Lasse Sorensen scored a goal of the season contender as in-form Lincoln stretched their unbeaten League One run to nine matches with a 3-0 defeat of Shrewsbury.

The Danish full-back found the top corner from the right touchline to add to earlier efforts from Teddy Bishop and Reeco Hackett as the Imps emphatically tamed the Shrews at Sincil Bank.

Chey Dunkley poked an early effort wide for Shrewsbury, before City went down the other end and Hackett’s corner created the opener.

Joe Taylor’s shot was blocked, with the rebound falling to Hackett whose effort was then kept out, only for Bishop to fire his effort into the bottom corner.

Bishop curled a 20-yard free-kick just over and then Hackett missed a golden chance to double City’s lead nine minutes into the second half, drilling wide when put through by Ethan Erhahon.

Hackett made amends just four minutes later, though, smashing a left-footed shot into the top corner following a delightful back-heeled pass from Taylor.

Both Hackett and Taylor were thwarted by Harry Burgoyne within a few seconds and then Sorensen drove into the side-netting as City went for the jugular.

A third inevitably came after 67 minutes with an incredible effort from Sorensen. The hosts had won a penalty after House was brought down by Burgoyne. Bishop struck a post from the spot, with the ball rebounding out to Sorensen on the right wing. The Dane instinctively let fly, with the ball arcing into the top left-hand corner of the net.

Taylor Perry finally had the Shrews’ first shot on target after 70 minutes, but Lukas Jensen produced a routine save.

Carlisle ended a run of eight straight defeats as captain Paul Huntington scored the only goal to seal a scrappy 1-0 win at Burton.

The Cumbrians had to battle hard for their victory as Albion’s home woes were extended to a third straight loss – the Brewers have failed to score in each of those defeats.

Carlisle midfielder Jack Diamond tested Max Crocombe in the Burton goal with an early effort from range after Albion had made a bright promising opening.

Burton continued to enjoy the lion’s share of the play and skipper John Brayford forced an excellent save from Harry Lewis as the home side searched for the breakthrough.

But it was Carlisle who grabbed the lead just before the half hour, Sam Lavelle heading Taylor Charters free-kick on to Huntington and beyond Crocombe.

Deji Oshilaja was denied by Lewis early in the second half before Crocombe produced an outstanding save midway through the second half to keep out Diamond’s curling effort.

Albion threw on all their attacking options at Carlisle, but the visitors clung on for a precious victory.

Reading manager Ruben Selles admitted that there can be no repeat of the dismal early spell that saw his side trail 2-0 in their eventual 3-2 Sky Bet League One defeat against Shrewsbury.

All the goals came in a frantic first half, with Jordan Shipley and Tom Bayliss giving Shrewsbury a commanding lead after only five minutes.

Sam Smith reduced the deficit four minutes later, with Kelvin Ehibhatiomhan making it 2-2, but Tom Bloxham regained Shrewsbury’s lead deep into first-half stoppage time.

“Those first few minutes, it just cannot happen,” Selles said. “We need to analyse why we started so slowly.

“And we must make sure that we do not repeat the same mistake in the future.

“It’s so frustrating. It was a very uncharacteristic way for us to start the game. We have not seen that from the team in a long time.

“In those minutes, we conceded two goals and we were nowhere near in what should have been our actions against them.

“It was all about the way in which we managed those moments.

“But after that, we showed the team that we are. We scored two goals. We were there, we were trying to build it all up.

“But then we go and concede another goal straight before half-time.

“In the second half, we created good situations. We should have put the ball in the net, but we didn’t. So, at the end, it was all very disappointing.”

Shrewsbury are now five points clear of the relegation zone after new head coach Paul Hurst’s second win in six matches since taking charge for a second time.

“We had to kind of win it in a different way,” Hurst said. “We changed tactics during the game.

“We got off to a flyer, got pegged back, but then showed really good character not to fold at that point.

“It’s a big stadium with a biggish crowd and to go in 3-2 up at half-time was not only very pleasing, but also a nice boost for our players.

