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Ipswich the biggest winners as Coventry, Middlesbrough and Millwall all drop points

Ipswich Town were the biggest winners on Saturday as Coventry, Middlesbrough and Millwall all drop points in the battle for promotion.

The league leaders Coventry suffered a 2-1 defeat at home to Southampton, while Middlesbrough conceded a 96th minute equaliser to Bristol City.

Millwall had been leading against Blackburn, until they were reduced to 10 men, then Mathias Jorgensen scored twice in the final 10 minutes to stun the hosts.

At the top, Ipswich move to within two points of the automatic promotion places after slip-ups from Millwall and Middlesbrough.

A round up on who it fared for those down the bottom can be seen HERE.

Credit – BBC Sport

SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 0-2 IPSWICH

Ipswich’s Kieran McKenna told BBC Radio Suffolk:

“We would have loved to have got an early goal, and we know that would have changed the game.

“We really emphasise trying to start fast and come out and get it, but we didn’t manage to do that.

“We didn’t take the couple of early chances we had, and then as the game wears on, you can get a little bit tense.

“Then it’s about just staying disciplined and trying not to give anything away. It took to the later stages, we knew that might be the way and it was today.

“The bonus was we got a clean sheet, we didn’t give much away, and we give ourselves a chance to show our quality with the goals at the end.”

Sheffield Wednesday boss Henrik Pedersen said to BBC Radio Sheffield:

“It was a tough, tough game against a very strong opponent. Players for players, a strong, strong team and a fantastic manager.

“With this cocktail, we all knew this would be a big challenge today but I think we showed that the boys really tried.

“We worked into the game and we played a really strong first half.

“Second half, first 10 minutes we had some challenges to correct to the tactical changes. We had a difficult period up to the [first] goal.”

COVENTRY 1-2 SOUTHAMPTON

Coventry head coach Frank Lampard told BBC Radio CWR:

“On a statistical basis, we shouldn’t lose the game because we created enough big chances to score three or four goals – we had five big chances in the game.

“In the first half, I think they wanted to slow the game down from the start and we bought into that a little bit. We normally have more energy in our game.

“We’re not happy with the goals we conceded. You can’t get that wrong because you won’t win games of football, and we weren’t clinical at the top end.

“By our own standards, were we as good as we want to be? No, but that’s football at this stage of the season, you just want to try to get a result.

“We gave everything and we have to go again.”

Southampton boss Tonda Eckert told BBC Radio Solent:

“It’s not easy to come here, they have lost only once at home all season. We knew it would be tough, especially as it was the fourth game away from home on the bounce.

“Away from home you have some moments to overcome, but credit to the boys because they dug very deep and we had an excellent goalkeeper today.

“It should have been a clean sheet as well. As a club we are moving in the right direction and we need to keep our heads down and keep working as there are so many more steps to go still.”

MIDDLESBROUGH 1-1 BRISTOL CITY

Middlesbrough’s Kim Hellberg told BBC Radio Tees:

“It’s tough to lose two points in the last minute against a team that you are playing off the pitch for 90 minutes, but it’s football.

“We should have killed the game off earlier, so it doesn’t come down to those small margins. I’m proud of the performance but disappointed of the result.

On seven minutes of stoppage time: “Teams are coming here and they are not trying to play and then they add on seven minutes for a team that didn’t want to play from the first minute.

“It’s ridiculous. It is not the football we want. There was one minute added on in the first half. It makes no sense.”

Bristol City boss Gerhard Struber told BBC Radio Bristol:

“I think it’s a big point. We know what level Middlesbrough are on at the moment and I think this was a very disciplined performance.

“In the end it was well deserved because of the discipline and the effort.

“Our goalkeeper showed how important he is for us to pick up points.

“I had a feeling Adam [Randall] had jumped on a trampoline, he was so high. Tomi Horvat’s delivery was outstanding.

“It’s a release when you get results like we have had in the past few weeks. The point here has more value right now, [it’s] like a win. It gives us a big push.”

MILLWALL 1-2 BLACKBURN

Millwall manager Alex Neil speaking to BBC Radio London:

“The first half, we weren’t really as fluent as I’d like us to be. At half-time, I changed the shape. That allowed us to get better pressure, we looked more threatening and we took the lead, deservedly.

“We then had an unbelievable chance through Camiel [Neghli] to make it 2-0. If that happens, the game is probably put to bed.

“Then we have the incident with the sending off. I’ve watched it back and I didn’t feel as though it was a sending off. He was too far from goal, his touch took him away and we’ve got three recovering defenders.

“That was a poor decision and we then had two other chances before they got their first goal and they are really key moments.

“There were so many incidents in the game that if they work in your favour, you naturally come out with a positive result and too many of them, and some self-inflicted, were big, big calls in the game.”

Blackburn boss Michael O’Neill told BBC Radio Lancashire:

“It’s been a challenging week. We knew it would be difficult [this afternoon].

“The early part didn’t go as well as we’d planned but the reaction was very good.

“[It was] A big commitment from the players. We kept them down [south] between the games [following the defeat by Oxford United midweek] and the performance was excellent.

“Maybe I was a little hard on them on Wednesday, we weren’t maybe as poor as I thought.

“It’s difficult to play against teams with less men but we were good today and we showed real character and real quality to get the win.”

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