Leicester suffered a wobble in their bid for an instant return to the Premier League after a stunning Ryan Longman strike condemned them to a 1-0 defeat at struggling Millwall.

Back-to-back wins had reignited the Foxes’ promotion bid and lifted them back to the top of the Championship.

But they slipped up in south London as the Lions, in need of the points for different reasons, battled to a first win in five matches to go four points clear of the relegation zone.

In a huge match at both ends of the table, Leicester’s defeat will have been welcomed by Ipswich and Leeds as the three-horse race for automatic promotion enters the final straight.

Millwall had a chance to open the scoring in the first minute, George Honeyman floating in a free-kick which Longman headed too close to Foxes goalkeeper Mads Hermansen.

Leicester quickly settled, though, and Stephy Mavididi – the late matchwinner against Birmingham on Saturday – should have done better when he was sent through by Yunus Akgun but his touch was too heavy.

Ricardo Pereira’s clever flick then found Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, who slipped in Jamie Vardy.

But the 37-year-old former England striker was losing his balance as he got his shot away and Matija Sarkic made a comfortable save.

Dewsbury-Hall, playing as a number 10, took aim from 20 yards but his effort was deflected wide.

Millwall, happy to sit back and let Leicester have the ball, almost snatched the lead on the break before half-time.

Ryan Leonard whipped in a cross from the right and captain Jake Hooper got a firm head on the ball, but it was pushed away by Hermansen.

The goal arrived on the hour and, for Millwall fans at least, it was well worth the wait.

Wout Faes lost the ball in midfield and Billy Mitchell sent Longman scampering away down the left.

The on-loan Hull winger cut inside Harry Winks before curling a spectacular 25-yard effort past Hermansen and in off the underside of the crossbar.

Millwall almost doubled their lead when Michael Obafemi bulldozed his way into a shooting position but Hermansen got down well to save.

Leicester pushed for an equaliser and Pereira got in behind only to see his angled drive blocked by the legs of Sarkic.

They came agonisngly close in stoppage time but were denied by a goal-line clearance from Mitchell to keep out substitute Kelechi Iheanacho’s header.

Anis Mehmeti’s brilliant strike put another dent in Leicester’s stuttering bid for automatic promotion and gave Bristol City a 1-0 Championship win at Ashton Gate.

The winger accepted a square ball from Mark Sykes on the edge of the box and sent a sweet left-footed shot into the roof of the net to settle a closely-fought game in the 73rd minute.

Leicester had arrived looking to reignite their promotion push after just one win in five Championship games but paid for missed chances, with Jamie Vardy twice denied by outstanding Max O’Leary saves.

Both sides had scoring opportunities in an even first half packed with positive attacking play, with Foxes goalkeeper Mads Hermansen making early saves from Jason Knight and Tommy Conway in a bright Bristol City start.

Hermansen faced a bigger test on 15 minutes when diving to parry a Conway shot and then reacting brilliantly to keep out Scott Twine’s follow-up effort.

Conway had a strong penalty appeal rejected by referee Andrew Kitchen after going down under an 18th-minute challenge from behind by Wout Faes.

But the visitors grew into the match and James Justin sent a low shot wide.

Two better opportunities came Leicester’s way around the half-hour mark when first Faes headed wide from a Harry Winks free-kick and then Vardy fired just the wrong side of a post from Stephy Mavididi’s pass.

Mavididi was causing problems on Leicester’s left flank but the Robins continued to threaten and Twine had a 37th-minute shot blocked after Mehmeti’s penetrating dribble had set up the opening.

Vardy shot across goal and wide of the far post before the half-time whistle brought applause from both sets of fans.

O’Leary defied Leicester with a brilliant double save at the start of the second half, blocking Vardy’s shot after he broke clear down the middle and recovering his footing to stop the rebound effort from Mavididi.

Leicester looked sure to take the lead on 62 minutes when Bristol City were caught trying to play out from the back. Zak Vyner’s pass was cut out by Vardy with the goal at his mercy but O’Leary produced a stunning fingertip save.

At the other end, Sykes fired into the side-netting five minutes after replacing Twine but Leicester were on top and Abdul Fatawu shot narrowly wide before Mehmeti’s superb finish gave the Robins the lead.

Sykes was denied by Hermansen with the home crowd in full voice while Kelechi Iheanacho, on as a 74th-minute substitute for Vardy, had the ball in the net for Leicester five minutes later but was foiled by an offside flag.

From then on the home side managed the game well and had chances on the break.

Leicester boss Enzo Maresca has told veteran striker Jamie Vardy he has a key role to play as the Sky Bet Championship leaders edge their way back towards the Premier League.

The 37-year-old scored the only goal in a 1-0 win at Sunderland on Tuesday evening which ended the Foxes’ three-game losing streak in the league and maintained their three-point advantage over second-placed Ipswich.

Asked about the former England international’s contribution, Maresca said: “We know very well that Jamie is so important for us. He has been so important this season and he will be important for the end of the season.

“He has experience, but also he has done in his life and is doing the most important thing in football, that is scoring goals.”

Vardy’s 13th-minute header after Anthony Patterson had saved Wout Faes’ initial effort proved the difference between the sides on a night when the Foxes might have had the game won by half-time, but then needed a fine save from goalkeeper Mads Hermansen after the break to deny Trai Hume a spectacular equaliser.

The home side were aggrieved not to be awarded a penalty for Hamza Choudhury’s stoppage-time challenge on defender Dan Ballard as they mounted a concerted late charge.

