Morgan Whittaker’s early goal at a near-empty Hillsborough gave Middlesbrough a 1-0 win at bottom club Sheffield Wednesday and lifted them to within a point of Championship leaders Coventry.

Whittaker struck for the second game running in the sixth minute and that proved enough for Rob Edwards’ side, who should have won by a wider margin and had what looked a certain penalty turned down.

Wednesday remain winless in six home league games this season after slipping to their third straight defeat.

There was a minute’s applause before kick-off for former Owls owner Milan Mandaric, who died this month aged 87. Mandaric sold the club in 2015 after five years at the helm to current owner Dejphon Chansiri, whose own tenure has descended into chaos.

Owls fans stepped up their protest against the Thai businessman – amid reports of a pending winding-up order for an unpaid tax bill – by boycotting the game in their thousands.

Rumarn Burrell scored for the second time in five days as QPR held 10-man Swansea at bay to win 1-0 and climb to eighth. Burrell – who was a scorer in his team’s 2-1 home defeat by Millwall on Saturday – grabbed the...