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Coventry stay clear at Championship summit with Bristol City win

By AFP
December 15, 2025
A representational image showing a football in a field. — Pixabay/File
A representational image showing a football in a field. — Pixabay/File

London: Coventry maintained their five-point lead at the top of English football’s second-tier Championship with a 1-0 win over Bristol City on Saturday.

Ephron Mason-Clark scored the winner for the hosts in the second half as the Sky Blues maintained their advantage over second-placed Middlesbrough. Boro made it four wins from four under new head coach Kim Hellberg thanks to a comfortable 3-1 win over Queens Park Rangers.

The northeast side were 2-0 up before the break thanks to David Strelec and a sixth goal in six games from Morgan Whittaker. Tommy Conway’s penalty -- his first goal since August -- wrapped up victory in the second half as Middlesbrough increased their advantage over third-placed Preston to seven points, with only the top two at the end of the regular season guaranteed promotion to the lucrative Premier League. Kyle Joseph scored twice in the early stages as Hull kept themselves sixth with a 3-1 victory away to 10-man Millwall.

This was the Tigers’ second straight win and this was an encounter they largely controlled as they went back above Stoke who won earlier on Saturday. Defeat meant promotion-chasing Millwall lost for the first time in five games to drop to fourth place, while they also lost top scorer Femi Azeez to a straight red card in the second half.

Abdul Fatawu scored a spectacular goal from inside his own half as Leicester won 3-1 at home to in-form Ipswich at the King Power Stadium. Fatawu’s astounding lob from some 65 yards, doubled Leicester’s lead two minutes before half-time, after Bobby De Cordova-Reid’s powerful early strike.