Middlesbrough moved into the Championship playoff places for the first time this season after coming from behind to defeat 10-man Blackburn 2-1 at Ewood Park. Rovers went ahead in an even first half thanks to a cool Ryan Hedges finish in the sixth minute, vindicating Blackburn’s ploy of targeting the visitors’ high line. But the game was turned on its head early in the second half when Boro equalised within a minute of the restart through Marcus Forss’ powerful shot before John Buckley was shown a straight red card for an off-the-ball incident four minutes later. Boro made their numerical advantage count within six minutes as Riley McGree’s stunning volley completed the comeback to continue Michael Carrick’s fine start to management – the former Manchester United midfielder’s team have now won five of their last six. Blackburn remain third in the league but Boro are only three points behind them and after losing five of their last seven, Rovers will be looking nervously over their shoulder. Sheffield United maintained the pace with table-toppers Burnley with a 2-1 win at Blackpool. Paul Heckingbottom’s side sealed an impressive fifth win on the spin to pile the pressure on Vincent Kompany’s league leaders before their trip to Stoke on Friday night. Goals from Sander Berge and James McAtee did the damage and even Marvin Ekpiteta’s second-half effort was not enough to cause a real scare. It meant it is now 24 points from a possible 27 for Heckingbottom’s side as they ended 2022 in style with a remarkable run of eight wins from nine. For the struggling Seasiders, who remain firmly in the bottom three, it is eight games without a win. Sunderland moved up into fourth with a thumping 4-1 victory over Wigan at the DW Stadium. Second-half goals from Ross Stewart, Patrick Roberts and Amad Diallo earned the visitors a fourth win in six games. Ellis Simms’s early opener had been cancelled out by Will Keane for the Latics, who slip to the bottom of the table after a third successive defeat. Two goals from Okay Yokuslu continued West Brom’s revival under Carlos Corberán as they beat Preston 2-0 at The Hawthorns. The Turkish midfielder struck twice to ensure the Baggies made it seven wins in eight games to move to within a point of the playoff places, having been bottom of the table two months ago. Carlton Morris scored twice as Luton won 3-0 at QPR, who slumped to their fourth straight home defeat. Morris opened the scoring after 10 minutes and struck again 80 seconds into the second half, taking his tally for the season to 10. Alfie Doughty’s brilliant strike with nine minutes remaining sealed a second successive win for Luton’s new manager, Rob Edwards, in his third match since taking charge. Huddersfield lifted themselves off the bottom thanks to a well-deserved 2-0 victory over Yorkshire rivals Rotherham. Goals from Duane Holmes and Jordan Rhodes did the damage. Cardiff held Coventry to a 0-0 draw at the Coventry Building Society Arena to record their fourth draw in succession, while Bristol City battled to a goalless stalemate at Millwall to ease the pressure on their under-fire manager, Nigel Pearson. Andreas Voglsammer struck the crossbar for the hosts and, while the resilient Robins pushed for a winner, the playoff-chasing Lions held on to extend the visitors’ barren run to one win in nine Championship matches.