 🔴
9   Barnet         43  +11  67   🟢 🟢 🟡 🟢 🟢 🟡
10  Crewe          43  +10  66   🔴 🟢 🔴 🟢 🟢 🟡
11  Oldham         42  +16  65   🔴 🟡 🟢 🔴 🟢 🟢
12  Walsall        43  +2   62   🔴 🔴 🟡 🟡 🟢 🟡
13  Colchester     42  +11  60   🟢 🟢 🔴 🟡 🔴 🔴
14  Fleetwood      43  -1   58   🟢 🔴 🔴 🟡 🟢 🔴
15  Bristol Rov    43  -14  55   🟢 🟢 🟢 🟢 🟢 🟢
16  Accrington     42  -7   51   🔴 🔴 🟢 🔴 🔴 🔴
17  Gillingham     42  -12  50   🟡 🟢 🟡 🔴 🔴 🔴
18  Shrewsbury     43  -26  47   🟢 🔴 🟢 🔴 🔴 🔴
19  Cheltenham     41  -19  46   🟢 🟡 🔴 🔴 🟡 🟢
20  Tranmere       42  -23  37   🟡 🔴 🔴 🔴 🔴 🟡
21  Crawley        43  -24  37   🔴 🔴 🟢 🟢 🔴 🟡
22  Newport        43  -30  37   🟢 🔴 🔴 🟢 🔴 🔴
-----------------------------------------------
23  Barrow         42  -28  33   🔴 🔴 🟡 🟢 🔴 🔴
24  Harrogate      43  -31  33   🔴 🔴 🟢 🔴 🔴 🟢

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Thanks for reading!

Let’s start with the one that you really shouldn’t have missed…

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Hope you’ve all had a cracking Easter. We are doing something a little different with Weekend Notes given the tightly-packed slate.

Huw Davies (Championship), Sam Parry (League One) and Ali Maxwell (League Two) will pick the standout fixtures from each league, with a bit of context after Friday’s games.

Before we get into that, a quick word on the first team outside of the Premier League’s top five to beat Arsenal this season. Southampton were not lucky in their 2-1 FA Cup victory. Shea Charles’ late goal secured a semi-final at Wembley, and Tonda Eckert’s side bloody deserved it.

As Nas almost put it: “EFL represent, represent.”

Championship

Huw Davies

It’s a cracking line-up in the battle for automatic promotion.

Sorry to bring rugby into the conversation, but one great bit of sporting scheduling is the final day of the Six Nations. Rather than teams all playing simultaneously, as they would on the final day of a league season or group stage in football (which is certainly fairer), the three matches are played back-to-back-to-back. The result is much drama as each contender sees what their rivals have done and then tries to outdo them.

On Easter Monday we have:

• 1pm: Millwall v Norwich

• 3pm: Ipswich v Birmingham

• 5.30pm: Swansea v Middlesbrough

Yes, please.

Millwall host Norwich on Cloud 9, having come from behind on Good Friday to beat Middlesbrough and climb into 2nd. In a frankly sensational game, Boro had the better of the first half and Millwall had the better of the second, as was the case in their recent 1-1 draw with Ipswich… but this time they went one better, and won.

Boro had won the early intensity battle, personified by Luke Ayling’s huge tackle on a breaking Josh Coburn and Kim Hellberg’s even huger celebration of it. Dael Fry scored a minute later. In the second half, Millwall woke from their enforced daze and equalised through Coburn, who then curled a late winner past/under Sol Brynn’s despairing hand - a brace for the ex-Boro boy.

The stats will show Boro had three times as many touches in the opposition box (66-21), three times as many shots (32-11) and more than three times the xG (3.35 to 0.86), but, like horny dinosaurs on a hidden island, Millwall find a way.

Hellberg’s men have a chance to put things right against Swansea on Monday, though the Swans are on a high from their resurrection at Bramall Lane, where they drew 3-3 having trailed 3-1. Before that, a well-rested Ipswich face an out-of-sorts Birmingham.

All of the bottom six are playing each other.

Leicester must avoid a banana skin at Hillsborough, having failed to turn their dominance into three points in a 2-2 draw with Preston. First, Portsmouth v Oxford is the televised 12.30pm kick-off, and it could hardly be any bigger. Both drew 1-1 on Friday, Oxford proving wasteful against Hull while Portsmouth grabbed a useful point at Carrow Road thanks to Norwich’s Pelle Matsson scoring at both ends (well, the same end in different halves).

Those two will be glad that Blackburn and West Bromwich Albion are playing each other, because each of them are in decent form (Albion, DDWWD; Rovers, DLWDW) but one or both will have to drop points, such is the nature of things.

Blackburn were deserving 1-0 winners away to Birmingham on Friday. The Baggies, though, led a 2-0 lead slip as Wrexham cancelled out their pair of set-piece goals with a pair of very slick moves. In the final few minutes, Arthur Okonkwo made a superb save from point-blank range to keep it at 2-2 and Kieffer Moore felt he should’ve had a penalty for this unsubtle push by Nat Phillips.

There’s the small matter of Wrexham v Southampton going head-to-head in a direct shootout for 6th place.

Pure Hollywood.

League One

Sam Parry

Lincoln were big winners. We’ll get to them.

But first, the biggest losers in League One? The play-off hopefuls outside the play-offs. Stevenage (D), Wycombe (L) and Plymouth Argyle (L) all lost ground when playing against the teams in 22nd, 3rd and 5th.

3rd vs 5th, eh…?

Bolton (3rd) vs Stockport (5th)

Have Dave Challinor’s Stockport side finally clicked?

It’s not just three wins on the spin. The style of Stockport’s victories changes the tone. What has changed? Ben Osborn at left back in a 4-2-3-1 is a small shift away from the 3-4-3 that has defined most of the campaign. They were excellent in their 3-0 thumping of Wycombe, a side with real play-off ambitions themselves.

Tomorrow, a win against Bolton would put both sides on 69 points and all but lock in a play-off spot.

Bolton, though, are building something of their own.

They beat a resurgent Argyle side on Friday despite playing the entire second half with 10 men after John McAtee’s red card. OK, it helped that they were gifted a penalty. And it helped that, after Ronan Curtis equalised for Argyle, Sam Dalby bundled in a winner that looked a simple claim for the keeper. Not exactly pretty, but a super backs-to-walls success. Not many teams beat this version of Argyle. Former manager Steven Schumacher seems to have the knack – he’s P4 W4 against them.

All of that sets up a proper play-off game. Bit of local edge. And if Cardiff wobble, both will dream of keeping the Bluebirds honest.

Reading (6th) vs Lincoln (1st)

Royals vs Imps. 6th vs 1st. This is Game of Thrones stuff.

Lincoln need a single point to make it official. In truth, Ryan Oné’s 88th-minute winner on Good Friday has all but settled promotion, although the pesky maths says otherwise.

But Reading won’t roll out the red carpet. They have already fended off Huddersfield over the Easter Weekend (1-1) to hold onto the final play-off position (62pts). Lewis Wing scored from the spot to register a double-double for the season: 10 goals and 11 assists. Wing reached the milestone about 10 minutes after Stoke’s Sorba Thomas became the first in the EFL to do it in 2025/26. He’s a player capable of shifting a game on his own, even if the task is of another magnitude now. Should they lose, there are battalions ready to go over the top:

“Chaos”, as Game of Thrones’ Petyr Baelish put it, “is a ladder”:

• AFC Wimbledon vs Luton (11th/58pts)

• Barnsley vs Plymouth Argyle (9th/59pts)

• Leyton Orient vs Huddersfield (10th/58pts)

• Stevenage (7th/61pts) vs Blackpool

• and…

Wycombe (8th/59pts) vs Bradford (4th)

Bradford’s 1–0 victory over Northampton on Good Friday came on home turf. At Valley Parade, they’ve been formidable, racking up points at 2.40 per game. On the road, however, it’s a very different story: 20 games have yielded just 20 points (W5, D5, L5). A real case of chalk and cheese.

Wycombe, meanwhile, have a chance to close the gap on the play-off places. With a win, and results elsewhere going in their favour, they could even climb into 6th. Of course, that’s all hypothetical. But we like hypotheticals, so here’s a biggie…

If Bradford were to slip up, would there be enough games left for Graham Alexander to start feeling uneasy about their top-six position? By full-time tomorrow, their cushion to 7th could stretch to as much as 10 points or shrink to just four.

Exeter (21st) vs Doncaster (17th)

Down at the bottom…

The doors of the last chance saloon are open for Exeter, and by Monday evening, we’ll know if they’ve swung back in their face.

After losing to Blackpool on Friday, the Grecians would find themselves in desperate trouble with another defeat. They could end the weekend anywhere between a 0-, 1-, 2-, 3-, 4-, 5-, or 6-point gap to safety.

It will be a maximum of 4 points if they can overcome Donny. But given Exeter haven’t won in 15, you’d think Grant McCann’s side will be hungry to secure their own survival and wind down into the final 5 games.

Northampton (23rd) vs Wigan (20th)

Finally, a word on Wigan, who didn’t even need to win to come out of Friday as one of the biggest winners at the bottom. After drawing with Leyton Orient, they watched on as Rotherham drew, Northampton lost, Exeter lost and Burton drew.

Sometimes survival is about standing still. Swap “survival” for “relegation”, and you could level that accusation at the Cobblers. They’ve amassed 6 points from a possible 45 and have only the faintest of survival chances: win every game. Simple, eh?

League Two

Ali Maxwell

The top five winners of Good Friday in League Two? Salford, Chesterfield, Oldham, Crawley and Harrogate. Each are mentioned in this breakdown of Monday’s four most impactful fixtures…

Oldham (8th) vs MK Dons (2nd)

I would absolutely hate to be playing against Oldham right now. Seven weeks ago, the Latics were in 16th place with eight league wins all season. Since then, it’s 9 wins in 11 games, conceding only 4 goals and picking up six points more than the next best team in that same timeframe: Bristol Rovers. After last gasp defeat to Crewe the previous weekend, Micky Mellon’s side bounced back fruitfully to dispose of Colchester in Essex on Good Friday – Jamie Robson playing the role of vicar, delivering graceful crosses onto grateful foreheads. 3-1, thanks for coming. One point off the play-offs. Next?

Next is MK Dons. One of the most expensively assembled League Two teams ever, they spent the start of 2026 bulldozing everything in their path – 33 points from 13 games, leaders Bromley in their sights. Then they lost to Barnet. Then Salford. Then, on Good Friday, they drew 0-0 at home to Barrow in frustrating fashion: one off the post, one off the line, two brilliant saves, no goals. One point from three games. Time for MK to flex their squad depth muscles and stop the wobble.

Best for them not to worry, for now, about Bromley. The league leaders did the sort of thing that champions do: a 101st-minute equaliser against Barnet, scored by academy striker George Evans with just his 11th touch as a Bromley player. Machedaaaaaa, anyone?! A hugely significant goal that maintains their five-point lead at the top. They play Shrewsbury on Tuesday.

More pressingly for Milton Keynes, three teams are just two points behind…

Crewe (9th) vs Salford (5th)

One of them is Salford City, the only top seven team to win on Good Friday, and in bonkers circumstances. 0-0 when the board went up for stoppage time, 2-1 at full time, six minutes later. Three set-piece goals, ending with a second straight winner scored by Matt Butcher. Magpies to the slaughter, despite the best efforts of James Belshaw. Now, this piece is more narrative-driven than tactical, but I notice that Karl Robinson appeared to switch to a back four here, and late-season tactical tweaks are always intriguing to me.

Over the last 6 games, Salford have picked up four more points than anyone else in the automatic promotion picture, and are now level with Cambridge and Notts County in third place, with a vastly inferior goal difference.

But this game is not just about them. After winning back-to-back against Shrewsbury and Oldham, Crewe Alex moved into 7th and appeared to be banishing the ghosts of recent springs.

But on Friday, they lost 0-2 against an Accrington side winless in eight, taking just four shots total in the game. Blimey. Lee Bell’s side won at Salford on opening day, and realistically need a result here – they’ve played a game less than Chesterfield and Oldham, who jumped above them on Friday, and two more than Grimsby, one point back…

Crawley (20th) vs Grimsby (10th)

… a Grimsby side that were on the wrong end of Good Friday’s biggest shock result: a 1-3 defeat to Harrogate. It was, you have to say, “one of them”.

One of them where Harrogate scored with their first two shots of the first half, a beauty from Tobias Brenan and Jack Evans’ powerful drive which the generally-excellent Jackson Smith couldn’t keep out. And yet, after Kieran Green pulled one back on 39’, Andy Cook had the chance to equalise before half-time from the spot. Get back to the dressing room at 2-2, and pull away in the second half.

It was one of them.

One where Cook’s penalty was saved by Henry Gray. Where the stuffing was knocked out of the Mariners. And where, after some huffing and puffing early in the second half, Bryn Morris thumped home another perfect strike from range. Harrogate used up half a season’s worth of top-notch finishing to log a huge three points in their bid for survival.

Grimsby, who do seem to suffer badly from 'one-of-them-itis’ have work to do to reignite the play-off tilt, still with a game or two in hand over most. They travel to Sussex to face Colin Kazim Richards’ in-form Crawley Town! A second straight 2-0 win for them, this time in a relegation six-pointer at Rodney Parade — Harry McKirdy at the double, celebrating with a panache that reflects Kazim Richards’ own positive, confident energy since his appointment. What a difference two weeks make. After Tranmere’s defeat to Shrewsbury, Crawley are now out the bottom four.

Barrow (23rd) vs Chesterfield (7th)

The impressiveness of Crawley’s six points against Gillingham and Newport is surely matched by Barrow collecting four points from games against the league’s top two: Bromley and MK Dons. Barrow ticked all the boxes for a gritty away clean sheet: dogged defensive shape, make blocks — 9 of Milton Keynes’ 16 shots to be precise, including an amazing goal-line clearance from Angus MacDonald — and mix in some quality Wyll Stanway saves. One point off safety and seemingly buoyed by Sam Foley’s leadership, they have a home game on Monday against Chesterfield.

Paul Cook’s side were, along with Oldham, the big winners of Good Friday in the play-off picture, with a 1-0 win at home to Cheltenham. Mr Reliable (or should that be Mr Versatile?) Liam Mandeville sent across a peach of a ball for Will Dickson to finish. Like Matt Butcher, that was his second straight match-winning goal. If a 1-0 scoreline makes it sound like a tight one, here’s an extra piece of detail: Chesterfield also hit the woodwork four times.

This is only the third time Chesterfield have won back-to-back league games all season. Can they find that elusive consistency just when they need it? Or will it be ‘Holy moley, Sam Foley’ in the midst of 30mph winds on the peninsula?

Whatever happens, the fourth tier is providing top tier drama, and we can’t wait. Full recap on Not The Top 20 Podcast on Tuesday at 4:30pm, on podcast platforms and on YouTube.

Thanks for reading!

League One

Huw Davies

League One featured five matches and zero goals for the away teams, prompting hundreds of travelling supporters to question why they do this.

Burton Albion fans would’ve been happy to see no goals at all, because CJ Hamilton’s stoppage-time winner for Blackpool had huge significance. At 0-0, Blackpool were in the relegation zone. The 1-0 final score moved them up and out and to within a point of their opponents, who seem unable to pull themselves fully clear. Gary Bowyer’s Brewers took just a single shot against his old side on the windy Lancashire coast.

Replacing Blackpool in the bottom four was Exeter, who’ll be visiting them on Good Friday. Tantalising! A goalless draw with Leyton Orient put an end to their run of five straight defeats, which followed a point at home to Burton on the day of Matt Taylor’s reappointment, but draws aren’t enough for the Grecians, winless since January.

This was a lively 0-0, at least, featuring Jayden Wareham hitting the post with a header by leaping about 18 feet. There’s flea DNA in that boy. Orient’s Dom Ballard missed the game’s best chance, however.

Further up the table, Stockport beat Wimbledon 3-0. Goalscorer Adama Sidibeh had to be replaced during the first half by Kyle Wootton, who scored himself – just 20 seconds after Corey Addai had denied Junior Nkeng at the other end. Addai, arguably man of the match, also saved superbly from Ryan Johnson and smartly from Zack Nelson, before Oli Norwood wrapped up the points by wrapping his left foot around a bouncing ball.

Oddly, these two teams will meet again at Plough Lane in a couple of weeks. That’ll be the true test for Stockport, who’ve taken 22 points from their last 8 home games but just one from their last five on the road. Eek.

Reading v Wigan also finished 3-0, thanks to Will Aimson’s day from hell.

Having been bodied by Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan for Reading’s first goal, Aimson started and finished the move for their second by misplacing his defensive header and then (after some great work by Kamari Doyle) flat-footedly turning Charlie Savage’s cross into his own net. Nor did the Wigan defender cover himself in glory for the third goal, Ehibhatiomhan’s second, but then neither did his team-mates. For an encore, Aimson obstructed Reading’s goalkeeper from an offside position so Caylan Vickers’ strike was disallowed.

What a day. Daniel Kyerewaa, care to rub it in?

Wycombe beat Port Vale 4-0, although Mike Duff wasn’t especially happy with their performance. Vale did hit the post at 1-0, after Cauley Woodrow had punished a defensive mix-up to score in his 400th career appearance, and there was a hint of fortune in three of Wycombe’s goals taking deflections and the other, from Fred Onyedinma, possibly being offside. No need to be churlish, though: they fully deserved three points and now have the joint-best goal difference outside the top two, which could prove useful…

League Two

Matt Watts

The greatest fourth tier in the world returned to its unpredictable best. Only four top-half teams won while three of the bottom four claimed maximum points.

In terms of unpredictability, very little can trump the 24th-placed team beating the league leaders to end their 21-match unbeaten run. But that’s exactly what happened as Barrow came from behind to beat Bromley 2-1.

A stunning Ashley Charles free-kick put the Ravens in front, but second-half strikes from Josh Gordon and Danny Rose gave Sam Foley’s side a deserved victory. After their 5-0 humiliation at the hands of Grimsby last weekend, this was a statement win for Barrow, whose last four wins have each come under four different managers.

Bromley’s slip-up wasn’t capitalised upon by MK Dons, who followed a 3-1 defeat at home to Barnet with a 1-0 defeat at Salford. Matt Butcher’s rising strike in the 66th minute proved to be the difference. Of course, this victory will have been extra sweet for Karl Robinson, who managed MK for over six years, but it was also the Ammies’ fifth win in six and it moves them to within three points of the automatic promotion places. To make matters worse for MK, Luke Offord picked up a red card for kicking the ball into Fabio Borini’s midriff.

If you thought that Bromley’s and MK Dons’ slip-ups would be capitalised upon by Cambridge, then you would be mistaken.

The U’s nine-match unbeaten run came to an end as they lost 1-0 to play-off chasers Barnet. It’s two in two now for centre-back Danny Collinge, who finished like a seasoned striker. After wins against MK and Cambridge, Barnet are only three points off the play-off pace, but there is a fair amount of traffic between them and the top seven. Cambridge will hope to bounce back on Good Friday when they face Swindon, who drew 1-1 with Fleetwood.

All of that meant Notts County won the weekend by beating Harrogate 2-0 in the early kick-off. A brace from Alassana Jatta and a clean sheet for James Belshaw on his return to North Yorkshire was the perfect response for Notts, after their humbling at Oldham during the week. This was a damaging defeat for Harrogate, who returned to the bottom of the pyramid following Barrow’s victory over Bromley.

With neither Grimsby nor Chesterfield in action, the victor of Crewe v Oldham knew they would end the day in 7th. It was a ding-dong battle at the Mornflake… and the home side came out on top. Kane Drummond gave Oldham the lead, before Reece Hutchinson’s pile-driver on the run levelled it up four minutes later, and with stoppage time ticking away, Matúš Holíček’s fizzing half-volley made it 2-1 Crewe. Cue pandemonium, in the stands and on the pitch. Oldham’s five-match winning run (and 10-match unbeaten run) is over, but they’re still only two points behind Crewe with a game in hand.

At the bottom, it was a bad day for Harrogate – and Tranmere – as Barrow, Newport and Crawley all won. A bit of magic from Bobby Kamwa lit up a game otherwise bereft of quality as Newport beat Shrewsbury 1-0. The 26-year-old cut inside onto his right foot and curled a dipping effort past the helpless Matthew Cox. Kamwa has shown in the past that he is more than capable of producing moments like this – he just doesn’t do it very often.

Finally, Crawley ended their 10-match winless run by beating Gillingham 2-0. It was a game that neither side really deserved to win, until the 91st minute when Crawley substitute Taylor Richards made half a yard for himself and found the bottom corner from the edge of the box. Tobi Adeyemo added the second a couple of minutes later to seal the points for the Red Devils.

Colin Kazim-Richards may have seemed a leftfield pick to replace Scott Lindsey, but after one game in management, his win percentage is approximately 28% better than that of Pep Guardiola.

🎦 Our Top 5 clips from the EFL weekend

1. Reading goalkeeper Joel Pereira brings out the Zidane roulette.

2. Reece Hutchinson fires a laser-guided missile for Crewe…

3. …before Matúš Holíček generates some generational last-gasp limbs.

4. Matt Butcher goes full Pat Butcher: “What a slapper!”

5. Lights, Kamwa, Action! Bobby K wins it with a stunner for Newport

📊 Your Monday morning cheat sheet

📈 Royal Record — Only Lincoln City (40) and Plymouth Argyle (33) have earned more League One points in 2026 than Reading (32).

🔄 Barrow bounce — Barrow ended an eight-game winless run, coming from behind to secure just their second win in 16 league games in 2026.

🔥 Gas fired up — Bristol Rovers have won five of their last six league games, as many as in their previous 26 combined.

