Sheffield United went back to the top of the Championship table after coming from behind to win 2-1 at 10-man Swansea.
After Florian Bianchini opened the scoring for Swansea in the seventh minute, the Blades came out firing in the second half with Rhian Brewster scoring a 47th-minute leveller.
Once Harry Darling was shown a straight red card for a poor challenge on Brewster three minutes later, Chris Wilder’s team made full use of the extra man with Harrison Burrows’s penalty in the 68th minute taking them two points clear at the summit.
After the game, Wilder revealed that the club are set to seal a £10m deal to sign striker Tom Cannon from Leicester. “There’s been bits and pieces happening at home and hopefully the [Cannon] deal is done,” said the Sheffield United manager.
“There’s lots of games to play and he [Cannon] certainly doesn’t make us weaker. We have to be stronger and need more competition for places and options,” Wilder added. “I’m delighted with the support and backing I’ve had from the owners [the COH Sports consortium]. They’ve recognised we were light on bodies.”
Leeds still have a game in hand and can retake top spot with a home win against Norwich on Wednesday. Sunderland’s 1-0 win at Derby took them two points behind Leeds, after Eliezer Mayenda’s 28th-minute effort was set up by Jobe Bellingham.
The visitors had to resist a Derby barrage in the second half to hold on to their lead, but were denied a second goal in the 77th minute when Wilson Isidor smashed in off the crossbar only to see his strike disallowed for offside.
“I don’t want to say whether it was a good or bad decision because it’s a decision you have to make in real time, but I don’t know why. It’s strange,” said the Sunderland manager, Régis Le Bris. “We would like to have a more relaxed end of the game and then it was difficult to the end.”
Tony Mowbray’s return to the dugout ended in defeat as his West Brom side were beaten 2-0 by Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium.
Mowbray was appointed as the Baggies’ head coach for a second stint and the 61-year-old oversaw his first match since recovering from bowel cancer. He was greeted with applause from both sets of fans as he walked to the touchline before kick-off to face the club he represented as a player and manager.
However, his return was dampened by his home town club who sealed the win through Hayden Hackney’s pinpoint strike and Ben Doak’s late goal.
Oxford’s impressive unbeaten run under Gary Rowett stretched to seven matches after a 3-2 win against a struggling Luton. Tom Krauss’s opener for the Hatters was cancelled out by Michal Helik before Mark McGuinness put Luton back in front in the 26th minute. But Matt Bloomfield’s Luton remain second bottom after goals from Ciaron Brown and Greg Leigh helped Oxford to complete the turnaround.
Goals from Ellis Simms and Brandon Thomas-Asante ensured Coventry beat Blackburn 2-0 at Ewood Park, while QPR won a fourth successive match after beating Hull 2-1.
Strikes from Kenneth Paal and Koki Saito put the visitors in the driving seat as Joe Gelhardt’s 84th-minute goal for City, his first for the club since joining from Leeds on loan, was not enough to help them mount a fightback.
Milutin Osmajic’s brace helped Preston to secure a 2-1 win at Watford. Yousef Salech, on as a substitute, equalised with three seconds of stoppage time remaining as Cardiff snatched a 2-2 draw at Millwall.
The Bluebirds were trailing to early goals from Calum Scanlon and Casper De Norre before Chris Willock pulled one back before half-time. Millwall looked poised to cling on for only their second win in 13 matches, but Salech – signed from the Swedish side Sirius last week – denied them at the death as Cardiff rescued a point.