“When I walked in [to the dressing-room], they were having a little bit of a moan at each other.

“I just said to them, ‘remember, we’re winning. And would we have taken being a goal ahead at half-time prior to the game?’ The answer was ‘yes’.

“So there’s an element of frustration in some aspects of the performance and getting pegged back. But, at the same time, you’re in front.

“We made some tactical tweaks in the second half. We gave up more possession because I felt that, when we went chasing earlier, perhaps that’s when we looked most vulnerable.

“I like to try to press, but I think that, fitness wise, that would have been too much to ask of the players.”

Bolton boss Ian Evatt said he was baffled at referee Josh Smith’s decision-making as his side lost 4-1 to Blackpool.

Captain Ricardo Santos was sent off for the visitors in the 66th minute for bringing down Kyle Joseph in the area.

Jake Beesley converted the resulting spot-kick for his second of the game, having also scored the early equaliser from a free-kick.

“We were on top and in control of the game in the first half, and then we gave away a free-kick that’s never a foul,” Evatt said. “However, we can’t blame the referee for how we defended it – that’s on us.

“The second one we switch off, go 2-1 down, and we had two chances that you just can’t miss.

“It was us probing in the second half, then the sending-off and penalty ends the game. But it’s not a penalty and it’s definitely not a red card.

“Nobody can say, regardless of whether he got the ball or not – he went for the ball. The whole rule is the double jeopardy thing. It’s not a foul I don’t think, and he can’t send him off.

“I’m baffled by the whole performance from the referee today.

“We cannot allow this result to define us. We’ve got to get up and respond.”

Bolton had taken the lead at Bloomfield Road just nine minutes into the game as George Thomason fired home from the edge of the box.

Beesley hit back for the hosts just seven minutes later with a peach of a shot that curled its way into the top corner of the Bolton net.

The game swung further in Blackpool’s favour just before the half-hour mark when Marvin Ekpiteta lashed home the rebound from a George Byers header.

Santos’ sending off and Beesley’s penalty all but confirmed Blackpool’s victory before Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel added a fourth late on at the end of a stylish counter-attack.

Blackpool now sit four points off the play-offs with a game in hand on sixth-placed Oxford while Bolton lost ground on leaders Portsmouth as they suffered their first defeat in seven games.

Tangerines manager Neil Critchley said: “I thought we played with real spirit and we got our just rewards for commitment, effort, being there for each other, and ability as well.

“Everyone has put in a really good performance, so it’s been a really good day for us but we’ve got another game on Tuesday night now.

“If a result like this and a performance like this can’t give us belief for the rest of the season, then nothing will.

“It shows you what we’re capable of, our record against the top six teams is very good – we’ve picked up points against them, but we’ve got to solve our away form.”

Port Vale manager Darren Moore insisted his side were capable of keeping themselves in League One, despite suffering a third-successive defeat since he took charge with a 2-0 loss against Lincoln.

Joe Taylor’s second goal in as many games was added to by Reeco Hackett-Fairchild’s late penalty to secure all three points for the visitors, who extended their unbeaten run to eight matches.

Defeat in Moore’s first home game at the helm – since replacing the sacked Andy Crosby – stretches Vale’s winless streak to nine games and leaves them three points from safety.

But the 49-year-old remains confident his team have what it takes to beat the drop.

“What I’ve learnt with them is they’re a good squad, they’ve got the capabilities of keeping this club up in this division and that’s how we’re going about it,” Moore said.

“What they have to do is take care of the small details in terms of their game and focus on their strengths in terms of bringing them to the team and the club on a daily basis and in games.

“And then moving forward together and stopping it (the winless run), making sure that we’re solid, we’re not giving away anything basic or elementary.

“They’re good pros. They’ve proven they’re good pros because they’ve come through too many hurdles to be at this level by mistake.

“So it’s just regrouping and digging in. There’s everything to play for.

“I’ve said to the boys, what we have to do is respond in the right manner to go again on Tuesday (at home to Fleetwood).