Interim Sunderland boss Mike Dodds said: “Dan is adamant it was a penalty. My initial gut is why would he go down?”

Maresca admitted City had not played as well as they had in successive defeats by Middlesbrough, Leeds and QPR, but was delighted with their resilience as the Black Cats rallied.

He said: “At this moment, the most important thing is to win games, and also as a team probably we need to learn to win games in an ugly way like tonight.

“In the second half, we suffered a lot, but in the first half, again we created many chances especially at the beginning. We missed, but fortunately we could score with Jamie and at the end, we won the game.”

Sunderland’s fifth defeat on the trot left them closer to the bottom three than the top six in terms of points, but Dodds was adamant there are reasons to be cheerful.

He said: “They are human. They’ve lost five on the bounce, so they’re not machines, they are aware of that, I’m aware of that. But I do feel that we are one win away from putting a number of wins together.

“Unfortunately the result wasn’t the result we wanted, but I think the performance would show that there is some light at the end of the tunnel.”

Jamie Vardy’s 13th goal of the season proved unlucky for Sunderland as Leicester ended their losing streak to strengthen their Sky Bet Championship title hopes.

The 37-year-old’s first-half header was enough to secure a 1-0 win at the Stadium of Light, although it took a fine save by goalkeeper Mads Hermansen to deny Trai Hume a spectacular equaliser and condemn his team to a fifth successive defeat.

Enzo Maresca’s men would have been kicking themselves had they allowed two priceless points to slip from their grasp after squandering early chances, but they had to resist a stern examination as the hosts finished strongly.

The Italian’s response to Saturday’s 2-1 home defeat by QPR was to shuffle his pack with one of his four changes restoring Vardy to the starting line-up, while at the other end of the scale, Sunderland midfielder Chris Rigg was handed a first league start at the age of 16.

Leicester’s bandwagon had stalled somewhat after a run of three successive defeats, while Sunderland had lost their previous four and in the circumstances, a scrappy start to the game was perhaps not unexpected.

The Foxes were first to show when Stephy Mavididi cut inside from the left and raced away from Dan Ballard only for Luke O’Nien to get a vital touch on his cross, and it took an improbable double-save from Anthony Patterson to deny Vardy and then Yunus Akgun after Sunderland had been exposed down their right once again.

Patterson produced a fine reaction stop to keep out Wout Faes’ header from a 13th-minute Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall free-kick, but Vardy pounced to nod the rebound home.

The Black Cats started to work their way back into the game and Hermansen was sent sprawling to his left to claim Jobe Bellingham’s header from a 31st-minute O’Nien cross, but Patterson had to get down well to save Hamza Choudhury’s first-time strike as City pressed once again.

Sunderland returned after the break in determined mood with Dan Neil probing from midfield, but they were unable to pierce the blue wall which stood between them and Hermansen until Hume took aim from distance and saw the keeper tip his 64th-minute piledriver on to the crossbar.

Hume forced Hermansen into further saves with an 80th-minute attempt from distance and a stoppage time free-kick as the home side piled on the pressure, but the visitors, who sent on Wilfred Ndidi as a late substitute on his return from injury, held firm to see out an important win.

Harry Winks scored a last-gasp winner as Sky Bet Championship leaders Leicester beat West Brom 2-1 in a dramatic finish to give manager Enzo Maresca a winning first return to The Hawthorns.

Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall’s 72nd-minute header – his sixth goal of the season – gave Leicester the lead and the midfielder then set up Winks in the fourth minute of stoppage time after substitute Josh Maja looked like he had rescued a point.

Maresca, who started his professional career at West Brom and played 47 games there between 1998-2000, will have been relieved as there was little between the teams, who both hit the goal frame in the first half.

West Brom had a penalty claim turned down when Grady Diangana went down after it appeared he was pushed over in the box; VAR might have intervened if it was available.

Albion then failed to react quickly enough when goalkeeper Mads Hermansen played a poor pass out and it was intercepted, Brandon Thomas-Asante eventually having a shot blocked.

The home side went even closer in the 25th minute when Cedric Kipre stabbed against a post with the goalkeeper beaten after Matt Phillips’s corner had flicked off a couple of heads.

But Leicester returned fire to hit the goal frame themselves when Kelechi Iheanacho’s low angled drive was deflected onto the near post by Darnell Furlong’s lunge.

It looked like things might open up after the break when Diangana’s curling shot was deflected over the bar off Wout Faes.

But instead it became very scrappy, with both teams guilty of giving the ball away in midfield and defences remained on top.

That almost changed when Wilfred Ndidi got on the end of a cross from substitute Abdul Fatawu, but his flicked header under pressure lacked the power to beat Alex Palmer, who fumbled before the ball was cleared.

The Ndidi-Fatawu link-up combined again to devastating effect in the 72nd minute.

Fatawu spotted Ndidi’s run beyond the Albion midfield in the inside right position and the latter crossed for Dewsbury-Hall to nod the ball home ahead of Furlong from six yards out.

Albion equalised in very scrappy fashion. Furlong’s throw-in was headed away by Faes and, when the ball came back in, Kipre helped it on – a grounded Leicester defender could only tee up Maja to prod home his first goal since February 2022.

But Leicester hit Albion on the counter when they broke on a long throw-in and Iheanacho passed from inside his own half to Dewsbury-Hall, who ran 40 yards with the ball before drawing Palmer and slipping in Winks for an open goal.