Championship roundup: Morsy sends Ipswich top as Sunderland beat Leeds
Sam Morsy fired Ipswich to the top of the Championship table with a late winner at Watford. However, the visitors had to come from behind at Vicarage Road after Yáser Asprilla had given the Hornets a 12th-minute lead.
George Hirst levelled with 24 minutes gone, but Kieran McKenna’s promoted side had to wait until 10 minutes from time to clinch a 2-1 victory when the captain, Morsy, made the most of Wesley Hoedt’s defensive slip with a cool finish.
Jobe Bellingham dented Leeds’s promotion charge as Sunderland scrapped their way to a 1-0 win at the Stadium of Light. Bellingham’s close-range header 12 minutes from time handed the interim manager Mike Dodds a second successive victory after his team had beaten West Brom at the weekend and cemented the Black Cats’ place in the top six. The visitors slipped eight points adrift of secondplaced Leicester ahead of their home clash with Millwall on Wednesday as a result.
Second-half strikes from Grady Diangana and the substitute Jed Wallace helped West Brom to bounce back from their disappointment on Wearside with a 2-0 victory at Rotherham. The Millers, who had their new head coach Leam Richardson in charge for the first time, fell behind to Diangana’s deflected 54th-minute shot, although the visitors did not increase their lead until the final minute of normal time through Wallace’s free-kick.
The Preston midfielder Ben Whiteman killed off any hope of a Huddersfield fightback as North End ran out 3-1 winners at the John Smith’s Stadium. Alan Browne’s early header and a second goal from Will Keane had sent North End in at the break two goals to the good, but Town grabbed a lifeline courtesy of Danny Ward’s 54th-minute header, only for Whiteman to seal the points 12 minutes later.
Scott Wharton’s header proved decisive on a night when Blackburn withstood a late fightback to beat Bristol City 2-1 at Ewood Park. Wharton looked to have put the game to bed when he added to Arnor Sigurdsson’s first-half opener, but Mark Sykes pulled one back on the hour to set up a tense conclusion, although Rovers held firm to end a run of two successive defeats.
Harry Darling went from villain to hero as Swansea denied the managerless Stoke a first victory in seven attempts. The Potters, under the charge of caretaker manager Paul Gallagher, looked to be heading for victory when Daniel Johnson converted a 70thminute penalty awarded for Darling’s trip on Ryan Mmaee, their first goal at the Bet365 Stadium in four games. However, Darling made amends when he headed home Matt Grimes’s 89thminute corner to snatch a 1-1 draw.