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Showing posts with the label Championship

EFL: Ipswich move closer to promotion

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Coventry City 1 - 2 Ipswich Town Ipswich regained their winning form when it mattered the most and claimed a victory at Coventry to move within one point of promotion back to the Premier League.  After earning only three points in four games, the Tractor Boys held their nerve and just about managed to get the better of the FA Cup semi-finalists . Kieffer Moore scored the first goal of the match in the first half, but Haji Wright's 19th goal of the season cancelled it out.  However, Cameron Burgess' scrambled goal in the 69th minute put Ipswich three points clear of third-placed Leeds United. If Ipswich manage to secure a draw at home against Huddersfield on Saturday, they will bring top-flight football back to Suffolk for the first time in 22 years. A more detailed look at what happened Ipswich went head just eight minutes into the match. Wes Burns opened up the Sky Blues defence down the right and pulled the ball back for Moore, who fired home a powerful low right-foot shot

EFL: Vardy fires Foxes to Championship title

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Preston North End 0 - 3 Leicester City  Two goals from Jamie Vardy helped Leicester City sealed the Championship title as the Foxes cruised to a crowning victory at Preston North End. Leicester kept the majority of possession in the game’s early stages and created the first chance of note in the 15th minute when Freddie Woodman came out to deny Vardy an opening goal. Jamie  Vardy's goals had previously fired the Foxes to a Premier League title and FA Cup glory. He eventually added to his reputation as a Leicester City icon with a goal in each half to take his overall season tally to 20 in all competitions. Kasey McAteer then added a third with for a Leicester side that has almost dominated this match from start to finish. They have become the fourth club – after Burnley, Fulham and Norwich - in as many years to make an immediate return to the Premier League Championship title winners following relegation. Click here to read all the latest EFL news from European Super Footba

EFL: Hull dent Ipswich promotion hopes

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Hull City 3 - 3 Ipswich Town After falling behind three times, Hull City fought back three times to draw 3-3 with Championship promotion-chasers Ipswich thanks to a late goal by substitute Noah Ohio. In their quest for automatic promotion, two stunning Omari Hutchinson goals seemed to have sealed all three points for the Tractor Boys. Ipswich started strong with George Hirst scoring the opening goal but their lead was short-lived as Ozan Tufan equalized. Hutchinson then scored a stunning goal with an unstoppable curling shot just before half-time, putting Ipswich ahead again. Who's getting promoted to the Premier League? (eurosuperfootball.blogspot.com) QPR thrash Leeds United (eurosuperfootball.blogspot.com) In the second half, Liam Delap, who came on as a substitute, scored to level the score once more. Hutchinson then proved his worth again with another goal, this time with a swerving effort.  However, in the 86th minute, Ohio took advantage of a mistake by Ipswich goalkeepe

EFL: QPR thrash Leeds United

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 QPR 4 - 0 Leeds United Leicester City have been promoted to the Premier League QPR dealt a heavy blow to Leeds' hopes of promotion with an impressive 4-0 victory.  Ilias Chair, Lucas Anderson, Lyndon Dykes, and Sam Field all scored for QPR, securing their place in the Championship for next season. A pivotal night for both sides Leeds may have to settle for a play-off place. However, it was a joyous night for Marti Cifuentes' Hoops who are now seven points clear of the relegation zone and have moved up to 16th place. EFL: Who's getting promoted to the Premier League?  The home side was down in 23rd position in the table, and they had lost six consecutive games when their current boss took over as coach from Gareth Ainsworth at the end of October. After a difficult period before and after Christmas, the R's have won nine matches and only lost four since mid-January, allowing them to escape from danger. Don’t Worry About a Thing - last night at QPR, last & best ho

EFL: Middlesbrough and Leeds play out a thriller

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Middlesbrough 3 - 4 Leeds United  Promotion-chasing Leeds United climbed to second in the Championship after a thrilling and sensational victory at Middlesbrough that ended their three-game winless run. The match has left us all with one question. Which two out of Leeds, Leicester and Ipswich will be successful at the end of the season. We have previously examined  who's getting promoted to the Premier League? Let's explore a night of drama in Middlesbrough Boro took an early lead when Isaiah Jones tucked in a loose ball, but Leeds quickly levelled through Crysencio Summerville's penalty. Leeds were then in front just four minutes later when Patrick Bamford scored Junior Firpo's wicked cross from the left. In-form Emmanuel Latte Lath then scored for Boro to level the proceedings with a thumping right-footed finish from 18 yards. Willy Gnonto finished well after being played in by Summerville to put Leeds 3-2 up at the break, although replays showed the Italy forward

EFL: Who's getting promoted to the Premier League?

