Ireland defender Dunne rises to QPR rescue again as Coventry stretch eight clear

Championship round-up: Second-place Middlesbrough held at home as Frank Lampard's Sky Blue leaders win ninth home game of season 

LEADING HIS WAY: Jimmy Dunne helped Queens Park Rangers in the playoff hunt. Pic: by Cameron Howard/Getty Images

Ireland international Jimmy Dunne rescued a point to keep his QPR side in the hunt for the play-offs with a 1-1 draw at Portsmouth.

Terry Devlin had put John Mousinho's side ahead on the stroke of half-time but Rangers deservedly equalised through captain Dunne's header after an improved second-half showing.

Pompey were much the better side in the first half of this Sky Bet Championship contest and QPR dominated after the break, with the result a fair reflection of the 90 minutes.

Four points from their previous two games had eased some of the pressure on Pompey and edged them out of the relegation zone but they dropped back into the bottom three on goal difference after this result and with Oxford winning against Southampton.

Leaders Coventry stretched their lead at the top to eight points following a hard-fought 1-0 win over Swansea.

Ephron Mason-Clark's emphatic finish just before half-time was enough to give the Sky Blues a ninth home Championship win of the season.

But the usually free-scoring Sky Blues were made to work hard for the points and were perhaps somewhat fortunate to have found themselves in front at half-time.

The resolute visitors had done a fine job in keeping the hosts quiet but were undone a minute before the break by Mason-Clark's opener.

It failed to spark Coventry into life with the hosts fading once again after a good spell of pressure early in the second half.

It was the visitors who enjoyed the best of the second-half chances and could well have snatched a point with better finishing after both Liam Cullen and Melker Widell wasted good chances to equalise.

It leaves City - who are unbeaten at home this season - with a commanding 13-point cushion on the chasing pack as they look to bring Premier League football to Coventry for the first time in 25 seasons.

Second-place Middlesbrough's festive stutter continued as they were held to a goalless Championship draw by Blackburn at the Riverside.

The Teessiders suffered their first defeat under new head coach Kim Hellberg as they lost 2-0 at Bristol City in their final game before Christmas, while they were unable to find the net again as they were frustrated by a resolute Blackburn rearguard.

Stan Mills scored a brilliant individual winning goal a minute from time to give managerless Oxford a 2-1 victory over Southampton at the Kassam Stadium.

Recalled midfielder Tyler Goodrham rifled the U's in front in the 23rd minute with a thumping drive from 20 yards as Saints struggled to clear a corner.

Southampton levelled six minutes later when centre-back Taylor Harwood-Bellis headed Leo Scienza's free-kick from the right past Jamie Cumming and into the bottom left corner of the net.

The match looked destined to finish as a draw but Mills had other ideas, running with the ball 50 yards, taking a return pass from Will Lankshear, then hitting a low angled shot under keeper Gavin Bazunu.

High-flying Hull missed the chance to go third in the Sky Bet Championship after twice coming from behind to salvage a 2-2 draw away to rock-bottom Sheffield Wednesday.

Wednesday, who took step closer to a takeover on Christmas Eve when a consortium led by James Bord was named as the preferred bidder by administrators, initially led through Svante Ingelsson before Mohamed Belloumi claimed City's first equaliser.

Matt Crooks earned the Tigers a point at Hillsborough with a 65th-minute leveller after Bailey Cadamarteri had restored the Owls' advantage.

First-half goals from Anis Mehmeti and Ross McCrorie helped Bristol City climb into the Sky Bet Championship play-off zone with a 2-1 victory over West Brom at The Hawthorns.

Ousmane Diakite pulled one back in the 85th minute but Albion struggled to create chances once City had taken the lead.

Back-to-back wins for City saw Albion suffer a first Hawthorns defeat in eight matches and successive losses.

Jovon Makama maintained his hot streak in front of goal as Norwich beat Charlton 1-0 at Carrow Road to give their bid to move clear of the Championship relegation zone another boost.

Iman Louza played a starring role with two assists as Watford came from behind to win 2-1 at Leicester and claim back-to-back victories for the first time this season in the Sky Bet Championship.

Preston extended their unbeaten run in the Sky Bet Championship to seven matches following a 0-0 draw away at Stoke. Both sides had chances to score in a hard-fought encounter, but they ultimately cancelled each other out as the spoils were shared.

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