Mark Sykes struck a last-minute equaliser to snatch Bristol City a 1-1 draw at Championship promotion-chasers Sheffield United.
The point was enough to lift the Blades back to the top of the table, but they were denied a seventh win in eight matches by Sykes’ last-gasp effort after Tyrese Campbell had given them a second-half lead.
Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder acknowledged Bristol City’s strong performance, admitting that his team had been outplayed in the first half. “I don’t think it was anything they didn’t deserve really,” he said. “They controlled the game first half. If I’m honest, performance-wise, there were more fives and sixes than sevens and eights. If you were looking at their team, there were more sevens and eights than fives and sixes.”
Burnley missed the chance to move above Leeds in the promotion race, held to a 1-1 draw by play-off chasing West Brom. John Swift’s fine free-kick 20 minutes in saw the Clarets’ run of seven consecutive home clean sheets come to an end, although Zian Flemming quickly punished a bad mistake from West Brom goalkeeper Joe Wildsmith.
Burnley defender CJ Egan-Riley and manager Scott Parker were sent off after the final whistle following a clash late on, after an incident in which Egan-Riley appeared to kick William Lankshear. With Parker dismissed, first-team coach Mike Jackson addressed the media, attributing the incident to heightened emotions. “I think there’s a lot of emotion,” Jackson said. “Both teams are going for it, both teams are at different stages of where they need to be. The detail of it is not something that I want to try and get involved in because that much has gone on at the end, but from what I’ve seen, I don’t think there’s a lot in it. I think sometimes we just need to take a little bit of a step back, everybody involved, but we’ll look at it as a club.”
Romaine Mundle’s brilliant equaliser snatched a point for promotion hopefuls Sunderland in a 1-1 draw with Preston at the Stadium of Light, cancelling out Emil Riis’ 65th-minute opener.
Matt Clarke and Marcus Harness struck in each half to help Derby boost their survival hopes with a 2-0 victory over in-form Coventry on Frank Lampard’s return to Pride Park. Derby manager John Eustace emphasised the team’s fighting spirit. “We’re fighting for our lives,” he said. “We want to stay in the league, we’re fighters not victims, that’s the mentality we are trying to push to these players.”
Tommy Conway and Anfernee Dijksteel struck either side of half-time as Middlesbrough beat QPR 2-1 to edge themselves to within three points of the play-off places.
Sheffield Wednesday produced a superb second-half comeback to beat Norwich 3-2 at Carrow Road and keep their own hopes alive.
Luton claimed a precious 2-1 victory over Cardiff in their Championship relegation battle, but the contest was overshadowed by an injury to Aaron Ramsey that threatens to rule the Wales captain out of World Cup action. Ramsey set to be named in the Wales squad on Thursday for opening World Cup qualifiers against Kazakhstan and North Macedonia appeared distraught after back-heeling the ball in the 49th minute and pulling up.
