Championship round-up

Ipswich 0 Stoke City 1

Liam Lawrence's second-half goal earned Stoke a deserved three points, lifting them to fourth in the table. Lee Hendrie crossed from the left and the on-loan Sunderland forward struck a firm shot from 12 yards. "An exceptional finish," his manager, Tony Pulis, said. "We are looking to our wide players to join in and try to score goals." Disappointed Ipswich manager Jim Magilton did not feel his side "had any real conviction and belief that we could win the game."

Luton Town 3 Coventry City 1

The Hatters' Ahmet Brkovic scored for both sides as Coventry, beaten 5-0 at West Bromwich last Saturday, lost away again. With on-loan Portsmouth goalkeeper Dean Kiely making a series of outstanding saves for Luton, Brkovic gave the home side the lead on the stroke of half-time. Then just before the hour he headed a Stephen Hughes cross into his own net, but first Rowan Vine, with his 11th goal of the season, and Dean Morgan, from a 25-yard free kick, scored to spare his blushes.

Plymouth Arg 2 WBA 2

Kevin Phillips scored twice in time added on in the first half to earn West Bromwich a point after Plymouth had led 2-0 via goals by Barry Hayles and Lilian Nalis. "The positives I will take out of this are, we didn't lose another game on the road and we have two home games coming up," Albion manager Tony Mowbray said. "If we can continue our good form at home, we might look back on this as a decent point." Albion's Neil Clement was sent off in injury time.

Preston NE 1 Colchester Utd 0

David Nugent, surely a Premiership target when the transfer window opens next month, scored the only goal of the game to lift Preston into the automatic promotion places as they maintained their unbeaten record at Deepdale. The goal came after 33 minutes when Danny Dichio flicked on Matt Hill's cross and the coveted striker swivelled to steer the ball in. "That was more like David Nugent, with his running and his ability to get at people," his manager, Paul Simpson, said of his efforts.

QPR 1 Barnsley 0

Martin Rowlands' first-half goal was enough to win this nervy relegation battle. "It is a massive result," Rangers manager John Gregory said. "It was the classic situation where you say: 'Who cares about the performance?' It was pretty dire for most of the 90 minutes, but we had forgotten how to win." Rangers ended their five-match losing streak when Ray Jones passed to Rowlands and Tykes' keeper Nick Colgan let the shot slip through his hands and into the net.

Sheffield Wed 3 Southampton 3

Mark Crossley, the Owls goalkeeper, scored the first goal of his career, heading in a late corner to salvage a point for Wednesday at the end of a thrilling match. Goals by Grzegorz Rasiak, his 15th of the season, Kenwyne Jones and Bradley Wright-Phillips had seen the Saints race into a 3-1 lead after 50 minutes. Glenn Whelan's second goal of the game made it 3-2 after 69 minutes, and as Wednesday pressed for a point, they earned a corner and Crossley's head met it.

Wolves 2 Norwich City 2

Robert Earnshaw scored twice for Norwich but first Karl Henry and then Jody Craddock, in the third minute of injury time, levelled. "Not many managers come here and say that they are gutted to leave with only a point," Peter Grant, Norwich's manager, said, "it's very galling to say the least." Pleased to have salvaged a late point, Wolves boss Mick McCarthy had counted "30 crosses into their box. If there was going to be a winner I think we deserved it."