Championship Monday round-up: Hull City and Ipswich Town strike as promotion picture shifts

Ipswich Town and Hull City secured huge victories last night as the gap closed between the top four in the Championship promotion race.

The Tractor Boys closed the gap on the top two with an impressive 2-0 win at Coventry City, ending the Sky Blues’ unbeaten home record this season.

Hull kept their Championship promotion push on track with a victory at Middlesbrough, while Millwall and Watford also claimed wins to bolster their respective play-off bids.

Here is a full round-up of Monday’s Championship action.

For exclusive stories and all the detailed EFL news you need, subscribe to The Football League Paper website, digital edition, or newspaper from as little as 14p a day.

Coventry City 0-2 Ipswich Town

Jack Clarke opened the scoring in this contest after 72 minutes when Marcelino Nunez picked him out and the winger had plenty of time to get his shot away, which looped up off the heel of Luke Woolfenden and into the corner.

Wes Burns’ first goal since May 2024 doubled Ipswich’s lead 11 minutes later.

Nunez was the creator once again as he laid into the path of the Wales international, who rolled his shot calmly into the corner in front of the travelling supporters.

Middlesbrough 0-1 Hull City

Darko Gyabi’s clinical first-half strike enabled the Tigers to turn the tables with a 1-0 win over Boro at the Riverside Stadium.

Kyle Joseph spun away from Matt Targett, and while he was forced wide as he rounded goalkeeper Sol Brynn, he pulled the ball back for Gyabi to slot home the only goal of the game.

Less than a month ago, Boro were four goals ahead at half-time at Hull’s MKM Stadium, eventually going on to win 4-1.

The return game on Teesside could hardly have been more different, as the visitors spent the rest of the game repelling Kim Hellberg’s side with some fine defensive work.

Leicester City 2-1 Derby County

Leicester City players took some of the heat off manager Marti Cifuentes by delivering a much-needed 2-1 victory over Derby County.

Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s early opener came after Abdul Fatawu recycled possession and cut a delightful ball back, which the Jamaica international rifled home.

Unfortunately for the home side, their delight only lasted three minutes when Rhian Brewster dragged Derby level with a carbon-copy effort from Callum Elder’s centre for his first goal since August.

However, a lapse in concentration allowed Jordan James to restore City’s lead five minutes before the interval when he got the better of his marker and curled the ball home after being released by Luke Thomas’ hooked forward pass.

Millwall 2-1 Bristol City

Macaulay Langstaff’s first goal since the opening day of the season gave Millwall a 2-1 victory over Bristol City that moved them back into the Championship play-off positions.

The hosts went ahead in the 16th minute when Zak Sturge’s cross fell for Camiel Neghli, who took a touch before finding the net, via a touch off Robins defender Zak Vyner, for his first goal since September.

The Lions retained their lead into half-time, but that was wiped out four minutes after the restart when Ross McCrorie found Adam Randell in the box and the midfielder opened his account for City.

Having been under the pump, Millwall found a second wind and retook the lead in the 81st minute when Danny McNamara’s shot was not fully dealt with by Vyner and Langstaff was on hand to hook the ball beyond Robins goalkeeper Max O’Leary.

Norwich City 0-1 Watford

A 90th-minute winner from substitute Vivaldo Semedo earned in-form Watford a hard-fought 1-0 victory over Norwich City at Carrow Road.

A disappointing game of few clear-cut chances appeared to be heading for a goalless draw. However, the visitors finally broke the deadlock in the last minute of normal time.

The goal was created by a surge down the left from substitute Nestory Irankunda, with the youngster finding Semedo, whose shot took a big deflection off Norwich defender Kellen Fisher to wrongfoot City keeper Vladan Kovacevic and secure all three points.

Oxford United 0-1 Swansea City

Zan Vipotnik scored his 12th goal of the season for Swansea City as they completed a Championship double over managerless Oxford United with a 1-0 win at the Kassam Stadium.

This was a crunch clash between two relegation-threatened teams, and the Swans probably deserved to take the spoils.

The Slovenian international powerfully headed in Josh Tymon’s left-wing cross in the 14th minute for the only goal of the match.

Portsmouth 2-1 Charlton Athletic

Yang Min-hyeok scored a last-gasp winner to give Portsmouth a vital 2-1 win over Charlton Athletic and lift them out of the Championship’s relegation zone.

With almost his first touch, Conor Shaughnessy had given Pompey the lead as he stooped to head in Adrian Segecic’s corner at the near post.

