Ipswich ended a four-match winless run in all competitions with a 4-0 victory against Millwall on Wednesday, moving to within one point of Southampton in third in the Championship.
Headers from Nathan Broadhead and Kieffer Moore, plus an own goal from Wes Harding and a penalty from Ali al-Hamadi, gave Kieran McKenna’s side a lift as they continue to chase promotion.
Asked about the return to winning ways, McKenna said: “I think we are long due a night like that to be honest. Statistically, in the last nine games, we have been creating more shots and having less against than in the first nine games, but sometimes football works like that.
“We were clinical and we produced the defensive moments whenever we needed to, we have been long overdue a night where things went our way. It was a good night’s work, a good performance in different areas. I thought we were solid in free play and controlled large chunks of the game with the ball, created a few good opportunities and were really clinical when they came.”
Coventry, fellow promotion hopefuls, played out a 2-2 draw with Plymouth, a last-gasp equaliser from Liam Kitching inching them above Norwich and into sixth on goal difference.
Sunderland’s playoff hopes were hindered by a 1-0 defeat at Huddersfield. The hosts were beaten 5-3 by Southampton at the weekend, but Matty Pearson put them in front eight minutes before the break.
Huddersfield have not lost on their own patch this year and were good value for a second successive home win – they could have scored more but for the woodwork and a goalline clearance – but they needed Lee Nicholls’s goalkeeping heroics to secure the three points.
Elsewhere, Middlesbrough slipped further off the pace with a 2-1 defeat against Preston. Emil Riis scored the winner in the 60th minute after Finn Azaz’s superb strike cancelled out Liam Millar’s first-half opener.
Preston are now in ninth place on 48 points – level with sixth-placed Coventry, seventh-placed Norwich and eighth-placed Hull – while Boro are seven points back.
At the other end of the table, Stoke earned their first win in just over a month with a 1-0 victory against Queens Park Rangers. Wouter Burger scored the only goal of the game, opening up a six-point gap on their relegation rivals.