⚽ Jatta surge puts him among giants — Alassana Jatta has scored 34 league goals across the last two seasons for Notts County; only Erling Haaland (44) and Michael Cheek (41) have more in the top four tiers.

🛣️ County cruising — Notts County are now unbeaten in their last eight Saturday away games (W7 D1), conceding just four goals.

🏠 Salford streaking — Salford have won four consecutive home league games, their best home run since 2024, while their 22 wins equal their best-ever EFL season tally.

📉 Exeter slump — Exeter City are winless in 14 league games (D7 L7), one of the longest runs in their Football League history.

🌊 Woodrow wave — Cauley Woodrow has 8 goal involvements since the start of February (5G 3A) for Wycombe Wanderers.

⬆️ Wootton you just know it — Kyle Wootton has 19 league goals for Stockport County this season, equalling his previous two campaigns combined.

League One

Blackpool 1-0 Burton Albion
Exeter 0-0 Leyton Orient
Reading 3-0 Wigan
Stockport 3-0 AFC Wimbledon
Wycombe 4-0 Port Vale

League Two

Barnet 1-0 Cambridge
Barrow 2-1 Bromley
Bristol Rovers 2-0 Accrington
Colchester 1-1 Walsall
Crawley 2-0 Gillingham
Crewe 2-1 Oldham
Harrogate 0-2 Notts County
Newport 1-0 Shrewsbury
Salford 1-0 MK Dons
Swindon 1-1 Fleetwood

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Championship

Huw Davies

The ribbons on the Championship trophy are sky blue. With seven matches left, Coventry City sit nine points ahead of Middlesbrough and 11 points ahead of Millwall and Ipswich, whose game in hand can do only so much.

Frank Lampard’s side extended their lead by winning in Swansea courtesy of a nightmare 10 minutes or so for the hosts, in which the match swung back and forth like a pendulum and every time it came Swansea’s way, it hit them in the balls. Brandon Thomas-Asante converted a penalty at one end and Gonçalo Franco… headed a great chance just wide. Matt Grimes scored against the club where he’d made 300-plus appearances and Melker Widell… hit the post. Tatsuhiro Sakamoto’s deflected effort quickly made it 3-0 to end the contest before half-time.

Cov kicked off knowing their three pursuers had all drawn. Ipswich and Millwall shared an entertaining 1-1, Ipswich winning the first half (Anthony Patterson making a tremendous save before letting Jack Clarke’s daisycutter skid past him) and Millwall the second (Camiel Neghli neatly setting up Josh Coburn before Mihailo Ivanovic’s shot hit the crossbar and bounced out off the goalkeeper). Middlesbrough dropped points in a winnable game for a third time running by drawing 0-0 at Ewood Park.

That was a big point for Blackburn, who unexpectedly got the jump on a few relegation rivals. Although Leicester earned a point and West Bromwich Albion three, the latter beating a toothless Bristol City 1-0 at Ashton Gate, Oxford lost and Portsmouth really lost.

QPR had six touches in the box against Portsmouth and took eight shots in total. Chronologically, they went:

1. GOAL

2. GOAL

3. GOAL

4. GOAL

5. SAVED

6. BLOCKED

7. SAVED

8. GOAL

9. GOAL

Clinical, that. Paul Smyth, Rayan Kolli and Richard Koné scored a brace apiece in the 6-1 rout. Just how sweetly does Kolli strike a ball, by the way? His right foot is a combination of paintbrush and sniper rifle.

In the play-off race, Wrexham faced a barrage of Sheffield United shots at Bramall Lane and went behind when Andre Brooks smartly followed up a rebound. However, Josh Windass equalised with his sixth shot – his team’s seventh – and Sam Smith, feeling left out, snatched a winner with a diving header straight out of the 1990s. Wrexham’s 2-1 victory keeps them level on points with sixth place, occupied by…

Southampton, who beat the aforementioned Oxford 2-0 with two superb goals – one, great team play, and the other all Shea Charles. The Northern Ireland international was so far out, and started his shot so far outside the post, that Oxford keeper Jamie Cumming took about 18 steps just trying to get across to it. Unstoppable. Another slick Saints move ended with Tom Fellows hitting the underside of the bar, while Will Lankshear missed an excellent Yellows chance that could’ve made things interesting.

Finally, Sass of the Day goes to John Eustace, who you may remember was fired by Birmingham City in October 2023 when they hired Wayne Rooney to deliver “no-fear football” and, as it turned out, relegation to League One. Smash cut to March 2026 and Eustace’s Derby have beaten an unusually cowed and cautious Birmingham side under Chris Davies, prompting Eustace to reflect: “We played no-fear football today.”

Touché/Touchy.

League One

Sam Parry

Only one team in the top seven tasted victory and there were no alarms and no surprises as the Imps rolled over Lee Clark’s Rotherham. Some surprise and much surprise respectively as Blackpool nabbed a point from Cardiff and Port Vale beat Bolton.

It was a funny ‘relegation-battlers-versus-top-four’ weekend in League One, and Burton Albion deserve a mention. The Brewers didn’t just cling onto their early lead against Bradford; they were arguably the better side. Tyrese Shade’s tidy finish made it 2-0 on 58 minutes and the Bantams struggled to conjure anything meaningful – just two shots inside the box after that, including a consolation goal coming in stoppage time, tells its own story. It’s huge for Burton’s survival hopes.

But let’s take a look at the chasing pack and two big fixtures.

After a first half of few chances, Stevenage took over against Reading: 11 shots to zero in the second period and a deserved winner from substitute Dan Kemp. Alex Revell’s side jump back into the top six, taking the spot vacated by the Royals. That’s six wins from their last ten now – only two teams have more points in that time.

One of them is Plymouth Argyle, with 22 points from a possible 30. No team in the EFL is timing a play-off run better right now. Their opponents, Huddersfield, never looked sure-footed in this one, even after taking the lead through a neat Cameron Humphreys goal.

Lee Nicholls had kept Terriers ahead before going off with a head injury. Jak Alnwick came on and made two strong saves, but could do little about the equaliser early in the second half. Less so about what followed, as Bim Pepple’s penalty put Argyle ahead. Unfortunately, Alnwick won’t want to see the third again, as he palmed the ball straight into the path of Owen Oseni for 3-1.

As Argyle and Huddersfield swapped places, it told a broader story: one side in form despite a long injury list and a long journey from the relegation places, while the other are still searching for any real identity.

Down at the bottom, then…

Mansfield’s win over Northampton was not a huge surprise, but the margin (4-1) was huge. The Cobblers usually keep things tight, but this was their second heavy defeat in ten games, with just one win in that run. Now seven points from safety, the task looks too big for interim Colin Calderwood.

One man who has seized a big challenge is Richie Wellens. His Leyton Orient side’s 2-0 win over Wycombe came with a helping hand from a red card just ten minutes in. O’s capitalised nine minutes later and sealed the deal with a lovely Idris El Mizouni strike in added time in the second half. Four wins in a row, now. These little bursts of form are often what decide survival – suddenly Orient look okay.

And finally, Wigan 2-0 Exeter: huge for both and another example of trading places. Gary Caldwell might’ve been in the away dugout had things worked out differently. For his replacement at Exeter, Matt Taylor, this was a really tough watch in the first half as his side managed a single shot. After going 1-0 up, the Latics almost doubled their lead when 18-year-old Harrison Bettoni clipped the bar with a lob from distance.

In the second half, while still looking open at the back, Exeter made a better fist of things and forced saves from Sam Tickle in the Wigan goal. On another day, one of those might have gone in. But on this day, Wigan doubled their lead directly from a corner thanks to Fraser Murray.

It is looking bleak for Exeter now. Still, although no side has picked up fewer points – just four – over the last ten games, they do sit outside the drop zone and have their destiny in their own hands.

League Two

Matt Watts

“The Championship - the most unpredictable league in the world!”

Like Alan Davies on QI, it’s an obvious assumption to make, but it’s also incorrect. Only true EFL ultras know that League Two is, in fact, the most unpredictable league in the world. This weekend, however, was an exception to the rule with ten of the top half teams all winning.

Quite predictably, the only defeats for top-half teams came at the hands of other top-half teams. Barnet came from behind to beat MK Dons 3-1 in one of the day’s early kick-offs. The early-afternoon sun did for Ciaran Slicker, allowing Jon Mellish to tap in and give MK the lead, but a Danny Collinge header and second-half strikes from Kabongo Tshimanga and Idris Kanu saw Dean Brennan’s play-off chasers end a three-game winless run.

MK’s first defeat since New Year’s Day presented Bromley with the opportunity to extend their lead at the top to five points – one they duly took. Nicke Kabamba swivelled and rifled in from close range to give them a 1-0 victory over Colchester. This was an eventful one-niller with multiple rattles of the woodwork and 25 shots in the second half alone. Bromley have now won their last three games 1-0, they’ve set a new club record for league games unbeaten this season (21), and they still haven’t lost a home league game this season.

Salford were the only other top half side to lose. Like MK, their four-match winning run came to an abrupt halt on Saturday as they lost 1-0 to fellow promotion chasers Cambridge. James Gibbons’ second-half header proved to be the difference between the two sides, who are now separated by five points – and, crucially, Cambridge have a game in hand.

Notts County also have a game in hand over the rest of the top six. The Magpies made it nine goals scored in five days by putting five past Cheltenham at Meadow Lane. The pick of the goals were scored by Notts’ centre-mids: 31-year-old Matty Palmer (his first for three years) and 20-year-old Tom Iorpenda, who scored a phenomenal solo effort in the second half.

Swindon remain three points behind Cambridge and a point behind Notts after they left it late to beat struggling Tranmere 1-0 at Prenton Park. After some excellent work from Michael Olakigbe, the veteran Junior Hoilett finished from close range to score his first goal for the Robins and earn Ian Holloway’s side three vital points.

In terms of the race for the play-offs, the big winners (amongst all of the other winners) were Grimsby, who beat bottom club Barrow 5-0 to a) retain 7th spot and b) give their goal difference a real boost. The Mariners are level on points with Chesterfield, who beat Accrington 1-0, but Dave Artell’s side have a game in hand over the Spireites and the aforementioned superior goal difference.

Crewe got back to winning ways with a 4-0 victory at Shrewsbury, who have now lost three in a row after an excellent start to life under Gavin Cowan. Oldham beat Harrogate 1-0 to make it 22 points from the last 24 available. It’s yet another shutout for the Latics, who have kept seven clean sheets in their last eight games and 17 in the league this season – the most in the EFL.

Finally, Walsall recorded their first home win since Boxing Day, coming from behind to beat Newport 2-1. Alex Pattison’s low 97th-minute effort from the edge of the box was a dagger to the heart of Newport, but both the goal and the jubilant scenes that followed have the potential to be season-defining for the Saddlers.

Oh, and because one of the only two games we didn’t mention (Fleetwood 1-0 Crawley, Gillingham 1-2 Bristol Rovers) felt hard done by, Crawley Town took it upon themselves to sack Scott Lindsey with a CLUB STATMENT [sic] after the pubs shut on Sunday. That defeat to Fleetwood came on the one-year anniversary of his re-appointment by Crawley; a day later, he was gone, after they’d brought in three more of his 2023/24 promotion-winning players in January. Indecision, or pure panic? You decide.

🎦 Our Top 5 clips from the EFL weekend

1. Take a peek at this sneaky Ollie Norwood freekick.

2. Shea Charles gives it the treatment for Saints.

3. Like a homing device, Alex Pattison leaves it late for Saddlers.

4. It’s a thing of beauty from Tom Iorpenda for Notts County.

5. And the ever-fashionable Paul Smyth ties it up for QPR (plus a Dickie Koné bonus)

📊 Your Monday morning cheat sheet

🚫 Better the devil you don’t know? — Crawley Town have failed to score in six straight away Football League games for the first time.

📉 Bantams’ away blues — Bradford have lost nine of their last 11 away games; only Sheffield Wednesday have more away defeats in 2026.

⚓ Mariners moored — Grimsby Town are unbeaten in 10 home league games (W6 D4), their best run since 2006.

🧱 Latics locked in — Oldham Athletic have won four straight home league games without conceding, their best such run since 2016.

💥 Q P R U Serious? — Queens Park Rangers scored six in a league game for the first time since 2020 – more than in their previous five home matches combined.

🛡️ By Eckert — Southampton are unbeaten in 12 Championship games (W9 D3), their longest such run since 2023/24 under Russell Martin.

🏠 Rams rolling — Derby have won four straight home league games, as many as in their previous 19 combined.

🔄 Vale-iant effort — Port Vale secured their first home league win since New Year’s Day, and their first clean-sheet home win since April 2025.

SkyBet Championship

Blackburn 0-0 Middlesbrough
Bristol City 0-1 West Brom
Charlton 0-1 Norwich
Derby 1-0 Birmingham
Hull 3-1 Sheff Wed
Ipswich 1-1 Millwall
Preston 3-1 Stoke
QPR 6-1 Portsmouth
Sheff Utd 1-2 Wrexham
Southampton 2-0 Oxford
Swansea 0-3 Coventry
Watford 0-0 Leicester

Sky Bet League One

AFC Wimbledon 1-1 Peterborough
Barnsley 0-1 Doncaster
Burton Albion 2-1 Bradford
Cardiff 0-0 Blackpool
Leyton Orient 2-0 Wycombe
Lincoln City 3-0 Rotherham
Luton 1-1 Stockport
Mansfield 4-1 Northampton
Plymouth 3-1 Huddersfield
Port Vale 1-0 Bolton
Stevenage 1-0 Reading
Wigan 2-0 Exeter

Sky Bet League Two

Accrington 0-1 Chesterfield
Bromley 1-0 Colchester
Cambridge 1-0 Salford
Fleetwood 1-0 Crawley
Gillingham 1-2 Bristol Rovers
Grimsby 5-0 Barrow
MK Dons 1-3 Barnet
Notts County 5-2 Cheltenham
Oldham 1-0 Harrogate
Shrewsbury 0-4 Crewe
Tranmere 0-1 Swindon
Walsall 2-1 Newport

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Championship

Matt Watts

At this stage of the season it is hard to write something that has not already been written, but I will give it a go. A promotion chaser won the weekend by beating lowly Sheffield Wednesday. Ivan Azon’s deft finish and Jack Clarke’s penalty gave Ipswich a 2-0 win at Hillsborough. Results elsewhere saw Kieran McKenna’s side climb to third and move within two points of Middlesbrough, with a game in hand.

Boro were on course for a much-needed 1-0 win over Bristol City, but Adam Randell’s stunning 95th-minute header means it is now four home games without a win for Kim Hellberg’s men. Middlesbrough had 53 shots in their home games against Charlton and Bristol City this week but scored only once and picked up just one point.

Boro dropping points opened the door for Millwall, but they failed to walk through it. Luke Cundle’s acrobatic opener set the Lions on course for their seventh win in eight games, but Zak Sturge’s controversial red card proved to be the turning point. Was he the last man? Was he denying a clear goalscoring opportunity? The referee thought so. The Lions also felt hard done by when Femi Azeez wasn’t awarded a penalty after a coming together with Eiran Cashin. Minutes later, Mathias Jorgensen levelled for Blackburn, before scoring the winner with five minutes of normal time remaining. Rovers move three points clear of the drop.

Even the leaders slipped up this weekend as Coventry fell to a 2-1 defeat at home to Southampton. The Sky Blues, who had racked up six wins in a row heading into this one, conceded a couple of poor goals and ran into an inspired Daniel Peretz in the Saints goal. Despite suffering only their second home defeat of the season, Coventry are still seven points clear of Middlesbrough with eight games to go. As for Tonda Eckert’s Saints, they are unbeaten in 12 games in all competitions, winning nine of them, and remain three points behind Wrexham.

At the other end of the table, West Brom moved out of the bottom three after beating promotion chasers Hull 3-0 at The Hawthorns. Charlie Hughes’ 36th-minute red card helped West Brom’s cause, but James Morrison’s side were already 1-0 up and were good value for the win, with loanee Danny Imray putting in a standout performance. It has taken the Baggies two and a half months to pick up their first win of 2026. On this evidence, the next one should not be too far away.

Oxford’s three-match winning run came to an end as Cameron Brannagan’s 57th-minute penalty was cancelled out by Charlie Kelman’s 93rd-minute spot kick for Charlton. The pressure of a relegation battle does funny things to people. Would Ciaron Brown have grabbed Miles Leaburn’s shirt if Oxford were nine points clear of the bottom three, as Charlton are? Probably not.

Just beneath Oxford you will find Leicester, who capitulated at home to QPR. Jordan James’ long-range effort had given the Foxes the lead before goals from Harvey Vale, a Ben Nelson own goal and Ronnie Edwards turned the game on its head. Prior to Vale’s equaliser, Rangers had gone almost seven hours without scoring. Julien Stéphan’s side also ended a run of four consecutive defeats in which they had conceded 12 goals.

Away from the really important storylines, the Championship always throws up some lighter moments and this weekend was no different. Fans watching the Wrexham v Swansea game on Friday night had the option to listen to commentary from Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney. Yes, really. On Saturday, Birmingham gave away one of the most bizarre penalties you will ever see in their 1-1 draw with Sheffield United. Former Blades defender Jack Robinson took it upon himself to award Birmingham a goal kick, inexplicably putting his hand on the ball. Finally, in-form Norwich beat out-of-form Preston 2-0 at Carrow Road. It would have been unthinkable on 5 January, but the Canaries have reached 50 points before North End.

League One

Ali Maxwell

The League One weekend chucked up key winners at the top, near the bottom and in the play-off picture.

Lincoln City became the first League One team to win six games in a row this season, pulling clear of Stockport County to win 3-1 after a short period in which it seemed their streak was under threat.

Lincoln’s performance level was composed and clinical rather than spectacular, as it has been so often in recent weeks and months. Stockport equalised with 25 minutes to go, and for 10 minutes County had the edge, the energy, the chances, without success. Not for long. A deflected Tendayi Darikwa shot put Michael Skubala’s side back ahead, and Alfie Lloyd turned a long George Wickens kick into an assist by dominating Brad Hills to score.

After this win, it was time to check the league table and then the fixture list, to try and predict when Lincoln’s remarkable promotion may be rubber-stamped. They’re 15 points clear of 3rd with 9 games to go. Their home match on Good Friday against AFC Wimbledon – their 41st of game the season – is blinking on our radar.

Cardiff City will be joining them in the Championship, and ended their brief hangover by wiping the floor with Exeter City, overwhelming them with wide combination play. Rubin Colwill scored twice in the first half with assists from wingers Ollie Tanner and Cian Ashford, then Alex Robertson’s goal was exhibition stuff, involving backheels and improbable curl on his shot from range. It was 4-0 in the end, for an 11-point lead over Bolton.

Those two sides are top of the table on merit. They are the only two teams to have truly cracked it this season in League One. Their lack of serious competition was underlined by the fact that only two other teams in the top half won. Bolton fought back from 0-2 down at Rotherham to draw 2-2. Rotherham’s defence more or less gave up in the final minutes, and a second straight 3-2 injury-time win from 0-2 down felt inevitable… except that Bolton’s attackers forgot how to finish.

Bradford could have gone third, but lost 0-2 at Wigan – their seventh away defeat of 2026 already. Huddersfield huffed and puffed in a 0-0 at Port Vale, while play-off chasers Reading and Plymouth shared the points in a 2-2 draw that oscillated nicely for the neutral: Reading led twice, through Randell Williams and Paudie O’Connor, but Argyle responded each time, with goals from Alex Mitchell and Caleb Watts.

Which means that the biggest winners of the play-off battle were Stevenage.

Their 1-0 win at home to Wimbledon came courtesy of a first-half Jamie Reid penalty. If the details of the game contain little of note, the significance of the result contains plenty. Alex Revell’s side jump from 8th to 5th and have a game in hand over all competitors except Stockport, who dropped out of the top six for the first time since autumn.

Wycombe could have been in there with them, had they beaten Luton. Surely they would – ‘Four Straight Home Wins’ vs ‘No Away Wins In 10’? Chalk that down for a home win. But God had other plans. Or, more specifically, Hakeem Odoffin starred in the heart of Luton’s back line, and Kal Naismith and Kasey Palmer both scored close range headers from corners.

There are play-off places are up for grabs. Who wants ‘em?!

At the bottom, we know already about Rotherham’s point against Bolton. It’s one they would have taken pre-match, but still ended up feeling somewhat traumatic.

Wigan were among the big winners, righting the wrongs of a midweek defeat at home to Argyle to beat Bradford 2-0. Caylan Vickers looked bright, making his first league start for Wigan, and grabbed a first-half goal. With 15 minutes to go, Joe Taylor scored a vintage Joe Taylor goal, speeding in behind and finishing smartly. The Latics have beaten three top half teams in six games under Gary Caldwell.

What a week for Leyton Orient, winning back-to-back games for the first time this season with a 2-1 win at home to Peterborough. Equally rare is an Orient win without a Dom Ballard goal to help secure it: this was the first time that’s happened since November, as Jack Simpson and Tyreeq Bakinson did the honours.

Kevin Nolan may be out at Northampton Town, but it was the same old statuesque defending and poor finishing on display in their 0-2 defeat at home to Burton. With the hardest run-in by far among relegation battlers, this was a huge chance to take points off a side above them, but a limp home defeat sums things up. Burton’s strong record against the current bottom four is the reason for their five-point cushion.

Two points separated Doncaster and Blackpool at the start of the day. By 5pm, it was five points. Donny may have been winless in three, but having watched Blackpool in midweek, it was clear that they were lacking style, substance, ideas, confidence and discipline – all on show here in a 1-2 defeat that also saw Fraser Horsfall sent off. They’re odds-on for relegation now, and are three points from safety.