In an extraordinary ending to the game at Fratton Park, Harvey Knibbs sparked wild celebrations on the Charlton bench as he headed in an equaliser from Sonny Carey’s corner in the last minute of additional time.

But Pompey went straight up the other end and caused euphoria right around the ground as the Tottenham Hotspur loanee Yang struck a devastating blow to Nathan Jones’ side.

It was enough to give John Mousinho’s team their first home win over Charlton in more than 20 years and three valuable points.

Sheffield Wednesday 0-0 Blackburn Rovers

Sheffield Wednesday’s winless run stretched to 17 Championship games following a battling goalless draw against Blackburn Rovers at Hillsborough.

Rock-bottom Wednesday are still awaiting a first home league victory of the season after a miserable 2025 concluded in forgettable fashion.

In a game of limited chances, Blackburn trio Todd Cantwell, Yuki Ohashi and Matty Litherland each threatened a winner, while Barry Bannan and Gabriel Otegbayo went closest for Henrik Pedersen’s hosts.

Rovers edge five points clear of the relegation zone courtesy of the stalemate in South Yorkshire.

Stoke City 1-2 Sheffield United

Sheffield United moved seven points clear of the Championship relegation zone after claiming a 2-1 win away at Stoke City, who finished the match with 10 men.

The hosts found themselves trailing when Jairo Riedewald poked the ball home from a couple of yards out after Tyler Bindon’s effort had crept under goalkeeper Viktor Johansson.

Stoke fell further behind courtesy of the unmarked Tom Cannon’s perfectly-timed volley at the back post from Harrison Burrows’ looping delivery.

Ben Wilmot pulled one back as the Potters skipper fired the ball in off the crossbar after a long throw-in had caused chaos in the United defence.

But they were ultimately not able to conjure up an equaliser and their misery was compounded in the closing stages as substitute Ben Pearson was given a straight red card for pulling down Patrick Bamford when the forward had a clean run on goal ahead of him.

West Brom 2-1 QPR

Set-piece headers from defenders George Campbell and Nat Phillips gave West Bromwich Albion a welcome 2-1 Championship home win over Queens Park Rangers.

Campbell nodded Albion in front, meeting a Callum Styles’ corner with a towering leap at the far post.

There was an element of controversy about QPR’s equaliser as Koki Saito went down under what appeared to be minimal contact from Campbell as the winger ran out of space in front of the touchline.

And from the resulting free-kick, Nicolas Madsen’s delivery was headed goalwards by Jimmy Dunne and the ball hit Baggies defender Ousmane Diakite to beat Joe Wildsmith.

However, Phillips restored Albion’s lead with a towering header from eight yards as he met Mikey Johnston’s curling free-kick.

Wrexham 2-1 Preston

Wrexham moved to within four points of the Championship play-off places with a 2-1 win over Preston North End at the Stok Cae Ras.

Kieffer Moore battled well on the right wing before standing up a fine cross for Nathan Broadhead to nod in his fifth goal of the season and the opening goal of the game.

A second goal was coming and arrived when two substitutes combined, with George Dobson slipping the ball through for the onrushing Ollie Rathbone to tuck in his second of the campaign.

Alfie Devine gave Preston hope when his low drive beat Arthur Okonkwo with six minutes left, but Wrexham hung on for a valuable win.

Birmingham City 1-1 Southampton

Cameron Archer sealed a point for Southampton and Birmingham City boss Chris Davies saw red as 2025 ended with these ambitious but sorely out-of-form sides drawing 1-1.

The Blues took the lead from a free-kick, with Saints caught napping after Jack Robinson kept the ball in play.

Taylor Harwood-Bellis blocked Phil Neumann’s initial nod goalwards, but Birmingham won the ensuing game of head tennis, resulting in the defender eventually looping one beyond Gavin Bazunu’s reach.

Play continued after skipper Tomoki Iwata and referee Matthew Donohue bumped into each other, with Cameron Bragg putting in Jelert to cross for Aston Villa product Archer to direct home in the 71st minute.

“You’re not fit to referee” echoed around St Andrew’s, leading to Blues boss Davies getting booked. That bubbling anger continued, and he was soon shown a red card.

Neither side could eke out a winner as fans fumed at the officials at the final whistle.

READ MORE: Coventry City 0-2 Ipswich Town: Jack Clarke and Wes Burns fire Tractor Boys to victory