Wrexham flex 'em against Ipswich, Blades relegate Owls, Imps make ground on Cardiff, and it's comeback crazy in League Two.
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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
Jack’s back: Rudoni hits a scorcher
Steward fist-pumps? Better than it sounds.
It’s not about the hat(trick) but how you Wareham.
Home Park, home wins, one of the best home atmospheres in the EFL.
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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