League Two

Huw Davies

The top three in League Two all won, with varying degrees of ease. At one end of the scale: Bromley needing some odd goalkeeping and a daft red card to beat Bristol Rovers 1-0 (though they did spurn golden opportunities to score more). At the other: Cambridge United.

The U’s demolished Gillingham 5-0 without conceding a shot on target. The hosts’ fifth goal (see 5iveLights, #3) showed their confidence but Gills’ defending as early in the second minute, for 1-0, must have had visiting fans checking their watches – not to see how much time had been played but how long was left. True enough, what followed was attack v defence, intent v discontent, Cambridge excellent, Gills execrable. Table-toppers after nine games, they’re 17th after 36 and have just shipped 10 goals in a week. Summer can’t come soon enough.

MK Dons won 2-1 at Swindon to stay in 2nd. Alex Gilbey, deflected; Ollie Clarke corrected; scrambled MK winner confected; Swindon dejected. Their automatic promotion challenge is becoming a challenge to stay in the top seven. Still, they received a boost from 8th-placed Grimsby losing 1-0 at Oldham. Each side had a single shot on target but Oldham scored theirs, substitute Oli Hammond setting up substitute Josh Hawkes for a well-executed breakaway. They’re in this play-off hunt.

Chesterfield replaced Grimsby in the top seven by winning a ding-dong battle 3-2 against Notts County. The first half alone featured an own goal, three regular goals, five yellow cards and a hilarious sending-off.

Inside 20 minutes, with Notts 1-0 down, Ollie Norburn dislodged Armando Dobra’s boot in a tackle and lobbed it really quite far away (knocking a pitchside multiball off its cone, which is a neat trick). It’s a silly thing to do on a booking, for sure, but experience requires precedence and who ever got sent off for throwing a shoe? Notts did well to recover to 2-2 before the break, but they didn’t have a shot after the 52nd minute and the pressure told as Liam Mandeville leapt to nod in Sammy Braybrooke’s chipped pass.

Just outside the play-off places, Walsall got back on the saddle without Mat Sadler and drew level with Crewe by beating them 3-0 at Gresty Road. Albert Adomah scoring two goals 87 minutes apart is impressive at 38, but the skill outshone the stamina – a handsome flick for the first and sexy dink for the second, with an outside-of-the-boot assist in between. Phwoar, Unc.

Further down, Newport are up to 20th, the highest they’ve been since 6th September dawned. They beat Barnet 2-1 and, even more impressively, came from behind to win away.

Barnet scored a Sunday League goal against hungover defending, but whether it was with a tactical tweak or a tactical chunder, half-time revitalised County. Ben Lloyd had one of his five shots cleared off the line. Jordan Wright brilliantly saved a close-range header. Bobby Kamwa turned in Cameron Evans’ superb assist – yet Newport wanted more. Lee Jenkins, six yards out, got his feet in a tangle; Lloyd, 18 yards out, hit the bar. Chances, chances, chances. At last, Harrison Biggins found Tanatswa Nyakuhwa, who found fellow sub James Crole, who found three vital points hidden in the back of the net.

What a difference it makes. Barrow fell into the relegation zone thanks to this result and their 0-0 home draw with Accrington. They joined Harrogate, who held out for 85 minutes before losing 1-0 to promotion-chasing Salford. Crawley’s goalless draw at Colchester didn’t do a lot of good for either side.

🎦 Our Top 5 clips from the EFL weekend

1. Imply Red: the injury-time goal that made it two – and promotion a formality – arrived to a roar that said everything.

2. Not far behind: Cardiff keep up the pace, and are we sure this ain’t Brazil?

3. A good old hoot with the outside of the boot: Shayne Lavery for Cambridge.

4. Free-kick o’clock: Who did it better? Kenny McLean for Norwich… or Marvin Ducksch for Birmingham?

5. A little wonder from Irankunda.

📊 Your Monday morning cheat sheet

📊 Boro frustration — Middlesbrough have produced 53 shots and 4.8 xG across their last two games, yet scored just once and collected one point.

📉 Foxes famine — Leicester’s open-play xG across their last five games reads 0.41, 0.27, 0.13, 0.40 and 0.31 — 1.5 in total, underlining their recent attacking struggles.

🎯 Gilbey guarantee — Alex Gilbey scored his 10th league goal of the season for MK Dons and is now the only player to reach 10+ goals in each of the last three League Two campaigns.

🌟 Adomah evergreen — At 38y 91d, Albert Adomah became the oldest non-British/Irish player to record 3+ goal involvements in an EFL match since at least 2013/14.

🔥 Imp-ervious — Lincoln have won six consecutive league games, their longest winning run above the fourth tier since August 1958.

🏟️ Lampard pattern — Coventry City’s four home defeats under Frank Lampard have all come against sides either promoted to the Premier League last season or relegated from it (Leeds, Burnley, Ipswich and Southampton).

🐤 No clemency for Norwich opponents — No side has won more Championship matches than Norwich City (13) since Philippe Clement took charge in November.

🤏 Beg, steal and Boro — Stevenage have won 16 league games in 2025/26, and 13 were by a single goal; the others were 2-0 (vs Northampton in August), 2-0 (vs Luton in October) and 3-1 (vs Stockport in December). Tight.

🍺 Rovers’ Returns at the Den — In all league away games since the start of the 2020/21 season, Blackburn have won from behind on three occasions – and all three times were against Millwall (May 2023, October 2023, March 2026).

📬 Didzy still delivering — David McGoldrick has 14 League One goals this season; only Dean Windass (16) and Adebayo Akinfenwa (15) have scored more aged 37+ since 2004-05.

SkyBet Championship

Birmingham 1-1 Sheffield United
Coventry 1-2 Southampton
Leicester 1-3 QPR
Middlesbrough 1-1 Bristol City
Millwall 1-2 Blackburn
Norwich 2-0 Preston
Oxford 1-1 Charlton
Sheffield Wednesday 0-2 Ipswich
Stoke 3-1 Watford
West Brom 3-0 Hull
Wrexham 2-0 Swansea

Sky Bet League One

Doncaster 2-1 Blackpool
Exeter 0-4 Cardiff
Leyton Orient 2-1 Peterborough
Lincoln 3-1 Stockport
Mansfield 2-2 Barnsley
Northampton 0-2 Burton Albion
Port Vale 0-0 Huddersfield
Reading 2-2 Plymouth Argyle
Rotherham 2-2 Bolton
Stevenage 1-0 AFC Wimbledon
Wigan 2-0 Bradford
Wycombe 1-2 Luton

Sky Bet League Two

Barnet 1-2 Newport
Barrow 0-0 Accrington
Bromley 1-0 Bristol Rovers
Cambridge 5-0 Gillingham
Colchester 0-0 Crawley
Crewe 0-3 Walsall
Fleetwood 0-0 Tranmere
Harrogate 0-1 Salford
Notts County 2-3 Chesterfield
Oldham 1-0 Grimsby
Shrewsbury 0-2 Cheltenham
Swindon 1-2 MK Dons

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FA Cup

Ali Maxwell

One quarter of the FA Cup’s quarter-finalists come from the EFL — and we absolutely love it. Port Vale and Southampton are one win from a Wembley semi-final.

Mansfield walked so Vale could run. The Stags hosted Premier League and Champions League favourites Arsenal and gave it a right go, losing 1-2. Mikel Arteta’s side are one of the most impressive defensive sides this century, and in their 46 games this season, only one team has taken more shots against them than Mansfield’s 18 efforts. That was Manchester United on the first day of the season, but United didn’t score — Mansfield did. Will Evans equalising, and shushing the Arsenal fans, will live long in the memory. Ebere Eze scored the winner, showing no respect for his EFL heritage.

Evans’ goal and celebration were trumped tenfold by Port Vale and Ben Waine on Sunday. League One’s bottom side have only won six league games this season, but their 1-0 win over Sunderland was their fifth in the FA Cup and their fourth 1-0 cup victory in a row. Kiwi striker Waine, hardly prolific across three years in English football, has scored the winner in three of those wins. Even better, he’s a huge Newcastle United fan, and celebrated his goal against their bitter rivals in the best possible manner: SHEARERRRRRRRRRR!

Vale’s defending in the last twenty minutes deserves plenty of credit, and the celebrations of the fans was truly joyous. With already four league games in hand in League One, and the quarter finals slated for the middle of the EFL’s Easter Weekend double header, the schedule will be brutal for Jon Brady’s bunch, but he’s certainly made some impact.

Southampton won against Fulham at Craven Cottage thanks to an injury-time Ross Stewart penalty and some excellent Daniel Peretz saves. Wrexham hosted a breathless tie against Chelsea, leading twice and almost taking a second Premier League scalp, but ultimately falling the wrong side of some bare margins. Norwich were beaten comfortably at Leeds, but it’s all eyes on the draw tonight — we pray for a sixth straight Port Vale home tie!

Championship

Sam Parry

We are in that liminal space now between the business end and what comes before. The permutations are starting to really matter. The most significant movers this weekend were Oxford and Millwall.

Let’s begin with a safari. Millwall were second best against Hull and still pulled off the sort of smash-and-grab the Tigers have inflicted on others this season. Being second best is rarely a formula for success. See if Alex Neil cares.

Hull struck the woodwork early and carried the greater threat, but Millwall made the first breakthrough when Jake Cooper finished from close range after a set piece was nodded back across goal. Joe Gelhardt equalised soon after and Hull continued to create chances without going ahead.

The pattern continued after the break: Hull pushing, Millwall clinical. Femi Azeez produced a wonderful pass across the defence to set up Ivanovic, and four minutes later Josh Coburn made it 3–1 from the edge of the box.

Hull’s inability to make their first-half pressure count cost them dearly. The numbers tell the story. Twenty shots inside the box to Millwall’s four. 3.08 xG to Millwall’s 1.38. One goal to Millwall’s three. That’s the rub.

T’other biggie happened on Friday night.

Oxford’s task was clear: beat Preston and they would climb out of the relegation zone, at least temporarily. Michal Helik shinned them ahead after ragdolling Lewis Gibson, before Milutin Osmajić equalised with a header from Ben Whiteman’s exquisite delivery.

Oxford kept posing a threat in transition and regained the lead when Will Lankshear turned in Stanley Mills’ effort. Ciaron Brown then bundled home from a long throw to seal the win and spark very different reactions at either end.

The victory briefly lifted Oxford out of the bottom three. They are back in it now, but only just, thanks to a pair of Saturday stalemates.

At Bramall Lane, West Brom and Sheffield United shared the spoils in a largely forgettable draw — George Campbell scoring both a poor own goal and a superb long-range equaliser.

Ipswich also had to settle for a point at Portman Road. They deserved their equaliser against Leicester and might have won it, but a sluggish first half against a bottom-three side proved costly. Leicester defended stubbornly and have now taken valuable away points at Middlesbrough and Ipswich in successive trips.

Elsewhere near the bottom, Portsmouth thought they had secured a late win at Blackburn that would have moved them seven points clear of danger, only for Hayden Carter to equalise deep in stoppage time. Swansea made it eight wins and two draws in their last 10 home games with a 2-0 home win against Stoke — Liam Cullen’s 50-yard strike the latest great moment for a Swansea side reborn under Vitor Matos. Charlton’s 1-0 win over Birmingham was less surprising than it sounds given the Blues’ poor away form, and it leaves Nathan Jones’ side nine points clear of the drop.

Back at the top everything went Coventry’s way.

Bristol City were architects of their own problems as Coventry stretched their gap to third to nine points. The visitors gifted Coventry their first two goals, and although Joel Latibeaudiere’s red card offered Bristol City a route back, Adam Randell’s second yellow early in the second half effectively ended the contest. Even at ten versus ten, the Robins never looked likely to recover. They are now seven points off sixth.

The final game of the Championship weekend came on Sunday at Loftus Road. In a strange way, 1-0 at half-time felt more dominant than the second period as QPR were pulled apart by Middlesbrough. Of course it wasn’t more dominant. But the inevitability of the result felt oppressive.

From a QPR perspective the first goal was a touch unfortunate - handball-ish. The second, a header from Alan Browne, was a touch shoddy. Hayden Hackney’s pearler was typical. Tommy Conway’s penalty was simply that.

With 47 points on the board QPR should not be troubled by relegation, though sides in that position should show fearful respect to the memory of Preston North End in 24/25. As for Boro, Kim Hellberg’s side maintain a nice, plump four point cushion to third.

League One

Ali Maxwell & Huw Davies

With one point between them, League One’s runaway top two met in Cardiff. Two goals separated them, both scored by Lincoln.

From the first minute, Cardiff struggled to penetrate a defensive brick wall, while Lincoln’s attacking efficiency was evident. They had the game’s first six shots, before Cardiff ended the first half with a spell in which two good strikes from range were handled by George Wickens.

Early in the second half, a loose touch from Ollie Tanner allowed Lincoln the chance to get the ball back to front. Their front two, Ben House and Rob Street, dominated the Cardiff centre-backs with power, movement and understanding. Street scored.

Some 20 minutes later, without Cardiff having mustered a shot in response, Tanner gave the ball away again and, within 11 seconds, Dom Jefferies had scored on the break. Cardiff 0, Lincoln 2, setting up a period of joyous, cacophonous noise from the Imps fans. “Tottenham away, olé olé…”

It was a brilliant, potentially title-winning performance. Michael Skubala’s side were much clearer in their roles, their movements on and off the ball, and more confident at the sharp end. Eyebrows were raised when the ‘model’ we built to power our Pinstickers Guide to League One Promotion suggested that Lincoln would take the title, but remove the team names, and consider points won, goal difference, recent form and recent underlying performance data. In all of those aspects, Lincoln City are League One’s #1.

Brian Barry-Murphy’s have played with sexy, silky confidence for months, but Lincoln rendered them swaggerless, and not for the first time this season. Cardiff’s record against the current top six – W2 D2 L4 – is more or less their only ‘negative’ statistic in 2025/26, but may be cause for thought when making plans for the Championship.

BUT WAIT. Bolton haven’t given up on automatic promotion just yet. That still-faint hope was fully invisible at half-time against Wycombe, who led their hosts 2-0, but then Steven Schumacher introduced the most effective use of CBT outside of mental health treatment.

When Corey Blackett-Taylor came on, it was as if the pitch had been raised on its right-hand axis, tilting all play to Bolton’s left. The winger had already created several chances (and Caolan Boyd-Munce had already made a superb goal-line block) when Sam Dalby expertly laid off an Eoin Toal pass for Ruben Rodrigues to finish. 88’: 1-2. Then Blackett-Taylor got the better of Fred Onyedinma once again and his cross was headed in by Mason Burstow. 90’+1: 2-2. Job done, Corey, thanks for coming in. But boss, I’m up for some overtime. On 90’+6, Blackett-Taylor cut inside past Onyedinma, Josh Scowen slipped, and the pair watched in desolate horror as Bolton’s supersub bent in a stunning winner. Bedlam.

Reading’s comeback at Luton, winning 3-2 from 2-1 down with 10 minutes remaining, was almost as late, almost as dramatic, but just as significant a pendulum swing for each team’s promotion chances. While Bolton’s turnaround pushed Wycombe down from 5th to 9th, Reading just about stayed within a point of the play-off places.

Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan’s hat-trick doubled his 2025/26 goals tally and was entirely created by Luton players. First, Isaiah Jones cushioned a defensive header into his path. Then, after the Hatters had scored either side of half-time through Nigel Lonwijk and George Saville, the most unmarked man in recorded history, a pass from Joe Johnson was intercepted by Matt Ritchie, who delivered a lovely trivela for Big Kelvin to finish. Finally, Luton completed their implosion when Kai Naismith allowed Ritchie to rob him in the box, with Ehibhatiomhan on hand to win it.

Jack Wilshere’s side are now eight points off 6th. Their misery was compounded by victories for almost every playoff rival:

• Stevenage won a low-margin game 1-0 at Burton Albion through Jamie Reid’s arguably offside goal.

• Huddersfield beat Rotherham 1-0 despite a flaccid performance angering their supporters.

• Barnsley saw off Exeter, 2-1, thanks to David McGoldrick scoring and setting up Vimal Yoganthan’s fine header with a delectable cross on his wrong foot.

• Plymouth Argyle went behind to a Thor hammer from Doncaster’s Elliott Lee, and had a penalty saved, but rallied to win 2-1 with Bim Pepple scoring again.

• And Bradford beat Leyton Orient 2-1.

It was 1-1 in the last of those games when, in a remarkable 15 minutes, Bradford had four players booked, a fifth sent off, then scored. Antoni Sarcevic’s second goal of the day was a deserved winner, even with 10 men. Aden Baldwin protested his red card, but the optics were always against him.

League Two

Matt Watts

In the past, the Premier League has been described as the ‘league of late goals’ but, this weekend, that moniker belonged to League Two. EIGHT of the 12 games featured goals scored in the 90th minute or later.

With both Bromley and Cambridge dropping points away from home, the chasing pack had the opportunity to make up some ground. Swindon thought they had done just that when Billy Bodin put them 2-1 up at Crawley in the 91st minute, however, Kellan Gordon’s 98th-minute equaliser extended the Robins’ winless run to three games, whilst also putting a point between Crawley and the bottom two.

Notts County succeeded where Swindon could not thanks to Jodi Jones’ 94th-minute winner at Walsall. Have you ever seen Jones score a back-post header? No, me neither, but this one will live long in the memory of the travelling Notts fans. Martin Paterson’s side move up to 4th ahead of next Saturday’s grudge match at home to Chesterfield. With MK Dons beating Harrogate, there’s now only two points between 2nd and 5th in the fourth tier.

Unfortunately, it’s yet more woe for Mat Sadler and Walsall, who took the lead against Notts only to succumb to a 2-1 defeat. Since beating Crewe on Boxing Day, the Saddlers have won two of their last 15 games in all competitions - losing nine. They’ve also slipped from 1st to 11th in League Two.

There was drama in Chesterfield, but it went against the home side: Sam Stubbs’ 93rd-minute winner for Shrewsbury means that Gavin Cowan’s side have now taken 18 points from the last 21 available. Four of those wins have come against teams currently in the top eight and, despite their struggles for much of the season, a top half finish isn’t out of the question.

A late brace from one of the EFL’s forgotten men, Tommy Leigh, saw Bristol Rovers come from behind to beat play-off chasers Crewe 2-1 at the Mem. The Gas have now taken seven points from the last nine available and they’re seven points clear of the bottom two. One point above Bristol Rovers, you will find Tranmere. Zech Obiero’s fine injury-time strike was nothing more than a consolation for Rovers, who lost 3-1 at home to Oldham, managed by their old boss Mr Mellon. Painfully managerless themselves, Tranmere have now lost five in a row and 11 of their last 12 games, while Oldham have taken 13 points from the last 15 available. Talk about trending in different directions.

On Friday night, Barrow were on course for three vital points before Isaac Hutchinson’s 90th-minute equaliser for Cheltenham. Despite the late setback, Barrow are out of the bottom two after Newport’s 2-1 defeat at home to Colchester. Lee Jenkins’ 97th-minute header was too little too late for Christian Fuchs’ side who have followed all seven of their league victories this season with a defeat in their next league game. The old cricket adage “one brings two” categorically does not apply in Newport.

Finally, Shaun Rooney’s 91st-minute equaliser for Fleetwood at Gillingham is unlikely to have serious consequences for either side, but it does extend the Cod Army’s unbeaten run to six games and their unbeaten run against Gillingham to ten games.

🎦 Our Top 5 clips from the EFL weekend

1. Magic Mike with the lob for Oldham.

2. Butterflee - Elliot Lee lets loose.

3. If it at first you own goal then do this: George Campbell, THWACK.

4. “That belongs in a museum!” Indiana Jodi Jones, 2026.

5. The hipster unloads his holster: Hackney’s at it again.

📊 Your Monday morning cheat sheet

📈 Imps on top — Lincoln City went top with victory over Cardiff City; their 74 points after 35 games is their best return at this stage since 1975–76, when they won the fourth division title.

🦁 Millwall march — Millwall have earned 30 Championship points since Boxing Day (W9 D3 L2), more than any other side.

🐏 Rams rising — Only Millwall and Norwich (both 8) have recorded more Championship wins in 2026 than Derby County (7), while the Rams have won three successive home league games for the first time since November.

🤦 Double trouble — George Campbell became the first West Bromwich Albion player to score both a goal and an own goal in a league match since Semi Ajayi in 2020, and the first Championship player overall since Rob Atkinson last season.

🟥 Seeing red — Only Birmingham City and Sheffield United (5 each) have received more Championship red cards this season than Stoke City (4); Sorba Thomas’ dismissal was his first since March 2024.

🔄 Bolt On Rewards — Bolton Wanderers won despite trailing by two goals until the 88th minute, the latest a team has been 2+ down and still won an EFL match since the 2004 rebrand.

🎩 Another David McGoldrick entry — At 38y 98d, David McGoldrick became the oldest player to both score and assist in a League One match since Adebayo Akinfenwa in January 2022.

🏠 Home Park humming — Plymouth Argyle have won four of their six home league games in 2026, already more than across all of 2025 at Home Park in League One.

📉 Probromley — Bromley have failed to win three of their last four games when leading (W1 D3); only Tranmere Rovers (20) have dropped more points from winning positions in League Two this season than Bromley (19).

🔥 Fondop form — Mike Fondop has five goal involvements in his last five League Two games for Oldham Athletic (3G 2A), more than across his first 35 in the competition.

📊 Shrews untamed — Shrewsbury Town have won six of their last seven league games, more than across their first 29 of the season combined; no side has more wins or goals (14) since the start of February.

🌱 Ogunsuyi double — At 19y 101d, Trey Ogunsuyi became the youngest player to score a league brace for Shrewsbury since Tom Bradshaw in 2011.

