Portsmouth peg back Bolton while Stevenage rise to second

Ryley Towler fired a second-half double as Portsmouth dented Bolton’s automatic promotion hopes with a 3-1 win at Fratton Park.

Bolton had been hoping to close the gap on second-placed Plymouth to three points and they took the lead through Dion Charles early in the second half.

But Pompey hit back as Towler headed them level and fired them into the lead before Colby Bishop made sure of the points with a late third.

Derby climbed to within two points of fourth-placed Bolton as they bounced back from Saturday’s 4-1 defeat at Barnsley by beating Cheltenham 2-0.

David McGoldrick gave Derby a half-time lead at Pride Park and Lewis Dobbin added a second to get the Rams’ play-off bid back on track.

Peterborough moved up one place to eighth as they had Josh Knight controversially sent off in a goalless home draw against Charlton.

Posh were reduced to 10 men early in the second half when Knight was shown a straight red card following his clash with Charlton’s Jesurun Rak-Sakyi, who was lucky to escape a similar fate.

Draw specialists Lincoln had to settle for a point again after Paris Maghoma’s late equaliser clinched MK Dons a 1-1 draw at Sincil Bank.

Lincoln, who have now drawn 17 of their 32 league games this season, had taken an early lead though Daniel Mandroiu.

In League Two, Luke Norris fired a late winner for Stevenage in a 3-2 victory at AFC Wimbledon that lifted Steve Evans’s side up to second.

Dons striker Ali Al-Hamadi scored twice, either side of Carl Piergianni’s header for Stevenage and Kasey McAteer’s own goal, but Norris struck the winner with seven minutes left.

Harrogate’s winless league run was extended to six matches but they denied promotion-chasing Northampton in a 1-1 home draw.

Luke Armstrong notched his 11th league goal of the season for Harrogate a minute after Mitch Pinnock had given the Cobblers a second-half lead.

Bradford moved up to sixth place after a 2-0 victory at Gillingham as goals either side of half-time from Richie Smallwood and Andy Cook secured them a fourth win in five league games.

Salford slipped to seventh after they were held 1-1 at Barrow, who equalised through Theo Vassell’s own goal after Salford’s Ryan Watson had converted a 12th-minute penalty.

Jordan Turnbull’s second-half strike clinched Tranmere a 1-0 home win against second-bottom Crawley, who slipped to a fourth straight league defeat.