Jamie Vardy came off the bench for Leicester to earn the leaders their first victory in three matches, scoring both goals in a 2-0 home win against Watford.
It had looked like being a half of frustration for the former Premier League Golden Boot winner, after he somehow missed an open goal from four yards out in the 74th minute. But he was in the right spot two minutes later to score from close range after Jannik Vestergaard’s header had been parried by Daniel Bachmann in Watford’s goal.
Vardy then sealed the game three minutes into stoppage time when he was brought down by Bachmann. It was a challenge that earned the goalkeeper a second yellow card as he had been booked 10 minutes earlier. Vardy took the spot-kick himself and converted it decisively as the defender Ryan Porteus took over in goal.
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League One: Bolton hit seven past Exeter to go top
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Bolton hammered struggling Exeter 7-0 to move top of Sky Bet League One. Jack Iredale and Victor Adeboyejo put Wanderers two goals ahead at the break before Paris Maghoma struck and Dion Charles bagged a brace.
A dominant afternoon was completed with late goals from Kyle Dempsey and Daniel Nlundulu as Bolton took over top spot from Portsmouth, who were beaten by 4-0 by Blackpool.
Owen Dale put the visitors ahead nine minutes in before Jake Beesley doubled the lead and Pompey’s afternoon soured further when Joe Morrell was shown a second yellow card in the 63rd minute. The Tangerines took advantage as CJ Hamilton and Albie Morgan extended their lead.
Peterborough also posted four goals to beat Burton 4-0. Joel Randall and Ephron Mason-Clark put Posh in control Cole Stockton’s 61st-minute own goal and Kwame Poku’s strike five minutes wrapped up an emphatic win.
Oxford fell away from the top after being beaten 2-0 by second-bottom Cheltenham, going behind to Robert Street’s first-half goal. The Robins faced an uphill battle when the goalscorer saw red just before the break, but Oxford were also reduced to 10 men as Rúben Rodrigues was shown a second yellow card and Will Goodwin then sealed victory.
Oxford are level on points with Stevenage, both one point off the automatic promotion places, after Jamie Reid, Ben Thompson and Elliott List scored for Boro in a 3-0 win over Fleetwood.
Timothy Eyoma scored a late equaliser as Lincoln drew 2-2 with Barnsley, while Nathaniel Mendez-Laing’s 90th-minute strike earned Derby a 2-1 win against Bristol Rovers.
Bottom-of-the-table Reading earned their first league victory since September by beating Wycombe 2-1. Sam Smith’s opener was quickly cancelled out by Killian Phillips, but Lewis Wing restored Reading’s lead with what proved to be the winner.
Ipswich remain in second place but are now three points behind Leicester, having lost at West Brom in the late game. Albion inflicted just a second Championship defeat of the season on Ipswich and became the first team to stop the Tractor Boys scoring in a league match as they ran out comfortable 2-0 winners. Darnell Furlong headed the hosts in front after just five minutes from Matt Phillips’ corner. Albion started the second half quickly, too, and doubled their advantage in the 47th minute through a well-worked counter-attack finished off by Grady Diangana.
Wayne Rooney collected his first win as Birmingham manager with a 2-1 comeback home win against the bottom club, Sheffield Wednesday. There was a frantic end to the first half as Juninho Bacuna equalised three minutes into added time, George Byers having put Wednesday ahead in the 45th minute. The substitute Jordan James grabbed the 82nd-minute winner for Rooney’s first win in English football since April last year, when his Derby side won 2-0 at Blackpool. Danny Rohl has now lost five of his first six games in charge of Wednesday.
Karlan Grant and Iké Ugbo both scored in stoppage time as Cardiff snatched a 2-1 victory at 10-man Preston. Grant bundled the ball over the line in the 96th-minute to equalise, before Ugbo’s glancing header three minutes later sparked pandemonium in the away end. Milutin Osmajic’s 48th-minute goal put Preston ahead but the hosts were on the back foot for much of the second half owing to Robbie Brady’s red card for two bookings.
Mark Sykes blasted a 67th-minute winner as Liam Manning’s first home game as Bristol City head coach ended with a 3-2 victory over Middlesbrough. The home side led 2-0 at half-time through Taylor Gardner‑Hickman’s first Robins goal and a Tommy Conway penalty. Boro were back in it after 50 minutes when a Matt Crooks shot came back off the crossbar and the City defender Zak Vyner headed the rebound back past Max O’Leary for a bizarre own goal. Two minutes later Crooks equalised, only for City to retake the lead through Sykes’ sweet volley from a narrow angle.
Blackburn secured a fourth successive away league victory, winning 3-0 at Stoke. Scott Wharton’s header gave Rovers an early lead, then four minutes from time the Brighton loanee Andrew Moran added a goal to his assist to spark a late flurry of action. Sammie Szmodics rounded off the win in stoppage time with his 11th goal of the campaign.
Norwich put their home woes behind them with a hard-fought 1-0 win over QPR. The Canaries had lost their three previous matches at Carrow Road to heap the pressure on head coach David Wagner but got the three points this time around thanks to a well-taken 21st-minute goal from on-loan striker Hwang Ui-jo.
Plymouth secured a surprise 2-0 home victory over high-flying Sunderland. Another top-class strike from Morgan Whittaker and a superbly crafted goal from his fellow playmaker Finn Azaz completed the scoring before half-time.
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Hull fought from two goals down to draw 2-2 at Swansea. Jamie Paterson drove home his first league goal since March 2022 in the 17th minute and Jerry Yates soon pounced on Ryan Allsop’s mistake to double Swansea’s lead. Hull responded through Jaden Philogene whose thumping hit – his fourth in six outings – gave the visitors hope in the 48th minute, with Tyler Morton levelling on 68. But a frantic contest ended level as Swansea’s winless home run was extended to four games while Hull kept themselves firmly in top six contention.
Matt Godden’s goal set Coventry on their way to a 3-0 triumph at the Den, as Joe Edwards suffered his first defeat as Millwall manager. The Sky Blues’ top scorer gave his side the lead midway through a pulsating first half that could have swung either way. Tatsuhiro Sakamoto and Ben Sheaf made sure of things after the break.
Ben Jackson’s 87th-minute equaliser cancelled out Adam Armstrong’s first‑half opener to earn Huddersfield a 1-1 draw at home to Southampton.