Sky Bet Championship

Blackburn Rovers 1–1 Portsmouth
Bristol City 0–2 Coventry City
Charlton Athletic 1–0 Birmingham City
Derby County 2–1 Sheffield Wednesday
Hull City 1–3 Millwall
Ipswich Town 1–1 Leicester City
Preston 1-3 Oxford
QPR 0-4 Middlesbrough
Sheffield United 1–1 West Bromwich Albion
Swansea City 2–0 Stoke City

Sky Bet League One

AFC Wimbledon 1-0 Northampton
Barnsley 2–1 Exeter City
Blackpool 1–1 Wigan Athletic
Bolton Wanderers 3–2 Wycombe Wanderers
Bradford City 2–1 Leyton Orient
Burton Albion 0–1 Stevenage
Cardiff City 0–2 Lincoln City
Huddersfield Town 1–0 Rotherham United
Luton Town 2–3 Reading
Plymouth Argyle 2–1 Doncaster Rovers

Sky Bet League Two

Salford City 2–0 Barnet
Accrington Stanley 1–1 Cambridge United
Bristol Rovers 2–1 Crewe Alexandra
Chesterfield 2–3 Shrewsbury Town
Crawley Town 2–2 Swindon Town
Gillingham 1–1 Fleetwood Town
Grimsby Town 1–1 Bromley
Milton Keynes Dons 4–1 Harrogate Town
Newport County 1–2 Colchester United
Salford City 2–0 Barnet
Tranmere Rovers 1–3 Oldham Athletic
Walsall 1–2 Notts County

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Championship

Watch out, Middlesbrough – Ipswich are coming! Azor Matusiwa’s ‘goal worthy of winning any game’ was enough to give Kieran McKenna’s side a 1-0 victory over Hull. They leapfrog the Tigers into 3rd and, crucially, move within three points of Boro with a superior goal difference and a game in hand.

Despite making five changes from Saturday’s 3-0 win against Swansea, Ipswich started well, playing forward at a good tempo with a mixed style that causing the visitors some problems. Hull, who reverted to a back three, did look threatening on the break through Liam Millar and Lewis Koumas; however, it was the hosts’ George Hirst who passed up the best opportunity of the first half, shooting straight at Ivor Pandur after excellent work from Jack Taylor.

Both sides made changes in the second half. Hull introduced key players in Oli McBurnie, John Lundstram and Kyle Joseph, but Ipswich’s ‘finishers’ made the greater impact. With the game becoming increasingly stretched and frantic, a jinking run from Anis Mehmeti led to fellow substitute Leif Davis picking up the loose ball on the edge of box and squaring it to Matusiwa, who rifled in his first goal for the club. If you like goals that clip the underside of the crossbar, this one’s for you.

The Tractor Boys could and should have doubled their lead moments later, when a cross from Wes Burns – that’s right, another sub! – picked out Jack Clarke, but he was denied by a combination of Pandur and post.

Sergej Jakirović’s side huffed and puffed, but Cedric Kipré and Dara O’Shea defended their box well, earning their third clean sheet in a row. While Ipswich welcome Leicester to Portman Road on Saturday (their third successive home game), Hull’s next two, at home to Millwall and away to Wrexham, could decide their top-six destiny.

League One

Top-six Wycombe are the headline here, as they eased their way into the play-off places with a relatively cosy 1-0 win at Barnsley. Aaron Morley scored a sumptuous strike from the edge of the area (very similar to the aforementioned Matusiwa finish), in a game where the away side created by far the better chances.

Each of Wycombe’s last three goals have been scored by January signings, with Morley following Luke Harris and Nathan Lowe, so there is some cause for their uptick in form. Their 12 league matches since the turn of the year have yielded 24 points, a tally bettered only by Lincoln and Cardiff. The Chairboys could well be dipping their toe into the play-off pool ahead of a full blown cannonball, while the likes of Huddersfield and Luton continue to skirt around the edge, terrified of getting wet.

The defeat brings Barnsley back down with a bump after they hit Didzying heights at Orient on Saturday. They haven’t won back-to-back league games since early September.

Tuesday also brought us a matchday appointment, with Matt Taylor rejoining Exeter to try to turn off the alarm bells after caretaker Dan Green’s short reign. Taylor took charge of the home game against Burton Albion which, if not quite must-win, was certainly a do-not-lose to a side sitting between the Grecians and the drop zone.

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Championship

Sam Parry

Scriptwriters must have taken the afternoon off as Saturday’s Championship slate delivered fewer shocks than Scooby-Doo.

Only two sides beat opponents above them in the table. One was 16th-placed Sheffield United, who leapfrogged QPR after a 2-0 win. The other was 23rd-placed Oxford.

Matt Bloomfield’s side did not climb a rung. But Jinkies!, the Yellows were not mellow. They raced into a 2-0 lead against 21st-placed West Brom and did so with a clear plan. Inside 15 minutes, Stan Mills nodded in from a corner to open the scoring and set the set-piece klaxon flashing. On 25 minutes, Will Lankshear received the ball out in the right channel and simply held it, inviting contact. From that free kick, Lankshear scored his first and Oxford’s second as Albion sagged.

Oxford were content to defend the lead. A deflected Oli Bostock strike dragged West Brom back into it and the Baggies had their own set-piece chances. But they were foiled by their own inadequate finishing and a meddling Jamie Cumming.

Continuing on down the bottom, Leicester had been warned. Paris Maghoma was ghosting through at will for Norwich. He came off for Anis Ben Slimane who fired a warning shot at 0-0, and then scored for 1-0. It was a lovely finish from the edge of the box too.

This league, as Gary Rowett said afterwards, does not care about reputation. I’m not sure I agree. Leicester have a reputation for shoddy defending and there was more of it as Ali Ahmed tapped in for 2-0. Norwich are flying. Foxes have only themselves to unmask.

Elsewhere at the bottom, Southampton beat Sheffield Wednesday 3-1 for a fourth win in five, and Wrexham and Hull beat Charlton and Portsmouth 1-0 away respectively to sustain their play-off pushes. In those latter two games, the stats told similar stories. Nathan Jones’ side were better for long spells, creating four big chances to Wrexham’s one and recording 40 touches in the box to their 15. Whilst Pompey dominated Hull but still lost to their second shot conceded of the game - the sting in the Tigers’ tail itself a tale as old as time, or at least the start of the season.

Completing the bottom eight, Derby came to haunt and hunt. It was Michael O’Neill’s Blackburn side who led from a set-piece and they should have doubled it early in the second half. They did not. Sharp passing in and around the box found former Rovers forward Ben Brereton Diaz to level for Derby. Matt Clarke then put ahead from a set-piece and Rhian Brewster nodded in a third after Blackburn failed to clear their lines three times in build-up. It ended 3-1 with a returning John Eustace’s side looking more machine than mystery.

Of course, the above had consequences for the top half, albeit with very little impact on league positions. Only two sides lost in the top 12 (and they lost to others in the top 12).

Those two exceptions were Preston who lost 2-0 at home to Millwall as Alex Neil’s side registered a 14th clean sheet of the season, and Bristol City who were undone by a brilliant Jeremy Ngakia strike as Watford won 2-1 on Friday night.

At the top, Coventry required a late Stoke lapse to win a game they dominated 2-1 in the dying embers and Ipswich beat Swansea 3-0 to make it 11 unbeaten at home. That sets up another mouthwatering Monday night Scooby Snack: Birmingham vs Middlesbrough. Interestingly, the bookies now have the implied probabilities for a top-two finish looking like this:

1. Coventry 94.1% — their gap is +9

2. Ipswich 61.9% — their gap is -3

3. Middlesbrough 43.5% — their gap is +1

4. Millwall 11.8% — their gap is -1

5. Hull 5.3% — their gap is -3

League One

Matt Watts

Beware the wounded Bluebirds. Cardiff bounced back from their 5-2 defeat at Plymouth last weekend with a 4-0 victory over Doncaster. Brian Barry-Murphy’s side scored with all four of their shots on target, but the pick of the goals came from 20-year-old centre back Dylan Lawlor, who carried the ball from his own defensive third into Donny’s penalty area before coolly slotting into the bottom corner. The defending? Questionable at best. The goal? Outstanding nonetheless.

True to form, Lincoln kept up with Joneses (or, in this case, maybe the Colwills would be more accurate?) by beating Blackpool by the same scoreline. Rob Street impressed once again for the Imps who are now 17 league games unbeaten. It’s all eyes on the Welsh capital next weekend as the top two collide in a game that could go a long way to deciding the destination of the League One title.

Bolton remain ten points behind Lincoln after their 5-1 victory away from home against Exeter. The Trotters went into overdrive after Jayden Wareham pulled one back for the Grecians to make it 2-1 in the 67th minute. Well-taken goals from Thierry Gale (72’) and Ibrahim Cissoko (77’) took the game away from the home side, before George Johnston (90+4’) scored from close range to complete the rout late on.

It was a fascinating day in terms of the race for the play-offs with two games between the chased and the chasers and the teams in 6th and 9th facing relegation-threatened sides. The result? The teams in 4th, 5th and 6th all lost and the teams in 7th, 8th and 9th all won.

Reading (7th) came from behind to beat Bradford (4th) 2-1. A spectacular strike from Matthew Pennington gave the Bantams the lead, before Paddy Lane equalised in the 90th minute and Matt Ritchie headed home a 97th-minute winner. Stockport (5th) also gave up a lead to lose 2-1 to Alex Revell’s Stevenage (8th), who have now won their last four home games - a feat matched by Michael Duff’s Wycombe (9th), who beat Burton 3-0. Caolan Boyd-Munce scored the pick of the goals after a quarter of an hour, before loanees Luke Harris and Nathan Lowe scored in quick succession to wrap up the victory late on.

Finally, Jensen Weir’s second-half strike consigned Huddersfield (6th) to a 1-0 defeat at Wigan. The Latics’ victory saw them climb out of the bottom four at the expense of Leyton Orient, who lost 3-1 at home to Barnsley in one of the day’s early kick offs. The irrepressible David McGoldrick became the oldest player to score a hat-trick in England's top four tiers since Jamie Cureton for Dagenham & Redbridge in April 2015. Fine wines, people. Fine wines.

League Two

Huw Davies

League Two had a quiet one, with no team moving more than one place in the league table. The Saturday 3pm kick-offs were especially snoozy: at 3.37pm, with half-time approaching, zero goals had been scored across the eight fixtures.

Jack Stevens irrigated the drought by converting Oldham’s eighth shot on target in the first half against Crawley, all taken from inside the box – and they had a ninth soon after. That tells you a lot about Crawley, who sit just a point above safety after February brought them two draws and four defeats. Stevens scored a sparkling solo second in an easy 2-0 win.

None of the bottom eight won. Tranmere did lead at Crewe but caved to second-half pressure and lost 2-1 when Josh March scored in the first minute of stoppage time (a second assist for the excellent Tommi O’Reilly). Not to be outdone, Barrow lost 1-0 to Gillingham by conceding in the 103rd minute, having failed to test the visiting goalkeeper barring a corner bouncing off the crossbar.

So, in the relegation scrap, this week’s winners were three draw-ers. Bristol Rovers held Swindon 1-1 in a lively derby, leading through Kane Thompson-Sommers’ brilliant breakaway before Ollie Palmer got the equaliser that Swindon’s performance deserved. Newport burgled a 0-0 from Fleetwood with 29% possession and 17% of the game’s shots. Harrogate’s 1-1 draw with Cheltenham on Friday night took them to five unbeaten, though they might’ve won but for Joe Day’s second-half heroics in goal.

The result is this:

At the top, Bromley extended their advantage to four points, because Cambridge vs MK Dons was 2nd vs 3rd and they couldn’t both win. In fact, neither did, as Aaron Collins’ 96th-minute penalty earned MK a late but deserved point at the Abbey. Bromley themselves had some help from Accrington: not one but two penalties for Michael Cheek to convert, plus Accy’s early red card for a Cheeky stamp by Donald Love, in another defeat for nominative determinism. A 2-1 victory got Andy Woodman’s men back to winning ways after three straight draws, though they still haven’t lost since November.

They were also helped by Notts County’s 1-0 defeat to Grimsby, dressed as Crystal Palace. Having scored twice the previous weekend, Lee Ndlovu missed from six yards and was sent off for a high challenge, before Charles Vernam netted a late curler. With Walsall and Barnet beating Shrewsbury and Chesterfield, it’s tight around the play-off places – although if Colchester had beaten Salford instead of losing 1-0, there’d be just a single point separating 7th from 12th…

🎦 Our Top 5 clips from the EFL weekend

1. Dylan Lawlor with a progressive carry for Cardiff.

2. Kane Thompson-Sommers with a progressive carry for Gas.

3. Caolan Boyd-Munce with a left-footed tap-in for Wycombe.

4. Jeremy Ngakia with a right-footed tap-in for Watford.

5. Charles Vernam with a progressive carry leading to a right-footed tap-in for Grimsby.

📊 Your Monday morning cheat sheet

🐤 Coal mine in the Canary — Facing Norwich is a pit of despair at the minute; they’ve won eight of their last 11 Championship games (L3), collecting more points than any other side in the division in 2026 (24).

🐑 Rams Rovers — The Derby County starting line-up had more Blackburn Rovers appearances (544) and goals (97) between them than the Blackburn Rovers starting line-up: 408 & 33.

🟥 Stan, Stan, Stan — The tea’s gone hot not cold for Accrington Stanley who are wondering why they’ve been shown four red cards across their last five League Two matches when it took 112 league games for their previous four.

📉 Oh dear, Tranmere — No side in League Two has conceded more goals in 2026 than Tranmere Rovers (22) and only Blackpool and Sheffield Wednesday (24 each) have conceded more across the 92.

⚽ Rathbone returns — All but one of Ollie Rathbone’s seven goals for Wrexham have directly contributed to fourteen points (W4 D2), the latest a beauty against Charlton Athletic.

🦋 Kentish symmetry — There’s above par, there’s below par and then there’s Gillingham…

🎩 McGoldrick masterclass — At 38y 91d, David McGoldrick is the oldest player to score a league hat-trick in England’s top four tiers since Jamie Cureton in April 2015.

🪄 Murkin making moves — Derry Murkin supplied two assists for Derby County against Blackburn this weekend; since signing in January, he’s averaged 1.83+ chances and nearly 5.8 clearances per 90.

🎯 Cobbled together on the training pitch — Each of Northampton Town’s last 10 home league goals have come from set-pieces (4 freekicks, 3 corners, 3 throws), the latest two from Tom Eaves headers after long throws.

💥 Bolton go bang — Bolton Wanderers’ 5–1 win at Exeter was their first 5+ goal away league game since February 2023; before that, they had scored multiple goals in just one of their 17 away league matches this season.

🟡 Spot Don — Aaron Collins’ 96th-minute equaliser for Milton Keynes Dons at Cambridge United was their seventh penalty goal this season; only Gillingham (8) have scored more spot-kicks in League Two.

🏟️ Home and away quirks — The two League One sides whose away games have seen the most goals this season — AFC Wimbledon (60) and Wigan Athletic (54) — rank just 24th and 22nd respectively for goals in their home matches.

🦢 Swanning about — Against Ipswich Town, Swansea City completed 176 passes for every one touch they had in the opposition box (3).

SkyBet Championship

Bristol City 1-2 Watford
Charlton 0-1 Wrexham
Coventry 2-1 Stoke
Derby 3-1 Blackburn
Ipswich 3-0 Swansea
Leicester 0-2 Norwich
Oxford Utd 2-1 West Brom
Portsmouth 0-1 Hull
Preston 0-2 Millwall
QPR 0-2 Sheffield Utd
Sheff Wed 1-3 Southampton

Sky Bet League One

Doncaster 0-4 Cardiff
Exeter 1-5 Bolton
Leyton Orient 1-3 Barnsley
Lincoln City 4-0 Blackpool
Mansfield 2-2 AFC Wimbledon
Northampton 1-1 Peterborough
Port Vale 1-1 Luton
Reading 2-1 Bradford
Rotherham 1-0 Plymouth
Stevenage 2-1 Stockport
Wigan 1-0 Huddersfield
Wycombe 3-0 Burton Albion

Sky Bet League Two

Barnet 1-0 Chesterfield
Barrow 0-1 Gillingham
Bromley 2-1 Accrington Stanley
Cambridge Utd 1-1 MK Dons
Colchester 0-1 Salford
Crewe 2-1 Tranmere
Fleetwood Town 0-0 Newport County
Harrogate Town 1-1 Cheltenham
Notts County 0-1 Grimsby
Oldham 2-0 Crawley Town
Shrewsbury 1-2 Walsall
Swindon 1-1 Bristol Rovers

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Championship

Huw Davies

There’s only one place to start. Having beaten them 1-0 in the FA Cup eight days earlier, Wrexham beat Ipswich again… 5-3. It was a strange game, defending optional, its lunacy summarised by a long-range beauty from centre-back Cedric Kipré. That put Ipswich 3-2 up, after Wrexham had led 1-0 and 2-1, but the hosts channelled the injustice of Christian Walton escaping punishment for punching Callum Doyle’s head instead of the ball by scoring three unanswered goals, one from Doyle himself.

Kieffer Moore’s superb finish for 1-0, his assist for Josh Windass and his creation of the fifth goal made a point to his former club. They arguably could’ve used Moore’s all-round game this season, given the struggles of Iván Azón and George Hirst. Still, Azón scored and fought to set up Anis Mehmeti’s first Ipswich goal, twice punishing defensive lapses.

Fortunately for Ipswich, 3rd-placed Millwall were feeling sloppy. Portsmouth showed greater intensity, work rate and quality in a 3-1 victory at the Den. While two away wins in a week has lifted Pompey six points clear of the dropzone with a game in hand, the Lions must lick their wounds ahead of Birmingham’s midweek visit.

And so Middlesbrough gained a point on their two main rivals for automatic promotion, despite drawing 0-0 at home to Oxford, who hit the woodwork twice. Boro racked up shots and xG but no goals while Coventry won 2-0 at West Bromwich Albion, extending their lead at the top. Five minutes in, Ephron Mason-Clark beat a wonky high line, a flapping Max O’Leary and a discombobulated Alfie Gilchrist on the goal line, and once Jack Rudoni had doubled the lead with a sledgehammer, that was that. WBA are goalless in four and scored more in their first game under Eric Ramsay (2) than in six league games since (1, from a corner).

Derby are the latest team to hit 6th and rebound off it. Watford, who know the feeling, scored in the 5th and 90th minutes and should’ve had a penalty in between. The pair are now cheek and jowl in this game of top-six musical chairs.

Wassat? Birmingham up to 7th? Yup, with a 2-1 win at Carrow Road. Carlos Vicente scored early after streaking down the right (not literally), as Bright Osayi-Samuel’s pass exploited the space between Ben Chrisene and José Cordoba. It was so successful that Osayi-Samuel did it again 10 minutes later; this time, August Priske got the better of Cordoba and set up Marvin Ducksch for 2-0 inside a quarter of an hour. Norwich had three big chances and seven shots on target in the second half, with Mohamed Touré also hitting the post, but Birmingham held on despite Kenny McLean’s goal.

The Blues climbed above Southampton (who led Charlton through Ross Stewart’s lovely header but drew 1-1, to Nathan Jones’ great pleasure), Preston (who lost 1-0 in stoppage time to Blackburn on Friday), Derby (see above) and Bristol City, who lost a nothing game with nothing in it one-nothing to Swansea, as Zan Vipotnik scored the only goal. If that sounds familiar, it should. Vipotnik is top of the scoring charts with 16,and 9 of those have been the first goal in a game. He’s clutch.

Hull remain in the top six, but no longer look safe there. After trading scrappy goals, they lost 3-1 at home to QPR as Daniel Bennie, in his own words, said, “F*ck it, why not hit it?” and scored from 20 yards. Kieran Dowell, bogged down on Hull’s rugby pitch, gifted Richard Koné two chances and he took one. Maybe he’s in Dowell’s Fantasy EFL team.

In Gary Rowett’s first game, Leicester’s 2-2 draw at Stoke kept them in the bottom three and Stoke still winless since beating Coventry in the FA Cup six weeks ago. The Foxes still look reliant on individual magic and the occasional cross going in, but after conceding late on to Ben Wilmot’s second goal of the afternoon, they did force a big save in the 96th minute and then hit the post and hit the crossbar after that.

And on Sunday, Sheffield United relegated Sheffield Wednesday, as expected. When the Blades scored two alarmingly easy goals within 20 minutes, the first inside 90 seconds, a paddling was on the cards. They didn’t achieve the humiliation they were after, though, pegged back by a Kalvin Phillips red card and Charlie McNeill’s goal, before Wednesday had a man sent off themselves. But even if the 2-1 win wasn’t resounding, the repeats of ‘we relegated you’ will resound through the years for as long as this derby exists. History cares not for context.

As for Wednesday… what more is there to say?

League One

Matt Watts

A seven-minute hat-trick, a 5-2 defeat for the leaders and a team bus caught in traffic… One regular weekend of Sky Bet League One, that’s all I ask for. Will never happen.

Lincoln were the big winners at the top of the third tier. The Imps beat Mansfield 2-0 thanks to a Rob Street penalty and a 95th-minute clincher from Tom Bayliss. Michael Skubala’s side are now 16 games unbeaten, they’ve won six of their last seven and, crucially, they’re now ten points clear of 3rd-place Bolton (with a game in hand) who drew 2-2 with Ian Evatt’s Blackpool and one point behind the leaders Cardiff, who suffered their first league defeat of 2026, losing 5-2 to Plymouth. There were three braces in the game at Home Park with Lorent Tolaj, Bim Pepple and Omari Kellyman all scoring twice. Having propped up the rest of the division in early November, Argyle have now won three games in a row in December, January and February and they’re only six points off Huddersfield in 6th.