“They’re as frustrated as we are, they really are, because there’s a real care with them in there and that’s a wonderful sign.”

Lincoln were gifted a second-minute lead as Taylor pounced on Nathan Smith’s loose pass from a free-kick and, with Connor Ripley out of his goal, guided the ball into an empty net from just outside the area.

The game was put to bed in stoppage-time as Hackett-Fairchild sent Ripley the wrong way from the penalty spot after substitute Dylan Duffy was brought down inside the box by Dan Jones.

“We knew on this size of pitch – and with it being Darren’s first game – it was going to be scrappy and we’d have to dig really deep,” Lincoln manager Michael Skubala said.

“And I think what I’m really pleased about today is we saw the other part of the game that we know these young lads can have, which is digging deep and being ruthless.

“I think it’s difficult because when you score so early, the natural instinct is to sit and come off teams and not give up your lead.

“I thought we weathered (the storm) a bit to half-time and then when we got in at half-time we could tidy up a different shape, how we pressed them and how we stopped them coming on so much.

“I think to a man (we did that) – even the subs coming on there and stopping them.

“And we knew they were going to throw everything at us as the game went on and go big, and I think really in the end, we did enough to win the game.”

Leyton Orient first-team coach Matt Harrold felt his team were excellent throughout as they came back from a goal down at half-time to win 2-1 at Oxford and give their play-off hopes a big boost.

Tyler Goodrham gave Oxford a 20th-minute lead but the O’s hit back through Ollie O’Neill and George Moncur.

Boss Richie Wellens was sent to the stands for the third time this season, on this occasion for timewasting when making a substitution, so Harrold was again put forward after the match to speak to the press.

And Harrold said: “I thought we played really well.

“I felt they had a goal against the run of play really – we switched off and allowed a runner and they played around us with a little bit of quality.

“But apart from that, I thought we were good in the first half.

“Then we said a few things at half-time and we went from strength to strength and deserved the win.

“We worked on something in the week which came off a few times in the first half and at half-time we urged them to shoot through bodies.

“And that’s what Ollie O’Neill did and it was a great strike into the far corner. It was just that little moment that we were maybe lacking in the first half.

“It was a great goal and with Moncs, we’d said to him at half-time to take more chances – and that’s what happens when he does. He does it all the time in training and it was an unbelievable finish.

“We all know Moncs can do it, we just want to see it more often.

“It just shows what he can do. He’s fresh, he’s hungry and I think he looks really confident. We all believe in him so much – he’s done it, with a great goal and it was a great moment for us.

“I’ve got to be honest, I thought the red card for Richie seemed a little harsh because we were just trying to make a substitution which we’d made clear we wanted to do and I thought a lot of our yellow cards were harsh too.

“The gaffer’s disappointed – it doesn’t look great, obviously, but I thought that one was a harsh one.”

Oxford boss Des Buckingham admitted his team’s performance was not good enough.

He said: “I’m disappointed with the performance because we didn’t deserve to win the game.

“But we’re still sixth in the table and we’ve got 11 more opportunities to make sure we stay where we want to stay.

“We’ve only got the one point from these last two home games which is not what we wanted.

“The first goal they scored we had four different chances to clear the ball and we didn’t. And the second one, we allowed a guy who’s right-footed onto his right foot to shoot.

“But we’ll deal with this together. It’s not about looking for excuses or blame. That’s not where you take a group of people where you want to go.

“Yes, it’s about accountability and making sure across the group we’re all clear about what we’re doing.

“It’s still a work in progress, it was never going to happen overnight.

“It’s something we will work on hard throughout the rest of the season and make sure we get right.

“We have to find that combination and we will find that combination.

“We have a free week before the Portsmouth game and it’s important we use these four days on the training ground to get back on track to get as many points as we can from the last 11 games.

“We need to get a run of results together to get people here behind us more often.”

Nathan Jones was delighted with Charlton’s first clean sheet in 22 games as they earned a hard-fought 0-0 draw with Sky Bet League One leaders Portsmouth.