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The race for automatic promotion to the Premier League is shaping up to be a nail-biter. Last season's relegated teams Leicester City, Leeds United and Southampton are all eager to make a swift return to the top flight.  However, Kieran McKenna's Ipswich side currently holds the lead at the top of the table in a tense four-way contest. As the new year rolled in, Enzo Maresca's Leicester seemed destined to secure promotion straight back to the Premier League. They were sitting pretty at the top of the Championship table, boasting a commanding 13-point lead over Southampton in third place. However, after Southampton's victory over Preston on Tuesday, the promotion battle has tightened considerably, with four teams now in the mix and only a handful of games left to play. The best place to find more news from the Championship  What do the fans think? Jamie, a Leicester City fan, said: "The league has been so unpredictable that making any predictions is foolish. I d

EFL: Important day for Leicester and Birmingham

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 Leicester City 2 - 1 Birmingham City The Foxes overcame a stubborn Birmingham City side and took all three points at the King Power on Saturday afternoon.  They have now moved a little closer to a Premier League return.  In the game, Dewsbury-Hall scored the first goal for the Foxes in the first half. However, Mads Hermansen made a terrible mistake and deflected the ball off Jay Stansfield, causing an own goal. With just a few minutes left in normal time, Stephy Mavididi scored a header, securing the win for the hosts.  This sent the home fans wild. They are starting to dream again of a Premier League return after a few dropped points.  Championship news and stories can be found here Just as the win against Norwich City earlier this week marked a return to form, this was a match that followed a script that Leicester fans saw regularly during the earlier stages of the season. The home side had 68% of the possession, took 19 shots, put 9 on target, and won 10 corners. Their players

EFL: Southampton recover after midweek defeat

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 West Brom 0 - 2 Southampton Southampton made an impressive recovery after their long unbeaten streak came to an end during the week, as they comfortably defeated West Bromwich Albion to reclaim the second spot in the Championship. Just three nights after suffering a 3-1 defeat at Bristol City, their first loss in 25 games, Russell Martin's strong and efficient team secured a victory against fifth-placed Albion with well-executed goals from Ryan Fraser and David Brooks in each half. Although Albion were thrown off by the early departure of head coach Carlos Corberan, who was unexpectedly shown a red card for attempting to retrieve the ball from his technical area before it had gone out of play, the hosts failed to put up much resistance against Southampton. It was only their fourth home league defeat in 31 games since Corberan took charge 16 months ago. The incident that led to Corberan's dismissal seemed to unsettle West Brom, but Southampton's Adam Armstrong had alre

EFL: Another twist in the promotion race

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Leicester City 1 - 1 Ipswich Town Jeremy Sarmiento scored a late equaliser against Championship leaders Leicester City at the King Power Stadium and guided his Ipswich team back into the coveted automatic promotion spots. Initially, Leicester seemed on the verge of extending their lead by 10 points , courtesy of an own goal by Leif Davis in the first half. The second half had more excitement, featuring Foxes goalkeeper Mads Hermansen's spectacular save from Wes Burns and Kasey McAteer's valiant effort cleared off the line at the other end. When Hermansen could only parry a Massimo Luongo shot in the area, Brighton loanee Sarmiento seized the opportunity, swiftly scoring a shot that eluded the Danish goalkeeper. This marked the second time in four weeks that Ipswich snatched a late draw against Leicester, following a similar feat on Boxing Day at Portman Road. The draw this time elevated Ipswich above Southampton, reclaiming second place, while Leicester maintained a seven-poi

EFL: Leicester have comfortable night against Southampton

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Southampton 1 - 4 Leicester City Jamie Vardy scored after 21 seconds to set Leicester City up for a comfortable victory at Southampton. Leicester went in at half-time 3-1 in front after goals from McAteer (18'minutes) and Ndidi (45'+3minutes) put them in a comfortable position. A goal from Edozie gave them some brief hope as they temporarily reduced the deficit. Former Juventus forward Mavididi missed a huge opportunity just after the hour but made amends with the night's best goal. Many Southampton fans are concerned about the goals they were conceding. Their miserable night ended with Kamaldeen Sulemana receiving a straight red card in the closing seconds of the game for a clumsy tackle on James Justin. Highlights You can watch highlights of the match in the video below. Footage from  EFL YouTube account @gavintsang5778 commented on these highlights: "I expect both Southampton and Leicester will be fighting for promotion come end of the season.  But having wat

