Championship Round-Up

Burnley 0 Preston NE 2

Without their suspended leading scorer Ade Akinbiyi, the home side struggled to convert plentiful possession into chances. Preston's David Nugent and Graham Alexander showed them how it should be done. After 13 minutes, Paul McKenna slipped a free-kick to Alexander who set up Nugent's volley. Four minutes from time, a foul by Frank Sinclair on Patrick Agyemang resulted in a Preston penalty which Alexander thumped in.

Coventry City 6 Derby County 1

The Sky Blues' new signing, Dennis Wise, galvanised City after they gave the Rams a goal start after 64 seconds, Paul Peschisolido on target. City equalised in the fifth minute through Stern John and then pulverised Derby with five goals in the second half. John's second established their lead, Wise scored the third, Dele Adebola, a handful throughout, made it 4-1 and Gary McSheffrey's double took his season's tally to 12. Coventry moved above Derby with a much-enhanced goal difference.

Crewe Alexandra 1 Plymouth 2

Shoring up a porous back four (goal difference minus 30) by signing full-back Jon Otsemobor from Liverpool and adding bite to attack by recruiting striker Gareth Taylor from Forest did little to dispel the spectre of relegation at Crewe as two Paul Wotton goals, a third-minute penalty and a free-kick in first-half time added on, saw Argyle register only their third win away from Home Park. Luke Rodgers pulled one back in the second period, but Crewe look frail.

Leicester City 1 Cardiff City 2

Dropped into the bottom three by last week's defeat at Hillsborough, Leicester had more misery heaped on them in their increasingly woeful season when Cameron Jerome's 15th goal of the season, a header from Neil Ardley's cross, and Jason Koumas's 10th, from a 20-yard second-half free-kick, sealed Cardiff's win. Four minutes from the break 19-year-old Matt Fryatt's first goal since moving from Walsall, a firm header, had pulled Craig Levein's side level, but it was a false dawn.

Millwall 0 Wolves 0

After their narrow FA Cup replay defeat at Everton, the Lions desperately need a Championship pick-me-up and can certainly count a hard-won point against promotion hopefuls Wolves as a restorative tonic. With striker Kenny Miller - who is off to Celtic in the summer - in Wolves' starting line-up, the visitors ought to have threatened more but the closest they came to scoring was a Mark Kennedy free-kick which hit the crossbar. Millwall's stout defending did the rest.

Sheffield Utd 3 Brighton 1

After a dreary first half, the second-placed Blades were too strong in all departments for Brighton and stormed to an ultimately comfortable win with goals by captain Phil Jagielka, Paul Ifill and Michael Tonge, his first of the season, in a 22-minute second-half spell. Colin Kazim-Richards got Brighton's late consolation. Jagielka had already volleyed in Chris Armstrong's cross, Ifill then cut in from the right to make it 2-0, and Steve Kabba set up in Tonge for the third.

Stoke City 0 Hull City 3

Boaz Myhill, the Tigers goalkeeper, saved two Stoke penalties, denying Paul Gallagher and Luke Chadwick, as Hull registered their first away win in 10 matches. Darel Russell's own goal from a Stuart Elliott cross had given Peter Taylor's side a seventh-minute lead before Myhill foiled Gallagher. Jon Parkin made it 2-0 and then, just past the hour, Myhill again denied the Tigers. To add insult, substitute Daryl Duffy fired in Hull's third, and his first for the club.