Championship roundup: Hull City win thriller, Eric Ramsay sacked and Snoop Dogg’s visit to Swansea City

A breathless night of Championship action delivered drama on and off the pitch as Hull City won a play-off thriller against Derby County, West Bromwich Albion sacked Eric Ramsay and Swansea City co-owner Snoop Dogg attended his first game.

The Tigers edged the Rams in a six-goal classic to climb to fourth. West Brom surrendered a lead to draw with Charlton Athletic, and the board dismissed Ramsay after the final whistle, with the club sitting just one point above the relegation zone.

There was a party atmosphere at the Swansea.com Stadium as the American rapper was greeted with twirling towels and a guard of honour on his first visit to the Welsh club.

Elsewhere, Ipswich Town beat Watford to move up to third, while Middlesbrough dropped points against struggling Leicester City.

Here’s your full round-up of Tuesday night’s action.

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Hull City 4-2 Derby County

Hull consolidated their place in the Sky Bet Championship play-offs with a 4-2 win at home to Derby.

The Tigers earned three important points after they had lost their last two league games and consigned John Eustace’s men to back-to-back defeats.

Despite their mini-slump, the Tigers began positively and deserved their early lead.

Amir Hadziahmetovic whipped over a corner from the left, which was aimed at Oli McBurnie towards the back post, but the ball shaved off Callum Elder’s back and into the net for the opening corner

The visitors responded when Sammie Szmodics retrieved an aimless deep corner and fed Lewis Travis, who drove into the box and shot on target, with Ivor Pandur only able to parry into the path of Craig Forsyth, who tapped home.

Against the run of play, McBurnie punished another Elder howler as Joe Gelhardt intercepted the defender’s reckless cross-field pass and slipped in the onrushing striker, who pirouetted past Forsyth before drilling beyond Josh Vickers.

There was always a sense Derby would strike again before the break, and so it proved as Patrick Agyemang burst in from the left and fired across goal, with Pandur only able to parry into the path of Szmodics, who finished from a central position.

John Egan made it 3-2 to restore the lead for the home side when he instinctively turned and shot after having been teed up by McBurnie after 75 minutes.

Lewis Koumas then put the game out of sight after 84 minutes with a superb chest and volley from in behind a statuesque Derby backline.

Watford 0-2 Ipswich Town

Ipswich boosted their automatic promotion hopes with a 2-0 win at Watford thanks to goals from Sindre Walle Egeli and substitute George Hirst.

Kieran McKenna’s visitors moved up to third by getting the better of Ed Still’s play-off hopefuls, who saw Tom Ince’s late penalty saved by Town goalkeeper Christian Walton.

Ipswich took the lead in the 37th-minute through Walle Egeli.

As Marcelino Nunez could only ping the free-kick against the wall, the rebound fell to the Norwegian in space on the right of the box for a volley that bounced off the turf and beyond Egil Selvik.

Hirst doubled the lead in the 77th minute as he diverted the ball home from close range after Jack Clarke’s initial shot had been deflected, with Jacob Greaves retrieving to cross from the left.

The Hornets were handed the chance of a late lifeline when Darnell Furlong pulled Ince back in the box, but Walton dived to his left to save the spot-kick.

West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Charlton Athletic

West Brom sacked head coach Eric Ramsay after his wait for a win was extended as Charlton hit back to draw 1-1 at The Hawthorns.

The result left Ramsay without a win in his eight league games in charge.

And it proved to be the end of his reign, with the Baggies announcing after 11pm they had parted company with Ramsey and his assistant Dennis Lawrence.

Albion ended a 405-minute-long goal drought when George Campbell met Alex Mowatt’s inswinging corner perfectly at the far post to send a downward header beyond Thomas Kaminski and into the roof of the net.

Charlton punished various missed chances from the hosts and equalised when Lyndon Dykes latched onto Kayne Ramsay’s through pass – missed by team-mate Jayden Fevrier – and kept his cool to slot through Max O’Leary’s legs from six yards.

Wrexham 2-1 Portsmouth

Wrexham continued their push for a fourth successive promotion as they held on for a hard-fought 2-1 win over Portsmouth in the Championship.

After moving back into the play-off places with a frenetic 5-3 victory over promotion rivals Ipswich, and with an FA Cup tie against Chelsea to come, there is much excitement about the Red Dragons at present.

They opened the scoring after 23 minutes as Sam Smith leapt high in the box to head home powerfully from a Callum Doyle cross.

Wrexham doubled their lead from a corner as Max Cleworth rose to turn in George Dobson’s cross.

Pompey responded and served a warning before the break as Zak Swanson curled an effort wide.

That signalled a change in momentum and Swanson pulled one back in the 49th minute as he latched onto Regan Poole’s pass and beat Arthur Okonkwo with a shot that took a deflection off Doyle.

The visitors continued to push and won a series of corners as Wrexham struggled to get out of their own half, but the Welsh side held firm.

Middlesbrough 1-1 Leicester City

Middlesbrough slipped to a third straight Championship match without a win after drawing 1-1 with Leicester at the Riverside.

