Danny Batth’s last-minute equaliser clinched Blackburn a 1-1 draw at Elland Road and denied Leeds a 10th straight home win.
Pascal Struijk’s late penalty appeared to have snatched Leeds all three points in their push to extend their lead at the top of the Championship before Batth struck. Leeds poured forward in pursuit of a winner during 10 minutes of added time but John Eustace’s playoff-chasing visitors held firm for a deserved point. Daniel Farke’s side had taken maximum points from their previous three festive fixtures, but they failed to spark against Rovers.
Ryan Shawcross’s interim spell as Stoke manager ended with a creditable goalless draw at Burnley that dented the hosts’ automatic promotion push. The Potters announced the appointment of Mark Robins as their new manager on the morning of the game, although he was absent as he scouted and prepared for his first game in charge – at home to Plymouth Argyle on Saturday.
An unproductive afternoon for Scott Parker’s Clarets ended in even more frustration when the substitute Hannibal Mejbri was shown a straight red card in the 86th minute. He was tackled by Junior Tchamadeu and was adjudged by the referee, Gavin Ward, to have deliberately stamped on the Stoke right-back while hurdling him. The visitors’ recent improvement continued as they followed a home win over Sunderland by holding Burnley to a seventh goalless draw of the season.
Bottom side Plymouth grabbed a last-gasp equaliser to claim a 2-2 draw with Bristol City in their first match since the New Year’s Eve departure of Wayne Rooney as manager. The Pilgrims twice trailed at Home Park to goals from Anis Mehmeti and Jason Knight but hit back, first through Rami Al Hajj, then with an acrobatic effort from the defender Julio Pleguezuelo in stoppage time.
The interim manager, Kevin Nancekivell, was delighted with Argyle’s never-say-die attitude, saying: “I’m pleased with a point. I thought we deserved it. We had the better of the first half, Bristol City had the better of the second half, so I was delighted that we came back … I’m just looking after the team with Joe [Edwards]. I believe we will be in charge for Stoke [away on Saturday]. Wayne showed a lot of class when he came in to say goodbye to us. It’s been a difficult period but we have a job to do. The bare minimum that anyone at Plymouth Argyle asks for is 100%.”
Fellow strugglers Portsmouth made a flying start to the new year with an emphatic 4-0 home win over Swansea. Josh Murphy, Paddy Lane, Ryley Towler and Colby Bishop were on target. Swansea’s manager Luke Williams, the bookmakers’ favourite for the West Brom job, reckoned the Baggies are unlikely to come calling after that rout.
The former Swindon and Notts County boss has insisted that contact has yet to be initiated with Albion, and added: “If they were at the game today, I won’t be going anywhere, will I? [The rumours] can create uncertainty and people feel more comfortable when people have clarity, but I don’t think that had anything to do with today.”
Cardiff held on for a 1-1 draw against Coventry after the sending off of Callum Robinson. The Bluebirds had led early through Alex Robertson but Tatsuhiro Sakamoto equalised.
QPR saw off Watford 3-1 to continue their recent revival. Goals from fit-again Michael Frey and Jimmy Dunne put them on their way before Sam Field made sure after a deflected Kwadwo Baah reply. Oxford maintained their winning start under Gary Rowett as a Ruben Rodrigues header gave them a 1-0 win at Millwall in Alex Neil’s first game in charge of the Lions.
Josh Windass scored from inside his own half in Sheffield Wednesday’s 4-2 defeat of Derby. The substitute picked the ball up inside his own half, spotted Jacob Widell Zetterström off his line and, having not even reached the centre circle, sent an inch-perfect lob over the back-pedalling goalkeeper’s head and into the net. Barry Bannan, Djeidi Gassama and Anthony Musaba also struck.
Middlesbrough moved up to fifth with a last-gasp 1-0 win over Hull thanks to Alex Gilbert.
Marcelino Núñez scored the only goal as Norwich won 1-0 at Luton, while West Brom ran out 3-1 victors over Preston after Josh Maja scored either side of a Callum Styles strike in the first half.
Source: theguardian.com