Speaking of the Terriers, they returned to winning ways by coming from behind to beat Barnsley 2-1. The evergreen David McGoldrick opened the scoring in style for the visitors, but some excellent wing-play from Bali Mumba and Cameron Ashia led to goals for Ryan Ledson and Ryan Hardie, flipping the game on its head and putting 11 points between the two Yorkshire clubs.

Just above Huddersfield, you will find Bradford. After back-to-back wins, Graham Alexander’s side had an afternoon to forget, getting stuck in traffic, arriving late and losing 3-1 to a resurgent AFC Wimbledon. Bradford’s slip up was pounced upon by Stockport, who regained 4th spot after relinquishing it to the Bantams during the week. Dave Challinor’s Hatters came from behind twice to beat Gary Caldwell’s Wigan 4-2 after red cards for Steven Sessegnon and Maleace Asamoah. There were two more braces in this one - one for the in-form Joe Taylor and one for Kyle Wootton, who leads the League One scoring charts.

Jack Wilshere exchanged words with restless Luton fans after the Hatters 1-1 draw at home to Burton. Fabio Tavares’ 92nd-minute header extended the home side’s winless run to three games, leaving them in 10th - six points behind Huddersfield. Is that good enough for a team with parachute payments in League One? I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Down towards the foot of the table, Leyton Orient climbed out of the bottom four by beating fellow strugglers Northampton 2-1. Goals from Dom Ballard and James Morris put the O’s 2-0 up and on course for their first away win since the end of November. Tom Eaves halved the deficit, but it’s now back-to-back defeats for Cobblers who remain the wrong side of the dotted line. Doncaster moved five points clear of the drop after they came from behind to beat Rotherham 2-1. Sam Nombe’s early penalty was cancelled out by Brandon Hanlan’s second-half equaliser, before Cameron Dawson went walk about allowing Luke Molyneux to roll what proved to be the winner into the empty net. It’s Donny’s first league double over Rotherham since 1950 and it leaves the Millers five points from safety.

Finally, Jayden Wareham scored his first senior hat-trick (an eight-minute hat-trick, no less!) in Exeter’s 3-3 draw with Peterborough. 17-year-old Ukrainian midfielder Patryk Sykut gave Posh the lead, before Wareham took over after half-time. However, another brace - this time from Harry Leonard - meant that the Grecians had to settle for a share of the spoils.

League Two

Sam Parry

This is a corkscrewing league. Round and round. At a right old pace too.

Every result this weekend shifted something at either end. If there were exceptions, perhaps it was the prematurely ‘beachy’ Oldham 3–0 Gillingham.

Still, at the top, Bromley drew their third straight league game, this time against 23rd-placed Harrogate, who out-shot the leaders 25–6. Opportunity knocked for those in and around.

Ian Holloway’s Swindon answered by clawing at thin air. Crewe edged a tight first half that looked destined to finish level but didn’t because, in added time, retreating Swindon defenders watched more ball than a Chippendale audience.

A quite extraordinary way to concede for 1-0. And then, eight minutes into the second half, it was two, with Josh March flicking on from a corner. Swindon rallied, pulling one back with around 30 minutes to play. But Lee Bell’s side held firm, stopper Ian Lawlor doing plenty of the heavy lifting as Crewe moved up to sixth.

Elsewhere it felt like a matter of when, not if, Cambridge would score against 24th-placed Newport. The when happened late, though. Two goals on 73’ and 76’ gave them a deserved lead and lifted them into second.

Notts County then moved third, above Swindon on goal difference, thanks to a 5–0 dismantling of Tranmere. A comedy own goal set the tone before Lee Ndlovu marked his first start with two close-range finishes, the second born of defending so tragic it was not only Icarus-adjacent but waxless, wingless, hopeless and just down right bad. Jodi Jones added gloss with a deflected effort and Matthew Dennis put gloss on top of gloss from the spot. Tranmere have now lost eight of their last ten (W2 L8). Can they be pulled into the mire?

Maybe. Those around them, like Crawley, are picking up point (singular). They struck in the 95th minute to deny Chesterfield, though the Spireites managed to cling onto 7th.

Falling out of the top seven altogether were Salford. And in such style.

A Jorge Grant strike after six minutes suggested their midweek defeat to Newport was an aberration. Karl Robinson’s side were decent value for their half-time lead against Cheltenham. Then came the swing. Three minutes into the second half, Luke Garbutt tangled inside the six-yard box, saw red and Cheltenham converted the penalty. The way Salford hung-in there was impressive and when Zach Awe struck on his full debut it looked like they would keep their grasp on an impressive victory.

The only trouble? Erm… they didn’t.

After defending their box well with a high line, Salford allowed the deep crosser time to cross, but on 84’ Harry Ashfield didn’t cross and he didn’t need time. Instead, he kept coming and coming until he was so close to goal he banged in an equaliser. Two points dropped.

Then three. In 90+6 another deep delivery (Ashfield crossing this time) was nodded home. Huge for Cheltenham, who move nine clear of the drop.

Also nine clear are Shrewsbury. Imagine a world where Salop’s four-match winning streak never happened. They’d be a point off the bottom two. Timing, then, is everything (P4 W4 GF8 GA2).

Another win, this time 2-0 and away at an Accrington side that had been feasting on lower-half opponents. A first-minute goal helped, though an injury-ravaged Stanley side unable to name a full bench probably helped more. And repeat: timing is everything.

The big losers at the bottom were Barrow. And they were big losers in every sense. To take a 2-0 lead into the final 25 minutes and not only throw victory away but all three points, simultaneously emboldening those around and beneath you… man alive, that takes some doing.

Fleetwood had been poor in the first half and, even as they rallied in the second, they did not look capable of a three-goal turnaround. Esapa Osong pulled them back into it. Crispin McLean poked one cleanly through the legs of Wyll Stanway right at the death to level. And then. Wow.

Wyll Stanway. I feel for you, brother. As the ball is driven high across goal, he somehow palms it in a looping arc straight into his own net.

🎦 Our Top 5 clips from the EFL weekend

1. Jack’s back: Rudoni hits a scorcher

2. Steward fist-pumps? Better than it sounds.

3. It’s not about the hat(trick) but how you Wareham.

4. Home Park, home wins, one of the best home atmospheres in the EFL.

5. Super-sub Ashfield goes it alone (before setting up Cheltenham’s winner)

📊 Your Monday morning cheat sheet

👖 Baggies cut off at the knees — West Bromwich Albion have lost 17 of their 33 Championship games (W9 D7), already their most defeats in a second-tier campaign since 1999–00.

📦 Clearance clearance — Leyton Orient’s 96 clearances against Northampton are the most on Opta record in the EFL (since 2019–20), surpassing Tranmere 88 vs Crawley Town just last weekend.

🐟 Cod roe it back — Fleetwood Town’s 3–2 win over Barrow was their first ever EFL victory from 2+ goals down (records since 2013–14).

🔵 Blues unbeaten — Birmingham City are unbeaten in eight league matches (W5 D3), their longest Championship run without defeat since a 10-game streak in January/February 2020.

🧼 Oxford squeaky clean — Oxford United have kept clean sheets in back-to-back away Championship games, more than in their previous 15 on the road combined.

🛣️ Pompey on the road — Portsmouth have won consecutive away Championship games for the first time since February 2011, and recorded their first win at Millwall since October 2010.

🔥 You’ll Wareham out — Jayden Wareham scored his first EFL hat-trick for Exeter City, the club’s first since May 2023.

🌟 Psyched for Sykut — At 17y 221d, Patryk Sykut became the third-youngest scorer in the EFL this season on his first English league start.

🎭 Improvisation — Lincoln City have 68 points from 33 League One games, their best return at this stage since 1980–81.

🐔 County your chickens — Notts County’s 5–0 win over Tranmere Rovers equals their biggest EFL victory of the past 15 years.

🍬 Sweet North Yorkshire mix — Harrogate Town have taken eight points from their last four League Two games (W2 D2), twice as many as across their previous 20 combined — and after a 22-game wait for a clean sheet, have now recorded back-to-back shutouts.

🟥 Seeing red — Wigan Athletic’s eight red cards this season are three more than any other EFL side.

📈 Payne in the annexe — Jack Payne scored his second career EFL hat-trick for Colchester United, becoming just the second Colchester player since 2004–05 to net multiple EFL trebles.

🎯 March milestone — Josh March has 13 League Two goal involvements this season (8G 5A), his best single-campaign return, and reached 50 career EFL involvements.

SkyBet Championship

Blackburn 1-0 Preston
Hull 1-3 QPR
Middlesbrough 0-0 Oxford Utd
Millwall 1-3 Portsmouth
Norwich 1-2 Birmingham
Sheffield Utd 2-1 Sheff Wed
Southampton 1-1 Charlton
Stoke 2-2 Leicester
Swansea 1-0 Bristol City
Watford 2-0 Derby
West Brom 0-2 Coventry
Wrexham 5-3 Ipswich

Sky Bet League One

AFC Wimbledon 3-1 Bradford
Bolton 2-2 Blackpool
Huddersfield 2-1 Barnsley
Luton 1-1 Burton Albion
Mansfield 0-2 Lincoln City
Northampton 1-2 Leyton Orient
Peterborough 3-3 Exeter
Plymouth 5-2 Cardiff
Port Vale 1-1 Reading
Rotherham 1-2 Doncaster
Stockport 4-2 Wigan
Wycombe 3-1 Stevenage

Sky Bet League Two

Accrington Stanley 0-2 Shrewsbury
Bristol Rovers 3-1 Grimsby
Cheltenham 3-2 Salford
Colchester 4-1 Barnet
Crawley Town 1-1 Chesterfield
Fleetwood Town 3-2 Barrow
Gillingham 0-3 Oldham
Harrogate Town 0-0 Bromley
Newport County 0-2 Cambridge Utd
Notts County 5-0 Tranmere
Swindon 1-2 Crewe

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Championship

Huw Davies

The second tier took a back seat to the FA Cup and lower leagues, but if you think that means it was dull, you’re a narrative device created so that I can contradict you.

Sheffield Wednesday gave Millwall a scare. Winless since September, goalless since Boxing Day and pointless since 2025, Henrik Pedersen’s Owls resisted for an hour thanks to Murphy Cooper’s saves and then led when Jamal Lowe pounced on Max Crocombe’s error. Anthony Patterson, prepare thyself. The celebrations? Heartwarming. But it felt temporary and Millwall soon won with two goals in three minutes, including a weird and wonderful improvised finish by Macaulay Langstaff.

Two new bosses made their bows. Ed Still’s Watford took 20 shots, mostly from bad positions, in a 2-2 draw at Preston that hurt both teams’ play-off hopes. Michael O’Neill was in the dugout for the 3-1 win at QPR that took Blackburn out of the relegation zone (and put Leicester in it), though he was at pains to give all of the credit to erstwhile caretaker Damien Johnson. The first half of Mathias Jørgensen’s brace came from a frankly unbelievable pass by Ryoya Morishita, who also headed home Blackburn’s third goal with only their fourth attempt of the match.

It’s Derby’s turn to occupy 6th, following a 2-0 victory at Pride Park. Swansea had most of the ball but Derby made the most of their corners, with Rhian Brewster and Patrick Agyemang on hand to convert. Swans would’ve drawn level with their opponents if they’d won, but instead 10 places separate them, which is COMPLETELY RIDICULOUS. Does that mean Sheffield United, in 15th, are still in the play-off conversation due to their last-minute winner at a profligate Portsmouth? Maybe! They, and Swansea, sit six points off 6th.

League One

Huw Davies

Reduced slate = reduced jeopardy? Not a bit of it. A League One schedule that was only two-thirds full nonetheless threw up a playoffs-for-the-playoffs bonanza, as virtually all of the top half played each other.

It made for quite the game of musical chairs, with a hell of a lot of movement by the end.

So, what happened?

At lunchtime, Stevenage delivered Liam Manning his first league defeat with Huddersfield. No League One team averages lower than 63% pass completion and these two managed 60% and 62%, so that should give you some idea of the match as a spectacle, but Carl Piergianni’s 85th-minute winner rewarded a firm defensive display. Whereas debutant Matt Phillips forced a good save in the first half and Stevenage had further chances in the second, Huddersfield didn’t test Filip Marschall even once. As questionable as recent performances have been, Alex Revell’s side have lost just once at home in the league this season, and that was 1-0 to a late scorcher from Cardiff’s Callum Robinson.

Reading leapfrogged Wycombe with a 3-2 home win, having been pegged back from 2-0. Jack Marriott’s hat-trick ensured he was once again, or thrice again, the difference-maker; with 15 goals and three assists in 1,611 minutes since his arrival from Wrexham, he’s averaging a goal contribution every 89.5 mins, i.e. once per game. His finishes here were, in turn, predatory, powerful (plus helped by poor goalkeeping) and ruthless. Just look at his movement for the first goal, catching Wycombe’s defenders cold:

Wycombe will be frustrated to have conceded from kick-off after equalising, as Charlie Savage came on to set up Marriott with his first touch. Still, they had 20 shots from inside the box, and 10 on target, while Reading had seven efforts in total – Mike Duff shouldn’t worry too much.

Can we say the same about Luke Williams? His Peterborough defence gave up 55 shots and 6.15 expected goals across two away games last week. Mansfield couldn’t punish them but Bradford did, creating eight big chances and winning 2-0. Only some superb stops by Alex Bass, who had been at fault for Bobby Pointon’s opener, saved Posh from a Bantams battering.

Sam Dalby scored the biggest goal of the weekend. Lincoln, already ahead via Jack Moylan’s impish one-two and finish, had dominated Bolton in the second half, and with 10 minutes remaining they led their automatic promotion rivals by a goal to nil and nine points in the table, with a game in hand. Dalby’s headed equaliser reduced that gap to six, letting some air out of Lincoln’s cushion. Moylan scored, hit the bar and had 10 shots in the game, which was more than Bolton… and also more than Luton, Northampton, Posh, Blackpool, Huddersfield, Reading, Stevenage and Wimbledon.

That 1-1 draw allowed Cardiff to increase their lead over 3rd to 10 points. They were scintillating in a 3-1 win over Luton, whose only shot after Jordan Clark’s 20th-minute penalty was an effort from their own half. Perry Ng scored a belter, Alex Robertson controlled the midfield, Joel Colwill impressed again and brother Rubin replaced him for his first appearance since November – everything’s coming up Bluebirds.

Away from the promotion race – very far away – Blackpool took their first shot against Plymouth Argyle at 4-0 down midway through the second half. They were at home. Ian Evatt’s touchline ban gave him a fan’s-eye view of the four-goal defeat, as well as the boos when his players went off for half-time and as they came back on again. To cap a crap day, James Husband was sent off near the end for lashing out. Argyle, though, were magnificent: they won every battle, created opportunities at will and had the game won by half-time, all without Lorent Tolaj. They’re into the top half for the first time since relegation.

Finally, while Exeter and Northampton were drawing 0-0, Barnsley and Wimbledon had a lovely back-and-forth goalfest: 1-0, 2-0, 2-1, 2-2, 2-3, 3-3, full-time and home for tea and biscuits. Reyes Cleary registered two fine assists for the hosts; Omar Bugiel scored two brilliant headers for the visitors.

League Two

Matt Watts

At the top, Bromley drew 1-1 with Notts County. Then 3rd-placed Swindon were well beaten 3-1 by a Shrewsbury side who have now won back-to-back games and have grown a 7-point gap to the relegation zone. Those results meant the big winners at the top of League Two were Cambridge and MK Dons.

The U’s dispelled any Manager of the Month or Player of the Month curse by beating Bristol Rovers 3-1 with Ben Knight scoring twice. Kell Watts also got on the scoresheet as Steve Evans’ side struggled to deal with Cambridge’s set-piece threat. After their shock defeat to Harrogate last weekend, back-to-back wins have taken Neil Harris’ side up to 2nd and four points behind Bromley.

MK Dons made it 16 points from the last 18 available by beating Newport 1-0. MK’s Newport-born striker, Aaron Collins, gave the promotion-chasers the lead inside a minute thanks to Jordan Wright’s mistake. It was an eventful afternoon for the County keeper, who gave away a penalty in the second half but managed to save Callum Paterson’s rather tame spot-kick.

Have we been sleeping on Crewe? Quite possibly. The Railwaymen moved into the top seven with a 1-0 win at home to Gillingham. This game was dominated by the visitors, but Adrien Thibaut’s second-half strike gave Lee Bell’s side a third 1-0 win in four games, and a two-points-per-game record since the turn of the year.

Guess who’s back? Dino’s back! After Paul Gallagher’s fateful five games in charge of Barrow yielded a grand total of zero points, Dino Maamria began his reign with a 1-0 victory over Colchester. Big Niall Canavan’s 85th-minute winner (and first league goal for more than two years) was a huge relief for everyone associated with Barrow, who hadn’t picked up a single point since 29th December. It was, believe it or not, their first home league win since 20th September.

Finally, roses are red… but so are match-ending, suspension-inducing cards from a referee. Three players in the fourth tier received the worst type of card on Valentine’s Day. While Notts County’s Scott Robertson and Cheltenham’s Arkell Jude-Boyd may reflect upon their second yellows with some disappointment, the most avoidable second yellow came at Chesterfield, as striker Lee Bonis went from hero to villain in a 1-1 draw with lowly Harrogate.

The Northern Irishman’s flying finish had given Chesterfield the lead, but he received two yellow cards in two minutes during the second half. The second was for nonchalantly kicking the ball away while waiting to come back on the pitch – and, therefore, delaying the restart. Wigan loanee Tobias Brennan finished a well-worked move to equalise for Harrogate in the 84th minute. The point takes Simon Weaver’s side off the bottom, but victories for Shrewsbury and Barrow have only made the Sulphurites’ task tougher.

FA Cup

Sam Parry

Let’s start with EFL-on-EFL.

Southampton beat Leicester for the second time in a week, 2-1 this time. Wrexham edged past a misfiring Ipswich to enter the Fifth Round draw for the first time in almost 30 years. And West Brom looked a little less baggy against Norwich, with Josh Maja putting the ball in the net twice from offside positions before equalising early in the second half.

Whether it’s sustainable or not, the Canaries have wind in their wings. Ben Chrisene drove home a deeply satisfying angled strike for 2-1, and then came the highlight of the weekend. Anis Ben Slimane, in a vein of form so rich it could give you a coronary, produced his ninth goal contribution in eight games with one absurd sequence of ball control: chest, foot, head, all without the ball bouncing, cushioning it perfectly into Mo Touré’s path for 3-1 (that’s five in three for him). Mo. Men. Tum.

Any near misses for the Davids vs the Goliaths?

Hull were not-so-nearly, but for a moment the “teams-misfire-against-Hull narrative” sparked. It did not catch. Chelsea hit four unanswered goals to reverse the London 0 Hull 4 album artwork released by The Housemartins almost exactly 40 years ago.

A late deflected effort from Patrick Roberts brought Birmingham level against top-flight Leeds. It was everything they deserved. But in the inexorable penalty shootout that followed, Roberts missed and Birmingham missed out.

Burton Albion’s moment came and went. They took West Ham to extra time, but Crysensio Summerville put them to bed. Salford produced one of the round’s more impressive efforts by keeping Manchester City down to 2-0 (six goals fewer than when they met a year ago), with the giants scoring early and late. Sunderland needed a penalty to beat Oxford 1-0, Stoke couldn’t hang on to a lead against Fulham and lost 2-1, and though Grimsby went down 1-0 to Wolves, they made a real ball-game of it.

And then to Burnley, where League One Mansfield found themselves 1-0 down, away from home, to top-flight opposition. No giant-killings then? Pfft.

Nigel Clough’s ‘special relationship’ with cup competitions is enough to make you blush. It didn’t really feel like the game was going to turn. When it did, the protagonists, as in all good dramas, were more thrilling for their predictability.

It began with a deep cross, snow-on-it height, dropping into the box. Who was there? Jumbo Oates, eating the Burnley defender for breakfast to nod home the equaliser. The Stags were calm between the leveller on 53’ and the game’s big moment on 80’ (Burnley managed just one shot on target in that spell), but what a moment it was.

After 157 appearances for Nigel Clough, the loyal technician stepped up. A free kick was given. This diminutive playmaker – a few inches too short to trouble the second tier, never mind the top flight – produced an inch-perfect strike.

Louis Effing Reid. No Stag Party puns required. We’re beyond the wedding now. Framed on the wall are three little words: Live. Laugh. Clough.

🎦 Our Top 5 clips from the EFL weekend

1. A freekick on the wild side – Lou Reid acts as Mansfield’s transformer.

2. Liam Delap tranquillises the Tigers and then himself.

3. This is the assist you’re looking for: Obi Ben Slimane uses the force for Norwich.

4. Perry Ng stops, looks, listens, thinks… and then smashes home for Cardiff.

5. Jack Moylan produces something a bit different – and special.

📊 Your Monday morning cheat sheet

💤 Don’t sleep on Marriott — Jack Marriott has scored in 13 of his 18 League One starts for Reading this season (72%). For context:

• Erling Haaland has scored in 15/25 (60%)

• Aaron Drinan 14/25 (56%)

• Žan Vipotnik 11/22 (50%)

• Dom Ballard 10/24 (~41%)

• Kyle Wootton 12/29 (~41%)

Marriott also became the first player to score a hat-trick on Valentine’s Day in the top four tiers since Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for Arsenal in 2021. Love that.

🔟 Perfect 10 for Imps’ #10 — Jack Moylan is the first player to attempt 10 shots in an EFL match since David McGoldrick for Notts County against Swindon in January 2025; the last player to have more (11) was Morgan Whittaker for Plymouth Argyle against Watford in January 2024.

🎯 I can see Cleary now DKD’s gone — Reyes Cleary has 10 assists for Barnsley this season, more than any other League One player, and is the first Tykes player to reach double figures in a league campaign since Conor Hourihane in 2016/17.

