Ipswich Town blasted their way into the Championship’s automatic promotion spots with a gritty 2-0 victory over bitter rivals Norwich City at Carrow Road. First-half strikes from Jaden Philogene—via a contentious penalty—and George Hirst sealed a rare double over the Canaries, propelling Kieran McKenna’s side into second place with at least one game in hand on their closest challengers.
Norwich dominated possession but ran into a brick wall defensively, with Ipswich limiting clear-cut chances to a bare minimum. The loss extinguishes any faint playoff hopes for the hosts, though a top-10 finish remains a stunning turnaround for a team that sat in the bottom three at the start of the year.
“This is a brilliant result,” McKenna declared. “As soon as I came here I was told how important this fixture was and that it had been so long since we’d beaten them. We finally got a win at our place earlier in the season and now we’ve backed it up by completing a double.”
Meanwhile, Coventry City squandered a prime opportunity to move within one point of Premier League promotion, held to a frustrating 0-0 draw by already-relegated Sheffield Wednesday at home. Frank Lampard’s men could have sealed promotion with a win combined with a Middlesbrough loss later in the day, but they couldn’t break down a resilient Owls side that managed just a third point in 2026.
“We obviously created enough to win the game but we didn’t quite do it, and you have to credit the opposition for making it difficult for you,” Lampard admitted. “I know there’s a pressure and everyone wants to release the pressure by getting it done and now we have to move on to the next one.”
Sheffield Wednesday’s draw extended their Football League record winless run to 37 games across all competitions.
Millwall’s automatic promotion push hit a snag as they were held 0-0 by West Brom at home, despite creating the best chances. Josh Coburn volleyed wide from five yards and Mihailo Ivanovic rattled the bar from distance, leaving the Lions ruing missed opportunities.
Middlesbrough failed to capitalize on Millwall’s slip, suffering a shocking last-minute 1-0 defeat to Portsmouth at home. Andre Dozzell’s volley deflected in off Conor Chaplin in the final seconds of seven minutes of stoppage time, snapping Portsmouth’s eight-game winless streak and dealing a brutal blow to Boro’s promotion hopes.
Middlesbrough are now winless in six and trail Ipswich by three points, with the Tractor Boys holding two games in hand. Portsmouth’s late winner lifted them a point and a place above the relegation zone, keeping their survival bid alive.
“First half was terrible,” a devastated Kim Hellberg said of Middlesbrough’s performance. “I don’t know why, I must have failed with everything I told them before the game because we weren’t good enough. It was boring, it was lazy, there was no energy, except in the first 15-20 minutes in the second half. In the first half, it’s slow, it’s boring, it’s no energy. It’s passive. That is the disappointment.”
Boro have scored just four goals in their last six matches.
Sheffield United staged a dramatic late comeback to beat Hull City 2-1 at Bramall Lane, with Gustavo Hamer and substitute Danny Ings striking to deny the Tigers a chance to solidify their playoff position. Oli McBurnie’s early goal gave Hull the lead, but John Lundstram’s second-half red card shifted momentum, allowing United to dominate and snatch three points.
Southampton extended their unbeaten run to 17 games with a 2-1 comeback win over Derby County at St Mary’s. Second-half goals from Léo Scienza and Taylor Harwood-Bellis overturned Carlton Morris’s opener, keeping the Saints’ playoff charge red-hot.
QPR and Bristol City played out a 0-0 draw at Loftus Road, with both sides maintaining recent unbeaten streaks. The Robins are undefeated since Roy Hodgson took interim charge, while QPR are unbeaten in five, though the result did little for either’s outside playoff hopes.
Preston North End secured a 2-1 away win at Charlton Athletic, thanks to Brad Potts’s 65th-minute winner—his second goal of the season. Charlton took an early lead through Joe Rankin-Costello, but Lewis Dobbin equalized before halftime, setting up Potts’s decisive strike for Preston’s first road win since January 4.
Swansea City dealt a blow to Leicester City’s survival hopes with a 1-0 victory at the King Power Stadium, courtesy of Zan Vipotnik’s 21st league goal of the season. The Slovenian blasted home via the crossbar on 53 minutes after a blistering counterattack led by Eom Ji-Sung, dropping Leicester to second bottom, four points from safety with four games left.
“We just give a stupid goal away,” Foxes manager Gary Rowett fumed. “I don’t know how many times I’ve said it. It’s an absolutely ridiculous goal to give away, maybe we have to just go back to basics. To give a goal away of that sort is not only hugely frustrating, but when you’ve done it so many times it’s heartbreaking to see because it puts everything you’ve worked on out of the window.”
Oxford United boosted their relegation escape bid with a 2-0 win over Watford. Myles Peart-Harris opened the scoring in the 19th minute, and substitute Mark Harris sealed it in stoppage time. However, Portsmouth’s late winner at Middlesbrough leaves Oxford in 22nd place with four games to go.
Blackburn Rovers edged closer to safety with a 1-1 draw at 10-man Stoke City. Adam Forshaw scored his first goal since February 2025—just his third in a decade—to give Rovers a 21st-minute lead, but Jesurun Rak-Sakyi equalized for Stoke after 56 minutes. Ash Phillips’s late red card for the Potters couldn’t alter the outcome.
