Boxing Day football: Barnsley, Huddersfield Town, Hull City, Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday, Doncaster Rovers, Sheffield United, Bradford City, Rotherham United, York City

Championship

Barnsley 1 Birmingham 2

Curtis Davies settled a thrilling Boxing Day contest in Birmingham’s favour against fellow npower Championship strugglers Barnsley at Oakwell.

The centre-back nodded the visitors in front amid pouring rain in the 35th minute, only for Jonathan Greening to equalise almost immediately from long range with his first goal since joining on loan from Nottingham Forest last month.

Barnsley were the better side and missed plenty of chances against a Blues outfit who were disorganised defensively, with Craig Davies, a boyhood Blues fan who scored four goals in September’s 5-0 rout at St Andrew’s, blazing over a second-half penalty after Steven Caldwell’s handball.

And the hosts were punished almost immediately as Curtis Davies, unmarked from another set-piece, converted his fourth header in six games to clinch matters in the 77th minute.

It was only a second win in nine games for Lee Clark’s 19th-placed side and just their third away victory of the season.

The Tykes missed out on the chance to record back-to-back league wins for the first time in 2012 after Saturday’s 2-1 win at Millwall ended an 11-match winless run, and they are now second-bottom in the table without a home win since September 1.

Bolton 0 Sheffield Wednesday 1

Mamady Sidibe scored his first Sheffield Wednesday goal as Dave Jones’ side secured a third consecutive win at the expense of out-of-form Bolton.

David Ngog and and Martin Petrov had opportunities to put Wanderers in front before Sidibe opened the scoring in the 25th minute.

An excellent stop from Owls goalkeeper Chris Kirkland denied Benik Afobe 20 minutes from time and the visitors held out.

Peterborough’s victory at Wolves means Wednesday remain two points above the relegation zone, five points shy of Wanderers.

Huddersfield 1 Blackpool 1

Substitute Nathan Delfouneso struck deep in stoppage time for Blackpool to deny Huddersfield a first win in eight games as an entertaining npower Championship clash finished 1-1 at the John Smith’s Stadium.

Anthony Gerrard’s first goal for the club looked to have ended Huddersfield’s barren run but the Seasiders were excellent value for at least a point.

The visitors bombarded their opponent’s goal for an hour, but a combination of bad luck and poor finishing looked like giving the Terriers a first clean sheet since their last victory against Barnsley back on November 10.

Blackpool should have been out of sight by half-time, with the home side unable to find a method of breaking up their stylish attacking play.

Hull 0 Leicester 0

Hull were unable to provide any kind of celebration on their 10th anniversary since moving into the KC Stadium following a goalless draw with fellow promotion chasers Leicester.

Not even the return of former Tigers boss Nigel Pearson was enough to enliven a cold and damp afternoon on Humberside as both sides failed to live up to their lofty positions in the npower Championship table.

Jay Simpson saw a shot cleared off the line by Richie De Laet in the first half, but otherwise Pearson engineered a rearguard to frustrate his second-placed former employers.

It was the Foxes third successive match without scoring, highlighting Pearson’s desire for a striker in next month’s transfer window, but it was a point earned for the visitors after back-to-back defeats.

Nottingham Forest 4 Leeds United 2

Leeds manager Neil Warnock concedes his team were outplayed by Billy Sharp after his double helped set up a 4-2 victory for Nottingham Forest at the City Ground.

The on-loan striker from Southampton took his tally to eight goals in 18 games and was also at the heart of the flashpoint incident that Warnock felt swung the game in Forest’s favour.

Leeds were ahead through an 11th-minute goal from Paul Green but Sharp went down under a challenge from Tom Lees to give himself the chance to equalise from the spot before the end of the first half.

Sharp then fired his second of the game soon after the restart and a three-goal blitz in nine minutes - Rodolph Austin scored a clumsy own goal and Dexter Blackstock headed home the fourth - stunned the visitors, who had a late consolation from Davide Somma.

However, Warnock believes the penalty marked the start of his side’s downfall.

“I just hope Tom learns from the incident - it is a harsh lesson for him but one he’s got to make sure doesn’t happen again,” he said.

“I’ve known Billy a long time and if you are up against him in the area he’s going to be clever.

“Tom has just breathed on him but Billy has made sure there is contact and gone down. In that situation you have got to stand a yard off him.”

League One

Oldham 1 Doncaster Rovers 2

David Syers scored a last-minute winner to keep Doncaster Rovers in the promotion shake-up.

Captain Rob Jones had given Rovers the lead but that was wiped out by an equaliser from Youssouff M’Changama.

But substitute Syers headed home David Cotterill’s cross to steal the points.

Sheffield United 3 Scunthorpe 0

The Blades consolidated their position at the top of League One with a comfortable win over struggling Scunthorpe.

Shaun Miller set them on the road to maximum points with an early goal.

Dave Kitson headed in a second and Nick Blackman scored a third from the penalty spot.

League Two

Bradford City 2 Accrington 1

Bradford City kept up their good form thanks to a late winner from Alan Connell.

Connell headed home Kyel Reid’s cross with four minutes left.

The Bantams went ahead in the first half when Garry Thompson tucked away a knock-down by James Hanson.

Stanley looked like they had earned a point when Rommy Boco levelled from Luke Joyce’s free-kick on 79 minutes, before City struck late on.

Chesterfield 3 York City 0

York were shellshocked by three second-half goals from the rampant Spireites.

Drew Talbot tapped in the Spireites’ opener just seconds after the break.

Danny Whitaker’s first touch on 75 minutes then doubled the home side’s lead.

And, just two minutes later, he turned provider, beating keeper Michael Ingham to an underhit back pass to feed Luis Boa Morte, who was crowded out, only for Tendayi Darikwa to smash home.

Rotherham 1 Port Vale 2

Rotherham failed to give the 10,500 fans inside the New York Stadium any festive cheer as they crashed to promotion rivals Port Vale.

Vale beat the Millers 6-2 earlier in the season and after a scoreless first half in slick conditions, they took control of this game with two goals after half-time.

Louis Dodds slotted home a fine finish before former Rotherham striker Tom Pope scored his 20th of the season and fifth against his former club this season with a cheeky chip over Andy Warrington.

Kieran Agard set up a grandstand finish with a goal in the 83rd minute but Vale hung on.