Oxford boost survival hopes, League One’s top three win big, and Bromley go four points clear in League Two
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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.
“Ruh-Roh!”
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:
Coventry 94.1% — their gap is +9
Ipswich 61.9% — their gap is -3
Middlesbrough 43.5% — their gap is +1
Millwall 11.8% — their gap is -1
Hull 5.3% — their gap is -3
What’s gonna happen? I ain’t got a Scooby.
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
Dylan Lawlor with a progressive carry for Cardiff.
Kane Thompson-Sommers with a progressive carry for Gas.
Caolan Boyd-Munce with a left-footed tap-in for Wycombe.
Jeremy Ngakia with a right-footed tap-in for Watford.
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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