Despite the result it was a lively game at The Valley, with Daniel Kanu and Callum Lang each striking the woodwork in the early stages.

As the second half progressed, the visitors gradually began to establish their dominance and were denied an 88th-minute winner when Macaulay Gillesphey pulled off an excellent last-ditch challenge on Myles Peart-Harris.

“They are a good side,” said the Charlton manager. “They’re top of the league, they’re scoring at will against most sides. So for us to put in that level of performance, keep a clean sheet…shows we’ve taken a step in the right direction.”

This result was the second of two impressive draws for the Addicks following last week’s 3-3 draw at Bolton.

“We went toe-to-toe with Bolton, we went toe-to-toe with these today. I saw lots of what I wanted to see from my team.

“We’ve gone three unbeaten now – yes, they are draws and we want to win games – but there’s a foundation being laid and it’s just constant work.”

After a tough game, Jones believed it was Portsmouth who were happier with the result.

“We showed we’re an aggressive team and got right after them. They’ll be getting on the bus and they’ll be delighted with the point.

“It’s a good point for them because the other two (sides in the top three) lost. They were in a proper game today, and that’s all we can ask.

“I thought today we were more than valid for our point.”

Portsmouth boss John Mousinho was of a similar opinion.

“We really dug in today,” he said. “We weren’t quite at our best, but I think the most important thing was to not lose the game.

“I’ve been in that situation so many times where you’re not playing particularly well but end up losing the game to a set piece, to a throw in.

“I think (the result) says that the lads mean business this year and they know obviously it is the business end of the season with only 11 games for us to go.

“It’s never easy coming away to Charlton. I think they are a side that are in a false league position. I can’t see them staying down there for long.”

Despite stretching their lead over their rivals, Mousinho said the result was frustrating for his players.

“They are still disappointed with the point and that’s the way I like them to be,” he said. “Obviously a point with the other results is good, but if we’d have taken all three it would have been even better.”

WMatt Bloomfield claimed Sam Vokes was picked on for his size after a penalty decision went against the former Wales striker in Wycombe’s 1-0 defeat at Stevenage.

Bloomfield had no complaints with the red card shown to goalkeeper Max Stryjek, which gave his side an even bigger mountain to climb after Carl Piergianni had put Stevenage ahead.

But the Chairboys appeared to have a case for a penalty after Vokes was seemingly wrestled to the ground by Dan Sweeney as the hosts nervously closed out their first win in five games to reignite their play-off push.

Bloomfield said: “I’m told it’s because of his size by the referee, so I’m not sure why he has different rules against him than other players.

“Apparently, he’s big enough to look after himself, but I’m baffled by that if I’m honest.”

He said on Stryjek’s dismissal: “It was just a ball over the top and we’ve got to defend that situation better.

“We’ve got to defend that better with the back four, but also Maxy comes rushing out.

“With 11 men, we’re confident we can go on and win the game, obviously it’s a lot harder with 10, but we still made an absolute fist of it and we could have walked out here with something.

“It’s disappointing because of the way we started the game – I thought for 20 minutes we were excellent, we hit the bar and had numerous opportunities.”

It was Richard Kone who struck the bar with a mishit shot for Wycombe, who rued that miss when Piergianni found the bottom corner from Sweeney’s lay-off halfway through the first half.

Stryjek made a good save to deny Jake Forster-Caskey before half-time, but saw red three minutes after the restart for a professional foul on Jordan Roberts outside his area.

His replacement Franco Ravizzoli fumbled Piergianni’s header against the post before Wycombe’s Matt Butcher curled an effort narrowly wide in stoppage time.

Stevenage boss Steve Evans said: “We were so far on top then we missed a couple chances – three chances in fact – to go and wrap it up.

“And then the last few minutes were a little bit nervy, but it’s going to be nervy with them just throwing caution to the wind and putting long balls into the box, and they’ve got some real quality players.

