Championship roundup: Blades stun Bristol City with 98th-minute winner

Date: 2024-11-06
Sheffield United's Harrison Burrows (centre) celebrates after the final whistle
Sheffield United's Harrison Burrows (centre) celebrates after the final whistle. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA
Sheffield United's Harrison Burrows (centre) celebrates after the final whistle. Photograph: Nick Potts/PA

Championship roundup: Blades stun Bristol City with 98th-minute winner

  • Sheffield United move into second after late Burrows goal
  • Wayne Rooney’s Plymouth claim first win in five

Harrison Burrows scored with almost the last kick of the game as Sheffield United came from behind to snatch a 2-1 Championship victory over Bristol City at Ashton Gate.

The hosts took a 75th-minute lead when substitute Sinclair Armstrong raced onto Max Bird’s through-ball and was tripped as he rounded goalkeeper Michael Cooper. Another replacement, Anis Mehmeti, drilled the resulting spot-kick low to Cooper’s right and, although the keeper guessed the direction correctly, he could not prevent the ball from nestling in the bottom corner.

The Blades’ 86th-minute leveller came from a left-wing corner, unnecessarily conceded by City goalkeeper Max O’Leary’s mistimed punch when he could have caught the ball. His defence failed to get a telling touch and yet another sub, Ryan Oné, rose to nod home.

The seven minutes of indicated stoppage time had been played when Burrows struck a sweet left-footed shot past O’Leary from inside the box to send the Sheffield United fans behind the goal into rapturous celebrations.

The result ended City’s eight-match unbeaten run and their misery was compounded by a red card for defender Rob Dickie for denying a goalscoring opportunity just before Burrows’ winner.

Sheffield Wednesday, who meet United in the season’s first Steel City derby on Sunday, bounced back from their weekend Hillsborough hammering with a 2-0 home Championship win against Norwich.

The Owls shipped five second-half goals in Saturday’s 6-2 home defeat to Watford, but two before the break from Josh Windass and Dominic Iorfa against the Canaries were enough to see them respond in style.

Norwich were unbeaten in seven games before conceding two late goals when losing 2-1 at Cardiff at the weekend and they have dropped to 12th in the table – level on 18 points with the Owls – after back-to-back defeats.

Sheffield Wednesday’s Josh Windass scores his side’s opening goal. Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA

Middlesbrough got back to winning ways with a dominant 4-1 victory over QPR at Loftus Road. After the weekend’s disappointing 3-0 collapse against Coventry, Boro bounced back with first-half goals from Riley McGree and Tommy Conway.

After Anfernee Dijksteel scored an own goal in the second half, Emmanuel Latte Lath killed the game off with a composed finish in the 87th minute and Dan Barlaser added a fourth in stoppage time.

Dutch defender Hidde ter Avest scored on his debut to earn Oxford a first win in nine games – 1-0 against Hull at the Kassam Stadium.

The Tigers enjoyed much the better of the first half but could not find the net. And Ter Avest converted Greg Leigh’s cross 10 minutes after the break following a cross-field pass by Tyler Goodrham which left Hull’s defence stretched.

Victory saw promoted Oxford leapfrog Hull and was a welcome return to winning ways after four without a win at home. By contrast, this defeat extended Hull’s winless run to six games to increase the pressure on boss Tim Walter.

Wayne Rooney’s Plymouth claimed their first win in five Championship matches after beating bottom-placed Portsmouth 1-0. Second-half substitute Michael Obafemi scored an 82nd-minute solo goal to ignite this south-coast meeting at a sold-out Home Park.

The 24-year-old Republic of Ireland striker muscled Pompey captain Regan Poole off a long through-ball from Argyle keeper Dan Grimshaw before smashing a first time low strike into the corner past keeper Nicolas Schmid.

Myles Peart-Harris bagged his first goal for Swansea as the Brentford loanee helped to make it back-to-back wins with a 1-0 home triumph over Watford.

Pos Team P GD Pts
1 Sunderland 13 14 29
2 Sheff Utd 14 11 28
3 Leeds 13 14 26
4 Burnley 13 11 23
5 Watford 14 0 22
6 West Brom 13 6 21
7 Middlesbrough 14 2 21
8 Millwall 13 4 19
9 Blackburn 13 2 19
10 Swansea 14 2 19
11 Bristol City 14 -1 19
12 Norwich 14 3 18
13 Sheff Wed 14 -7 18
14 Oxford Utd 14 0 17
15 Coventry 13 0 15
16 Derby 13 -1 15
17 Hull 14 -3 15
18 Stoke 13 -3 15
19 Cardiff 13 -6 15
20 Plymouth 14 -11 15
21 Preston North End 13 -6 14
22 Luton 13 -6 12
23 QPR 14 -11 10
24 Portsmouth 14 -14 9