Championship: Middlesbrough pile more pressure on Sheffield United in automatic-promotion race
- Planet Sport writer
- 11 March 2023
Middlesbrough ramped up the pressure on second-placed Sheffield United as the Championship automatic-promotion race heated up.
The Blades seemed to be cruising into the Premier League along with Burnley a few weeks ago, but a 1-0 home defeat to Luton and Boro's 3-1 win at Swansea closed the gap to four points.
Carlton Morris' 15th goal of the season gave fourth-placed Luton victory at Bramall Lane.
And after Joel Piroe gave the Swans a half-time lead, Aaron Ramsey and Cameron Archer struck in the space of four minutes early in the second half before Chuba Akpom netted his 23rd strike of the campaign from the penalty spot to give Michael Carrick's side hope of a top-two finish.
Nathan Tella took his goal tally for the campaign to 16 as leaders Burnley's charge for the Premier League continued with a 3-0 victory over Lancashire rivals Wigan at Turf Moor.
The on-loan Southampton forward headed in the opener after 14 minutes and struck again two minutes after half-time, with Lyle Foster adding a third late on.
Bottom-placed Latics, now six points from safety, had to play with 10 men for 62 minutes after Omar Rekik's sending off for two yellow cards.
Millwall moved into the play-off positions after Andreas Voglsammer's 11th-minute penalty secured a 1-0 triumph at Reading.
Matty Godden cancelled out Oscar Estupinan's 13th goal of the campaign to secure play-off chasing Coventry a 1-1 draw against Hull.
Like Wigan, Huddersfield and Blackpool remain six points from safety after defeats.
John Swift converted from the penalty spot after Conor Townsend was fouled in the box to give top-six hopefuls West Brom a 1-0 win over Huddersfield.
Second-half goals from Andreas Weimann and Alex Scott condemned Blackpool to a 2-0 defeat at Bristol City.
QPR ended a 13-match winless run to spoil Chris Wilder's first game in charge of Watford, with Tim Iroegbunam striking in the 15th minute to secure a 1-0 victory.
Reda Khadra and Kevin Long found the net as Birmingham moved further away from the relegation zone with a 2-0 victory over fellow strugglers Rotherham.
Tom Cannon and Ched Evans struck in the last 22 minutes to extend Preston's unbeaten run to six matches following a 2-0 success over Cardiff, who had goalkeeper Jak Alnwick sent off at the death.
