League One round-up: Portsmouth beat Sunderland
Portsmouth stay four points clear after Luton also win
Saturday 22 December 2018 20:15, UK
Ronan Curtis scored his eighth goal of the season to help Sky Bet League One leaders Portsmouth beat promotion rivals Sunderland 3-1 at a sold-out Fratton Park.
Gareth Evans put Pompey ahead from the penalty spot at the start of the second half after Glenn Loovens was sent off for bringing down Oli Hawkins when he was clean through on goal.
Curtis extended the lead after 53 minutes but Luke O'Nien quickly responded for the 10 men. The Black Cats' comeback hopes were ended after 63 minutes when Ben Thompson made it 3-1 with a deflected shot.
Luton remain on Portsmouth's coat-tails in second place after goals from Jack Stacey and James Collins, from the penalty spot, gave them a 2-0 home victory over Carabao Cup semi-finalists Burton.
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At the other end of the table, Bradford climbed out of the relegation places with a 2-0 win against Scunthorpe.
Charlton are up a place to fourth in the table after first-half goals from Ben Reeves and Tariqe Fosu saw them defeat Gillingham 2-0 at The Valley.
The Addicks went above Peterborough, who drew 1-1 at home with Walsall. It could have been worse for Posh, though, as Andy Cook saw his penalty saved by Conor O'Malley in injury-time. Earlier, Ivan Toney cancelled out Isaiah Osbourne's opening goal for the Saddlers.
There was also late drama at the Keepmoat Stadium between Doncaster and Oxford as each team scored in injury-time in a 2-2 draw. Ben Whiteman's penalty put Rovers ahead before Gavin Whyte equalised. Alfie May thought he had won it for the hosts but Josh Ruffels levelled things up again in the seventh minute of added time.
That late goal cost Doncaster their place in the play-off positions as Yorkshire rivals Barnsley moved into sixth thanks to Cameron McGeehan's header in a 1-0 win at Blackpool.
James Clarke's injury-time strike gave managerless Bristol Rovers a 2-1 home win against Fleetwood, but it was not enough to lift them out of the bottom four. Ashley Hunter opened the scoring for Fleetwood, who later had Ched Evans sent off, but goals from Gavin Reilly and Clarke turned the game on its head.
Second-half goals from Sam Finley, Sean McConville and Jordan Clarke saw Accrington return to winning ways in the league with a 3-0 success at Plymouth, while Aaron Amadi-Holloway headed the only goal as Shrewsbury beat Coventry 1-0.
Rochdale won 2-1 at Southend. Michael Williams gave the visitors the half-time lead and it looked like John White's 81st-minute equaliser would earn the Shrimpers a point, before Callum Camps headed the winner three minutes from time.
It was also 2-1 at Adams Park where AFC Wimbledon took the three points against Wycombe. Kwesi Appiah and Jake Jervis, in the 90th minute, were on target for the Dons. Fred Onyedinma pulled a goal back in injury-time.
