West Brom consolidate playoff place with win over Rotherham Blackburn’s relegation fears increase in 5-0 defeat by Bristol City Ipswich missed the chance to climb back to the top of the Championship after being held to a goalless draw by Watford. Four days after losing to Norwich at Carrow Road, the Tractor Boys once again failed to find the net but they did extend their unbeaten home league run to 19 games. Kieran McKenna’s side did move into second place, one point above Leeds, but are separated from leaders Leicester, who have a game in hand, by goal difference. West Brom consolidated fif ..read more

Summerville and James take Leeds back up to second John Eustace earns first win as Rovers manager with 5-1 victory Leeds retook the second place held briefly by Leicester after Crysencio Summerville’s late penalty and Dan James’s spectacular strike gave them a 3-1 home win over Hull. Sam Byram’s header put the hosts ahead, Fábio Carvalho equalised but Regan Slater fouled Summerville in the area. The winger got up to convert the spot-kick before James sealed the victory in style, sending the ball sailing into the unattended goal from just inside Hull’s half as his side broke following a corne ..read more

A late onslaught on a tiring home defence brought Leeds an equaliser and several near misses, but not the third goal that would have rewarded them with victory and first place in the Championship. Instead Watford became just the second league opponents this calendar year they have failed to beat, the home side twice taking the lead and holding it until the 85th minute when Mateo Joseph, just 25 seconds after coming on as substitute, levelled the game with his first league goal. Leeds arrived at Vicarage Road in extraordinary form, a phenomenal three-month surge having taken them from fourth at ..read more

Championship updates from the 8pm GMT kick-off Bristol City 1-0 LeicesterRoundupAnd Here they are … Hello, hello, hello and welcome to coverage of Leeds United’s trip to Watford. It’s all going rather well for the boys from Elland Road, having gone 13 games unbeaten in the league, 12 of those wins, overturning Leicester’s 17-point lead at the top in the process. Wild ..read more

Ismaël becomes latest Watford sacking after 10 months in job Former England midfielder Tom Cleverley named interim Watford have named Tom Cleverley as interim manager after sacking Valérien Ismaël following a run of only one win in 10 league games. Ismaël was appointed in May 2023 after Chris Wilder’s exit, becoming the 19th full-time managerial appointment made by the Pozzo family in 11 years. Recent results had put pressure on him, though, with the decision made in the wake of Saturday’s home defeat to Coventry ..read more

Coventry host non-leaguers after win over Sheffield Wednesday Leeds earn extra-time victory; Southampton will face Liverpool Three extra-time goals fired Leeds into the FA Cup fifth round with a 4-1 win at Championship rivals Plymouth. The substitutes Crysencio Summerville and Georginio Rutter combined to put the visitors 3-1 up before a 117th-minute own goal by Argyle striker Ryan Hardie capped a comprehensive Leeds win. They will now travel to Aston Villa or Chelsea on 28 February. Leeds hit the woodwork twice in the opening 20 minutes of a hard-fought first half but the tie was goalless a ..read more

Charges relate to Spanish club Granada between 2009 and 2015 Pozzo accused of evading more than €9m in tax on transfers The Spanish anti-corruption prosecutor’s office has recommended a 12-year prison sentence for Watford’s owner, Gino Pozzo, after he was accused of implementing “a long-term criminal plan” while in charge of the Spanish club Granada to evade paying more than €9m in tax on transfers. Pozzo – who took over Watford with his father, Giampaolo, in 2012 and became sole owner in 2014 – has been under investigation for several years in Spain over alleged tax fraud related to his spe ..read more

Jake Livermore has never been much of a goalscorer. And yet he celebrated the first of two smoothly delivered strikes from the edge of the QPR area with the nonchalance of the regular marksman. The second, too, was greeted with a knowing smirk. “The big man turns up and scores an absolute belter,” said Watford’s goalkeeper Ben Hamer, equally without whom Watford would not have claimed three points in their chase for the Championship playoffs. “Giving it the Cantona, wasn’t he ..read more

As the seconds ticked down to the final whistle with the scores level it was Watford, 10th in the Championship, who would have been feeling most grateful at the prospect of a replay. Chesterfield are the best team outside the Football League and looked more than ready for the promotion that seems likely to end their season, leading for nearly 50 minutes and missing a wonderful chance to go back ahead in the final minutes. But in the fifth of six added minutes the Hornets stole it, Tom Dele-Bashiru jinking into the box before poking a low shot past Ryan Boot. After the Spireites’ extended spell ..read more

National League leaders, who reached the FA Cup semi-finals in 1997, are in confident mood before Saturday’s visit to Watford The FA Cup’s former ability to convert market-town footballers into figures recognised nationally was shown by a recent social media time capsule. There emerged a short clip from a 1997 edition from the BBC guffaw-fest They Think It’s All Over featuring a blindfolded Rory McGrath and Gary Lineker feeling the bumps of a full-kit Sean Dyche and fellow members of the Chesterfield team that had reached that season’s semi-finals. The players, and their manager, John Duncan ..read more