Championship roundup: Portsmouth stun Ipswich Town and Southampton march on

Portsmouth dealt a blow to Ipswich Town’s promotion hopes with a vital win to boost their survival bid as Southampton cruised past Blackburn Rovers to enhance their automatic promotion push.

In a big twist in the race for promotion in the Championship, Pompey secured a crucial three points that lifted them further clear of danger.

Ipswich, by contrast, slipped at a crucial stage in the season and now faces mounting pressure in the automatic promotion race.

Elsewhere, Southampton underlined their credentials with a comfortable victory over Blackburn to keep their promotion charge firmly on track.

Here is a full roundup of Tuesday’s action.

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Portsmouth 2-0 Ipswich Town

Conor Shaughnessy and Colby Bishop claimed quick-fire goals as Portsmouth moved four points clear of the relegation zone by defeating Ipswich.

The Tractor Boys remain two points above third-placed Millwall with a game in hand after slipping to a surprise first defeat in 10 outings.

Following the euphoria of Saturday’s 2-0 derby victory at Norwich City, Ipswich faded from a bright start and barely tested home goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid.

Kieran McKenna, who has been linked with the Bournemouth job following news earlier on Tuesday that Andoni Iraola will leave the role in the summer, saw his high-flying side go into half-time two goals down following a costly three-minute spell.

Centre-back Shaughnessy made the breakthrough, escaping the attentions of George Hirst to nod in Adrian Segecic’s inswinging delivery from the right.

Home fans had barely finished celebrating when Bishop swept into the bottom right corner after two efforts from John Swift were blocked following Andre Dozzell’s cross from the left.

Chants of “we are staying up” rang around the ground as Ipswich’s players gathered for an impromptu on-field team talk.

The visitors tried to hit back, but ultimately, their quest to secure an immediate return to the Premier League suffered a setback.

Southampton 3-0 Blackburn Rovers

Southampton extended their unbeaten run to 18 games with a seventh win in a row following a 3-0 victory over Blackburn, which leaves them just three points off second place in the Championship.

First-half goals from Cyle Larin and Ryan Manning and a late strike from Cameron Archer continued Saints’ incredible streak with a result that will have fans believing they can catch Ipswich in the hunt for automatic promotion.

Due to Southampton’s progression to the FA Cup semi-final, this game was moved at late notice, and only a handful of Rovers supporters braved the long journey south from Lancashire on a dank midweek evening.

With Saints having such a busy fixture list, boss Tonda Eckert made five changes to the team which beat Derby County 2-1 on Saturday, but there was no disruption to the relentless rhythm which has catapulted the club up the table.

Saints made the breakthrough when Kuryu Matsuki set Archer free down the left and he squared the ball perfectly for Larin to slot home.

They had a second when Manning’s low shot deflected off Yuri Ribeiro and past the hapless Balazs Toth after good work from Shea Charles.

Archer added a third while a mouth-watering end to the season awaits, with a Wembley FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City and a crucial home league game against Ipswich still to come.

Full scores

Portsmouth 2-0 Ipswich Town
Southampton 3-0 Blackburn Rovers

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