A draw means second-placed Boro stay two points behind leaders Coventry City, who are in action on Wednesday night, while relegation-threatened and struggling Foxes claimed back-to-back league draws under Gary Rowett.

Leicester went ahead 18 minutes in against the run of play.

The visitors earned a free-kick on the right, which was whipped into the six-yard area by Divine Mukasa for Caleb Okoli and the defender’s header bounced underneath the diving Sol Brynn.

Boro then equalised in the second minute of first-half stoppage time after latching onto a stray pass.

Tommy Conway cut the ball back to Riley McGree, who fired a low shot past Asmir Begovic.

The hosts showed flashes of promise going forward, but struggled to faze Leicester and find a winner.

Southampton 5-0 QPR

Kuryu Matsuki scored his first Championship goals as Southampton threw down their play-off credentials with a 5-0 thrashing of Queens Park Rangers.

The Saints moved up to seventh and secured a seventh league match without defeat, whilst leaving QPR seven points adrift of the top six to dent their hopes of reaching the Premier League.

Saints opened the scoring with the first shot of the match in the 10th minute, Finn Azaz receiving the ball from Ryan Manning 25 yards from goal before taking a couple of touches and then bending an effort brilliantly into the bottom corner.

Matsuki doubled their lead in first-half stoppage time. The Japanese winger found himself completely unmarked two yards from goal to nod in Leo Scienza’s inch-perfect corner for his first Championship goal.

Five minutes after the interval and Matsuki had a second league goal – again Southampton had scored with their first attacking moment of the half.

Scienza’s curling effort was pushed away by Joe Walsh but only into the path of Matsuki, who confidently directed home.

The visitors conceded again as Scienza countered, leaving Rhys Norrington-Davies on his backside before stroking in off the post for his sixth Saints goal of the season.

Right-back James Bree grabbed the pick of the goals in the 70th minute when he kneed the ball past a defender before volleying powerfully past Walsh to put Saints into cruise control.

They stuck at 5-0, which meant a biggest league win since a 5-0 beating of Swansea City in 2023, and extended their winning run over Rangers to six games stretching back to 2014.

Blackburn Rovers 1-2 Bristol City

Michael O’Neill suffered his first defeat as Blackburn Rovers manager as Emil Riis Jakobsen helped fire Bristol City to a 2-1 win at Ewood Park.

The Northern Ireland boss won the first two matches of his Championship job-share, against QPR and Preston North End, but could not extend the winning run to three games against the Robins.

Blackburn grabbed the lead with the first proper attack in the sixth minute, Ryoya Morishita beating Rob Atkinson for pace and picking out Japanese compatriot Yuki Ohashi at the near post.

The finish was instinctive and emphatic, rifled into the top corner without a moment’s hesitation.

Ohashi had been rewarded for his injury-time winner against Preston with a starting spot and wasted no time justifying the promotion.

The goal did little to calm the hosts and, after Balazs Toth twice denied the lively Riis, there was no stopping him when Hayden Carter only half-cleared Cameron Pring’s cutback in the 17th minute, allowing the striker to take a touch and fire home on the angle.

It felt inevitable that the Robins would score again, and the moment came just after the half-hour, Mark Sykes finding Riis, who turned and fed Scott Twine in the centre.

The former Burnley man was the most alert man in the box and hooked smartly into the top corner as his side held on for the three points.

Swansea City 1-1 Preston North End

Liam Cullen rescued Swansea with a stoppage-time equaliser as their Snoop Dogg party ended in a 1-1 Championship draw with Preston.

The Lilywhites are five points off the final play-off places, while the Swans are three points further back after extending their unbeaten home run to nine games.

There was an extraordinary start to the evening as Snoop Dogg was greeted with twirling towels – a staple action for supporters in American sports – and a guard of honour during a seven-minute lap of honour.

The musician became a minority owner of the Welsh club – whose board also includes American television host Martha Stewart and Croatia international Luka Modric – in July and his first visit to Swansea attracted a record crowd to a stadium opened in 2005.

However, the visitors took a deserved 26th-minute lead to spoil the occasion.

Lewis Dobbin spread the ball to marauding wing-back Andrija Vukcevic and his cross found Callum Lang at the back post.

Lang, possibly just offside, beat Josh Tymon to the ball and directed it towards Daniel Jebbison, who made no mistake in front of the Swansea goal to end an 11-game scoring drought

The home side pushed for an equaliser and with seconds left – and Snoop Dogg having vacated his seat in the directors’ box – Liam Cullen got his head to a Gustavo Nunes corner to spark wild celebrations.

Championship scores from Tuesday night’s action

Blackburn Rovers 1-2 Bristol City
Hull City 4-2 Derby County
Middlesbrough 1-1 Leicester City
Swansea City 1-1 Preston North End
Watford 0-2 Ipswich Town
West Bromwich Albion 1-1 Charlton Athletic
Wrexham 2-1 Portsmouth
Southampton 5-0 Queens Park Rangers

READ MORE: Hull City vs Derby County analysis: A meeting between two unlikely play-off contenders