Championship wrap: Vata and McGuinness on target; Sheffield United go top

Rocco Vata was on the scoresheet, once again, however, the Ireland Under-21 international's late strike was not enough to spark a fightback as Watford lost 2-1 to Preston North End.

The Hornets missed out on a chance to move into the Championship play-off places as Milutin Osmajic's brace helped Preston to victory.

Ireland centre-half Mark McGuinness was also on target, but also on the losing side, as struggling Luton came out the wrong side of a five-goal thriller, losing to Oxford.

Oxford's impressive unbeaten run under Gary Rowett stretched to seven matches after the 3-2 win as Tom Krauss’ opener for the Hatters was cancelled out by Michal Helik before McGuinness put Luton back in front in the 26th minute.

But Matt Bloomfield’s Luton remain second bottom after goals from Ciaron Brown and Greg Leigh helped Oxford complete the turnaround.

Sheffield United went top of the table after coming from behind to win 2-1 at 10-man Swansea.

After Florian Bianchini opened the scoring for the Swans in the seventh minute, the Blades came out firing in the second half with Rhian Brewster netting a 47th-minute leveller.

Once Harry Darling was shown a straight red card for a poor challenge on Brewster three minutes later, Chris Wilder's team made full use of the extra man with Harrison Burrows’ penalty in the 68th minute taking them two points clear at the summit.

Rivals Leeds still have a game in hand and can retake top spot with a home win against Norwich on Wednesday.

Sunderland’s 1-0 win at Derby, secured by Eliezer Mayenda’s 28th-minute effort, took them two points behind Leeds.

Tony Mowbray’s return to the dugout ended in defeat as his West Brom side were beaten 2-0 by Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium.

The 61-year-old was appointed as