🪄 Ben Slimane supplying — Anis Ben Slimane has more assists (4) than any other player in this season’s FA Cup since the first round proper, and the most by a Norwich City player in the competition in the last 30 years.

🛣️ On Road relief — Blackburn Rovers ended a seven-game winless away run in the Championship with victory at Preston North End – it was their longest barren stretch on the road since a 10-game streak between December 2023 and March 2024.

📈 Dobbin double take — Lewis Dobbin has scored 7 Championship goals this season for Preston, more than across his previous four EPL/EFL campaigns combined (6 in 85 appearances).

🕺 Funky Brewster — Rhian Brewster has scored in three successive league games for the first time; five Championship goals for Derby represents his best tally in the top four tiers since his 2019/20 campaign with Swansea.

🐦‍⬛ Ravens plucked — Notts County are the first League Two side this season not to concede multiple goals away at Bromley, while the Ravens’ single shot on target was their fewest in a league game this term.

📉 Quiet County — Newport County recorded just four touches in the opposition box and three shots (none on target) in defeat to MK Dons – both are the lowest totals in a League Two match this season.

🌕 MidKnight rising — Cambridge United’s Ben Knight has scored seven goals in eight League Two games in 2026; no player has more in any league this calendar year.

SkyBet Championship

Derby 2-0 Swansea
Portsmouth 0-1 Sheffield United
Preston 2-2 Watford
QPR 1-3 Blackburn
Sheffield Wednesday 1-2 Millwall

Sky Bet League One

Barnsley 3-3 AFC Wimbledon
Blackpool 0-4 Plymouth
Bradford 2-0 Peterborough
Cardiff 3-1 Luton
Exeter 0-0 Northampton
Lincoln 1-1 Bolton
Reading 3-2 Wycombe
Stevenage 1-0 Huddersfield

Sky Bet League Two

Barnet 0-0 Cheltenham
Barrow 1-0 Colchester
Bromley 1-1 Notts County
Cambridge 3-1 Bristol Rovers
Chesterfield 1-1 Harrogate
Crewe 1-0 Gillingham
MK Dons 1-0 Newport
Oldham 1-1 Fleetwood
Shrewsbury 3-1 Swindon
Tranmere 2-0 Crawley

FA Cup

Arsenal 4-0 Wigan
Aston Villa 1-3 Newcastle
Birmingham 1-1p Leeds
Burnley 1-2 Mansfield
Burton Albion 0-1 West Ham
Grimsby 0-1 Wolves
Hull 0-4 Chelsea
Liverpool 3-0 Brighton
Manchester City 2-0 Salford
Norwich 3-1 West Brom
Oxford 0-1 Sunderland
Southampton 2-1 Leicester
Stoke 1-2 Fulham
Wrexham 1-0 Ipswich

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Championship

Huw Davies

Welcome to the gallery. Our centrepiece is the diptych, A Game of Two Halves. It’s a minimalist modern masterpiece that conveys the exhilaration, hubris, fragility, decline and despair of human existence as experienced through the medium of supporting Leicester City in 2026.

It was going so well. Jolted into life in the first minute by Cameron Archer’s bad miss, Leicester played with intent and led Southampton 3-0 after half an hour. Divine Mukasa, the 18-year-old Manchester City loanee, scored on his full Foxes debut; Patson Daka converted Tom Fellows’ terrible backpass into his second goal across 1,000-plus Championship minutes in this campaign; Abdul Fatawu hammered in a third. It was their best 45 minutes of the season, and it served only to set up their worst.

Read more

Championship

Ipswich Town are heading on a tractor road trip. On Saturday lunchtime they played the first of three consecutive away league games, after a midweek game in Portsmouth was rained off. Oh, and there’s a cup game at Wrexham in there for good measure. How Kieran McKenna’s side fare in these matches may well define whether it’s top two or play-offs.

The first leg of their travels saw them grind out a 2-1 win at Derby. Lewis Travis became the second 2023/24 Ipswich Town promotion-winner to score an own goal on their behalf this season, after Swansea’s Cameron Burgess, but Rhian Brewster’s penalty levelled it up. Travis was later sent off, though not before Leif Davis had planted a magnificent header into the top corner.

If the win was valuable, it was compounded by the results of their rivals. Coventry could only draw 0-0 at home to 23rd-placed Oxford United, while party-crashing Hull City fell 2-3 at home to Bristol City. Sergej Jakirović switched formation to 3-4-3 in response to a lack of control against Bristol City’s 3-4-2-1 shape in the reverse fixture. It did not have the desire effect: despite taking the lead, Hull were second-best.

Hull have collected just one point from two home games in the past week; had they won both, they’d be joint-top. Bristol City’s fans may well have missed their intended train home thanks to a runaway squirrel that delayed the game for around 10 minutes, but this won’t be an away game they forget in a hurry.

This was inarguably Ipswich’s weekend at the top – until Monday night, at least, when Middlesbrough head to Sheffield United with a chance to hit the summit.

The only other team in the top eight to win were Millwall, avenging Wrexham’s win at The Den by beating them 2-0 at The Racecourse. Femi Azeez was the difference in attack, setting up both goals, and Max Crocombe did the business in nets with five saves. This was 5th beating 6th but there’s now six points between them. Millwall are having an exceedingly healthy start to 2026.

A strange weekend for Leicester City. Their potential points deduction had been referred to as such for so long that it started to become one of those phrases that lost all meaning. But no, it was real and it was a six-point deduction. Ostensibly bad… but maybe actually pretty good in the circumstances? It takes them to the edge of the relegation zone, so at least they now know what they’re playing for: survival from a double relegation.

Perhaps that will have focused the minds on the task at ha— ah no, there’s Ricardo Pereira dallying on the ball, losing it in the last line of defence, and there’s Birmingham City winger Ibrahim Osman running through to score. Leicester got themselves level (an Abdul Fatawu banger, of course), only for Bobby De Cordova-Reid to receive a red card for a first-half over-stretching lunge. Blues’ winner came in the 67th minute – gorgeous movement and finish from Jay Stansfield, assisted smartly by Marvin Ducksch.

Here’s how things look now for Leicester…

…while Birmingham are up to within 2pts of the play-off places. Then again, so is everybody else, because the seeded batch is threatening the upper crust: Wrexham may still be 6th but only 4 points separates them from 15th!

15th is Swansea City. They and Norwich City (17th) beat dropzone-dwellers Sheffield Wednesday and Blackburn Rovers. For Norwich it was a new striker, Mo Touré, who notched on debut. He may be starting sooner rather than later, with Jovan Makama limping off injured and Josh Sargent on strike. In a 4-0 win against Sheffield Wednesday, it was a double for the Swans’ Viper, Zan Vipotnik the league’s top scorer by three clear goals.

Southampton and Preston were 1-0 winners at home, against Watford and Portsmouth respectively. New Saint Cyle Larin larruped home a thumping header and Preston’s winner was also a headed goal, this one a divine looper from Alfie Devine.

League One

Another eventful weekend in the third tier brought 44 goals, two hat-tricks and one sacking.

Kyrell Lisbie scored his second hat-trick of the season in Peterborough’s 6-1 demolition of Wigan. Jimmy-Jay Morgan, Harry Leonard and Pemi Aderoju also got on the scoresheet for Posh, with veteran defender Tom Lees registering two assists. This result saw Wigan drop into the bottom four and it proved to be the final straw for the Latics’ hierarchy, who parted company with Ryan Lowe on Saturday evening. The 2013 FA Cup winners have won one of their last 11 league games and, bizarrely, haven’t beaten a team other than Burton in the league since 22nd November.

The weekend’s other hat-trick was a first senior treble for AFC Wimbledon’s Marcus Browne. Despite his team being pegged back twice by Reading, Browne’s 71st-minute match ball-clincher proved to be the winner as Johnnie Jackson’s side secured back-to-back wins for the first time since early October and their first home win in the league since 27th September. All of a sudden, the Dons are 14th and six points clear of the bottom four.

At the top, both Cardiff and Lincoln overcame adversity to win away from home. Despite Ryan Wintle’s 21st-minute red card, Cardiff beat Rotherham 3-0 thanks to goals from Omari Kellyman, Chris Willock and Isaak Davies. The numerically-disadvantaged Bluebirds also restricted their opponents to a solitary shot on target. Tidy.

Down in Devon, Lincoln came from a goal down to beat Plymouth 4-1 and secure their fourth consecutive victory. A well-placed finish from Bim Pepple gave Argyle the lead, before Freddie Draper headed home the equaliser from a corner. The Imps came on strong in the second half with Reeco Hackett bagging a brace (including an Olympico!) and Ryan Oné streaking clear to score his first goal for the club.

Bolton also racked up their fourth win in a row, beating Barnsley 3-2 at The Toughsheet. A dominant first-half display, underpinned by two goals and an assist from Sam Dalby, meant Steven Schumacher’s side raced into a three-goal lead, but a quadruple half-time change from Conor Hourihane helped the visitors to come back into the game. A deflected effort from Luca Connell in the 57th minute and a powerful near-post strike from Adam Phillips in the 60th minute put the result back in the balance, but Bolton saw the game out to remain six points behind Lincoln.

There was a big win for Jack Wilshere’s Luton in the race to secure a top-six finish. The Hatters beat Bradford 2-1 to move within four points of the Bantams. Jake Richards’ daisy-cutter and Shayden Morris’ cool finish gave Luton a 2-0 lead, before Stephen Humphrys pulled one back for the visitors in the 96th minute. It’s now three points from the last 15 available for Graham Alexander’s side, whose challenging run of fixtures continues with games against Posh and Stockport.

Barring AFC Wimbledon, the only other team in the bottom half to win on Saturday was Northampton. Kevin Nolan’s Cobblers ended a run of nine league games without a win, and climbed out of the bottom four, by beating Stevenage 3-1. Northampton have scored 17% of their season’s goals in their last two games.

League Two

Not since 27 September, and across a run of 20 games (D4 L16), had Simon Weaver’s side tasted victory. That Harrogate run finally ended against Cambridge, who arrived as League Two’s third-placed side and unbeaten since 25 October.

Of course, it’s League Two, so the unstoppable force was beaten by the immovable object.

And both goals were beauties. Bryn Morris opened the scoring with a long-range strike, before Emmerson Sutton added a superb tight-angled finish to make it 2-0. Cambridge found a foothold on 29 minutes, but Harrogate defended impressively after the break, holding firm to see out a result that had been a long time coming.

On to Barrow, whose narrow defeat to Notts County was their fifth loss in a row. Barrow were unfortunate to fall behind to a deflected effort and they remained competitive once they’d levelled before the interval, but Notts deserved their winner on 58’ through Matthew Dennis – and could have scored more. Elsewhere, Bristol Rovers threw away a 2-1 lead as Chesterfield nicked a late 3-2 win, inspired by an acrobatic James Berry. The Gas still look a different proposition under Evans, however.

Colchester’s 2-0 win over floundering Shrewsbury tightened things further at the bottom. Will Goodwin scored with the first shot of the match before Arthur Read doubled the lead with a corker from range before half-time. Shrews applied some pressure after the break, but Colchester managed the game comfortably enough. Gavin Cowan’s side are just two points in front of Harrogate and…

Newport. Oh my good lord, what might have been. And then, oh my good lord, what might have been again.

The 0-0 draw with Grimsby is objectively a good point. Reaching half-time goalless was an achievement in itself, given the Mariners’ dominance. But Christian Fuchs’ side brought a bit more heat after the break and restricted Grimsby to just four shots in the second half, with the momentum nudging Newport’s way.

On the hour, Newport were awarded a soft-ish penalty. It was a huge opportunity to punish Grimsby’s wastefulness, and a huge opportunity missed, Nathaniel Opoku seeing his effort saved. With 15 minutes remaining, another penalty followed, this time for Grimsby, despite minimal contact on the darting Jaze Kabia (contact that appeared to come outside the box). It would have been cruel on County, but Jordan Wright made the save to keep things square.

At the other end of the table, we are in that phase of the season where the top seven is so tightly packed that you drop places if you lose and climb them if you win. It might pay to take your eye off the table for a while.

Swindon were convincing winners against Oldham, with Aaron Drinan scoring his 24th goal of the season in all competitions, the third in a 3-0 victory. MK Dons were similarly dominant, even if the 3-2 scoreline against Cheltenham made it appear closer than it was. Goals at 2-0 just before the break and again at 3-1 late on flattered the visitors. League leaders Bromley nicked a late 2-1 win against Fleetwood to become the first side to pass 60 points.

Everything remains in play in League Two, and when the run-in arrives, it should be properly tasty.

🎦 Our Top 5 clips from the EFL weekend

1. We’re not sure how to describe this goal from James Berry, but it’s bloody good.

2. Bookish brilliance from Arthur Read

3. At a canter, on the counter, Bristol City break forward

4. Off the training ground, from the corner, and into the net for Wycombe

5. YOU’RE GETTING MAULED BY THE SQUIRREL

📊 Your Monday morning cheat sheet

🐤 Canary comeback — Norwich City have won five of their last seven Championship games – that’s the same number as they totted up over their previous 24.

🧙‍♀️ A Drinan spell — Coming into this season, Aaron Drinan had 37 goals; his 24 in 31 appearances since mean that 39% of his career goals have come in this campaign.

🟥 Double trouble — Lewis Travis of Derby County is the second player this season to both score an own goal and receive a red card in the Championship, after Jack Robinson for Birmingham against Hull.

🎩 Lisbie landmark — Kyrell Lisbie scored his first EFL hat-trick for Peterborough, taking him to seven goals in seven games after managing just two in his first 21 appearances.

⚽ Dalby in stereo — Sam Dalby has scored a brace in two of his last three games for Bolton, having never scored more than once in any of his 75 prior EFL matches.

📈 Lincoln climbing — Lincoln City have won four successive league games for the first time since April 2024, and their 61 points from 30 matches is their best tally at this stage of a season since 1980/81.

🐝 Beesley buzz — Jake Beesley has now scored 12 League One goals for Burton Albion, more than in any of his previous seven campaigns across the top four tiers.

🎯 Paterson streak — Callum Paterson has scored or assisted in six consecutive League Two matches for Milton Keynes Dons, his longest such run in the top four tiers.

🔥 County roll on — Notts County have won six straight league matches for the first time in the top four tiers since September 2017, under Kevin Nolan.

🇬🇭 Osman opener — Ibrahim Osman became the first Ghanaian to score a league goal for Birmingham City since Quincy Owusu-Abeyie in September 2008.

SkyBet Championship

Birmingham 2-1 Leicester
Charlton 0-0 QPR
Coventry 0-0 Oxford
Derby 1-2 Ipswich
Hull 2-3 Bristol City
Norwich 2-0 Blackburn
Preston 1-0 Portsmouth
Southampton 1-0 Watford
Swansea 4-0 Sheffield Wednesday
West Brom 0-0 Stoke
Wrexham 0-2 Millwall

Sky Bet League One

AFC Wimbledon 3-2 Reading
Bolton 3-2 Barnsley
Huddersfield 2-2 Blackpool
Luton 2-1 Bradford
Mansfield 0-0 Exeter
Northampton 3-1 Stevenage
Peterborough 6-1 Wigan
Plymouth 1-4 Lincoln
Port Vale 2-2 Burton Albion
Rotherham 0-3 Cardiff
Stockport 0-0 Leyton Orient
Wycombe 4-0 Doncaster

Sky Bet League Two

Accrington Stanley 1-0 Salford
Bristol Rovers 2-3 Chesterfield
Cheltenham 2-3 MK Dons
Colchester 2-0 Shrewsbury
Crawley Town 0-1 Crewe
Fleetwood Town 1-2 Bromley
Gillingham 2-1 Tranmere
Harrogate 2-1 Cambridge
Newport County 0-0 Grimsby
Notts County 2-1 Barrow
Swindon 3-0 Oldham
Walsall 1-3 Barnet

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It’s deadline day today

Write-ups and ratings from the weekend’s movers are on the way, ahead of our live blog at 11:00 and live stream at 18:00. Keep an eye on your inbox. But first…

Championship

Matt Watts

Happy Birthday, Kim Hellberg. The Swede turned 38 on Sunday, but you could argue that he had three presents on Saturday. The first was Hayden Hackney’s stunning strike after 17 minutes to give Middlesbrough all three points against Philippe Clement’s in-form Norwich. It’s now five league wins in a row for Boro, who didn’t let the Canaries have a single shot on target after they took the lead.

Hellberg’s men are now level on points with leaders Coventry, who fell to a 2-1 defeat against QPR. Josh Eccles gave the Sky Blues the lead after the break, but a delightful backheel from Richard Kone and an emphatic finish from Nicolas Madsen completed the turnaround (and delivered present No.2 to Herr Hellberg). There was more than a hint of revenge for the Rs, who lost 7-1 at the CBS Arena back in August. This defeat means Coventry are now winless in their last seven away league games – eight in all competitions.

Present No.3 came in the form of Ipswich dropping points at home for the first time since 22nd November. Jack Clarke’s penalty cancelled out Lewis Gibson’s opener for Preston, but Kieran McKenna’s side are now seven points behind Coventry and Boro (albeit with a game in hand).

Four presents for Sweden’s finest export since Abba? Not on Hull’s watch. The Tigers racked up their fourth win in a row, beating strugglers Blackburn 1-0 at Ewood Park. Four minutes after coming off the bench, new signing Lewis Koumas combined with fellow sub Kyle Joseph to score the winner and send the away end into raptures. Like Ipswich, Hull have a game in hand over the top two – at home to Watford on Tuesday night – but, unlike Ipswich, they’re now only five points off the autos.

In the race for the play-offs, Wrexham reclaimed 6th spot after beating Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 at Hillsborough. Derby held the final play-off spot from 10pm on Friday night ‘til 2:30pm on Saturday after they put in a five-star performance against Bristol City at Ashton Gate.

It was a disastrous evening for the hosts, with Zak Vyner about to leave for Wrexham, Neto Borges and Sinclair Armstrong being benched after arriving late, and then an absolute horror show on the pitch. The Robins failed to defend balls into their box, couldn’t live with Derby’s third-man runs, and mustered a solitary shot on target despite trailing since the 13th minute. John Eustace’s rampant Rams have taken 10 points from the last 12 available and they have their best away record in the Championship this season (owing to their slightly better goal difference than Hull!).

Javi Gracia’s second spell in charge of Watford came to an end with their 2-0 defeat at home to Swansea. Gracia resigned (that’s right, resigned - he wasn’t sacked!) after a meeting with the board on Sunday. Gracia leaves the Hornets four points off the play-offs after a run of four league games without a win.

Andy King’s first game in interim charge of Leicester didn’t go according to plan, as Caleb Okoli was sent off after 15 minutes for pulling back Miles Leaburn. The Charlton striker was a long way from goal, but Okoli was the last man and he held on to Leaburn like a feline bringing down a bird. Clinical finishes from Sonny Carey and Lyndon Dykes put the Addicks 2-0 up, before Jordan Ayew spurned the Foxes’ best chance to get back into the game, firing his penalty against the post.

It’s now one point in four games for Leicester, who continue to look over their collective shoulder, but this was the perfect response to a derby-day drubbing at Millwall for Nathan Jones’ side. Granted, Charlton’s only two wins since Christmas have come against teams reduced to nine men and ten men – both before half-time – but they are now six points clear of the bottom three.

One team who’d love to have that kind of cushion is West Brom, who fell 3-0 to Portsmouth. Two recent arrivals stepped up for Pompey, with Millenic Alli contributing an assist and then a goal, before Ebou Adams scored once again at Fratton Park. Cries of “You’re not fit to wear the shirt!” met the Baggies players at full-time, with Isaac Price having to be held back by Daryl Dike. When you’ve picked up one lousy point on the road since 1st October, you’d be well-advised to hold your hands up, take your medicine and walk off. It’s now one point (and 12 goals conceded) in four games at the helm for Eric Ramsay.

League One

Huw Davies

Seeing as nobody in the top six moved a place, let’s race to the bottom instead.

Rotherham went to St James Park on the back of four consecutive away defeats (five in all competitions). Exeter hosted them on the back of four consecutive home wins to nil (five in all competitions). Rotherham won 4-0.

Switching to a back four for once, Matt Hamshaw’s Millers had to revert to a back three anyway as Dan Gore went off at 1-0 with a shoulder injury. No matter. Three goals in five second-half minutes secured the win and proved helpful for their goal difference; 17-year-old Harry Gray scored his second in two games and Sam Nombe turned provider with two fine assists.

They climb from 23rd to 20th, above the dotted line on goal difference (I told you it was helpful). Burton Albion join Doncaster, Northampton and Port Vale in the bottom four, despite earning a 2-2 draw with Cardiff. Not many teams restrict the league leaders to two shots from inside the box… sadly for Burton, they both went in.

Rotherham weren’t the only victorious strugglers. There are signs of life at Jon Brady’s Port Vale. Kyle John headed home from a corner inside two minutes and that was all they needed to beat Leyton Orient 1-0. Outside of a tame effort from the O’s Ollie O’Neill, the hosts didn’t really come close until Dom Ballard hit the outside of the post with the last shot of the game.

Orient were booed off at half-time, and afterwards Richie Wellens declared himself “very worried because players are drifting”, adding that transfers in progress will bring “fresh blood and new determination to fight”. For Vale, hosting Wimbledon and Burton Albion next week provides a great chance to make up some more of their 10-point gap to safety with two games in hand.

Stockport came from behind to beat Plymouth 2-1. Argyle hit the bar and forced defenders into last-ditch interventions before taking a deserved lead, but Dave Challinor’s triple substitution on the hour changed everything. On came Lewis Bate, who brought control to the midfield. On came Malik Mothersille, whose dribbling created the equaliser. On came Jack Diamond, who crossed for the winner. And staying on to score both goals was Kyle Wootton, who is having quite the season, going joint-top of the goalscoring charts.

