Championship round-up: Sheffield United continue fine home run with comeback victory

Sheffield United came from behind to secure a 3-1 victory against lowly Oxford United and extend their unbeaten record at home in the Championship to eight games.

Chris Wilder’s men are now seven points clear from safety and eight points off the top six, climbing towards 15th place.

Meanwhile, Blackburn Rovers claimed a much-needed three points over Sheffield Wednesday and Hull City and Watford played out a goalless draw – Portsmouth’s clash with Ipswich Town was postponed because of a waterlogged pitch.

Here is the full round-up of Tuesday night’s Championship action.

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Sheffield United 3-1 Oxford United

Sydie Peck cancelled out Myles Peart-Harris’ early opener for Oxford before the break and second-half goals from Andre Brooks and Chiedozie Ogbene sealed the Blades’ sixth win in their last seven league games at Bramall Lane.

A win against Wilder’s former club continued their climb towards the top half of the table.

They introduced new deadline-day signings Kalvin Phillips and Joe Rothwell to the crowd before kick-off, but neither deal was completed in time for them to make the squad.

However, Blades’ optimism briefly made way for frustration as the visitors were gifted an early lead.

Blades goalkeeper Michael Cooper made a hash of what should have been a routine save, spilling U’s skipper Cameron Brannagan’s 25-yard shot and Brentford loanee Peart-Harris converted the rebound.

The equaliser arrived before the interval when Oli Arblaster’s lofted pass was collected wide on the right by Harrison Burrows and his low cut-back was met by Peck’s measured finish.

The home side resumed control and took the lead as Tom Cannon skipped round Oxford left-back Ciaron Brown’s clumsy challenge and picked out Brooks in the box and the winger brilliantly made space inside the area before rifling home a left-footed finish.

Wilder’s side put the game to bed when Ipswich loanee Ogbene raced into the area on to Gus Hamer’s superb diagonal pass and kept his composure to fire home his first goal for the club.

The Blades consigned Oxford to a 15th league defeat of the season, which leaves them five points from Blackburn in 21st place.

Blackburn Rovers 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday

Eiran Cashin’s first goal for managerless Blackburn was enough to secure a 1-0 win over bottom-club Sheffield Wednesday and move out of the Championship relegation zone.

After a turbulent few days that saw Valerien Ismael depart, the on-loan Brighton defender provided much-needed respite by emphatically converting from close range to ensure Rovers edged a game originally abandoned back in December, with the hosts leading.

Victory also ended an eight-match winless run to haul themselves out of the drop zone on goal difference, while stretching Wednesday’s sequence without victory to 24.

Damien Johnson’s side started brightly and took the lead with the game’s only goal in the first half.

Thanks to the tenacity of Sondre Tronstad, who kept the ball alive under pressure from two players on the left, it fell for Ryoya Morishita, who then whipped in a low cross for Cashin to score.

Hull City 0-0 Watford

Hull missed the chance to go within two points of the Championship’s automatic promotion spots as Watford impressed on their way to a 0-0 draw under caretaker boss Charlie Daniels.

Tuesday’s match was due to take place a month ago, but officials controversially called it off just 18 minutes before kick-off due to unsafe areas around the MKM Stadium pitch.

Hull came into the rearranged fixture in third spot, having won all four Championship matches since the postponement, but they were denied a fifth victory on the bounce by play-off hopefuls Watford.

Daniels stepped up from his role as under-21s lead coach, assisted by Adrian Mariappa and Dan Gosling, after Javi Gracia called time on his second spell in charge on Sunday and got an immediate response.

Watford were on top in the first half and again had chances after the break, with skipper Imran Louza coming closest for the managerless visitors.

Sergej Jakirovic’s Tigers had the odd chance as they started a run of five consecutive home matches in all competitions with a draw in their game in hand that cut the gap to the top two to four points.

Tuesday’s match kicked off nearly four minutes late after groundstaff carried out a hasty repair to the net.

However, a forgettable fixture eventually finished scoreless.

Championship full scores

Blackburn Rovers 1-0 Sheffield Wednesday

Hull City 0-0 Watford

Portsmouth P-P Ipswich Town

Sheffield United 3-1 Oxford United

READ MORE: Blackburn Rovers sack Valerien Ismael with the club in the Championship relegation zone