Championship roundup: leaders Leicester held by struggling Wednesday
The struggling Sheffield Wednesday snatched a stoppage-time equaliser against the Championship leaders Leicester in a 1-1 draw at Hillsborough.
Jeff Hendrick scored in the third minute of injury time to earn Wednesday, who sit bottom of the table, a deserved point after a spirited performance following Abdul Fatawu’s 23rdminute opener for the Foxes.
Leicester’s lead came when Stephy Mavididi sent over a cross from the left which went all the way to the unmarked Fatawu at the far post and he chested the ball down before firing past the goalkeeper Cameron Dawson.
The equaliser came in the third minute of time added on when the ball was lofted into the area and Callum Paterson’s cushioned header fell perfectly into the path of Hendrick who finished with ease.
Jannik Vestergaard threatened to score with a header at the death, forcing Dawson to make an important save to preserve an impressive point for Danny Rohl’s side.
Ipswich closed the gap on the leaders to one point after bouncing back to winning ways following their first league defeat in 12 games with a thumping 3-1 victory against Millwall.
Ipswich were two goals to the good after just 12 minutes through Conor Chaplin and Massimo Luongo, and Nathan Broadhead got the third six minutes before the break. Kevin Nisbet registered a consolation goal for the visitors 12 minutes from time.
Leeds maintained their pursuit of the Championship’s top two with a 3-1 win against Swansea at Elland Road. In a breathless start, the home side had already had a goal disallowed when Jamie Paterson gave Swansea a first-minute lead, but Daniel Farke’s team hit back to level through Joel Piroe against his former club three minutes later.
Georginio Rutter fired Leeds ahead in first-half stoppage time and the former Swan Dan James added their third just after the hour. Leeds leapfrogged West Brom back into third place by extending their unbeaten home record this season to nine matches and have now won seven of their past nine.
Kyle Walker-Peters’s stunning strike sent the promotion-chasing Southampton to a 1-0 victory against Bristol City and extended their unbeaten
Championship run to 10 matches. The right-back Walker-Peters rifled in the winner from the edge of the box just after half-time.
It condemned the Robins manager, Liam Manning, to his first defeat since replacing Nigel Pearson and enabled the Saints to keep their first home clean sheet since 4 March – thanks partly to two stunning pieces of keeping from Gavin Bazunu.
Sammie Szmodics celebrated his new contract by firing a second-half double to help Blackburn to secure an enthralling 4-2 victory against Birmingham. Szmodics, who extended his Blackburn deal to 2026 on Tuesday, showed his clinical edge by lobbing John Ruddy in the 47th minute before another lofted finish five minutes later gave him his 13th of the campaign.
The game looked over when James Hill profited from a goalkeeping error to score his first Blackburn goal but Birmingham came close to turning the game on its head. Szmodics’s former Peterborough teammate Siriki Dembélé scored a double of his own with a classy 63rd-minute strike before a spectacular 20-yard effort gave the visitors real hope of an improbable point.
But Harry Leonard’s injury-time strike made the points safe for Blackburn,
who go seventh after a third win in four. Birmingham have now lost seven consecutive away games.
Delano Burgzorg’s winner helped Huddersfield to beat Sunderland 2-1 to end a five-game winless run and move the Terriers six points above the Championship relegation zone.
The visitors took the lead through Michal Helik’s header from a wellworked corner, but the Black Cats quickly levelled as Luke O’Nien fired home from a free-kick. The visiting goalkeeper Chris Maxwell made some fine saves to keep the score level throughout the second half before Burgzorg bagged the winner in the 67th minute.