“I’ve said to the players we have to, and we will, play a lot better. But here it was for three weeks in a row where I’ve said we’ve played well and we’d lost.

“So, we’ve won a game and I think if you look at it over the 90 minutes, we deserved to win the game, but we’ll play a lot better.”

Bristol Rovers manager Matt Taylor saluted matchwinner Scott Sinclair after he clinched a hard-fought 2-1 victory over Sky Bet League One’s basement side Carlisle.

The 34-year-old former Celtic forward struck a stunning second-half goal that capped an impressive comeback after the Cumbrians took a shock lead through Josh Vela’s volley after 16 minutes.

Veteran striker Chris Martin equalised from close range before the break following brilliant approach play by Jevani Brown before Sinclair had the final say after 51 minutes, cutting in before unleashing a shot that crashed in off the underside of the crossbar.

Taylor, who watched the game from the stand due to a touchline suspension, said: “I didn’t like being away from the touchline at all, apart from Scott’s goal because I was sat directly behind it as the ball flew in.

“It was the one blessing of being up in the stands that I got such a great view of a great goal and a real moment of quality.

“He’s so difficult to play against because he’s right-footed on the left, but it was one hell of a finish and I’m really pleased for Scotty.”

Sinclair’s long-term future is in doubt with his current deal due to expire at the end of this season, but he has certainly given Taylor plenty to think about.

“In terms of his intent, every single day Scott is a truly model professional which is why he’s had such a good career,” Taylor said.

“And he’s doing it out of his love for football and the club itself. He’s been out of the fold a bit this season in terms of personnel and formations.

“But he’s kept himself where he needs to be in terms of fitness and in training his impact has been absolutely excellent for a senior player.

“Now I wouldn’t say he’s come back to life, but he’s taken his chance and he’s contributed.

“Also, in terms of the fragile nature of the squad you need seniority there and ones like Scott who trust the game more and won’t get affected by being 1-0 down.

“I’m delighted for him and now we’ve got to look after him because he was stretching his calves towards the end, but the pitch is so heavy it would test anyone.”

Carlisle manager Paul Simpson took consolation from seeing his players raise their game following a crushing 4-0 defeat at home to Cambridge in midweek.

“It was a vast improvement on last week but sadly we’ve come away with nothing again,” Simpson said.

“I think we’ve been done by a real bit of quality for the equaliser and the second goal is disappointing because it’s not really come from anything.

“We have allowed him (Sinclair) to come inside and get a shot on target when we’ve got to send him down the line which is simple defending.”

Simpson added: “We’ve had goalscoring opportunities in the scramble in the six-yard box after a corner at 1-1 and you have to stick that in the back of the net.

“We’ve had two or three bites at the cherry and not been able to score.

“I’m disappointed that we’ve lost the game but the way the players went about their work today was much better than our last outing.

“And there were some good passages of play where we got into some good areas but we just weren’t able to apply the finish for ourselves.”

Barnsley head coach Neill Collins insisted his side will not get carried away after they came from behind to beat Derby 2-1 and move to within three points of their promotion rivals.

Sonny Bradley put Derby ahead in the 18th-minute but Phillips’ double strike either side of the interval gave the Tykes a valuable Sky Bet League One win.

Collins said: “The scenes at the end…the fans were excellent and the players were happy but no one was getting carried away.

“I think the players have been extremely professional and consistent over the season. Because of the big crowd, playing against a big club and where we are in the league, but I won’t have anyone saying we’ve got carried away.

“We enjoy (this one) like any other victory and we get ready again because we’re in a promotion race and we all know that promotion races are over a long period of time and we need that keep that level up.

“It was definitely great for the 18,000 here today to see the home team win. Everyone was telling me it was a ‘must-win’. Thankfully we’ve won the game and performed well. There will be lots of ‘must-wins’ between now and the end of the season.

“We started well but lost a goal against a set-piece. Derby are excellent at attacking set-pieces but we responded again, dug in and I think it says a lot about the group that we continued to play and do the right things and got back in the game with a fantastic goal. Then I thought we had a real good spell up until we got the next one.”

