Soccer

The Championship's weekend winners and losers

DAZN Staff

DAZN

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There was a full set of Championship fixtures this past weekend and there is plenty to discuss.

While some of the results were very much business-as-usual, there were some surprises and some interesting movements in the table as well.

Winners

Hull City

The Tigers did not just move off the bottom of the table, they moved out of the relegation zone as well. They took all three points on the back of a 2-1 win over Swansea.

The opener from João Pedro was a composed finish that came after some intricate passing play in the area - it did not look like the build-up from a team fighting against relegation.

Swansea drew level with a well-taken header, but the winner, from substitute Mason Burstow in the 80th minute, was a banger.

It started with a gaffe from keeper Lawrence Vigouroux, whose clearance went straight to Burstow. The youngster then controlled the ball and advanced to the edge of the area before smashing a long-range finish past the keeper.

The top four

It was business as usual for the top four sides with solid wins for all.

It remains tight at the top with just five points separating the top four, but there is now real daylight starting to appear between them and the chasing pack.

Sheffield United are out front with 48 points, followed by Leeds, Burnley and Sunderland on 45, 44 and 43 points respectively.

You have to go down to 37 points to find Blackburn Rovers in fifth place.

Sheffield United won 2-0 at Cardiff, Leeds beat Oxford 4-0, Burnley gave away a late consolation to Watford but still won 2-1, and Sunderland came from behind to beat Norwich 2-1.

Millwall

The Lions ended a run of three consecutive defeats with a win over Blackburn Rovers. They left it very late, but when Rovers failed to clear their area following a free kick, the home side swung the ball back into the box.

Mihailo Ivanovic was waiting at the back post to nod home in the 96th minute. The win moved Millwall up from 14th to 10th.

Callum Lang

Four goals for the Pompey striker secured a come-from-behind 4-1 win over Coventry.

It was a great performance from the Portsmouth man, who looked simply unstoppable with a brace of goals from the edge of the area, a header from a corner, and a classic poacher’s effort.

Portsmouth

While Callum Lang gets his own mention, Pompey deserve a nod as well.

They lifted themselves out of the drop zone and played with confidence, especially considering they were a goal down early on.

In many ways, the game against the Sky Blues was a battle between the two keepers. Pompey's Nicolas Schmid won the majority of his battles, including an excellent effort to deny Norman Bassette which could have seen Coventry go 2-0 up.

At the other end, Bradley Collins was less tidy. He was beaten too easily at his near post and was guilty of not controlling his area well enough at times.

Home of boxing

Losers

Stoke City

The Potters are in the midst of a very poor run of form and have just one draw from their last five games.

It's relegation form and they will need to change something quickly to avoid getting dragged into a scrap at the bottom.

It was scoreless on Saturday when Sheffield Wednesday had defender Di'Shon Bernard red carded. While that should have signalled an advantage to Stoke, it ended up as a catalyst for The Owls, who went on to score twice.

To add insult to injury, the Owls’ 20-year-old keeper James Beadle, who had made a number of big saves during the game, managed to keep out a controversial penalty at the end as the game ended 2-0.

Norwich City

A month ago, the Canaries were sitting comfortably in the playoff places. However, they have endured a bad run that has seen them go without a win in the last four games.

More concerning for them though is the number of times they have let winning positions slip. They lead 1-0 against Sunderland on Saturday, but it all went pear-shaped when defender Jose Cordoba was sent off for a second bookable offence with the scores level.

The game ended 2-1, seeing them drift further down the table to 13th place.

The bottom three

While Hull moved out of the drop zone, it was more of the same for the current bottom three as Plymouth Argyle, Oxford and Cardiff all lost.

Their current form is very poor, with Oxford and Plymouth managing just a single point from the last five games and Cardiff managing just two.

It was a particularly tough weekend for Wayne Rooney's Pilgrims up against Middlesbrough. Three times they took the lead and three times they saw Boro equalise. Scoring goals has not been a problem for Rooney's side - they have bagged more goals than 10th placed Millwall - but keeping them out has been very problematic.

No side in the league has leaked more than the 45 they have conceded.

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