Steven Gerrard wants to keep Philippe Coutinho smiling after the Aston Villa debutant secured a hard-fought 2-2 draw that left Manchester United interim boss Ralf Rangnick deflated.Saturday evening’s Premier League encounter looked to be going the same way as their FA Cup tie at the start of the week, with Villa looking sharp but ultimately lacking a cutting edge against the Red Devils.A h...Full Story »

Derby boss Wayne Rooney has revealed he has no control over which players leave the crisis-hit club this month and said they need urgent help if they are to avoid relegation.Rooney, who saw his side make it 13 points from their last five Championship games with a 2-0 home win over Sheffield United courtesy of two superb Tom Lawrence strikes, fears their unlikely survival bid could be scuppered b...Full Story »

Middlesbrough boss Chris Wilder said his side “took gambles” and “found a bit of quality” to come from behind and beat Reading 2-1 at the Riverside Stadium.Two late goals from midfielder Matt Crooks saw Boro bounce back after Andy Carroll had put the Royals ahead in the 67th minute.Victory saw the hosts move into the Sky Bet Championship play-off places after making it fo...Full Story »

Boss Ryan Lowe says Preston must develop a killer instinct to succeed this season after Birmingham’s late equaliser in a 1-1 draw ended his 100 per cent league record in charge.North End were two for two in the Championship since Lowe’s appointment in early December and looked on track for a third straight win when Patrick Bauer’s instinctive finish just after the half-hour mar...Full Story »

Sheffield Wednesday manager Darren Moore hailed his side’s performance after goals from Sylla Sow, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Sam Hutchinson and Josh Windass gave them a 4-2 victory over Plymouth Argyle.The visitors responded through Adam Randell and Marvin Johnson’s own goal.Moore made five changes to his starting line-up and two of those who were recalled – Sow and Mendez-Laing ...Full Story »

Cheltenham boss Michael Duff said his team “did enough to win four games” after seeing Chuks Aneke snatch a last-gasp point for Charlton in a 1-1 draw.Dan Nlundulu opened the scoring for the Robins in the 43rd minute and they missed a host of chances to put the game beyond the Addicks’ reach at the Jonny-Rocks Stadium.Instead Aneke, who rejoined Charlton from Birmingham on Frid...Full Story »

Mansfield boss Nigel Clough was delighted to see Harry Charsley end the day as a super substitute with a second-half brace that hauled his in-form side into the League Two play-off spots following a 2-0 home win over Walsall.It was a sixth home league win in a row and their ninth in 10, and Clough said: “It was an enforced change unfortunately as Ollie Clarke felt his hamstring, but he cou...Full Story »

Carlisle manager Keith Millen praised his side’s desire to fight until the very end to secure a stoppage-time 1-1 draw with Crawley.Ashley Nadesan’s first-half effort seemingly sunk his former club before his missed penalty with 16 minutes left galvanised the hosts.Lewis Alessandra came off the bench for his first appearance in two months to bag a dramatic late leveller at Brunton Pa...Full Story »

Marco Silva hailed Aleksandar Mitrovic’s hat-trick in Fulham’s 6-2 victory over Bristol City as a classic example of the in-form Serb’s finishing skills.Mitrovic completed his third treble of the season before half-time with two powerful headers and an outstanding left-foot finish to take his season tally to 27 league goals.Neskens Kebano scored twice and Fabio Carvalho was als...Full Story »

Steve Cooper believes his players showcased their steely promotion credentials as Nottingham Forest escaped from the Den with a dramatic 1-0 win over Millwall.Lewis Grabban’s stoppage-time strike secured the points for the in-form visitors as Forest remained in firm touching distance of the Championship play-off places.Millwall dominated the opening period but after spurning a string of ch...Full Story »

West Brom manager Valerien Ismael insisted his side were denied a “clear” penalty in their 1-0 defeat at QPR.Shortly before Charlie Austin headed in a last-minute winner against his former club, Conor Townsend went down under a challenge from Stefan Johansen.Referee Simon Hooper waved away Albion’s appeals for a spot-kick and Rangers made the most of the let-off.“I think ...Full Story »

Wealdstone moved nine points clear of the Vanarama National League drop zone after coming from behind to claim a 2-1 victory over rock-bottom Dover.Dover are yet to win this season and have only wiped out four of the 12 points they were deducted before the start of the campaign, but they went ahead after 23 minutes when on-loan Alfie Pavey thumped home after controlling well.Craig Fasanmade was ...Full Story »

Boss Ian Evatt hopes Bolton’s 2-0 win over Ipswich which ended a run of five consecutive defeats is the “first step in a new journey”.Kieran Lee and top-scorer Dapo Afolayan struck in the space of eight second-half minutes as the Trotters celebrated a League One victory for the first time since November 23.“This does not change things and make us a good team,” said ...Full Story »

Bristol Rovers boss Joey Barton hailed the efforts of goalkeeper James Belshaw after two late goals rescued a poor performance in a 2-0 win over 10-man Hartlepool.Aaron Collins fired home from 10 yards after 87 minutes and Antony Evans made sure of the points with a superb stoppage-time free-kick after Hartlepool’s Jamie Sterry had been sent off for a foul which denied Collins a clear scor...Full Story »

Michael Appleton admitted Lincoln delivered the performance but not the result as they crashed to a last-gasp 1-0 defeat at home to Cambridge.The U’s FA Cup hero Joe Ironside – seven days on from his matchwinner at Newcastle – headed home in stoppage time to settle an entertaining contest at the LNER Stadium.The Imps created a host of chances, particularly in the first half whe...Full Story »

Leam Richardson was disappointed with Wigan’s lack of control in their 2-1 win over League One’s bottom side Doncaster.Goals from Max Power and Will Keane had the promotion-chasing visitors in command on the scoreboard, but they did not have things all their own way against a spirited Rovers side who pulled a goal back through Omar Bogle.Richardson felt there was an element of rustin...Full Story »

Stephen Crainey felt “drained” but delighted after his Fleetwood side beat pre-match League One leaders Rotherham 1-0.Cod Army substitutes Toto Nsiala and Anthony Pilkington combined for the latter to force in the game’s only goal deep into stoppage time for the hosts.And Crainey was quick to praise his entire squad for their win from a bruising encounter.“I’m feeli...Full Story »

Wycombe manager Gareth Ainsworth preferred to focus on the football after his team went top of League One following a 2-0 victory over Oxford on a fiery afternoon at Adams Park.The Chairboys may be relative minnows in the third tier, but they can enjoy looking down on the rest of it after taking advantage of slip-ups by Rotherham and Sunderland, the previous top two.However, there were a couple ...Full Story »

Northampton manager Jon Brady was furious with the decision to award Forest Green’s opening goal during Saturday’s 1-1 League Two draw between the two promotion challengers at Sixfields.The game was goalless with little between the teams when Matt Stevens claimed to have forced Nicky Cadden’s corner over the line with 20 minutes to play.Video footage seemed to show that the bal...Full Story »

Stevenage boss Paul Tisdale said he was happy that his side wanted to score more despite conceding in added time during their 3-3 draw against promotion-chasing Sutton.Tisdale’s side went 2-0 up just before half-time after goals from Luke Norris and Jamie Reid.But despite controlling the early stages of the second half, Sutton got a foothold back in the game with goals from Alistair Smith ...Full Story »