Twice in a week, Argyle have scored first and failed to win. Performances have improved immeasurably but an 11-point gap to the top six might be too much, now.

Finally, Peterborough 2-3 Huddersfield was League One’s match of the day. Under Liam Manning, the Terriers have won three from three with possession shares of 47%, 35% and now 31%. That’s how you do it.

Huddersfield led 2-0 through a combination of Lasse Sorensen, Radinio Balker and Peterborough goalkeeper Alex Bass, but Posh dragged it back to 2-2. Kyrell Lisbie scored at the third attempt, after Harry Leonard’s beautiful flicked effort had hit the post, then James Dornelly got on the end of a late set piece. Could they…? Nah. Later still, in the 89th minute, the Posh defence let Cameron Humphreys have too much space and he called their bluff, shooting into the corner that the attendant Archie Collins had all but pointed him towards.

Protect a point, protect the goal… or if you’re George Nevett, stood behind Collins, protect what really matters.

League Two

Ali Maxwell

The bottom two, Harrogate Town and Newport County, travelled to teams in 20th (Crawley) and 22nd (Bristol Rovers) with a chance to close the gap. They both lost to nil, further raising the difficulty level of survival.

At the Mem, Newport had the game’s first presentable chance through Ciaran Brennan, but it was missed. After that, this was the Yusuf Akhamrich show. Bristol Rovers’ 20-year-old Spurs loanee made his first league start and put in one of the season’s most exciting individual performances. His first goal was a left-footed rocket from 25 yards following a dribble inside, and his second came after a sensual first touch to control a ball over the top.

Upon his signing, based on what we knew about Akhamrich, we wrote that, “there may not be a player with higher upside involved in the League Two relegation battle.” These goals brought to mind Elliot Anderson’s sparkling performances for Gas in 2021/22.

Harrogate lost at Crawley, who have finally got serious. A third straight clean sheet (W2 D1) has them six points above Newport and eight above Harrogate, winning via goals from Max Anderson and Josh Flint. Scott Lindsey seems to have finally hit on something with a back three of Charlie Barker, Theo Vassell and Flint, with Jacob Chapman behind them and Jay Williams screening in front of them.

At the top, it was a weekend of away wins that ranged from gutsy to dominant. Bromley blitzed Gillingham in the first half, 3-0 up at the break. Ben Thompson celebrated a hat-trick just after half-time, in his first start in over three months – 4-1, the final score. Notts County’s depth in the striker position was reflected in their 2-1 win at Fleetwood: Alassana Jatta opened the scoring and Matthew Dennis came off the bench on the hour mark alongside new singing Lee Ndlovu, who promptly laid one on a plate for Dennis to score the winner. Four wins in a row for Notts.

It’s six (SIX) straight for Cambridge United following a 3-0 win at Oldham. A tight game was cracked open when an error at the back by Manny Monthé was compounded by a clumsy tackle from Ryan Woods – penalty, scored by Ben Knight on 55’, and by 67’ it was 3-0 after a Double Appérétif.

Salford recovered from midweek defeat to win 2-0 at Tranmere. Goalkeeper Matty Young made some sharp first-half saves, before Jorge Grant and Kelly N’Mai won the game in the second half. And Swindon’s 3-1 against Barrow put an end to their three-game losing streak but was somewhat overshadowed by Ian Holloway’s remarkable, viral post-match interview.

We also had 8th vs 6th and 9th vs 2nd, and both served up topsy-turvy games. Chesterfield and MK Dons relinquished 2-0 leads to draw 2-2 against Walsall and Grimsby respectively. When 12th and 10th did battle, Crewe jumped back above Colchester with a 1-0 win. It was a simple case of execution: Calum Agius calmly finished Adrien Thibaut’s low cross, while Colchester’s goal threat was all quantity (18 shots to 3 in the match) and no quality.

Accrington scored a few crackers to beat an out-of-sorts Cheltenham Town 3-1, while Gavin Cowan’s first match as Shrewsbury Town manager was a match that happened at home to Barnet: 0-0.

🎦 Our Top 5 clips from the EFL weekend

1. Brace on debut for Yusuf Akhamrich and both are beauties for Gas.

2. Alternative angle of Ben Thompson’s hat-trick goal for Bromley.

3. Tricks and flicks from Richard Kone sparks limbs and scenes at Loftus Road.

4. Hayden Thwackney with the rocket of the docket.

5. That’s scary: a sumptuous first touch by Sonny Carey to put Addicks ahead.

Bonus: Man yells at Cloud.

📊 Your Monday morning cheat sheet

🐝 Javi Gra-see-ya — Javi Gracia’s second spell at Watford ended despite an improved return of 31 points from 20 games; over the season, the Hornets have failed to keep a clean sheet in 13 of 16 home matches and conceded the opening goal in 20 of 29 games.

🌟 Golden oldies — Walsall’s Albert Adomah (38) marked his goal this weekend with a walking-stick celebration, but wasn’t to be outdone by Shaun Whalley of Accrington Stanley, who posted one goal and two assists and now has 10 goal contributions in 15 appearances this season.

🧳 Whither Wycombe’s wanderlust? — Wycombe Wanderers have scored just 28% of their goals away from home, collecting 13 points from 14 away games.

💣 Gas explosion — Bristol Rovers have recorded two 3-0 wins in their last five league matches, as many 3+ goal victories as in their previous 128 Football League games combined.

🚍 Ram raid — Derby County’s 5–0 win at Bristol City was their biggest away league victory since September 1959.

📈 Half-century Mill — Millwall have reached 50+ points after 30 games of a second-tier season for the first time since 2001–02 (53), when they finished fourth.

🍾 Pompey pop — Portsmouth have won three of their last six Championship games (D2 L1), recording their first league win by 3+ goals in over a year, since beating Swansea City 4–0 on New Year’s Day 2025.

🔥 Boro blaze — Middlesbrough have won five consecutive league games for the first time since October 2023; no side in England’s top four tiers has won more league matches so far in 2026.

🚫 Home blanks — AFC Wimbledon have failed to score in five straight Football League home games for the first time in their history.

⚽ Wootton you just know it — Kyle Wootton scored twice for Stockport County against Plymouth Argyle, taking him to 15 goals this season – it’s his best-ever return in a Football League campaign and he is joint-top of the Golden Boot rankings now.

📊 Stanley surge — Since the start of November, only Bromley (38) and Cambridge United (32) have won more League Two points than Accrington Stanley (27), who’ve won five of their last seven matches (D1 L1).

⚖️ Cool, Cambs and collected — Cambridge United are unbeaten in 14 league games (W9 D5), their joint-longest run in Football League history, last achieved in November 1972.

SkyBet Championship

Blackburn 0-1 Hull
Bristol City 0-5 Derby
Ipswich 1-1 Preston
Leicester 0-2 Charlton
Middlesbrough 1-0 Norwich
Millwall 1-1 Sheffield United
Oxford 0-2 Birmingham
Portsmouth 3-0 West Brom
QPR 2-1 Coventry
Sheffield Wednesday 0-1 Wrexham
Stoke 0-2 Southampton
Watford 0-2 Swansea

Sky Bet League One

AFC Wimbledon 0-1 Bolton
Barnsley 3-1 Stevenage
Bradford 1-0 Doncaster
Burton Albion 2-2 Cardiff
Exeter 0-4 Rotherham
Leyton Orient 0-1 Port Vale
Luton 1-0 Blackpool
Mansfield 0-0 Wycombe
Northampton 0-2 Reading
Peterborough 2-3 Huddersfield
Stockport 2-1 Plymouth
Wigan 0-1 Lincoln

Sky Bet League Two

Accrington Stanley 3-1 Cheltenham
Bristol Rovers 3-0 Newport County
Chesterfield 2-2 Walsall
Crawley 2-0 Harrogate
Crewe 1-0 Colchester
Fleetwood 1-2 Notts County
Gillingham 1-4 Bromley
Grimsby 2-2 MK Dons
Oldham 0-3 Cambridge
Shrewsbury 0-0 Barnet
Swindon 3-1 Barrow
Tranmere 0-2 Salford

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Championship

Sam Parry

Ollie Rathbone’s 2025/26 season for Wrexham is a catalogue of cameos and consequence. In one of only two league starts, against Blackburn, he scored in a 2-0 win. In 20 minutes as a sub at home to Preston, he scored a 77th-minute winner. In a two-minute cameo at Watford, he nabbed a 91st-minute equaliser. And on Saturday…

The latest act came after QPR looked to have done enough. Harvey Vale opened the scoring early with a superb volley. Wrexham failed to register a first-half shot but levelled after the break, only for Steve Cook to restore QPR’s lead on 80 minutes with the freest over headers. A stoppage-time equaliser from Josh Windass: cue limbs. Then cue some more, as a Rathbone strike from range turned defeat into victory and lifted Wrexham into the top six. From 10 shots this season, Rathbone has directly contributed 7 points.

There was also late drama at The Den, though not of the jeopardy kind. Millwall were already in control at 2-0, with Josh Coburn also having missed an open net while Femi Azeez had a diving header ruled out. Then Camiel Neghli missed a stoppage-time penalty – but Luke Cundle bundled home the rebound. Aidomo Emakhu added a late fourth to cap a dominant afternoon. Millwall sit six points off 2nd and six points off 7th.

At the sharp end, Middlesbrough strengthened their position by beating Preston. At 0-0, a PNE penalty appeal for handball went unheeded. Minutes later, Alan Browne scored against his former club and, once ahead, Boro raced away with it – 4-0 up by the 54th minute. Having faced scrutiny over his finishing, Tommy Conway’s brace took him to three goals in two games and doubled his season’s tally to six.

That result mattered because…

Third-placed Ipswich (with key men missing) lost ground with a 3-1 defeat to Sheffield United (who also had key men missing). With Gus Hamer back in the side, the Blades were comfortable in possession and clinical on the break. Ipswich briefly threatened a comeback after a second-half penalty, but Patrick Bamford’s fine finish restored a two-goal cushion. He also received a late second yellow for a dive, bringing him the first red card of his career.

At the bottom, Oxford claimed a vital 2-1 win over Leicester. Abdul Fatawu struck late for the Foxes, but it was only a consolation. Mark Harris, starting for the first time since 20th December, used his pace against a high line by breaking free 1-v-1 and rounding the goalkeeper to finish into an empty net. Someone called it…

For the Foxes, this result was the final Jenga piece to be pulled before the tower toppled. Martí Cifuentes was sacked on Sunday. Who will pick up the pieces? And will all 38 pieces be there to play with, given the possible points deduction that’s looming?

In the South Coast derby, Portsmouth’s Ebou Adams had a hand in affairs. So duel-savvy was he, that he effectively duelled the equaliser into existence. Southampton had struck first through Leo Scienza, who gave his celebration the full derby-day treatment, but in truth neither side did enough to win. Colby Bishop’s eight touches in the box were only one fewer than Southampton managed as a team — a stat that neatly captured the inefficiency on both sides.

But where better to finish than where the weekend began? That’s right: West Brom on Friday night television. Derby scored with their only first-half shot when debutant goalkeeper Max O’Leary spilled a corner, but a 95th-minute Chris Mepham header gave Eric Ramsay a deserved and much-needed first point.

League One

Huw Davies

We start with a draw, because Monday pod rules don’t apply here. Doncaster led Wigan 3-0 through Francis Okoronkwo, Jay McGrath (who’d made a superb goal-saving block at 0-0) and Harry Clifton, the latter helped by Will Aimson’s banana-peel-coated studs. When you’re in the relegation zone, though, nerves jangle. Joe Taylor clipped in delightfully and Donny retreated deeper than the ninth circle of hell, which allowed Callum Wright to convert Fraser Murray’s dangerous cross from a couple of yards out. In the dying minutes, Owen Moxon equalised, Sam Tickle brilliantly denied Jack Senior and it finished 3-3. Rovers shouldn’t have drawn this game – they outshot Wigan 28 to 8 – but draw it they did, leaving them in the poop.

Also in the poop: Rotherham, who drew 1-1 with Wimbledon by missing chances and conceding to their visitors’ only shot on target.

OK, back to the top. Saturday lunchtime gave us two big promotion clashes: Cardiff v Stockport, which ended 1-1 (a fair result despite Callum Robinson’s big chance late on), and Huddersfield v Bradford. The hosts won 1-0 with a goal that illustrated the perils of switching off in the multi-ball era. It feels almost transgressive to take a throw-in two seconds after the ball’s been sent into the crowd, but those have been the rules for some time now. A ball boy, Bali Mumba and Alfie May all reacted quickly to the opportunity, Bradford’s defenders didn’t, and Marcus Harness scored.

Liam Manning’s Terriers deserved their win. Bradford took a single shot, from miles out, in the hour before Marcus McGuane’s red card and only four shots after it, three of those from outside the area. McGuane, given his first start in any competition this season by the new manager who had trusted him at Oxford and Bristol City, was tricked into the first yellow card – he was rightly booked, but only for retaliating when Aden Baldwin, wrongly unbooked, tried to push him over the pitchside hoardings – but could have no complaints about the second. In the end, it didn’t matter.

Meanwhile, by which I mean earlier, Lincoln had hosted Burton Albion on Thursday night and made the most of foul conditions and a skiddy surface. Jack Moylan scored by skimming one like a stone – outside of the boot, inside of the post. Then, after Jake Beesley had equalised with an xGeesley special, i.e. unmarked six yards out, Freddie Draper’s low shot was spilled by Bradley Collins and, showing great initiative to get to the rebound first, Moylan mopped up. Well, not literally. That would’ve taken forever. Lincoln are two months unbeaten, W6 D4 L0 in that time, and this gave them a little cushion over their automatic promotion rivals.

The cushion would’ve been puffier had Bolton not climbed to 3rd with a stoppage-time winner from the spot against Leyton Orient.

Now, introducing a new feature: What In Devon’s Name? Plymouth and Exeter both deserve commendations. Exeter, who scored some very swish goals in their 3-1 win at Port Vale, have English league football’s joint-best form over five matches. They did allow Vale 12 shots from inside the box, but on the other hand, Jayden Wareham almost scored doing this:

And Argyle beat Luton 1-0. They would’ve scored before first-half stoppage time (through a Brendan Galloway bicycle kick, no less) were it not for Nigel Lonwijk’s incredible goal-line block and Josh Keeley’s fine saves. The win was merited even with Conor Hazard saving Nahki Wells’ good opportunity, which takes him to 6.94 xG for the season with only two goals scored.

January signing Ronan Curtis impressed again. Derek Adams joined Tom Cleverley’s setup as director of football in mid-November with Argyle bottom of League One; since then, only three teams can better their 23 points from 12 games. The underlying data shows their improvement, too.

League Two

Matt Watts

Like most weekends since the autumn, it was a good weekend for Bromley. The league leaders came from behind to beat top-three rivals Swindon 2-1 at a packed-out Hayes Lane. A week after being racially abused online for missing a late penalty against Chesterfield, Nicke Kabamba rose highest to nod in the winner in the 90th minute.

Andy Woodman’s Ravens have won 10 of their last 12 games. They’re still unbeaten at home in the league this season, and have maintained their record of scoring two or more goals in every home game. Next up: Crewe at home on Tuesday night.

Who goes to school on Tuesday night?

Salford are up to 2nd after beating Bristol Rovers 1-0. The only goal of the game was a delightful finish from Ryan Graydon, who has scored three goals in three games since making the switch from Fleetwood. The Ammies, 10 unbeaten in league and cup, sit six points behind Bromley with a game in hand.

It was Callum Paterson’s day at Stadium MK as MK Dons beat Shrewsbury 5-1. Paterson scored his 100th career goal before adding a couple more to bag his first career hat-trick – all within the opening 34 minutes. The goal of the game, however, was a consolation scored by Tom Sang.

Neil Harris’ Cambridge came from behind twice to beat Tranmere 4-2. Shayne Lavery scored his first goal since mid-October, big Kelland Watts bagged a brace, then Ben Knight put a gloss on the scoreline just before full-time. Not only have Cambridge won their last four league games, but they’re unbeaten in League Two since 25th October.

Grimsby have also won four league games in a row (five in all competitions). They beat Cheltenham 2-0 thanks to a long-range pile-driver from Kieran Green and a deft flick from Andy Cook / cross from Jaze Kabia. I’ll leave that one to the Dubious Goals Panel!

A 2-1 defeat to Colchester proved to be Pete Wild’s final game in charge of Fleetwood. The Cod Army haven’t won since before Christmas, have lost their last five games in all competitions, and are 15th in the table. Injuries, key players moving on, off-field dramas and a budget that is no longer towards the top end of League Two are all contributing factors.

Down towards the foot of League Two, only two teams in the bottom 11 won. Scott Lindsey’s new-look/old-look Crawley picked up their first win since 8th November, beating Barrow 1-0. A sumptuous 89th-minute winner from one of their many new additions, Taylor Richards, proved to be the difference between the two sides.

Newport are off the bottom - and only one point from safety - after beating misfiring Chesterfield 2-1 at Rodney Parade. Goals from Harrison Biggins and Michael Spellman put County 2-0 up, before Dilan Markanday pulled one back with five minutes remaining. That’s back-to-back home wins for Christian Fuchs’ side; can they make it three in a row against Accrington on Tuesday night?

Unfortunately, at any given moment, one team has to prop up the other 71 EFL teams and, at present, that team is Harrogate. The Sulphurites conceded three second-half goals in their 3-0 defeat to Gillingham. Simon Weaver’s men haven’t won a league game since beating the Gills in the reverse fixture at the end of September.

🎦 Our Top 5 clips from the EFL weekend

1. Lift, love, laugh — Regan Slater scores what would be the winner for Hull.

2. Lift and let drive — Kieran Green grabs a banger for Grimsby.

3. Lifting it over the keeper’s head — Callum O’Hare bags for Blades on the break.

4. Lifting the Vale – QPR hit the bar before Harvey hits a volley.

5. Lifting the roof off - Ollie Rathbone scores a late screamer for Wrexham.

📊 Your Monday morning cheat sheet

⏱️ Imply Red — No EFL side has led more often (18 times) nor for longer than Lincoln City, who’ve spent 46.6% of their minutes ahead. If only first halves counted, Lincoln would have 58 points from 27 games — 20 more than L1 leaders Cardiff City.

🔟 Pat on the head — With a hat-trick on Saturday, Callum Paterson has recorded 10 goal involvements in nine games (6 goal and 4 assists) since December, more than any other player in England’s top four tiers.

⤵️ Saints still reeling — In their last 10 games under Tonda Eckert, Southampton’s opponents have averaged 26.5 touches in the box per game. In their final 10 games under Will Still, Southampton’s opponents averaged 16.5 touches in the box per game.

💪 Hullk — Hull City have won eight of their last 11 Championship games (D1 L2). No team in the top four tiers has won more league matches in that spell… although in their 2–1 win over Swansea, they were reliant on Swans missing all four of their big chances. Someone needs to probe those numbers in an article.

✈️ Late luggage — Exeter City have earned more points (7) and scored more goals (6) in their last three League One away games than across the 11 that preceded them this season.

🎯 Hamer time — Gustavo Hamer supplied two assists for Sheffield United vs Ipswich Town. It’s his sixth Championship game with multiple assists – more than any player since his 2020 debut (level with Harry Wilson and Ryan Giles).

📈 Truly, Madly, Lisbie — Kyrell Lisbie has scored three goals in his last four league games, more than in his first 21 EFL appearances for Peterborough United.

🍊 Fletcher’s dozen — Ashley Fletcher’s 12th League One goal marks his best ever return in a single league season.

🚫 O’s No — Leyton Orient have lost eight of their last nine away league games (W1), including two separate four-game away losing runs.

🧓 Garnering experience — At 37y 287d, Joe Garner became the oldest player to register multiple assists in a League Two game since Wes Hoolahan for Cambridge United in October 2020.

SkyBet Championship

Birmingham 1-1 Stoke
Blackburn 1-1 Watford
Bristol City 2-0 Sheffield Wed
Derby 1-1 West Brom
Hull 2-1 Swansea
Leicester 1-2 Oxford
Middlesbrough 4-0 Preston
Millwall 4-0 Charlton
Portsmouth 1-1 Southampton
QPR 2-3 Wrexham
Sheffield Utd 3-1 Ipswich

Sky Bet League One

Blackpool 2-0 Northampton
Bolton 2-1 Leyton Orient
Cardiff 1-1 Stockport
Doncaster 3-3 Wigan
Huddersfield 1-0 Bradford
Lincoln 2-1 Burton Albion
Plymouth Argyle 1-0 Luton
Port Vale 1-3 Exeter
Reading 2-2 Barnsley
Rotherham 1-1 AFC Wimbledon
Stevenage 1-1 Mansfield
Wycombe 0-2 Peterborough

Sky Bet League Two

Barnet 3-2 Oldham
Barrow 0-1 Crawley
Bromley 2-1 Swindon
Cambridge 4-2 Tranmere
Cheltenham 0-2 Grimsby
Colchester 2-1 Fleetwood
Harrogate 0-3 Gillingham
MK Dons 5-1 Shrewsbury
Newport 2-1 Chesterfield
Notts County 1-0 Crewe
Salford 1-0 Bristol Rovers
Walsall 0-0 Accrington Stanley

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🚨 Features: Weekend Notes | 25/26 Transfer Window | Season Previews

🖋️ Writers: Ali Maxwell | George Elek | Huw Davies | Sam Parry | Guests

🎙️ Podcasts: Under The Lights | Dear Ali & George…

Championship

Sam Parry

In one of the most intriguing games of the weekend, Eric Ramsay’s new-look West Brom side started fast against Middlesbrough. They went close in a frenetic opening when a Luke Ayling error allowed Aune Heggebø through on goal.

