Championship Round-Up: Burnley and Middlesbrough breakaway, Bristol City and Rotherham score four whilst Bolton suffer relegation

Burnley are one step closer to clinching promotion to the Premier League as the Championship leaders dispatched Leeds United 1-0 at home. Scott Arfield grabbed the game’s only goal with barely 60 seconds on the clock as the Clarets move five points clear of third placed Brighton.

Middlesbrough stay a point off of Burnley, with a game-in-hand, after they beat Preston 1-0, thanks to an Albert Adomah strike as they sealed their fourth consecutive victory after a smart finish from the midfielder.

Midfielder Arfield scored the only goal of the game against Leeds to keep Burnley one point clear at the top of the Championship standings – Photo: Mark Leech.

Bolton were relegated to League One for the first time since 1993 after they were thrashed 4-1 by Derby. Johnny Russell opened the scoring with a stunning 30-yard strike, which was followed up by with efforts from Tom Ince and Jacob Butterfield. Zach Clough pulled one back for the Trotters, but Russell made sure of the win with his second of the match late on.

Rotherham took another huge stride in their fight to avoid the drop as they ran riot in a 4-0 win over relegation rivals MK Dons and are now nine points clear of the bottom three, as Matt Derbyshire, Leon Best, Kirk Broadfoot and Richard Smallwood all found the back of the net.

QPR all but sealed Charlton’s relegation to League One as they scored in stoppage-time to beat the Addicks 2-1. Matt Phillips had put Rangers in front, before the visitors responded through Jordan Cousins, but Nasser El Khayati’s 94th minute strike leaves Jose Riga’s side ten points adrift of safety with only five games remaining.

Bristol City’s Kodjia bagged his 15th goal of the season in the Robins’ impressive 4-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Ashton Gate – Photo: Steve Parkin/Well Offside.

Bristol City all but confirmed their Championship status for next season after a 4-1 victory over play-off hopefuls Sheffield Wednesday to move ten points clear of the relegation zone. Bobby Reid, Jonathan Kodjia and a Lee Tomlin brace gave the Robins a 4-0 lead with over half-an-hour left to play, before goalkeeper Richard O’Donnell put the ball into his own net on the hour-mark to gift the Owls a consolation.

Fulham are also ten points clear of the drop after their 2-1 win over Cardiff, who are now five points off the play-offs. Lex Immers put the Welsh club ahead, but strikes from Scott Parker and a second-half stoppage-time winner from Emerson Hyndman on his 20th birthday sealed the win for the Cottagers.

Hull’s automatic promotion hopes were dealt a major blow after they drew 2-2 at Huddersfield. The Terriers went ahead twice through Jamie Paterson and an Harry Maguire own goal with the Tigers responding through Abel Hernandez and Adama Diomande in stoppage-time.

Birmingham are nine points off the play-offs, despite defeating Reading 2-0 thanks to Clayton Donaldson’s header and Ryan Shotton’s well-timed finish giving the Blues a comfortable margin before half-time.

Ipswich missed the chance to close the gap on the play-off’s after a 3-1 defeat to Brentford. Sam Saunders put the visitors in front before Lasse Vibe scored twice in five minutes as the Bees raced into a 3-0 lead. Liam Feeney’s late strike for the hosts was a mere consolation. However it was not all good news for Dean Smith’s side as Republic of Ireland Alan Judge was stretchered off with a suspected broken leg.

Elsewhere Wolves drew 0-0 at home with Blackburn in a mid-table clash, with ‘keeper Carl Ikeme producing a series of superb saves to extend the hosts’ unbeaten run to six matches.

Player of the Weekend: Lasse Vibe (Brentford)
Team of the Weekend: Bristol City
Goal of the Weekend: Johnny Russell (DERBY v Bolton) – First strike