Collins praised two-goal Phillips, saying: “He’s been a major leader in the team with his performances. He’s scoring goals and winning tackles and he’s been excellent.”

Derby boss Paul Warne felt his side deserved a point.

He said: “Yes, it was a disappointing end. I thought first half, we weren’t at our best. I didn’t think we had any real character on the ball in the first half.

“They’re young, athletic players who just came after us. They didn’t give us any time on the ball. I thought we were poor in possession of the ball in the first half.

“It didn’t feel like we had any rhythm to our game in the first half. In the second half we started similarly and we made changes to try and change the way we looked.

“I thought we started to look good and then they scored from a set-piece, which is horrific.

“Then I thought the lads gave everything they could and kept going until the end. I can’t knock their character, but we didn’t create enough real gilt-edged chances.

“I think most people would agree that a draw would have been a fair result.”

Fleetwood boss Charlie Adam felt his side could have won their 1-1 League One clash at Exeter after his quadruple half-time substitutions changed the course of the game.

Exeter were the dominant force in the first half and Vince Harper opened the scoring with his first goal for the club, but Adam’s bold move at the break changed the flow of the game and Promise Omochere’s equaliser was more than deserved for the Cod Army.

“After the first-half performance, a point is OK,” he said. “From our second-half performance, we deserved to win the game.

“They couldn’t get out at times and I am really pleased with the second-half performance. The four lads made a difference, the energy was there, the intensity was there.

“We had to make decisions. My team never played with any intensity or purpose and you have to make decisions. The four lads that came on impacted the game and we are disappointed not to come away with more.

“I was surprised with the first-half performance, but that 45 minutes was probably the worst we have had since we have been here.

“We should have had at least another goal and we had big chances. We come away with a point and move on to Tuesday (at Port Vale).”

Exeter manager Gary Caldwell was furious his side did not win the game after such a dominant first half in which they limited Fleetwood to one half chance, while both teams had goals disallowed in the second half.

“I thought the game should have been finished at half-time, but we aren’t ruthless enough, we aren’t clinical enough and we don’t recognise the moment to kill the opposition off,” he said.

“Second half, in fairness to them, they came out and changed their shape, they got the ball forward quicker.

“We didn’t win enough first contacts or second balls; I thought they ran a bit more second half, and if anything, it is a good point in the end because they put us under so much pressure.

“It’s a big disappointment with the result, a big disappointment with the second-half performance when we warned the players it was coming – the chance just before half-time was a great warning shot that the game wasn’t over.

“It was 1-0 when it should have been 3-0 or 4-0 and that is something we have to learn very quickly in the last 11 games.

“We absolutely dominated them in the first half and I think everyone in the stadium could see who the better team was. But from that, we don’t get enough shots, enough final actions, we don’t get enough goals.

“That game should have been finished at half-time – and the players have to learn the game is about scoring goals and winning football matches.”

Jon Brady was delighted with a professional away display from his Northampton side at Burton.

Marc Leonard and Mitch Pinnock both scored from distance to secure a 2-0 victory.

“It was a really professional performance. The first five to 10 minutes were quite tough,” Brady said.

“We couldn’t get out and, with (Tom) Hamer’s long throws it was quite difficult and we knew we had to weather those storms and win a lot of first and second contacts, which has probably been our Achilles heel of late.”

Brady was happy with how Cobblers dug in early on and on a tricky surface began to grow in the game.

“Testament to the players, they stood up to that today,” he added. “It was hard going at the start but we started growing into the game and I felt we built really well out from the back especially, with no disrespect to Burton, on a pitch like this.”

Leonard’s opener took a decisive deflection off defender Toto Nsiala and Brady acknowledged it was a turning point.

“Marc Leonard got his goal and that was important for us and I felt that took the wind out of their sails and then we could control the game a little bit,” Brady said.

The second goal was an even better strike as Pinnock latched onto Mark Helm’s poor pass to double Northampton’s advantage.