As the half wore on, West Brom looked increasingly flustered rather than fluent, more instructed than practised when trying to break at pace, and Middlesbrough began to suss them. A Charlie Taylor own goal put Boro ahead in the first half, and when Sammy Silvera drilled a second through a defender’s legs for 2–0 on ‘58, it felt as though they had West Brom in a chokehold.

The arrival of Jed Wallace and Josh Maja, and Mikey Johnston moving to the left wing, helped Baggies find some cut-through. An Isaac Price free kick from the edge of the box and a Wallace finish from a loose clearance hauled them level. A 2-2 draw would’ve made the Baggies the first side to deny Boro victory after they’d led.

Instead, Boro found another answer. Crisp interplay between Morris, Hackney and Silvera carved out space for Delano Burgzorg, who finished calmly to make it 3–2 and finally settle a game that had swung wildly but ultimately, and just about deservedly, tilted Boro’s way. Baggies, it should be said, are only 3pts off the relegation zone.

Early errors proved decisive at Portman Road, where Blackburn were undone inside the opening 15 minutes against Ipswich. An inviting cross saw Eiran Cashin slide home an avoidable own goal on his Championship debut for Rovers. The second was just as preventable, Blackburn failing to clear a corner and allowing Jack Taylor to prod home.

The game was effectively over long before the 88th minute, when a sumptuous counter-attack ended with Sammie Szmodics tapping in against his former club. Kieran McKenna’s side needed that, having seen both Coventry and Middlesbrough win.

Coventry’s victory was harder-earned because Leicester struck first with a flowing move involving many of their brightest sparks this season: Fatawu dribbling into the box, Bobby De Cordova-Reid flicking the ball round the corner, and Jordan James firing home inside ten minutes.

Looking vulnerable to Foxes pressure in the first half, Coventry flipped the contest just after the break when Ellis Simms deflected in an equaliser. That goal sparked them into life. Frank Lampard’s side dominated the second period, with Romain Esse hitting the post and Coventry registering ten shots inside the box. In the 84th minute, Tatsuhiro Sakamoto shrugged off Luke Thomas and fired goalwards, where substitute Haji Wright was on hand to secure all three points.

One of the strangest matches of the weekend unfolded at the Valley, where one goalmouth caught all the action. Sheffield United dominated the first half, with Tom Cannon and Patrick Bamford denied by Thomas Kaminski in the Charlton goal, and Djibril Soumaré rattling the post.

Gravity flipped late in the first period, not with Soumaré’s red, but when Blades captain Japhet Tanganga was also dismissed for a clumsy-at-best forearm smash. At 11 vs 9, Charlton dominated the second half. Sonny Carey opened the scoring within a minute, finishing neatly from debutant Lydon Dykes’ headed knockdown. It was attack-v-defence stuff from there. A huge result for Nathan Jones’ side, who secured only their second win in eight games. Significant for Sheffield United too, who lose players and ground in their bid to crash the play-off party.

Elsewhere, a second-half double gave Millwall a deserved win over Watford, whilst a familiar name to Preston fans, Patrick Agyemang (not that one), missed an open net for Derby before going on to score the winner. Portsmouth, meanwhile, had to beat Sheffield Wednesday, and did so, but only just.

Norwich ended Wrexham’s winning streak with a 2–1 away victory. It does not lift the Canaries out of the relegation zone, but at 1.5 points per game under Philippe Clement, they look well placed to stride clear of danger.

And finally, Southampton’s struggles under Tonda Eckert continued as they trailed Hull 2–0 at half-time. Ross Stewart pulled one back after the break, but the Tigers threw bodies in front of everything to hold firm. It is now one win in eight for Saints, while Hull sit in the play-off mix with a game in hand on many around them.

League One

Matt Watts

The EFL’s middle child did its best to take centre stage on Saturday with Big Stories everywhere you looked.

Table-topping Cardiff beat Bradford 2-1. A stunning strike from David Turnbull gave the visitors the lead, before Calum Chambers diverted in an Ollie Tanner cross to double their advantage inside the opening half an hour. Another sumptuous effort from young Jenson Metcalfe halved the arrears after the break with what proved to be Bradford’s only shot on target. The result meant Bluebirds extended their lead at the top of the table after Lincoln let a two-goal lead slip in their draw at Luton. Crucially, Cardiff are also now nine points clear of Bradford - albeit, the Bantams do have a game in hand.

Stockport moved within one point of Bradford by beating Rotherham 3-2. There may have been five goals scored, but only two of them were in the right net. Struggling Rotherham scored two own goals, but the pick of the bunch belonged to Stockport’s Joseph Olowu after Ben Hinchliffe fired his clearance into Olowu’s backside. “Bring back the 90’s Bloopers VHS!” we say.

A word of warning for those above Stockport - this is the first time that Dave Challinor’s Hatters have won back-to-back league games since October and yet they’re still only four points off 2nd.

Bolton climbed up to 5th after Josh Sheehan’s late strike at Wigan gave them a) the bragging rights in a local derby and b) their first win since Boxing Day. Sheehan’s drive from the edge of the area certainly moved and it did come through bodies, but super Sam Tickle will want this one back.

Huddersfield’s 3-1 defeat at Burton proved to be the final game in charge for Lee Grant, who was sacked on Saturday evening. Grant leaves the Terriers 6th in League One and ten points off the automatic promotion places after a run of four league games without a win. As for Burton, this result, in their 750th game in the Football League, saw them end a run of three league games without a win (and without scoring). It also catapulted Gary Bowyer’s Brewers out of the bottom four and up to 19th.

There’s a new name at the top of the League One scoring charts and that name is Dominic Ballard. The 20-year-old scored his second hat-trick of the season as Leyton Orient beat Reading 3-1 at Brisbane Road. It was a perfect hat-trick for Ballard and a pretty perfect afternoon for Richie Wellens, who celebrated his 100th win in charge of Orient. In addition to his three goals that stood, Ballard also had two goals disallowed and he hit the post. Yes, he really could have scored five or six!

How do you respond to a 10-1 drubbing? By winning and, crucially, keeping a clean sheet. Exeter beat Stevenage 3-0 thanks to a Jayden Wareham penalty, an Ethan Brierley strike from distance and a debut goal for Timur Tutierov. Despite their off-field issues, Gary Caldwell’s Grecians are 13th after winning five league games to nil since the start of December - albeit, they’re still only four points clear of the bottom four. As for Stevenage, they’re now six without a win and, without stating the obvious, they aren’t Manchester City.

Finally, is it too early in the year for a Stag Party? Mansfield made it five wins in a row in all competitions by beating Port Vale 3-0. Spurs loanee Oliver Irow marked his senior debut by scoring twice either side of a Will Evans tap-in. Irow’s second goal in particular was certainly one that he won’t forget in a hurry. The Stags are up to 10th, but they’re only four points behind Huddersfield in 6th and they have not one, not two but three games in hand over the Terriers.

League Two

Huw Davies

League Two had an as-you-were weekend. The only wins for a lower-placed team were 4th away at 2nd and 12th at home to 11th (Grimsby beating Barnet 1-0) – hardly upsets worthy of the name.

That 2nd v 4th encounter was a biggie, though, as Salford went to Swindon and won 3-2. In a fun first half featuring three goals, a corner hitting the crossbar and an open goal missed from the touchline, they led through a set piece and a great move taking the ball from their own half to goal in just three touches – Jorge Grant’s long pass, Ryan Graydon’s unspeakably good first-time lay-off, and Kelly N’Mai to finish.

Salford finished the job to go level on points with Swindon in 2nd. They’re also six points off the top with a game in hand, thanks to Bromley drawing at Chesterfield in a 0-0 with plenty of goalmouth action. Bromley had an 89th-minute penalty to win it but Zach Hemmings saved from Nicke Kabamba. How significant could that end up being?

The other two BIG GAMES, worthy of all-caps, were relegation-based. Newport started fast again away at Gillingham: having scored in the first minute of their first meeting, they scored in the fourth minute here. And lost both times.

Losing 3-2 to goals on 90’+1 and 90’+9 sounds worse than it was, as a lengthy stoppage resulted in 18 minutes of injury time, but it’s still painful for Newport. Cameron Antwi’s fine goal to put them 2-1 up was assisted by debutant Tanatswa Nyakuhwa, who then gave away a clumsy penalty on Garath McCleary, and that rather sums up County. At times, they impress in attack. At no time do they impress in defence. Ryan Delaney, returning to the Exiles, was too weak under McCleary’s aerial challenge and the veteran nodded home.

Gillingham could/should have won it earlier anyway. Though the game’s 41 shots and 13 on target were fairly evenly shared, the five big chances (per Opta) all went to Gills. Of course, Opta may have decided that Josh Andrews’ 0.98xG miss represented five big chances in one.

Finally, Shrewsbury saw off Harrogate with some help. Jack Evans’ second booking was pivotal and perhaps a little harsh; delaying the restart is one thing, but dropping the ball behind your opponent for a throw-in as you run back to your mark is just standard practice. After that, Taylor Perry’s long-range drive went through the despairing fingers of young Henry Gray, who’d made several good saves up to then, and that was enough.

And Shews really are doing just enough. This was their fifth win of 2025/26 and three have been 1-0 at home to 22nd, 23rd and 24th. Incredibly, Harrogate haven’t won a league fixture since September – that they’re one point from safety is a damning indictment of two-up-two-down.

🎦 Our Top 5 clips from the EFL weekend

1. Kaikai can can — Super satisfying freekick kisses the crossbar on its way in.

2. Irow take a bow — Stag’s debutant hits a stunner.

3. An OG for the ages — Rotherham nab one from the most unlikely source.

4. Just three touches — Salford link up: Jorge Grant > Ryan Graydon > Kelly N’Mai

5. Owura’s Brazil aura — Wonder strike for Col U in the yellow and blue.

📊 Your Monday morning cheat sheet

🔥 Nombe en Flambe — Sam Nombe has scored three goals in his last three appearances, all as a substitute as he’s eased back from injury; no League One player can better his 0.97 goals per 90 — albeit from just 556 minutes on the pitch.

⚖️ Level pegging — The Championship’s joint top scorers are locked on 11 goals, but not all totals are created equal: Adam Armstrong has scored his tally from 11.39 xG, with Žan Vipotnik bagging his from just 4.2 xG.

🚍 Mill travelling well — Millwall, who haven’t lost a game by a single goal this season, won their first away league game by more than one goal since November 2023; each of their previous 14 away wins had come by a single-goal margin.

🏠 Grecian’s Mount Olympus — Exeter City have won four straight home games, their longest run at St James Park since 2022.

🔄 Loss leaders — After coming from behind to beat Leicester City 2–1, Coventry City have now recovered 16 points from losing positions this Championship season — Watford (23) have rescued more though.

📉 Smereing it on thick — Tranmere Rovers have lost five of their last seven league games (W2), the same number of defeats as across their previous 22 matches.

🚫 Brom stopped — Bromley failed to score in a league game for the first time since September, ending a 15-game scoring run; the draw at Chesterfield also halted a seven-game League Two winning streak.

❌ Crawling on empty — Crawley Town are winless in 11 league games (D4 L7), losing four straight for the first time since October 2024.

📉 Tangerine nightmare — Blackpool’s 2–1 defeat to Barnsley leaves them on three consecutive league losses for the first time since October 2024.

SkyBet Championship

Charlton 1-0 Sheffield Utd
Coventry 2-1 Leicester
Ipswich 3-0 Blackburn
Oxford Utd 0-0 Bristol City
Preston 0-1 Derby
Sheff Wed 0-1 Portsmouth
Southampton 1-2 Hull
Stoke 0-0 QPR
Swansea 1-1 Birmingham
Watford 0-2 Millwall
West Brom 2-3 Middlesbrough
Wrexham 1-2 Norwich

Sky Bet League One

AFC Wimbledon 0-1 Doncaster
Barnsley 2-1 Blackpool
Bradford 1-2 Cardiff
Burton Albion 3-1 Huddersfield
Exeter 3-0 Stevenage
Leyton Orient 3-1 Reading
Luton 2-2 Lincoln City
Mansfield 3-0 Port Vale
Northampton 1-2 Wycombe
Peterborough 0-1 Plymouth
Stockport 3-2 Rotherham
Wigan 0-1 Bolton

Sky Bet League Two

Accrington Stanley 0-2 MK Dons
Bristol Rovers 0-1 Colchester
Chesterfield 0-0 Bromley
Crawley Town 1-2 Notts County
Crewe 3-1 Barrow
Fleetwood Town 1-2 Cambridge Utd
Gillingham 3-2 Newport County
Grimsby 1-0 Barnet
Oldham 2-1 Cheltenham
Shrewsbury 1-0 Harrogate Town
Swindon 2-3 Salford
Tranmere 1-3 Walsall

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🚨 Features: Weekend Notes | 25/26 Transfer Window | Season Previews

🖋️ Writers: Ali Maxwell | George Elek | Huw Davies | Sam Parry | Guests

🎙️ Podcasts: Under The Lights | Dear Ali & George…

Sam Parry: As a Saturday job, I used to sell pies and drinks at Hillsborough to pay for my season ticket at Bramall Lane. Every winter, this old fella would idle up to the hatch and ask, without fail: “Got any soup?”

We never sold soup. If he’s still knocking about, though, I imagine he’s still asking the question. It’s freezing.

I raise this because, much like soup at football, we’re in Cup Mode today. Huw and Matt are running through the big stories from the FA Cup third round, leaving me to mop up the overspill from six big ties in League One and League Two.

FA Cup 3rd Round

Huw Davies

We make no apologies for starting this EFL newsletter with a match featuring no EFL teams, because Macclesfield of the National League North beating FA Cup holders Crystal Palace is the biggest shock in the competition’s 155-year history. No, really – there’s contextual justification to placing it below Hereford vs Newcastle in 1971/72, Sutton vs Coventry in 1988/89 or Wrexham vs Arsenal in 1991/92, but in pure position terms, five divisions and 117 league places separating Palace and Macclesfield makes the latter’s 2-1 win the No.1 upset by that semi-objective measure.

They were good value for it, too, even with 28% possession. The goals: a superb header from the be-bandaged Paul Dawson and a chaotic but well-taken effort from Isaac Buckley-Ricketts, all under blue skies and fans standing on gantries. Mmm, that’s some good FA Cup.

Sadly, we can’t ignore another record. Exeter became only the second Football League side to ship double figures in a post-war FA Cup tie (in 1960 fourth-tier Crewe lost 13-2 to Spurs in a replay) by going down 10-1 to Manchester City, who had 10 shots on target, posted an xG of 2.2… and scored 10 goals with it. Everything flew in, due to a combination of elite finishing, two own goals and a horror show for Joe Whitworth. The Exeter keeper is on loan from Palace, so he had quite the day. Yet travelling fans could celebrate when academy boy George Birch, 19 and recalled from Weston-super-Mare, slammed in the ultimate consolation goal with his weaker foot.

The previous night had brought shocks under the lights. Wrexham drew 3-3 with Nottingham Forest and beat them on penalties through two Arthur Okonkwo saves. The hosts had a little fortune in leading 2-0 (one goal deflected, one following some pinball) but they earned their luck as Nathan Broadhead, George Dobson and scorers Liberato Cacace and Ollie Rathbone hassled, harried and hit the target. It would have been 3-0 before half-time, had Sam Smith not spurned a one-on-one. Forest brought on their stars and Callum Hudson-Odoi duly scored twice, including an equaliser of pure Premier League quality, but Wrexham got there in the end.

Meanwhile, Wigan were winning 1-0 at Preston, 20 miles up the road and 35 places up the pyramid. Harrison Bettoni, 18, struck with a heavily deflected shot that looped so slowly past Daniel Iversen, he was turning around to pick the ball out of the net before it had even nestled there. On a dog of a pitch, Wigan’s Callum Wright sent a penalty over the bar, then in the 98th minute Sam Tickle brilliantly denied Alfie Devine’s would-be equaliser. Brad Potts’ strike from the rebound was ruled offside, prompting joy from Wigan’s players, despair from Preston’s, and disappointment from Potts (No.44) once he’d eventually finished celebrating in front of the stands.

On Sunday, Mansfield won 4-3 at Sheffield United with Louis Reed scoring twice from outside the box either side of Gus Hamer doing the same. Mansfield had to be effective on the rare occasions they had the ball – and boy, were they. Rhys Oates was the stand-out, always present, always driving, giving Blades debutant Ki-Jana Hoever a headache. He assisted Lucas Akins for 3-1, dinked home for 4-1, and that was enough to win it deservedly despite Blades hitting back with a quickfire double.

Matt Watts

Away from the cupsets that were and the cupsets that weren’t, a goal of the round contender from Lamine Cissé gave Mark Robins’ Stoke victory over Coventry. Robins’ previous club hit the woodwork twice before Cisse showed them how it’s done. The Potters have started 2026 with three wins and three clean sheets, while Coventry have lost three of their last four games in all competitions.

Saturday’s other all-Championship tie saw a lesser-changed Bristol City put five past a much-changed Watford. An Emil Riis hat-trick, sealed with a delightful dink, made it back-to-back five-star home displays for the Robins. Watford can at least focus all of their attentions now on maintaining their excellent league form. On Sunday, a Jovon Makama hat-trick helped Norwich on their way to a 5-1 victory over Walsall. Makama has scored 12 goals in league and cup after his summer switch from Lincoln.

Southampton and Birmingham were both on course for routine wins on the road at lower-league opposition… until they weren’t. In a battle of two out-of-form sides, Tonda Eckert’s Saints beat Grant McCann’s Doncaster 3-2 with new signing Daniel Peretz making a decisive double save in stoppage time. In Cambridge, Kai Wagner’s first goal for Birmingham, Kyogo Furuhashi’s first goal since August and Marvin Ducksch’s third goal of 2026 gave Birmingham a three-goal lead, before a late brace from Sullay Kaikai set up a grandstand finish – but 3-2 it remained.

Elsewhere, League One strugglers Burton flipped the form guide on its head by beating National League high-flyers Boreham Wood 5-0. Kyran Lofthouse’s goal loosened up the blocked-up Brewers, who’d failed to find the net in their last three league games but scored from five of their nine shots here.

Finally, Carabao Cup giant-killers Grimsby are officially on another cup run. The Mariners beat a stubborn Weston-super-Mare 3-2 at Blundell Park. After Charles Vernam opened the scoring, in true Charles Vernam fashion, the National League South side came from behind twice to level, before Kieran Green glanced in Grimsby’s winner in the 86th minute.

League One

Sam Parry

In the EFL proper, we begin with Icarus (and we’ll end with him too).

After an “oh gosh” festive period that left them 20th, it was an “oh dear” moment that put Leyton Orient ahead. When Cardiff keeper Nathan Trott controlled a backpass instead of booting it clear, Dom Ballard was on hand to tackle the ball into the net. A classic Icarus concession. So far, so Greek.

If there was tragedy in the opener, there was irony in the equaliser. Instead of playing out from the back, Cardiff booted it to Yousef Salech on halfway. A bit of Hercules to win it, a bit of Zeus to lift it over the defender’s head, a bit of Hermes to carry it from halfway to the box, wide around the keeper, and then a bit of Ares – brutal war – to smash it home. Lovely stuff.

All of the action came in a first half where Orient probably edged the chances. A staler second period meant 1-1 felt about right. It changes little for either side: the table still shows Cardiff amidst a heyday, and Orient a little too close to Hades.

Elsewhere, Bolton had a chance to power into the top four. Lately, though, the Trotters have lost some of their trot. Each of their previous nine games had been settled by no more than a goal; never thrashed, never thrashing, Pandora’s Box resealed like tupperware.

Here they were concerned with Peterborough’s box – or rather, Posh with theirs. Luke Williams’ side opened the scoring with an atypical Route One move: goalkeeper lofts it up Mount Olympus, one striker flicks it on, the other runs through and finishes. Not very Williams. Following some Bolton pressure late in the first half, more familiar patterns did bring reward: Archie Collins with a lovely first-time volleyed pass, Matt Garbett with the finish.

When Sam Dalby pulled one back for Bolton from Max Conway’s beautiful driven cross, it felt like a contest. Kyrell Lisbie ended that, latching onto a ball dummied by a team-mate and squeezing it home for 3-1. The goalkeeper was unsighted, but the table is clear: the two clubs are separated by four points, not ten.

Another play-off-relevant game followed, this time shaped by a missed penalty for Luton. It got worse. Stevenage took the lead after the break, but hats off, Hatters, because Luton responded well by equalising from a set piece within two minutes. Then won it by regaining possession on halfway, with Nahki Wells squaring the ball for Gideon Kodua to pass it calmly into the corner.

And finally. So very finally. When the embers are dying, you don’t need heat but ice in your veins. Stockport’s Ollie Norwood baffled the ground by rejecting the obvious set-piece delivery into a packed Huddersfield box, instead pinging the ball to Jid Okeke on the right. Okeke’s cross found Benoný Breki Andrésson — more ice, this time Icelandic — for a tap-in. There’s no coming back from that in the 96th minute. Stockport leapfrog Huddersfield into 4th with a much-needed win – just their second in five games since Christmas.

League Two

Sam Parry

It would usually be a “match that happened”, but Harrogate gaining a point against Crewe in the 93rd minute really matters. The Sulphurites played reasonably well without reward in the first half, then Crewe made a furious start to the second and deservedly went ahead through Calum Agius’ tap-in from a sumptuous Lewis Billington cross.

At 1-0, Crewe really should have capitalised. They did not. Harrogate barely threatened until time added on, when Tom Cursons finished a cross with all the emphasis of a man who knew his team had just moved off the bottom.