Bristol City chalked up their third straight Championship victory – and their first on the road under boss Liam Manning – with a 4-1 win at Watford.
Manning, who arrived from Oxford last month, plotted a shock win at Vicarage Road as the Robins’ midfield press choked the life out of the in-form Hornets.
The hosts just could not stop losing the ball in midfield and Manning’s men cashed in with a strike from Cameron Pring and an own goal from Wesley Hoedt to lead at the break.
Watford hit back through Giorgi Chakvetadze four minutes into the second half, but Mark Sykes and substitute Andreas Weimann killed off the Hornets.
City had kept Watford quiet during the opening stages, and the visitors were first to threaten with a Rob Dickie header.
That stung the Hornets into action, and a minute later Ismael Kone fired over the top from Ken Sema’s cross.
City’s next escape had a touch of good fortune about it.
Sema’s free-kick from the right was not cleared properly, and it fell to Yaser Asprilla. The Colombian fired in a thunderbolt that thudded into Robins goalkeeper Max O’Leary, who did not look as if he knew much about it.
City regained control – and the visitors took the lead two minutes later thanks to a poor piece of defending.
Taylor Gardner-Hickman’s free-kick floated high into the Watford box and Edo Kayembe’s attempt at a headed clearance fell to City left-back Pring, who guided a low right-foot shot past Ben Hamer.
Watford just could not shake off City’s grip in midfield, where the home side were losing possession far too often.
Yet another turnover led to City’s second goal two minutes into first-half added time.
Anis Mehmeti sent Tommy Conway sprinting away down the left, and his cross was turned into the net for an own goal by Hornets skipper Hoedt, although there seemed to be no reason for him to intervene, with no City player in the goalmouth.
The second half exploded into action. Watford narrowed the lead four minutes in as Kayembe’s pass from midfield sent Asprilla away on the right and he set up half-time substitute Chakvetadze to fire past O’Leary.
City responded from the restart. Watford were caught in possession again, Conway set up Mehmeti for a shot from the left, Hamer dived low to push the ball away, and Sykes was waiting to score from close in.
When Watford could get hold of the ball and threaten the City goal, Matheus Martins, Mileta Rajovic, Rhys Healey and Francisco Sierralta were all off target.
Yet another midfield giveaway by Watford handed City their fourth. Joe Williams sent Weimann down the left, and with the home side waiting in vain for an offside flag, the Austrian rifled the ball past Hamer in the 83rd minute to score against his former team.
Saudi Pro League: Mahrez and Firmino on target as Al-Ahli tighten grip on third place
Riyad Mahrez and Roberto Firmino were both on target as Al-Ahli tightened their grip on third place in the Saudi Pro League table with a 4-1 win over Damac on Thursday.
Matthias Jaissle's team were four goals up within just 25 minutes as Damac folded, Ziyad Al Johani and Feras Al Brikan netting their first two before Franck Kessie was felled by Dhari Al Anazi for a penalty, converted by Mahrez.
Firmino then tapped home a fourth after being teed up by former Newcastle United winger Allan Saint-Maximin on the break, but Al-Ahli took their foot off the gas from there, Domagoj Antolic's second-half consolation rounding off the scoring.
Elsewhere, 10-man Al-Riyadh scored two stoppage-time draws to earn a dramatic 2-2 draw with Al-Fateh in Al-Mubarraz.
Goals from Djaniny and former Columbus Crew star Lucas Zelarayan put Slaven Bilic's hosts on the brink of victory, with Al-Riyadh playing almost half the game a player down after Khalid Al Shuwayyi's 54th-minute red card.
An astonishing collapse denied them, however, with Mohammed Al Shwirekh halving the arrears one minute into stoppage time before Didier Ndong headed in a left-wing cross three minutes later.
Thursday's other game saw Al-Hazm and Al-Akhdoud play out a goalless draw, keeping the hosts bottom of the table while Al-Akhdoud inched two points clear of the relegation zone.
Will Still leaves Reims job with immediate effect
Will Still has left his role as Reims head coach with immediate effect, the Ligue 1 club announced on Thursday.
Still took over as Reims boss – initially on an interim basis – after Oscar Garcia was sacked in October 2022 and went unbeaten through his first 19 league games at the helm.
The 31-year-old was eventually handed the role on a permanent basis and led Reims to an 11th-placed finish in Ligue 1 in 2022-23, with his lack of a UEFA Pro Licence causing the club to be fined €25,000 per match until he began the course.
Reims are currently 11th in Ligue 1 again, though they are winless in their last five games and have lost each of their last three.
In a statement, the club said: "Following a meeting this morning between president Jean-Pierre Caillot, general manager Mathieu Lacour and head coach Will Still, it was mutually agreed that the two parties would not continue the sporting adventure together next season.
"In order to allow Reims to confidently look forward to the next year, it was also decided that Will Still and his deputy Nicolas Still would step down from their respective functions as of today."
Still was linked with the Sunderland job earlier this season and said in February that he would be open to joining an "ambitious" Championship club.
Coventry City 1-2 Ipswich Town: Burgess puts Tractor Boys on brink of promotion
Ipswich Town took a huge step to Premier League promotion after Cameron Burgess snatched a second-half winner in Tuesday's 2-1 victory over Coventry City.
Kieran McKenna's side require just one point from their final Championship game against League One-bound Huddersfield Town to go up, after a decisive victory at the Coventry Building Society Arena.
Kieffer Moore blasted in an eighth-minute opener for the visitors after Wes Burns' crafty cutback pass, easing the pressure on Ipswich and dampening the top-two hopes of third-placed Leeds United.
Haji Wright levelled in the second half, only for Burgess to squeeze a winning goal past Bradley Collins five minutes later, putting Ipswich on the brink of top-flight football for the first time since their relegation in 2002.
A draw against Huddersfield, who are 23rd and three points adrift of safety, would secure promotion at Portman Road, marking just the fourth instance of back-to-back promotions in the Premier League era.
Having managed to climb out of League One, McKenna's entertaining side would join Watford, rivals Norwich City and Southampton as the only sides to achieve the feat.
Data Debrief: Ipswich end winless run at perfect time
Prior to this game, only five teams had won fewer points in the Championship than Ipswich's six since the beginning of April (W1 D3 L1).
Yet McKenna's men refused to let their top-flight push derail as the Tractor Boys ended a four-game winless run to move within touching distance of history.
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