Championship relegation battle: how Portsmouth’s rivals fared this week including Hull, Plymouth and Preston

Portsmouth are back in Championship action for a highly-anticipated meeting with play-off hopefuls Millwall at Fratton Park.

The fixtures marks Portsmouth's first competitive outing since that morale-boosting victory against fellow strugglers Preston North End where the Blues were successfully able to climb off the bottom of the Championship table.

Following the international break and Saturday’s postponed clash at Blackburn Rovers, John Mousinho’s men have had a total of 18 days rest. In that time, there has been plenty of twists and turns from the teams around them in the relegation battle, but have the results gone in Pompey’s favour?

Here’s a look at how Portsmouth’s rivals have fared this week.

Hull City

Tim Walter’s Hull City side slipped into further relegation trouble after a disappointing 2-0 defeat at home to Sheffield Wednesday. The Tigers dominated possession and had ten more shots than the home side but were beaten by Hidde ter Avest's 55th minute goal.

“We lost again and that's the problem at the moment. It’s all about development and improvement and I can see the signs but when something happened against us we couldn’t find the red line again," Walter told BBC Radio Humberside.

"We are not resilient enough and for a young squad that is important, and to get in the right moments. All we can do is stick together, work and fight hard against these situations. It’s not easy for us but they are good boys and keep working."

Hull City are without a win in six Championship matches and will hope to put that barren run to an end when they travel to promotion hopefuls Middlesbrough at the weekend.

Plymouth Argyle

Plymouth Argyle suffered a humiliating 6-1 defeat away to Norwich City at Carrow Road after a totally inept defensive display. Championship top scorer Borja Sainz fired in a hat-trick to end his side’s seven-game winless run and inflict a record loss on Wayne Rooney in his managerial career.

“We were nowhere near good enough - we are down to the bare bones with injuries but that is no excuse.” Rooney explained.

Plymouth travel to Bristol City in their next match and will be desperate for redemption after a dismal showing at Carrow Road.

Rooney added: “I could probably put the under-18 team out there and they wouldn’t concede six goals, so I’m very disappointed, angry, frustrated and the next 24-48 hours are not going to be very nice for the players, but we need to get to the bottom of why this is happening.”

Preston North End

Preston North End picked up a hard-fought point away to Stoke City in a goalless stalemate that ended with goalkeeper Freddie Woodman being sent off in stoppage time.

Paul Heckingbottom’s side are yet to win away from home this season and missed another of guilt-edged opportunities to end that record at the Bet365 Stadium. The result marks Preston’s second consecutive draw since their defeat to Portsmouth and leaves two points clear of safety. Heckingbottom’s side play host to promotion hopefuls West Bromwich Albion in their next Championship encounter.

Oxford United

Oxford United had another night to forget in the Championship as they suffered a 3-0 defeat away to league leaders Sheffield United. The U’s currently find themselves in free fall with just one win in their last 12 matches and in 18th place, two points above the drop zone.

Oxford lost 6-2 at home to Middlesbrough over the weekend and are currently finding it very difficult to keep the ball out of their own net.

Des Buckingham told BBC Radio Oxford: “A tough place to come against a team who are top of the table but I thought we gave a good account of ourselves for 30 minutes. No team has scored here in nine hours and we had to go and chase the game but we did as much as we could.”

Oxford host Millwall in their next Championship encounter.

Coventry City

Coventry City, who are still without a manager, continued their underwhelming start to the season with a 2-0 defeat at high-flying Burnley.

Sky Blues interim boss Rhys Carr has claimed that he would have liked to have seen more from his team despite the calibre of the opponent.

Carr told BBC Radio CWR: “We would’ve liked to have offered a little bit more threat. I think credit to them, we came up against a good team tonight.”

Coventry play host to fellow strugglers Cardiff City in a crucial Championship showdown this weekend.