2 days ago
15
Leeds were crowned Championship champions in dramatic fashion after Manor Solomon’s injury-time winner against Plymouth at Home Park meant Daniel Farke’s side held off Burnley, who beat Millwall 3-1, on goal difference to seal top spot with a century of points. At the other end of the table, Luton suffered a second successive relegation after a 5-3 loss at West Brom.
It is the first time two sides have reached 100 points in the same Championship season. But it looked uncertain early in the day, with Mihailo Ivanovic giving the Lions an early lead at Turf Moor and a Sam Byram own goal doing likewise for Argyle.
But the division’s two outstanding teams both clawed their way back. Josh Brownhill soon equalised for Burnley and Scott Parker’s side seemed destined for a second Championship title in three seasons after Jaidon Anthony put them ahead, with Leeds having pulled the score back to 1-1 thanks to Wilfried Gnonto and time ticking away.
But in the first minute of injury time Solomon swept home in front of the packed away end at Home Park to spark delirium. Brownhill added a third for Burnley but the atmosphere was largely punctured at Turf Moor.
At the bottom, Luton, who began the day in 21st, a point the ahead of Hull in the final relegation place, drop down into League One after a wild 5-3 defeat at West Brom, while the Tigers held on for a 1-1 draw at Portsmouth to secure their Championship status. Plymouth’s relegation was also confirmed.
Luton were plunged into the bottom three by Tom Fellows’ early goal for West Brom, briefly out again thanks to Millenic Alli’s equaliser two minutes later but back in after Matt Crooks gave Hull the lead at Fratton Park, and there they stayed.
Daryl Dike, Fellows and a Callum Styles double put a previously out-of-sorts Albion into a 5-1 lead just after the hour mark, leaving the Hatters hoping for a Pompey comeback. Christian Saydee did equalise to leave Hull sweating but the visitors held on, and though Jordan Clark and Alli reduced the arrears at the Hawthorns, there was to be no miracle.
Derby and Stoke, who both began the day in relegation danger, played out a 0-0 draw at Pride Park.
A dramatic day in the playoff race saw Coventry and Bristol City take fifth and sixth spots respectively, with Blackburn, Millwall and Middlesbrough missing out.
Coventry’s ultimately comfortable 2-0 win over Boro was enough to make their place safe and set up a two-legged semi-final against fourth-placed Sunderland, who lost at home to QPR, their fifth defeat on the bounce. The Robins, though, had to come from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 with struggling Preston at Ashton Gate and line up a semi-final with third-placed Sheffield United, who scuppered Blackburn’s hopes with a 1-1 draw at Bramall Lane, Anel Ahmedhodzic’s second-half equaliser proving crucial in the final reckoning.
Interim Norwich manager Jack Wilshere came out on top in the battle between former Arsenal teammates at Carrow Road, with Aaron Ramsey’s already-relegated Cardiff on the wrong end of a 4-2 scoreline, having been reduced to 10 men by alum Chambers’ 16th-minute red card.
