Championship: Boro rout Saints to go second, Preston and Millwall win

Morgan Whittaker scored twice as Middlesbrough routed a poor Southampton 4-0 to move second in the Championship on Sunday.

All of Boro’s goals at the Riverside Stadium arrived in 22 second-half minutes, with the hosts having failed to score or win in their previous four outings.

Whittaker scored from Boro’s first shot on target in the 54th minute and, after Sam Silvera celebrated a rare goal, doubled his personal tally when finishing from Aidan Morris’ centre.

Alan Browne also netted his first Boro goal to complete the comprehensive win, as the hosts made the most of Ipswich Town’s clash at Portsmouth being postponed to climb into the second two.

Lewis Dobbin and Alfie Devine were on target as Preston defeated fellow top-six hopefuls Bristol City 2-0 at Ashton Gate.

On-loan Aston Villa forward Dobbin slid home after eight minutes, before Devine made sure of the points with a low drive with 20 minutes to play.

Caleb Taylor scored in second-half stoppage time as Millwall returned to the top six thanks to a 2-1 triumph over Swansea City at the Den.

Mihailo Ivanovic had earlier seen his first-half opener for Millwall cancelled out by Ben Cabango after the break, but Taylor’s late header secured a big three points.

Stoke City and Wrexham are a point off the play-offs after respective 2-0 and 2-1 away victories at Norwich City and Derby County, while Blackburn Rovers and Charlton Athletic played out a 2-2 draw.

Quite simply sublime from the #Boro #UTB pic.twitter.com/XPtoJ61z62

— Middlesbrough FC (@Boro) February 15, 2023

Data Debrief: Whittaker and Devine get the shots in

Whittaker was a constant thorn in the Saints’ side, finishing the match with six shots, four of which came inside the box and two of which were on target, and outperformed his individual expected goals (xG) of 0.93.

It was a similar tale from Preston ace Dobbin, who managed five shots in total, four touches inside the opposition box, and three final-third entries in an all-action display.

Lawrence Vigouroux, meanwhile, was unfortunate to wind up on the losing side for Swansea. The goalkeeper made an impressive eight saves, and a handful of vital clearances, but was beaten late on by Taylor’s header.