📈 EFL Review: Saints pounce; Five-star Oxford; Wrexham go back-to-back | OneFootball

The Football League served up its usual helping of brilliant goals and astonishing late drama this weekend.

Here are our highlights.

Championship

Moment of the weekend

It’s no exaggeration to say that this could end up being the seismic weekend of the Championship season.

Leeds and Leicester both went down to shock defeats whilst Ipswich drew at home to Middlesbrough.

The top three dropped points for the first time this season meaning an opportunity was there for Southampton to make ground on the automatic places with three weekends to go.

Which is exactly what happened as Saints beat Watford 3-2 thanks to Flynn Downes’s 99th-minute winner.

The south coast club are now six points behind third-placed Leeds with two games in hand and just one point further back from Leicester.

This really is going down to the wire.

Notable mentions: Plymouth stun Leicester; Birmingham claim huge win at the bottom; Relegation battle going down to the wire

Player of the weekend

With Hull beating QPR on Saturday, Norwich knew they had to claim all three points at Preston if they were to maintain their momentum for a place in the play-offs.

And despite a fairly humdrum 90 minutes, it was Gabriel Sara who saved the day for the Canaries with a 86th minute winner.

Sara scored his 11th goal of the campaign with a brilliant turn and finish after a fine passing move.

Just to top off the Brazilian’s excellent weekend, late on Sunday he was also included in the Championship Team of the Season at the annual EFL Awards.

Notable mentions: Jaden Philogene (Hull); Flynn Downes (Southampton); Jay Stansfield (Birmingham)

League One

Moment of the weekend

There was an absolutely enormous win at the bottom of League One for Fleetwood this weekend.

The Lancashire club had gone seven without a victory before Northampton came to Highbury Stadium on Saturday.

But first half goals from Promise Omochere and Bosun Lawal saw Charlie Adam’s side claim a deserved 2-0 win.

The victory means Fleetwood are now need six points from their final three games – and results to go their way – to avoid relegation with games against Peterborough, Leyton Orient and Burton.

Notable mentions: Oxford thrash Posh; Portsmouth promotion celebrations delayed; Burton stun Stevenage

Player of the weekend

The performance of the weekend and, quite possibly, the performance of the season from any player in League One.

Josh Murphy has been in the shadow of his brother, Newcastle’s Jacob, for most of his career.

But the past few months have seen Josh become integral to Oxford maintaining their place in the play-offs.

This past weekend was a huge game against fourth-place Peterborough, one that the Yellows simply had to win to stay in sixth.

And boy did they win.

Oxford thrashed the Posh 5-0, their biggest win of the campaign, with Murphy scoring one, assisting another and just generally running the show at the Kassam Stadium.

Notable mentions: John McAtee (Barnsley); Sonny Bradley (Derby); Luke Thomas (Bristol Rovers)

League Two

Moment of the weekend

With MK Dons losing to Mansfield at the top of League Two, all Wrexham had to do was beat relegation-threatened Forest Green to secure back-to-back promotions.

In the end, it was a walk in the park for Phil Parkinson and his side with the Hollywood-backed Welsh outfit winning 6-0.

Paul Mullin bagged twice in the first half to take his tally to 23 for the season, with the former Cambridge man surely ready to take League One by storm next season as well.

No club in the entire history of the English Football League has ever achieved three promotions in a row. Can Wrexham and their millions do it?

Notable mentions: Colchester claim brilliant win at the bottom; Salford lose again; Mansfield hammer MK Dons

Player of the weekend

We questioned in this column last week whether Doncaster could make a remarkable late run to the play-off places.

And after this weekend we think it’s safe to say that Donny have all the momentum with three games left.

Rovers won once again as Accrington Stanley were put to the sword 4-0. Plenty of players impressed but Joe Ironside was our pick with another superb goal to add to his collection this term.

That’s now eight wins in a row for them – one point off the play-off places.

Notable mentions: Paul Mullin (Wrexham); Fraser Horsfall (Stockport); Rob Apter (Tranmere)