There was plenty of drama throughout the Championship, League One and League Two this weekend. TIBS News covers the main points in our EFL review.
Championship
The Championship’s relegation battle got even tighter after Louie Sibley scored a 92nd-minute winner for Derby in 1-0 win against relegation rivals Peterborough on Saturday. The result sees the Rams leapfrog their opponents on goal difference, with both teams five points adrift from safety. It was a fiery affair with both teams reduced to 10 men during it as Hayden Coulson and Tom Lawrence were both sent off.
Reading came away with an unlikely 3-2 win at Preston North End but decided to still part ways with manager Veljko Paunovic after previously going 12 games without a win. A Lucas Joao brace put the Royals in control by half-time before John Swift added a third after the break. Preston’s Cameron Archer and Daniel Johnson tried to rescue a point but it was too little, too late for the men in white.
Huddersfield caused perhaps the biggest surprise of the afternoon as they returned from London with three points after beating Fulham 2-1 thanks to goals from Danny Ward and Duane Holmes. The Yorkshire side solidified their claim for a play-off place and are now just five points behind Bournemouth in the automatic promotion spots.
League One
League One saw goals galore as the 16 sides who played ended up scoring 34 goals between them.
Chief among them was the clash between Wycombe and Cheltenham, in which Alfie May scored four times to salvage a 5-5 draw for his side. Wycombe thought they were on course for a first win in five games after a second-half brace from Sam Vokes had made it 5-3 with just 20 minutes to go. However, May secured the comeback with nine minutes left to stun the home crowd into silence as their play-off campaign slowly starts to slide away.
Sunderland saw themselves slide out of the play-off places after losing 2-1 to third-placed Milton Keynes Dons. Mo Eisa had opened the scoring for the visitors before Ross Stewart headed home his 19th goal of the season to tie the game up. Connor Wickham, who had previously been bought by Sunderland for £8million in 2011, scored his first goal for the Dons to hand them a huge three points in the race for promotion.
At the other side of the table, Wimbledon remain just one point above the relegation zone after being beaten 4-0 at Bolton. With teams either side of them having their games postponed due to Storm Eunice, Wimbledon had the chance to create some breathing space from the drop zone but instead were blown away by a rampant Bolton side.
League Two
In League Two, the play-off race again provided entertainment as five of the top eight clubs dropped points.
League leaders Forest Green Rovers were stunned at home after losing 1-0 to 16th-placed Walsall, their first loss in 19 games. They still have a 10-point gap to Tranmere in second, who were denied a win thanks to a 94th-minute equaliser from Port Vale’s Jamie Proctor in a game where Tranmere had dominated.
Oldham continued their turnaround in form as they extended their unbeaten run to five by seeing off managerless Bradford with a 2-0 win thanks to goals from Hallam Hope and Davis Keillor-Dunn. It saw them rise out of the relegation zone at the expense of Carlisle who had been thrashed 3-0 at home by Swindon – a result which saw the visitors go back into the play-off places.
Newport faced off against Mansfield in a seventh-versus-sixth match-up, but the Welsh side couldn’t make their home advantage count and needed an 82nd-minute penalty from Dom Telford to secure a 1-1 draw. However, due to Swindon’s win Newport now slide out of the play-offs on goal difference.
By Joshua Stewart