Saints on Fire & Coventry’s Wait Continues - Football Park’s EFL Championship Roundup GW 42

Saints on Fire & Coventry’s Wait Continues - Football Park’s EFL Championship Roundup GW 42

The end of season push continued in the EFL Championship on Saturday, with teams hoping for a maximum return for various reasons across the country.

After an Easter Monday which promised so much down the bottom of the table, this weekend offered those a chance to make amends to prove their worthiness of a second tier return for next season.

Starting the day with a surprising draw in Coventry, the day saw a low number of 17 goals across the 10 matches and Football Park are here to let you relive the stories from each fixture.

Cov Celebrations Delayed by Owls while Boro Fail to Match Ipswich

The day began at 12:30 with the most notable fixture taking place at the Coventry Building Society Arena when they welcomed already relegated Sheffield Wednesday to town knowing that victory would secure a long-awaited Premier League return. Meanwhile, in East Anglia, Norwich City welcomed automatic promotion chasing and arch rivals Ipswich Town to Carrow Road.

It was a game of the visitors having to act as a sponge for the most part, with Frank Lampard's side pumping out 20 shots to Wednesday's eight. But despite a 2.64 xG, the Owls defence held on firm to earn a good-looking point. Ellis Simms had a headed chance for what would have sent the home end into raptures late into stoppage time, but his effort went narrowly wide meaning Coventry still need one more point to mathematically book their spot in the 2026/27 Premier League.

In East Anglia, Norwich fans did not have much to laugh about early on, when Anis Ben Slimane brought down Jack Taylor in the penalty area, for which Jaden Philogene-Bidace converted to give the visitors the early advantage.

The dangerous chances kept falling to Ipswich throughout despite Norwich slowly finding some of their own. However, the Canaries found their jobs much harder when George Hirst found a second just before half-time.

The hosts never seemed to quite recover, gifting their rivals the bragging rights after winning both fixtures as they leapfrogged Millwall to return to second in the table.

Later on, we headed to the Riverside Stadium as Middlesbrough looked to close the gap on the automatics once more when they hosted Portsmouth. From the outset, it was all Boro with chance after chance, racking up 20 overall.

Deservedly so, Pompey goalkeeper Nicolas Schmid earned player of the match as he led his defence from the back to frustrate their hosts throughout the game, making an incredible eight saves.

One of which came late on in the piece, when Riley McGree received the ball on the edge of the box following a corner. The number eight took it down before powering a strong shot through an array of players and forcing an impressive save from Schmid to deny.

ABSOLUTE LIMBS! 🤯

THE PORTSMOUTH WINNER FROM THE STANDS 🤩🤩🤩#Pompey #PFC
pic.twitter.com/u9bJWlEC2R

— The 44 ⚽️ (@The_Forty_Four) April 11, 2026

The only goal came seven minutes into injury in typical Championship fashion, as a shot was struck through the crowd by Adrian Segecic before coming off Conor Chaplin to steal all three points and draw them further from Leicester City in 23rd.

Relegation Picture Looks As Unpredictable As Ever

On top of Pompey's massive win over Middlesbrough, relegation candidates Leciester, Oxford United, Blackburn Rovers and Charlton were also in action today as they start desperately searching for any points.

At the King Power Stadium, point-deducted Foxes welcomed Swansea City. The first half showed a lot of promise for the hosts, who had multiple spells of serious pressure but they could not quite apply the finishing touches.

The second half started poorly, with Swansea looking brighter and they quickly got their reward, with Golden Boot leader Zan Vipotnik netting his 21st goal of the campaign to extend his lead.

With Pompey winning and Leicester having lost, the Foxes chances of survival now hang by a thread - something which Oxford do not have to worry about for another week after their impressive showing at home to Watford.

The Hornets had a better start of the two but were caught out completely from an Oxford free-kick in the 19th minute which fell to Myles Peart-Harris who kept his calm to open the scoring.

Although the match remained close throughout, Oxford had the edge on Watford, and as the Hornets made one last push to find an equaliser, it was Mark Harris who capitalised on a poor pass to make a darting run into the box before shooting across Egil Selvik to find the far corner to keep them within a point of safety.

OXFORD ARE BEATING WATFORD 🚨🚨🚨

RELEGATION BATTLE HEATING UP!pic.twitter.com/RnyD8DJK1T

— The 44 ⚽️ (@The_Forty_Four) April 11, 2026

Next up was Balckburn and Charlton, with neither necessarily in desperate need of points but wins now would mean they would be safe heading into the last couple games. Rovers travelled to a tricky Stoke City, and despite netting early on through Adam Forshaw and the hosts being forced into the early defensive change of Ben Gibson, it did not stop the Potters from replying briskly in the second half courtesy of Jesurun Rak-Sakyi. Stoke's Ashley Phillips did find himself receiving a red card three minutes from time, but it was too late for Blackburn to find a late winner forcing them to settle for a point.

Charlton also welcomed Preston North End at 3pm at The Valley, looking for a win to put them eight points clear of the drop zone, but Preston had othef plans for the Addicks.

A relatively bright start for both sides, it didn't take long for the hosts to find the breakthrough through Joe Rankin-Costello on the 18th minute. However, Preston responded in quick fashion, courtesy of a Lewis Dobbin header into the top left hand corner.

Midway through the second half, Dobbin turned provider to send the visitors into a lead against the run of play - coming through a fast break which was well orchestrated from them, with Brad Potts contributing the finishing touch to drag the Addicks into somewhat of a relegation scrap.

Saints Continue Dominant Run as Tigers Falter

After defeating Arsenal in the FA Cup quarter finals in an upset for the ages, Saints made a firm statement in the playoffs race, as they eased past Wrexham midweek. On Saturday, they welcomed playoff-chasing Derby County looking for another win to end Derby's hopes and continue pushing up the table.

Southampton looked brilliant once again at St Mary's and showed exactly why they deserve to be back in the topflight, but it didn't come easy for them. Shortly before the interval, Carlton Morris poked the Rams in front to temporarily move them to within two points of the top six.

However, as they have done so consistently under Tonda Eckert, Southampton didn't give in and battled their way back into the game and quickly found a lead of their own 20 minutes from time. Leo Scienza was at his brilliant best and a Taylor Harwood-Bellis header meant Saints leapfrog Hull City into fifth place after their 17 game unbeaten and five clear of seventh-placed Wrexham.

Southampton's admin is RUTHLESS 😭😭😭😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/84OHQFjJzf

— Football Hub (@FootbalIhub) April 11, 2026

Hull City, meanwhile, suffered the opposite of Saints, finding a lead at Bramall Lane stripped from them late on to go home with nothing. Ollie McBurnie made sure the Tigers started brightly, netting home just five minutes into proceedings.

A fascinating game then began to unfold in Yorkshire, with both sides showing some promise to trouble the 'keepers. However, it took a red card for former Blade John Lundstram to really open up the match with 15 minutes to go. The Blades were awarded a penalty which Gus Hamer converted confidently, before veteran Danny Ings netted three minutes later to secure all three points.

Queen's Park Rangers hosted Roy Hodgson's Bristol City, but it did turn out to be a first dropped points outing back in the Robins dugout, as both sides played out a stale draw.

This meant that both teams added just one on their tally, and remain 10 points off the playoffs, and with only 12 points possible in their remaining games, it looks unlikely we will see either side in the playoffs.