Bolton wanderers 4

MIddlesbrough 1

Reebok Stadium

Middlesbrough's relegation woes increased as they were hit for four goals by Bolton at the Reebok Stadium to be left five points adrift of safety.

Kevin Davies put the hosts ahead with his 12th league goal of the season in only the eighth minute, only for Gary O'Neil to equalise seven minutes before half-time.

However, Gary Cahill fired home close to half-time before Matt Taylor and Ricardo Gardner added late goals, and with Blackburn and Stoke both winning the Teessiders face a daunting task if they are to survive with seven matches remaining.

Their away form is costing them dearly as this was their ninth successive defeat on the road, their worst run since the second world war.

History suggested they would not get much at the Reebok, where they have not beaten Bolton in the Premier League.

Defensive lapses were the problem as, having got themselves back on level terms shortly before half-time, they handed the initiative back to Wanderers and never regained it.

Hull City 0

Portsmouth 0

KC Stadium

Ten-man Portsmouth survived a horror show from England defender Glen Johnson to claim a crucial Premier League point at Hull.

Johnson may have felt aggrieved to have been dismissed late in the game after an innocuous collision with Dean Marney, but could already have been sent off after a number of earlier indiscretions.

The right-back also gifted Hull their best opportunity but David James saved brilliantly from Craig Fagan's powerful header.

Pompey almost snatched victory in the fourth minute of injury time when Hermann Hreidarsson rose to meet a free-kick but headed against the post.

The result was not enough to lift either side out of relegation danger but at least inched them a point further away from the bottom three.

Johnson was given his marching orders on 80 minutes after colliding with Hull substitute Dean Marney, but he seemed to have been the innocent party.

Johnson was running across the edge of the Hull area when Marney challenged and appeared to catch the Portsmouth player in his attempt to clear.

Yet having previously warned Johnson and seeing Marney go down, Chris Foy had no hesitation.

West Brom 0

Stoke City 2

The Hawthorns

Ricardo Fuller and James Beattie earned Stoke their first away win of the season and pushed Tony Mowbray's side closer to the relegation trapdoor.

A Scott Carson blunder handed Fuller the opening goal after just two minutes and then defensive hesitancy allowed Beattie to add the decisive second early in the second half.

Bottom-placed Albion now look doomed to the drop after a run of 11 games without a win and they seldom looked like scoring apart from a Chris Brunt shot which hit the crossbar.

Stoke had the worst away record in the four divisions ahead of this clash – just four points from a possible 45 – but this victory has done much to ease their fears of making a quickfire return to the Coca-Cola Championship.

It was a contrast in styles between the passing game of West Brom and the more direct style of the visitors – and there was only likely to be one winner once Fuller had broken the deadlock via Stoke's first attack.

A pity West Brom's nice style looks insufficient, as they don't have the strength.

Championship Round-Up

Reading's hopes of automatic promotion from the Championship suffered another setback with a goalless draw at Coventry. With leaders Wolves and second-placed Birmingham set to clash at St Andrews tomorrow evening, the Royals had the chance to move to within one point of Alex McLeish's side. It was never going to be an easy assignment against a team that had beaten the top two at the Ricoh Arena but Reading, now with just four wins from their last 16 league games, never hit their stride and could consider themselves fortunate not to be returning to Berkshire on the back of a defeat after Coventry dominated.

Kevin Blackwell avoided the manager of the month's curse as Sheffield United stepped up their charge for automatic promotion with a comfortable 2-0 win over Ipswich. They cruised to a third straight league win thanks to first-half goals from Greg Halford and Darius Henderson. The in-form Blades were the dominant force and there was never any danger of Blackwell being unable to celebrate the accolade with victory.

Elsewhere Paul Connolly snatched a late equaliser to hand Derby a point in their clash with play-off chasing Burnley. Connolly's goal came after Dubliner Chris McCann looked to have earned three points for Burnley.