EFL Cup: Salford City shock Leeds

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Salford City 1 - 1 Leeds United  Salford City won 9-8 on penalties To reach the third round of the Carabao Cup, League Two Salford City stunned Championship side Leeds with an epic penalty shootout win. Ossama Ashley scored at the second attempt after Karl Darlow saved his initial effort, but the keeper was adjudged to have come off his line. The fourth-tier side ultimately won 9-8 on penalties. Former Leeds striker Matt Smith powered home a header from 10 yards before the break to give the hosts the lead against the run of play. After Salford failed to clear a free-kick, Pascal Struijk scored an equaliser for the away side, who also hit the woodwork with Crysencio Summerville and Sam Greenwood, but the Ammies won out on spot-kicks to reach the third round in the competition. Connor McLennan had the chance to win it in the first five penalties, but his effort hit the crossbar after ex-Leeds keeper Alex Cairns saved Georginio Rutter's tame effort. Click here for more Leeds Unit

EFL: Blackpool thrash QPR

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 Blackpool 6 - 1 QPR Blackpool picked up a massive three points with a dominant victory over QPR. Goals from Jerry Yates, Andy Lyons, Curtis Nelson and Jordan Thorniley had Pool four up after 36 minutes. Chris Martin got a goal back for QPR before the break. A second goal from Andy Lyons and a strike from Kenny Dougall put the cherry on top of the cake for Pool. Blackpool remains in the bottom but this win and performance should give them a massive boost. QPR are in 19th position and will be starting to look nervously over their shoulder.  More Blackpool news>>> Manager reaction Blackpool manager Mick McCarthy told the media: "The lads up front destroyed QPR tonight, but even though we were 4-1 up at half-time, I knew we'd need to do it all again in the second half. We did that, though, and once we'd got the fifth there was no coming back from that. I really wanted a big performance from the lads tonight, and I think I got it." QPR boss Gareth Ainsworth g

EFL: Burnley win at Huddersfield

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Huddersfield Town 0 - 1 Burnley  And we're off! The English domestic season has begun.  Let's have a look at all the best reaction as Burnley beat Huddersfield in the opening game of The Championship. What happened? It was a game of two halves, but ultimately Burnley got the win that their first-half showing deserved.Ian Maatsen's strike proved to be the difference between the two teams. The Clarets should have been out of sight by the half-time whistle after a bright first 45 minutes. The Terriers improved after the break but they couldn't trouble the away side's backline. Who said that? Well that was pretty good, wasn't it? 😏 #HUDBUR pic.twitter.com/nqGFnbltEO — Burnley FC (@BurnleyOfficial) July 29, 2022  One Burnley fan replied: "Absolute Joy to watch that, a breath of fresh air, but if that game doesn’t tell you we need a proper striker then I don’t know what will." Another added: "First half was fluid, quality, domination. Second hal

EFL news: Wayne Rooney turns down Everton approach

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Derby County are in the news again News reports indicate that Derby County boss Wayne Rooney turned down the chance to talk with Everton about their managerial vacancy.  He wants to stay and help Derby out of the mess that threatens their entire existence.    (Wayne Rooney also had a spell playing for Derby) Rooney said: "Everton approached my agent and asked me to interview for the job, but I turned them down, It was a difficult decision. I believe I will be a Premier League manager and that I am ready for that 100%." He added: "If that comes with Everton, great. But I have a job at Derby, which is important to me." Derby were docked 21 points, their main signings were free agents and loan deals. He turned down the Everton managerial job because helping Derby avoid relegation is "important" to him. I'd be the happiest human if Wayne Rooney manages to keep Derby up. Legend! ❤ #mufc pic.twitter.com/rq7Ey2a1QY — UtdFaithfuls (@UtdFaithfuls) January

EFL news: Joint Administrators of Derby County release statement

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The Joint Administrators of Derby County have released a statement to update fans on the current situation. It starts: This statement provides a summary of progress to supporters and the media in respect of Derby County Football Club. As we have previously reported, we are dealing with a large number of sensitive issues and felt that issuing reactive statements in response to the recent statements issued by various related parties would at best be unhelpful and also may hinder or prejudice discussions we are having with the same parties. Our perceived lack of recent communication has therefore been both tactical and deliberate. The full statement which can be read here includes a section on the claims from two EFL clubs. This section says: "These have been well documented both by us previously and more recently, by others making statements. We do not think it would be helpful, in view of the sensitivity of these matters, to elaborate on the discussions we have been having other

