How the Irish fared: Arter’s day again as Bournemouth go four clear

Harry Arter marked his 25th birthday in style by scoring for the fifth successive league game as Bournemouth beat Millwall 2-0 to move four points clear at the top of the Championship.

“It’s come out the blue for Harry Arter,” Bournemouth manager Eddie Howe said of the midfielder’s recent goal-glut. “We need goals from everywhere and it is good to see Harry continue his run.”

Millwall’s misery was confounded by the dismissal of Shaun Williams 10 minutes from the end.

Millwall boss Ian Holloway was unimpressed by the defender’s indiscipline.

He said: “We are working towards what we want. Unfortunately, though, it isn’t coming at the moment but we can’t be losing our discipline like Williams has done. He should have got on with it.”

Elsewhere, Simon Cox scored what proved to be the winner as Reading beat Norwich 2-1, the Royals’ first win under Steve Clarke.

Victory lifted Reading nine points clear of the relegation zone and dented Norwich’s play-off hopes. It was Cox’s eighth goal of the season. Struggling Wigan host Sheffield Wednesday tonight on the back of a victory over Leeds on St Stephen’s Day and winger James McClean hopes the win at Elland Road can spark an upturn in fortunes.

McClean, who scored a goal and made a goal against Leeds, said: “Winning is the perfect confidence boost going into Sheffield Wednesday and into the new year, but beating Leeds will mean nothing if we don’t start kicking on from it.

“We’re not where we want to be in the table, so hopefully we can go on a run similar to the one we went on last year.

“It’s got to be about pushing ourselves up the table and staying away from the relegation zone. If the performance at Elland Road doesn’t give us the confidence to beat Sheffield Wednesday, then nothing will.

“Hopefully the win can kick us on this season and get us onto a good run of results, something we’ve not been able to do so far this season.”

In League One, Darren Potter endured a miserable day as MK Dons crashed to a 3-0 home defeat to Walsall.

Potter’s own goal after just four minutes but MK Dons on the backfoot from the start and his weak back header gifted Walsall a second goal.

MK Dons manager Karl Robinson admitted those errors proved costly.

He said: “It was a wicked deflection off Darren Potter and an individual error by him which he’s owned up for, so when you look at margins in a football match there wasn’t a lot between us.”

In League Two, it was a miserable day for Cian Bolger as he was sent off in Southend’s scoreless draw with Dagenham.

Southend boss Phil Brown said of the incident: “He came together with their centre-half afterwards and their defender went to ground far too easily. If Cian’s head has gone forward, that’s the only thing the referee can judge it on.

“I won’t be coming down heavy on Cian Bolger. His team-mates have got behind him in there and we didn’t lose the game.”