Championship: Leeds toast title glory after downing Derby

Leeds United celebrated their Championship title with a 3-1 victory at Derby County as Marcelo Bielsa’s team looked forward to life among the elite.

Pablo Hernandez and Jamie Shackleton scored before a late Matt Clarke own goal wrapped up a 3-1 victory at Pride Park for the Premier League-bound champions.

Messy defending from Leeds had allowed Derby to edge ahead after 54 minutes when Chris Martin’s shot deflected in off Luke Ayling.

But Hernandez had Leeds back on level terms within two minutes, striking from 18 yards after his initial effort was charged down.

Young midfielder Shackleton fired his first goal for Leeds after bursting forward in the 75th minute, before Clarke miscued into Derby’s net late on.

Leeds had been afforded a guard of honour from Derby before the game, to mark their title success, with former England and Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney among those applauding the champions.

 CHAMPIONE! CHAMPIONE! pic.twitter.com/ph4ajQPNht

— Leeds United (@LUFC) July 19, 2020

Barnsley gave themselves hope of beating the drop after stunning fifth-placed Nottingham Forest with a last-gasp winner at Oakwell.

Austrian forward Patrick Schmidt came off the bench in the 82nd minute and scored in the third minute of stoppage time to give Barnsley a 1-0 victory.

The three points lifted Barnsley off the foot of the Championship. They now must look to beat promotion-chasing Brentford in Wednesday’s final round of regular-season games to have any chance of staying up.