Football League: Championship promotion hopefuls suffer shocks | Football

Championship

It was a day of relative shocks in the second tier; Jordan Rhodes ended a 11-month wait a goal by scoring a hat-trick in Sheffield Wednesday’s 4-0 away to Nottingham Forest. It was a perfect treble, with a left-foot finish and overhead kick sandwiching a header, with all three coming before the break. Steven Fletcher completed the scoring in first-half injury-time to ensure there was no way back for the hosts.

Another promotion-chasing team to suffer a surprise defeat were Bristol City, who went down 2-0 to Blackburn. Tony Mowbray made six changes to the Rovers lineup and he was quickly repaid when former Spurs midfielder Lewis Holtby teed up Bradley Johnson for the opener. Johnson turned provider later on when he won the ball back and slipped it through for Adam Armstrong to finish.

Preston sit third in the table after defeating Luton Town. Both sides conceded first-half penalties; Paul Gallagher needed a rebound finish to make the most of his, while James Collins equalised from 12 yards without any fuss. Jayden Stockley kept his cool to earn victory, netting after a goalmouth scramble late on.

Fulham travelled to local rivals Brentford and left with nothing. Bryan Mbeumo secured the only goal of the game turned home at the back post, his eighth of the season. Gary Rowett made a happy return to Derby with Millwall thanks to Tom Bradshaw’s first-half header, which took the Lions up to 11th and left the Rams in 16th.

There were goals galore at Oakwell as Barnsley got the better of QPR in an eight-goal thriller. Conor Chaplin grabbed a hat-trick with Cauley Woodrow and Bambo Diaby getting the others for the hosts, while Luke Amos hit two for the visitors and Ilias Chair rounded things off with a late consolation.

West Brom edged past Birmingham earlier in the day, while Leeds gave up a three-goal lead to draw with Cardiff. Middlesbrough had two sent off as André Ayew scored twice in Swansea’s 3-1 win at the Liberty Stadium. Jonathan Woodgate will not be happy with Marcus Browne who saw red for a lunge, while Paddy McNair was dismissed for elbowing Matt Grimes.

Wigan and Huddersfield shared the points as Karlan Grant cancelled out Josh Windass’ opener, while Stoke and Reading played out a goalless draw.

League One

Wycombe are now seven points clear at the top after beating Burton. David Wheeler got things going by converting a corner, before Matt Bloomfield confirmed the result in the final moments. Below the Chairboys sit Ipswich, defeated at home by Bristol Rovers. Tyler Smith smashed in the opener and Tom Nichols scored the second. James Norwood pulled one back but the hosts could not find an equaliser.

Free-scoring Peterborough are third but they only required a Ivan Toney goal to see off Bolton. Sunderland and Blackpool shared two goals in a draw; Matty Virtue hit the first for Simon Grayson’s team against the club he used to manage but Charlie Wyke cancelled out the deficit for the Black Cats, who had George Dobson sent off.

Accrington moved away from the relegation zone by hammering Portsmouth 4-1. Pompey scored first through Ronan Curtis, but the Lancashire side got back into the match when Ellis Harrison headed into his own net, then Dion Charles and Colby Bishop completed the rout, the latter scoring twice. AFC Wimbledon eased their relegation fears with a 2-1 comeback win over Doncaster.

League Two

Swindon cemented their place at the summit with a simple win over Oldham. Kaiyne Woolery and Eoin Doyle were the men of the scoresheet; Bradford loanee Doyle already has 19 goals to his name this season. Exeter are in second thanks to Ryan Bowman’s strike to down Salford City.

Macclesfield returned to action after last week’s strike with a 1-1 draw at Walsall. Derek Adams took Morecambe to former club Plymouth, where the Football League’s bottom club suffered a 3-0 loss. Chuma Anene, who was once a teammate of Andriy Arshavin in Kazakhstan, saw his Crewe opener cancelled out by Mansfield’s Andy Cook.