Championship: Derby County 1 - 0 West Brom

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Derby County are not going down without a fight.  An immense performance against promotion West Brom left them still well adrift at the bottom of the Championship. There's still plenty of hope within the club.  Their sixth league win of the campaign came thanks to a defensive howler. This gifted substitute Colin Kazim-Richards the only goal of the game. Kazim-Richards could well turn out to be key in their bid for survival in the second tier of English football. That level of experience is always important. After the match, Rooney told the BBC and other media outlets: "I could see something happening between the defender and the goalkeeper. Them getting so close to each other, you hoped it would fall for us. It did and he [Kazim-Richards] put in a nice finish. "The administrators have confirmed they have had bids from other companies and it needs to be done before January. I'm trying to plan for the future of this club and if it keeps dragging on, it's not hel

Championship: Queens Park Rangers 2 - 0 Luton Town

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Queens Park Rangers climbed to fifth in the Championship with victory over Luton Town.  Chris Willock gave the home side the lead with a perfectly-weighted dink over the onrushing Simon Sluga after a fine lofted route-one pass from deep by Ilias Chair in an entertaining first-half. Charlie Austin buried his header past the Hatters' Croatian goalkeeper early in the second Ilias Chair might have made it easier for QPR but his rising drive soared over early on.  Highlights Watch the highlights of the match in the video below. One QPR fan asked an interesting question in the comments section: "Are we brave or good enough to stay in top 6?" Reaction QPR boss Mark Warburton told BBC Radio London: "They were two really important goals as well, and at important times as well. The first one it was nice to see was a direct ball, it was a quick release and the keeper made Chris' mind up for him really, but he executed it well. "We had that lead, we were a little bi

Championship: Queens Park Rangers 1 - 1 Nottingham Forest

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Jack Colback scored his first league goal since March 2019 as Forest salvaged a point in a dramatic finish at QPR The home side were poised for a win following Lyndon Dykes' header at the end of a first half. He could have made it a hat-trick after the break, but Brice Samba closed down the space to deny him one on one and Djed Spence produced a brilliant tackle as the striker prepared to shoot. Forest were eventually rewarded for their tenacity when QPR failed to clear with time running out and Colback's fierce left-foot effort found the net with the help of a deflection off Jimmy Dunne. QPR boss Mark Warburton told a local London radio station:  "Second half we had to maintain shape and stop them playing forward and I think we did that, I thought we negated their threat. "We got first contact to their set-pieces all night and in truth, against a very good Forest team, we looked comfortable." The Nottingham Forest head coach Steve Cooper added to BBC Radio Not

Championship news: Cardiff sack Mick McCarthy

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Cardiff City have sacked Mick McCarthy after an awful run of results and performances.  The awful run of results has seen them plummet from eighth to 21st in the Championship table.During this run, Cardiff have scored only one goal and fans were demanding McCarthy's exit long before the final whistle of their most recent defeat. Cardiff City Football Club can confirm that First Team Manager Mick McCarthy and Assistant Manager Terry Connor have left the Club by mutual agreement and with immediate effect. — Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) October 23, 2021 A statement on Cardiff's statement reads: "We would like to thank Mick and Terry for their efforts during their time with the Bluebirds and wish them all the best for the future. "Steve Morison and Tom Ramasut will oversee first-team duties at this time, as the Board of Directors begin the process of appointing a permanent replacement." It was a former Cardiff manager in Neil Warnock who inflicted the last rite

Championship reaction: Swansea City 3 - 0 Cardiff City

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Cardiff City manager Mick McCarthy has pledged to fight on after Swansea inflicted a south Wales derby mauling and a sixth successive defeat on his side.  Jamie Paterson, Joël Piroe and Jake Bidwell were on target as Swansea piled the pressure on the embattled McCarthy with a comfortable victory. Click here to find more news from the English Football League. pic.twitter.com/r5csdCoowK — Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) October 17, 2021   McCarthy spoke with the media after the game and said : “It’s difficult when you are on a run like we are. All of a sudden it doesn’t look cohesive and sometimes you get opened up. “When does the pressure get too much for me? I keep doing the job and trying to get results. I will continue until anybody tells me different. All I have had is support. I think they – more than anybody – want me to be a success. Until anybody tells me different, I will be preparing for the Fulham game on Wednesday.” The winning Swansea manager, Russell Martin, also gave h