Former Peterborough United and Hull City striker and Final Score pundit Aaron McLean gives his five takeaways from across the Championship, League One and League Two after an enthralling day of EFL action. Ipswich Town have opened up a lead over Millwall and Middlesbrough in the race for the Championship's second automatic promotion place, and Kieran McKenna's Tractor Boys have games in hand. McLean: "I must say I believed Ipswich would finish second.
I think in terms of who was going to win it, it was always going to come down to the head-to-head between Coventry and Middlesbrough, and Coventry winning in such convincing fashion kicked them on and almost dismantled Middlesbrough's season. "So I think what you're seeing now is Ipswich being the most consistent team, and they have games in hand on Middlesbrough and Millwall in the race for second place. "From their past nine games, they have six wins and three draws.
Middlesbrough, by comparison, have gone six games without a win. "Middlesbrough, even with all the possession they had against one of the bottom teams, they're not clinical like they were earlier in the season. "Millwall and Hull have dropped off a bit, but just being in and around the play-offs and being talked about as a team that could have gone on and got automatic promotion, is still a huge positive.
"They're going to get little bumps in the road and it's about how they react, and I expect both of them to bounce back." Sheffield Wednesday gained their first clean sheet in 20 games with a draw at champions-elect Coventry. McLean: "Coventry would have been promoted if they had beaten Sheffield Wednesday, so full credit to Wednesday for getting a draw. "I've said it for a long time - even though they have been relegated in record-fast time and have a minus points tally, at no point have I looked at them and thought, 'They've downed tools.' "Every game they've gone into, they've given everything.
Yes, they lack the quality of a lot of other teams, but that's because their squad was so depleted before a ball was even kicked, and in terms of bringing players in, they were young players on loan. "But what they do have is they've gone out and given everything they have for the fans, and their fine draw at Coventry was a reward for that attitude. "I just hope the club can get to a position where they're on an even keel again and I hope Henrik Pedersen is still managing them.
"He was been unrelenting in his positive attitude and I think he deserves to have an opportunity to show what he can do as a manager when things off the pitch are better." Leicester are on course for a second successive relegation, with the Foxes four points below the Championship survival line. McLean: "I don't see Leicester staying up and I've been thinking that for a long time. "I don't think their players have got the stomach for a relegation fight.
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