Championship promotion race: Has the pendulum swung decisively back towards Coventry? | Football News

How quickly things can change in the Championship.

Swing back to just over a week ago and Middlesbrough were top of the Championship table, off the back of six straight wins and looking relentless in their march.

Coventry, meanwhile, had dropped off top for the first time in four months. They looked weakened, a lesser side than the one that had taken the second tier by storm in the opening exchanges of the campaign.

Then, a huge 3-1 win over Boro under the lights at the CBS Arena. They then followed that up with a win at West Brom on Saturday.

The Baggies, honestly, were there for the taking. But considering Coventry had failed to win any of their last seven on the road – it was a statement win.

Later that afternoon, Middlesbrough were held at home by Oxford. Exactly the same result against the same relegation-threatened side that Coventry had suffered a fortnight earlier.

It may just be a three-point lead again, but it feels like the pendulum has swung back towards Frank Lampard’s side.

“There aren’t many teams that cruise the league,” the Coventry boss said. “These last two games have given us a feeling that we can continue to be the best version of us.

“From mid-to-late December we have felt that pressure. Hopefully we have come through it with these two wins.

“We know it’s been a thing away from home and we wanted to correct it, and I felt this was a performance to correct it.”

Boro dip as chasing pack struggle for consistency

That being said, things may change quickly again. While Middlesbrough host a Leicester side on Tuesday night that should be slightly more open than Oxford were, Coventry have a tricky trip to navigate to Sheffield United and Bramall Lane 24 hours later.

“Everyone needs a lift,” Middlesbrough boss Kim Hellberg said after Saturday’s result. “The performance was good enough to win, we always want to win so it is frustrating when we don’t.

“But we have to remember this group has taken 19 points from the last 24 and we showed again today we are a good team. There is still a lot of positive energy in the group.”

The good news for both Boro and Coventry, is that the challenge from further down appears to be dwindling.

Millwall stumbled to a shock defeat at home on Saturday to Portsmouth. It was only Pompey’s fourth away win all season and the other three had come against Sheffield Wednesday, Oxford and Charlton – in 24th, 23rd and 17th place respectively.

“I don’t think we deserved anything from the game,” boss Alex Neil said after the defeat. “People will think when I say how we defended that I’m talking about the back four, but I’m talking about the whole team.

“This is a collective thing in that the first goal from our point of view was really disappointing and the second goal was equally as disappointing.

“I said to the lads after the game that we’re built as a team on doing the basics really well and I didn’t think we did the basics well enough.”

Ipswich, meanwhile, look like they will never become the sum of their parts any of us expected them to be. The mantra around the Tractor Boys all season has been that they will ‘come good’ and ‘go on a run’. 31 games into the campaign and that has yet to materialise.

They have managed more than two wins in a row just once so far, and are consistently underperforming throughout the season, according to the Expected Goals (xG) table.

At Wrexham on Saturday they battled back twice and led 3-2 at one point, only to cave to a 5-3 defeat. They are eight points off Boro in second place, with two games in hand. But it doesn’t feel like that consistency will ever really arrive.

“I’m really disappointed with the outcome, disappointed with ourselves,” Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna said after the game.

“We’ve come away from home and scored three really good goals and it should be enough to win you the game, but we’ve conceded some really poor ones today and some clinical finishing from Wrexham.

“It’s really frustrating because it was on the cusp of being a really good day for us with some of the qualities we’ve showed and ultimately the goals we’ve conceded, and mistakes we’ve made as a team and on an individual level have cost us the result we wanted.”

Hull City, meanwhile, have followed up four straight wins in the second half of January with three home games in a row where they have failed to win.

The Tigers are lethal in attack, with only Coventry scoring more than their total of 51 this season. But they have shipped 46 goals this season – more than any other side in the top half, and more even than Oxford, who currently sit 23rd.

“This was a bad game for us, but that’s football,” boss Sergej Jakirovic said after they fell to a 3-1 defeat at home to QPR on Saturday.

“After 80 minutes I was very angry and it was unbelievable that we conceded a goal from a throw-in.

“After they scored a second goal, we lost everything – balance, discipline, everything. We gave them three goals and they could have scored more.”

Some of the form sides in the league are now sat below that chasing pack. Wrexham and Birmingham are sixth and seventh and both look formidable – but have realistically left themselves too much to do to challenge higher than the play-off positions.

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Midweek Championship games live on Sky

All 7.45pm kick-off unless stated

Tuesday 24

• Blackburn vs Bristol City
• Hull vs Derby
• Middlesbrough vs Leicester
• Swansea vs Preston
• Watford vs Ipswich
• West Brom vs Charlton
• Wrexham vs Portsmouth
• Southampton vs QPR (8pm)

Wednesday 25

• Millwall vs Birmingham
• Norwich vs Sheffield Wednesday
• Sheffield United vs Coventry
• Stoke vs Oxford (8pm)