Brady added: “I haven’t seen him hit a truer strike since Leyton Orient two years ago.”

Burton boss Martin Paterson calmly dissected a home defeat following back-to-back away wins.

“I think Northampton are a team who have gone about their season really well,” Paterson said.

“If you look at the start of the game, the first 15 minutes or so and in terms of territory and putting them under pressure, it seemed like just a matter of time before we scored.”

Albion’s best early chance saw Mason Bennett head narrowly wide but, as Paterson acknowledged, failure to capitalise saw the game swing towards the visitors.

“It’s football,” he continued. “With that sort of momentum you have to score goals or else you leave yourself open to the first goal. There’s an element of lady luck because he’s hit it and it takes a deflection, our keeper is at the near post and it goes in the opposite.”

The Brewers briefly threatened an equaliser but the second goal ultimately killed off their chances.

“You have to regroup, but then you have a side like Northampton who are really organised and who are one-nil up away from home. It becomes hard to break them down,” Paterson added.

“The second goal we are architects of our own downfall and we pass the ball to their forward in the middle of the goal and it’s a great finish.”

Blackpool kept their play-off hopes alive with a stunning 4-1 win over 10-man Bolton.

The first half was League One football at its finest, with end-to-end entertainment. George Thomason opened the scoring for Bolton just nine minutes in, but goals from Jake Beesley and Marvin Ekpiteta turned the game around before half-time.

Beesley grabbed his second after 68 minutes, and Jordan Lawrence-Gabriel added a fourth late on.

It was Bolton who drew first blood when Thomason’s shot from the edge of the box arrowed in to give the visitors an early advantage.

The lead was only short-lived, though. Blackpool hit back thanks to a sumptuous strike from Beesley that curled into the top corner.

The hosts were soon ahead as Ekpiteta reacted fastest after Joel Coleman saved George Byers’ initial header.

It went from bad to worse for Bolton when captain Ricardo Santos received a straight red card in the 66th minute for bringing down Kyle Joseph inside the area. Beesley converted his spot-kick emphatically.

Lawrence-Gabriel completed the rout, finishing off a stunning counter-attack in style by slotting home.

George Moncur capped an impressive fightback with a second-half winner as Leyton Orient claimed a 2-1 League One comeback victory at Oxford to boost their play-off hopes.

The visitors had threatened in the first half with Cumming saving angled shots from Ruel Sotiriou and Moncur.

Tyler Goodrham fired the U’s in front in the 20th minute, turning in Ruben Rodrigues’ right-wing cross at the end of a fine move for his 10th goal of the season in all competitions.

Moncur was denied again before when Jamie Cumming parried his shot from 14 yards, while Tom James had a free-kick tipped over the crossbar.

Orient equalised six minutes into the second half when Ollie O’Neill shot – on the turn – low past Cumming from Idris El Mizouni’s pass.

And Moncur completed the turnaround with a right-footed shot past Cumming from 16 yards after 77 minutes.

The result was no more than the Londoners deserved as they had enjoyed more possession and shots than the home side.

Orient boss Richie Wellens was sent to the stand for dissent in the closing minutes.

Portsmouth missed the chance to go nine points clear at the top of Sky Bet League One as they were forced to settle for a point in a goalless draw at struggling Charlton.

Despite the teams’ contrasting form of late, Pompey had only won one in 10 against the Addicks before this game and experienced another stern test during a first half in which both sides struck the woodwork – Daniel Kanu hitting a post in the third minute for the home side and Paddy Lane’s header coming back off the crossbar for Portsmouth after 16 minutes.

In a much less open second period, the visitors had the chance to snatch an 88th-minute winner when Myles Peart-Harris was sent through on goal but he was denied by a last-ditch challenge from Macaulay Gillesphey.

It is a draw that is of little use to either side.

Portsmouth failed to capitalise on losses for both Derby and Bolton and although the stalemate meant Charlton claimed another impressive point, they are now 18 games without a victory, matching the longest winless streak in the club’s history.