Sky Bet Championship leaders Burnley won 2-1 at Swansea thanks to Ian Maatsen's early double, while there were also wins for Middlesbrough, Watford, Hull, West Brom and Preston. Derby and Sheffield Wednesday record emphatic League One wins, while League Two leaders Leyton Orient lost
Monday 2 January 2023 22:18, UK
Burnley strengthened their position at the top of the Sky Bet Championship as a 2-1 win at Swansea made it six league victories in a row for Vincent Kompany's side.
Ian Maatsen fired Burnley into a 2-0 lead with two fine goals in the space of 10 first-half minutes, and although Ollie Cooper pulled one back in the 27th minute, the Clarets hung on for three more points in their pursuit of promotion.
Maatsen opened the scoring with a free-kick in the 12th minute, with two Burnley men infiltrating the wall and quickly making space for the Dutchman to beat Steve Benda with a shot off the left-hand post.
The second was even better as Maatsen took the ball from Nathan Tella on the edge of the area and unleashed a powerful shot which left Benda with no chance.
Cooper got his fourth of the season when Aro Muric fumbled a Jay Fulton shot, but Swansea saw penalty appeals waved away when Joel Latibeaudiere went down in the box and could not find a leveller.
Sheffield United are five points back on Burnley after they snatched a late 1-1 draw at QPR. The Blades seemed on course for defeat after an early Ilias Chair goal, but John Egan struck in the sixth minute of added time to earn his side a point.
Watford moved up to fourth as substitute Vakoun Bayo grabbed a late goal to defeat Norwich 1-0 at Carrow Road.
The Hornets put back-to-back defeats behind them as Bayo finished off a swift counter-attack with three minutes left against the managerless Canaries.
And Middlesbrough are only a point behind Watford in fifth place after securing a sixth win in seven, beating Birmingham 3-1 away from home.
All the goals came in the second half, with Matt Crooks scoring two in three minutes before setting up another.
Crooks was unmarked to head in Jonny Howson's cross in the 57th minute, and seconds later he pounced on a mistake from George Friend to add a second.
Although Tahith Chong pulled one back, Crooks then played in Chuba Akpom to make sure of the points for Michael Carrick's side.
West Brom moved to within a point of the play-off places as Daryl Dike's 60th-minute goal was enough to beat Reading 1-0 and make it eight wins from their last nine.
Albion fans continued their protests against controlling shareholder and chairman Guochuan Lai off the pitch, but will have been encouraged by events on it as Dike got his first home goal after a string of injuries.
Rock-bottom Wigan suffered a third 4-1 defeat in the space of seven days as Hull moved away from danger with victory at the DW Stadium.
Hull led with 17 minutes gone through Jacob Greaves and should have added to their lead before substitute Nathan Broadhead levelled for Wigan just after the hour.
But after Hull regained the lead with 12 minutes left via a deflected strike from Oscar Estupian, Wigan imploded with Tyler Smith scoring twice late on.
Ched Evans headed in a winner in the third minute of time added on as Preston snatched a 1-0 victory at Stoke in a game that had seen kick-off delayed due to traffic problems in the area.
A Josh Windass hat-trick helped Sheffield Wednesday continue their bid for promotion with a 5-0 win against Cambridge.
Liam Palmer and Michael Smith also got on the scoresheet to make it three league wins in a row for the Owls as they moved into second in the Sky Bet League One table.
Derby put in an impressive display to move up to fourth in the table after beating Accrington 4-0.
Tom Barkhuizen scored in each half along with goals from Conor Hourihane and a spot-kick from David McGoldrick, but the Rams were reduced to 10 men when William Osula was dismissed in the 79th minute.
Bolton moved into fifth after a 3-0 win against Barnsley.
Mads Andersen was shown a red card in the 11th minute and Dion Charles scored the subsequent penalty before goals from Jon Bodvarsson and Kyle Dempsey cemented three points.
Ipswich were forced to settle for a point after drawing 1-1 against 10-man Lincoln.
Adam Jackson was sent off just before half-time, but Jack Diamond put the Imps ahead from the penalty spot before Cameron Humphreys equalised with nine minutes left.
Leaders Leyton Orient were beaten for just the third time this season when going down 1-0 to promotion-chasing Northampton at Sixfields.
Ben Fox scored the game's only goal early in the second half as the Cobblers bounced back to winning ways, opening up a seven-point cushion over fourth in the process.
Defender Carl Piergianni's third goal in two games earned promotion-chasing Stevenage a scrappy 1-0 victory over bottom side, Gillingham.
Second-placed 'Boro, who have the best home record in the fourth tier, extended the gap between them and the play-off places behind them to 12 points, while ensuring the Gills remained five points adrift of safety.
Newport fought back from 2-0 down to claim a 2-2 draw with Crawley as a stunning late rally denied Dom Telford the perfect return to Rodney Parade.
Relegation-threatened Rochdale ended a run of five defeats by earning a point from a drab 0-0 draw at Barrow.
