Championship: Burnley go second, while Derby make it three wins in a row

Burnley won 2-0 away to Swansea City to go second in the Championship and cut the gap to league leaders Leeds United to just two points.

The Clarets had earlier seen Leeds drop points in a 2-2 draw away to Queens Park Rangers and capitalised, keeping a Championship record 27th clean sheet of the season in doing so.

Top scorer Josh Brownhill got things going after just four minutes, turning home Zian Flemming’s cross after the latter had stolen possession in midfield.

Jaidon Anthony doubled the lead 16 minutes later, finishing from close range after a move started by goalscorer Brownhill.

Burnley saw out the match with relative ease from then, with Swansea registering just one shot on target throughout the 90 minutes. The hosts are 16th in the table following the match, six points from the drop.

Taking all three points back to Burnley pic.twitter.com/zIsP0Gb6Nf

— Burnley FC (@BurnleyOfficial) March 15, 2025

Elsewhere, Coventry City got back to winning ways and solidified their place in the top six with a 3-0 victory over Sunderland thanks to a Haji Wright hat-trick.

USA international Wright opened the scoring with drilled finish on 21 minutes, while it was two just eight minutes later after Wright netted a penalty.

The match was effectively over as a contest when Wright sealed his treble in the 73rd minute, dinking an effort over visiting stopper Anthony Patterson.

Following the result, the Sky Blues climb to fifth in the table, two points above seventh-placed Bristol City. Sunderland drop to fourth and trail second-placed Burnley by nine points.

Derby County earned a huge three points at the bottom of the Championship with a 3-2 victory away to fellow relegation candidates Plymouth Argyle.

Harrison Armstrong and Marcus Harness had put the Rams two up in 26 minutes at Home Park, before Mustapha Bundu reduced Plymouth’s arrears in the 38th minute.

It was 2-2 just a minute into the second half after Nat Phillips turned Ryan Hardie’s cross into his own goal. But Derby were not to be denied, with Harness netting what could prove to be a vital 88th-minute winner.

The victory, which was Derby’s third on the spin, takes the visitors to within a point of safety. Plymouth are bottom of the league and now trail fourth-bottom Cardiff City by six points with eight games remaining.

THREE WINS IN A ROW! ic.twitter.com/h2aPmVqCZU

— Derby County (@dcfcofficial) March 15, 2025

That gap exists after Cardiff picked up a big three points with a 2-1 victory away to play-off chasers Blackburn Rovers.

Yousef Salech scored his sixth goal for the club after four minutes, heading home Simon Mannsverk’s cross before Yuki Ohashi levelled things 12 minutes later.

But Yakou Meite was on hand to contribute the winner on 73 minutes, snapping a streak of four straight defeats in all competitions. The win leaves Cardiff fourth-bottom, one point above the relegation zone while Blackburn are ninth and five points back on sixth.

HUGE! #CityAsOne pic.twitter.com/FpJ4oRoqtL

— Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) March 15, 2025

Oxford United ended a nine-match winless run after beating Watford 1-0 at the Kassam Stadium.

Siriki Dembele scored the winning goal in the 82nd minute after James Abankwah had been sent off for the visitors three minutes earlier for two bookable offences.

The result lifts Oxford to 18th and puts four points between themselves and the bottom three, while Watford are 10th and trail the play-offs by five points.

THREE POINTS SECURED. pic.twitter.com/bKxk373JsP

— Oxford United (@OUFCOfficial) March 15, 2025