Coventry stretch Championship lead as promotion contenders falter | OneFootball

Leaders Coventry stretched their lead at the top of the Championship to eight points following a hard-fought 1-0 win over Swansea as promotion hopefuls Middlesbrough, Ipswich and Hull all dropped points.

Ephron Mason-Clark's emphatic finish just before half-time was enough to give the Sky Blues a ninth home Championship win of the season.

But the usually free-scoring Sky Blues were made to work hard for the points and were perhaps somewhat fortunate to have found themselves in front at half-time.

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Coventry City head coach Frank Lampard celebrates after the Sky Blues went eight points clear (Nick Potts/PA Wire)

The resolute visitors had done a fine job in keeping the hosts quiet but were undone a minute before the break by Mason-Clark's opener.

It failed to spark Coventry into life with the hosts fading once again after a good spell of pressure early in the second half.

It was the visitors who enjoyed the best of the second-half chances and could well have snatched a point with better finishing after both Liam Cullen and Melker Widell wasted good chances to equalise.

It leaves City - who are unbeaten at home this season - with a commanding 13-point cushion on the chasing pack as they look to bring Premier League football to Coventry for the first time in 25 seasons.

Middlesbrough's festive stutter continued as they were held to a goalless draw by Blackburn at the Riverside.

The Teessiders suffered their first defeat under new head coach Kim Hellberg as they lost 2-0 at Bristol City in their final game before Christmas, while they were unable to find the net again as they were frustrated by a resolute Blackburn rearguard.

Morgan Whittaker fired a shot against the inside of the post in the first half, but former Middlesbrough goalkeeper Aynsley Pears was barely tested at all in the Blackburn goal in the second half as Rovers avoided defeat at Boro for the 17th time in their last 18 visits.

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(Action Images)

Earlier, top-six Championship hopefuls Millwall and Ipswich played out a goalless draw in the lunchtime Boxing Day clash at The Den.

Millwall, now winless in four league matches, came close to breaking the deadlock on several occasions, only be denied by some good goalkeeping by Ipswich's Christian Walton.

The Tractor Boys were hoping to apply pressure on the top two but found it hard to get going.

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(Getty Images)

High-flying Hull missed the chance to go third after twice coming from behind to salvage a 2-2 draw away to rock-bottom Sheffield Wednesday.

Wednesday, who took step closer to a takeover on Christmas Eve when a consortium led by James Bord was named as the preferred bidder by administrators, initially led through Svante Ingelsson before Mohamed Belloumi claimed City's first equaliser.

Matt Crooks earned the Tigers a point at Hillsborough with a 65th-minute leveller after Bailey Cadamarteri had restored the Owls' advantage.

Hull stay fourth, below Ipswich on goal difference, while the hosts move on to minus eight points but remain without a home league victory this season after their wretched winless run stretched to 16 games.

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(Getty Images)

Preston extended their unbeaten run to seven matches following a 0-0 draw away at Stoke.

Both sides had chances to score in a hard-fought encounter, but they ultimately cancelled each other out as the spoils were shared.

The result sees play-off hopefuls Preston, whose manager Paul Heckingbottom was serving the final match in his three-game touchline ban, remain in fifth place.

Meanwhile, Iman Louza played a starring role with two assists as Watford came from behind to win 2-1 at Leicester and claim back-to-back victories for the first time this season.

First-half goals from Anis Mehmeti and Ross McCrorie helped Bristol City climb into the play-off zone with a 2-1 victory over West Brom at The Hawthorns.