Stoke rounded off a wonderful week in style as they ended Middlesbrough’s six-game winning run in the Sky Bet Championship with a 2-0 victory at the Riverside.
Alex Neil’s side had beaten Sunderland and Leeds in the seven days prior to their trip to Teesside, and they claimed another notable scalp as their surge up the table continued.
Michael Rose’s early headed effort from a corner opened the scoring, with Mehdi Leris adding a second goal with an angled finish shortly before the interval.
Middlesbrough struck the crossbar through a long-range strike from Josh Coburn, but Michael Carrick’s side delivered an off-colour display as they suffered a first defeat since mid-September.
Stoke were the better side from the off, with Dwight Gayle coming close to opening the scoring in the second minute when he latched onto Luke McNally’s floated through ball, only to scuff his effort at goal.
Six minutes later, however, and the visitors were claiming the lead as the Middlesbrough defence failed to deal with a corner.
Sead Haksabanovic delivered the ball from the right, and after peeling off Matt Crooks, Rose found the net with a near-post header.
Seny Dieng might well feel he should have done better, with the Middlesbrough goalkeeper getting his hand to the ball but only succeeding in helping it into the net.
Stoke remained the dominant force and almost doubled their lead on the quarter-hour mark when Leris’ one-two with Ki-Jana Hoever sent him racing towards the edge of the 18-yard box, only for his tame shot to be saved by Dieng.
Haksabanovic threatened midway through the first half, firing a shot wide from 20 yards after Josh Laurent flicked the ball into his path, and Stoke’s superiority was rewarded with a second goal eight minutes before the break.
Daniel Johnson rolled the ball into Leris’ path on the right of the area and the Algeria international drilled a slick low finish into the far corner.
Boro had not created anything of note at that stage, but they finally sparked into life through Coburn shortly before the interval.
The youngster fired in a shot that was saved by Stoke goalkeeper Jack Bonham before hammering another long-range effort against the crossbar after picking up a loose ball and driving towards the edge of the box.
Jonny Howson fired a shot wide as the home side tried to rally at the start of the second half, but Stoke almost scored a third goal when Gayle teed up Haksabanovic in the area, only for Dieng to save the Celtic loanee’s side-footed shot.
Stoke’s clean sheet was confirmed with four minutes remaining when Bonham got down to produce an excellent save as he turned substitute Morgan Rogers’ flicked effort around a post.
Hull City 3-3 Ipswich Town: Tigers fight back three times to deny Tractor Boys
Ipswich Town missed the chance to move into an automatic promotion spot as play-off-chasing Hull City came from behind three times in a thrilling 3-3 Championship draw at The MKM Stadium.
Ipswich knew a victory would take them second after Leeds United were surprisingly beaten 4-0 by Queens Park Rangers on Friday, and they led on three separate occasions, George Hirst opening the scoring before Omari Hutchinson produced two brilliant strikes from the edge of the area.
However, buoyed by slip-ups from rivals Norwich City and West Brom earlier on Saturday, Hull dug deep to fight back on each occasion, Ozan Tufan and Liam Delap scoring their first two equalisers.
With Liam Rosenior's men 3-2 down with just four minutes to play, substitute Noah Ohio blasted his shot in off the crossbar to punish an error from Ipswich goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky.
The result keeps Ipswich behind second-placed Leeds on goal difference, though the Tractor Boys have a game in hand to come at Coventry City on Tuesday.
Hull, meanwhile, are two points adrift of the top six, with Norwich's goal difference advantage meaning their top-six spot is all but assured. The Tigers will, however, leapfrog West Brom if they beat Plymouth Argyle on the final day and Albion lose to Preston North End.
Data Debrief: Hutchinson's best not enough
Hutchinson was a man who deserved to be on the winning side on Saturday, giving Ryan Allsop no chance with two near-identical left-footed strikes from the right corner of the penalty area.
His goals came from an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.6, and he led all players on the pitch for shots (eight) and passes in the final third (21), also laying on three chances for his team-mates.
Al-Khaleej 0-1 Al-Nassr: Ronaldo misfires on return as Laporte nets winner
Cristiano Ronaldo returned from suspension but failed to find the net as Al-Nassr secured a 1-0 win over Al-Khaleej on Saturday, with Aymeric Laporte coming up with the decisive goal.
Ronaldo was in action for the first time since being sent off for an elbow in a 2-1 Saudi Super Cup loss to Al-Hilal earlier this month, with his initial two-match ban being reduced to one on appeal.
He missed three good chances as Al-Nassr threatened to fall further behind runaway Saudi Pro League leaders Al-Hilal, but former Manchester City defender Laporte spared his blushes by nodding Marcelo Brozovic's deep free-kick into the bottom-left corner with 68 minutes gone.
Al-Nassr remain nine points adrift of Al-Hilal at the summit in spite of their win, with Jorge Jesus' team unbeaten through 28 games this season as they close in on a record-extending 18th title.
Data Debrief: Ronaldo misfires on return
Ronaldo was presented with the Saudi Pro League's Player of the Month award for March ahead of kick-off, having scored four goals in three league appearances last month.
However, his sights were off on Saturday as he failed to net despite three of the visitors' four big chances, as defined by Opta, falling his way. He led all players on the pitch for expected goals (1.27 xG), shots (five), shots on target (three) and touches in the area (nine) without reward.
Huddersfield all but relegated from Championship while League Two play-off spots decided
Huddersfield Town saw their relegation from the Championship all but confirmed after a 1-1 draw with fellow strugglers Birmingham City on Saturday.
The Terriers avoided a defeat that would have seen them relegated on Saturday, but even a win on the final day over promotion hopefuls Ipswich Town will not be enough unless they overcome a huge goal difference of 15 goals with Plymouth Argyle.
Birmingham remain in the other relegation place and now must beat Norwich City to stand a chance of staying up with Sheffield Wednesday, Plymouth and Blackburn Rovers also still in danger.
At the other end of the table, the Canaries dropped points in a 2-2 draw with Swansea City, leaving the door open for Hull City, who face Ipswich Town later today.
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