EFL: Leeds beat Rooney's Birmingham; Leicester hit four and Saints draw | OneFootball

It’s a bumper New Year’s Day in the Championship with a full round of fixtures to start off 2024.

Here’s how three of the top four all got on.

Bamford on song

Scorers: Bamford 34′, James 45+1′, Summerville 67′

Leeds were much the better side as they beat Birmingham 3-0 at Elland Road to start 2024 in the best possible way.

The Yorkshire giants hosted a free-falling Blues outfit who, under increasingly beleaguered boss Wayne Rooney, sat in 20th place going into this clash.

Patrick Bamford returned to the starting XI after a lengthy injury lay-off and took just 34 minutes to find his scoring boots as he leapt highest inside the area and headed in to give Leeds the lead.

And the hosts doubled their advantage in added time as Dan James finished with aplomb.

Leeds were once again on top in the second half and got their third of the afternoon on 67 minutes as Crysencio Summerville slid into the bottom corner.

Leicester show their class

Scorers: Cannon 40′ 61′, Pereira 47′, Mavididi 73′; Helik 63′

Leicester extended their lead at the top of the Championship as they beat Huddersfield 4-1.

It was an uninspired first half with the King Power crowd starting to get on the back of the home side as the game petered out towards half time.

But with five minutes to go, Tom Cannon netted his first for the club with a neat finish from inside the area.

Into the second half and Ricardo Pereira stretched Leicester’s lead just after the break as he headed in at the back post.

Cannon netted his second of the afternoon just after the hour mark as he muscled his way through on goal before firing a low finish.

Huddersfield immediately pulled one back a few minutes later as Michal Helik reacted first to a loose ball and rifled in.

The east Midlands side restored their three-goal advantage on 77 minutes as Stephy Mavididi’s free kick crept in at the near post.

Sargent stops Saints

Scorers: Sargent 78′; Armstrong 70′

Southampton were made to rue a host of missed chances as they drew 1-1 with Norwich at Carrow Road.

The Canaries thought they had opened the scoring on 20 minutes as Sam McCallum dispatched an effort into the far corner but his effort was ruled out for offside.

Into the second half and it was Southampton who were totally on top after the break but failed to turn their monopoly of the ball into chances.

With 20 minutes to go though, Saints got their goal. Adam Armstrong was in the right place at the right time to lash home from a yard out.

Against the run of play however, Norwich got themselves level as Josh Sargent cleverly finished a one-on-one.