Darrell Clarke made a welcome return to join up with his Port Vale promotion-chasers and was able to celebrate a 1-0 win at Hartlepool.The Valiants’ boss has been on extended compassionate leave of late, and is making a phased return to the club. But he made a surprise trip to the north-east, where he spent six years as a player with Pools.He joined in the celebrations on the pitch at the ...Full Story »

Head coach Shota Arveladze expressed relief after the 2-1 win at home to Cardiff confirmed Hull’s position in next season’s Sky Bet Championship.Arveladze’s men are now safe after early goals from Allahyar Sayyadmanesh and Lewie Coyle earned the Tigers three points.Aden Flint scored a late header for Cardiff, but Hull calmly held on to end a run of six successive home defeats.A...Full Story »

Scunthorpe United manager Keith Hill admitted his thoughts were with the supporters after The Iron were sent tumbling out of the Football League.A 3-0 defeat at Leyton Orient guaranteed relegation at the end of what has been a wretched season for the club, who were elected into the League in 1950.First-half goals by Paul Smyth, Theo Archibald and Ruel Sotiriou ensured a 26th defeat in 42 matches...Full Story »

Sutton boss Matt Gray revelled in a “top performance” from his side after they beat Mansfield 3-2 to halt the Stags’ club-record home run of 11 successive league wins.An error from home defender Farrend Rawson gifted United a ninth-minute lead from which Mansfield never recovered as the visitors came out on top in a battle between two clubs pushing for promotion.The result saw ...Full Story »

AFC Wimbledon’s hopes of avoiding relegation were delivered a blow as already-relegated Crewe came from behind to win 3-1 and secure their first victory in nine games.Second-half goals from Mikael Mandron, Chris Long and Bassala Sambou left the Dons without a win in 24 games and gave interim Crewe manager Alex Morris success in his first match since taking over from Dave Artell, who was sa...Full Story »

Bristol Rovers boosted their hopes of promotion from Sky Bet League Two with a 1-0 win against Salford at the Memorial StadiumOn-loan Newcastle midfielder Elliot Anderson drove in low at the near post on 75 minutes for his fifth league goal of the season after being set up by a fine pass from substitute Luke Thomas.Joey Barton had to rejig his attack when striker Leon Clarke was withdrawn from t...Full Story »

A dramatic late winner from Tom McIntyre helped Reading beat promotion-chasing Sheffield United and take a giant step towards Championship safety.The Blades thought they had rescued a point in the 90th minute when substitute Iliman Ndiaye finally cancelled out Lucas Joao’s first-half opener.But McIntyre quickly struck at the other end of the pitch to move Paul Ince’s side nine points...Full Story »

Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink knows his Burton side need to be more clinical after chalking up their third 0-0 draw on the bounce away to Accrington Stanley.The Brewers have not scored in five games but virtually secured their League One status by securing a point at the Wham Stadium.Burton keeper Matej Kovar, on loan from Manchester United, had to be at his best to keep out efforts from Ethan Hamilto...Full Story »

Doncaster edged closer to relegation after suffering a 2-1 defeat to Bolton.It appeared Rovers were on course to take something from the game when Mipo Odubeko cancelled out Amadou Bakayoko’s strike for the visitors, but ex-Doncaster player Kieran Sadlier put Bolton back in front within a minute.The Trotters started the stronger and Bakayoko missed narrowly with a header.But Doncaster had ...Full Story »

Scott Cuthbert’s header secured a 1-0 win for Stevenage against Rochdale and lifted his side out of the League Two relegation zone.Cuthbert nodded home Arthur Read’s corner three minutes after the interval to secure a crucial three points for the hosts.The first half offered little in the way of chances with both sides largely cancelling each other out.Ben Coker’s early free-ki...Full Story »

Barnsley conceded a costly Olivier Ntcham equaliser as they lost ground in the fight for Sky Bet Championship survival with a 1-1 draw at Swansea.Claudio Gomes fired Barnsley into the lead in the 54th minute, but Ntcham’s leveller 10 minutes later left the Tykes 10 points from safety, with relegation rivals Reading, Peterborough and Derby all winning on Friday.Swansea dominated the final s...Full Story »

A blistering start by Oxford blew relegation-threatened Fleetwood away before the visitors were forced to scrap to a 3-2 win.Oxford raced into a two-goal lead within seven minutes, making it 3-0 on 16 minutes, but a fightback from relegation-threatened Fleetwood at least made for a nail-shredding finish.Nathan Holland struck Oxford’s opener with less than two minutes played, hitting the bo...Full Story »

Gillingham picked up a vital point in their battle to avoid relegation as they played out a 2-2 draw with Cheltenham, twice taking the lead only for Cheltenham to peg them back each time.The Gills twice took the lead first through Vadaine Oliver and then Ben Reeves, but the hosts were not to be denied and twice hit back with strikes from Callum Wright and Kion Etete.The opener came after 14 minu...Full Story »

Mansfield’s impressive club-record run of 11 successive home league wins was halted by promotions rivals Sutton who pulled off a deserved 3-2 victory.With Port Vale winning, sixth-placed Stags now have a six-point gap between them and the third automatic promotion place, although they still have a game in hand.Sutton, meanwhile, climbed up to seventh with the win as they took advantage of ...Full Story »

Garath McCleary’s first-half double lifted Wycombe into the Sky Bet League One play-off places with a 2-0 victory over Plymouth at Adams Park.The hosts made it nine games unbeaten and moved three points clear of seventh while Argyle, without top-scorer Ryan Hardie and captain Joe Edwards through injury, missed the chance to go third.McCleary broke on the counter in the 14th minute, taking ...Full Story »

Celtic are set to be without Giorgos Giakoumakis for the Scottish Cup semi-final against Rangers on Sunday.The Greek striker went off with a minor hamstring injury against St Johnstone last weekend but is only likely to miss one match.Ange Postecoglou otherwise has a full squad with David Turnbull shaking off a knock and James Forrest back after a minor hamstring strain.Giovanni van Bronckhorst ...Full Story »

Exeter manager Matt Taylor hailed his side for taking their performance to “another level” against Colchester as a 2-0 victory took them a step closer to promotion from Sky Bet League Two.Jack Sparkes opened the scoring on 32 minutes and on-loan striker Offrande Zanzala added a second, finishing off an excellent team move to seal the victory.It was a win that could easily have been b...Full Story »

Romelu Lukaku will have the chance to prove his fitness in Chelsea training ahead of Sunday’s FA Cup semi-final against Crystal Palace.The Belgium hitman has been struggling with Achilles tendon pain but has the chance to return against the Eagles at Wembley.Callum Hudson-Odoi remains out of action with a back issue, with Ben Chilwell a long-term absentee after knee surgery.Crystal Palace ...Full Story »

Manchester United will be without their two main defensive midfielders for the visit of Norwich on Saturday, with Fred and Scott McTominay both ruled out.McTominay had already been out before Fred suffered a hip issue in last weekend’s 1-0 defeat to Everton.The two are among five players ruled out of Saturday’s match, along with Raphael Varane, Edinson Cavani and Luke Shaw, with the ...Full Story »

Hearts are boosted by the return of midfielder Cammy Devlin for Saturday’s Scottish Cup semi-final showdown with city rivals Hibernian at Hampden.Andy Halliday is also expected to be fit despite limping off after scoring twice in last weekend’s 3-1 win over the Hibees in the cinch Premiership.Beni Baningime is out long term, while John Souttar and Michael Smith are battling to be bac...Full Story »