Millwall win at Wrexham; Cardiff, Posh & Lincoln win handsomely; and Harrogate just... win. Plus: Wigan's Lowe mood brings another EFL sacking
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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
We’re not sure how to describe this goal from James Berry, but it’s bloody good.
Bookish brilliance from Arthur Read
At a canter, on the counter, Bristol City break forward
Off the training ground, from the corner, and into the net for Wycombe
📊 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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