Championship round-up

Barnsley 1 Ipswich Town 0

The Tykes, having sacked manager Andy Ritchie and brought in four players on loan, saw one of them, Grant McCann (Cheltenham), score a late goal to earn a first win for caretaker-manager Simon Davey. The winner came from a cross by another loan signing, Kyel Reid (West Ham), which was cleared only as far as McCann, who fired in. "Now it's important to go out there and get three points on Tuesday against Southend," Davey said.

Colchester Utd 3 Southend Utd 0

A tempestuous Essex derby saw Southend reduced to nine men when Kevin Maher and Mark Gower were sent off in the 51st and 56th minutes, after which Colchester went 2-0 up, Greg Halford and Pat Baldwin on target. The Us then had Chris Barker sent off, but Jamie Cureton added a third goal. Southend felt Colchester's Karl Duguid was the villain by feigning injury to get Maher sent off. "He's put his face in my face," Duguid responded. "If you do that you get sent off. It's as simple as that."

Derby County 1 Leicester City 0

Having netted in the Rams' two previous away games Jon Stead scored again in the 53rd minute, the first time the former Blackburn and on-loan Sunderland striker has been on target at home for anyone since May 2004. Leicester were denied an equaliser for handball. "It was a goal, I have seen the video and I cannot see a handball," Leicester boss Rob Kelly fumed. Derby go fourth. "I do not look at the table," Rams chief Billy Davis said, "only at the next game."

Norwich City 1 Hull City 1

An injury-time equaliser with the last kick of the match earned Hull a point, but it did not stop them dropping into the relegation places. Robert Earnshaw gave Norwich the lead in the 72nd minute, but in the third minute of time added on, Stuart Elliott crossed, Nick Barmby headed the ball back across goal and Michael Turner scored. "I've got to criticise the supporters because they never got behind us when we needed them most," the Norwich manager, Peter Grant, complained.

Plymouth 1 Leeds Utd 2

Leeds' first away win since 27 August lifted them out of the bottom three, with Eddie Lewis setting up the first goal for Robbie Blake, scoring the second and clearing off the line. Bojan Djordic headed Argyle's 40th-minute equaliser. "The result has brought a couple of other teams closer to us whom we can now try to catch," Leeds manager Dennis Wise said. "Our home form is not what we wish," was Argyle manager Ian Holloway's understatement.

QPR 0 Coventry City 1

Coventry's team coach did not arrive at their hotel so they took the Tube to get to Rangers, arrived 40 minutes before kick-off, had the better chances in the first half, and won the match when, three minutes into the second period, Dele Adebola turned on the edge of the area and beat Simon Royce with a powerful left-footed shot. Rangers suffered more than just defeat. Their striker Dexter Blackstock is to have an X-ray on a suspected fractured cheekbone.

Southampton 2 Luton Town 1

The Saints led in the 15th minute, Chris Baird nodding in at the far post. It was 2-0 before the break, Leon Barnett handling and Grzegorz Rasiak scoring the penalty, his 11th goal of the season. "The goal that decided the game was given for handball but the ball struck the Southampton striker's hand," Mike Newell, the Luton manager, said. "Their player looked as if he was trying to play basketball," Saints boss George Burley replied. Russell Perrett scored for Luton.