Championship Table 2015 Week 45: Football Results, Updated Standings and More

Watford became the first club in this year's Football League Championship to secure promotion to the Premier League after beating Brighton & Hove Albion on Saturday. The Hornets had to wait for the results of the other matches, but as shared by the league's Twitter account, everything eventually fell into place:

It was another mad day for the Championship, with a host of relegation-threatened teams stealing points off the club at the top of the table. Fulham no longer have to fear the drop and found a way to beat Middlesbrough, while Rotherham United drew with Norwich City and Millwall managed to hold Derby

On Monday, Bournemouth all but secured their spot in next year's Premier League as well, beating Bolton Wanderers 3-0 to move three points and 19 goals clear of Middlesbrough.

Here's a look at the results from this week's Championship action:

Home	Score	Away
Brighton & Hove Albion	0-2	Watford
Sheffield Wednesday	1-2	Leeds
Birmingham City	1-0	Charlton Athletic
Cardiff City	3-2	Blackpool
Fulham	4-3	Middlesbrough
Huddersfield Town	2-2	lackburn Rovers
Ipswich Town	2-1	Nittingham Forest
Millwall	3-3	Derby County
Reading	0-2	Brentford
Rotherham	1-1	Norwich City
Wigan	0-1	Wolverhampton Wanderers
Bournemouth	3-0	Bolton

The current Championship standings:

#	Team	PL	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
1	Watford	45	27	7	11	90	49	+41	88
2	AFC Bournemouth	45	25	12	8	95	45	+50	87
3	Middlesbrough	45	25	9	11	68	37	+31	84
4	Norwich City	45	24	11	10	84	46	+38	83
5	Ipswich Town	45	22	12	11	70	51	+19	78
6	Derby County	45	21	14	10	85	53	+32	77
7	Brentford	45	22	9	14	75	59	+16	75
8	Wolverhampton	45	21	12	12	66	54	+12	75
9	Blackburn Rovers	45	16	16	13	63	57	+6	64
10	Charlton Athletic	45	14	18	13	54	57	-3	60
11	Birmingham City	45	15	15	15	53	64	-11	60
12	Nottingham Forest	45	15	14	16	70	67	+3	59
13	Cardiff City	45	15	14	16	55	60	-5	59
14	Sheffield Wedn…	45	14	17	14	42	48	-6	59
15	Leeds United	45	15	10	20	50	61	-11	55
16	Huddersfield Town	45	13	15	17	58	75	-17	54
17	Fulham	45	14	10	21	60	79	-19	52
18	Bolton Wanderers	45	13	12	20	54	66	-12	51
19	Reading	44	12	11	21	44	67	-23	47
20	Brighton & Hov…	45	10	16	19	44	54	-10	46
21	Rotherham United	44	10	15	19	44	66	-22	45
22	Millwall	45	9	14	22	40	72	-32	41
23	Wigan Athletic	45	9	12	24	39	61	-22	39
24	Blackpool	45	4	13	28	36	91	-55	25

Monday Recap

Bournemouth all but secured their spot in next year's Premier League with a 3-0 win over Bolton Wanderer, sparking mad celebrations at Goldsands Stadium. KICK TV shared images of fans storming the pitch after the final whistle had been blown:

As shared by Rob Harris of the Associated Press, local law enforcement tried―and failed miserably―to prevent fans from reaching the pitch:

Marc Pugh and Matt Ritchie gave the Cherries a two-goal lead in the first half, and it was clear the football gods would be on Bournemouth's side when Dorian Dervite ran into a red card.

Yann Kermorgant missed a penalty before Callum Wilson put the final score on the board, all but firing Bournemouth to the Premier League.

Bournemouth now lead Middlesbrough in the standings by three points with one match left to be played, and their 19-goal advantage means they should comfortably hold onto their spot in the standings. They play Charlton Athletic on the final matchday, and they haven't lost their sense of humour yet:

Former England international and current pundit Gary Lineker already welcomed the Cherries to the Premier League:

Rotherham United and Reading will meet on Tuesday in a vital clash in the battle against relegation, before the 2014-15 Championship season concludes on Saturday.

Brentford and Wolverhampton Wanderers can still catch up with Ipswich Town and Derby County in the race for the play-offs, while Millwall will anxiously await the result of Tuesday's match to find out if they still have a chance of passing Rotherham and avoiding the drop.

Saturday Recap

Troy Deeney and Matej Vydra found the back of the net for league-leaders Watford against Brighton & Hove Albion, handing the visitors a 2-0 win and direct promotion to the Premier League.

Following the results from the late matches, the Hornets now hold a four-point advantage over third-placed Middlesbrough, with just one match left to be played for either team. That means Watford need just one more win to grab the title, while their spot in next year's Premier League is already safe:

Assistant coach Ruben Martinez took to Twitter to express his joy:

The team was celebrating on the bus as well, per KickTV:

This year's Championship season has been an incredible ride, with plenty of top teams deserving of a spot in the Premier League. Scoring has been at an all-time high, to the delight of fans, and per the Independent's Jack Pitt-Brooke, yet another mark was achieved on Saturday:

Watford needed Middlesbrough to lose to Fulham and Norwich not to beat Rotherham during the afternoon matches in order to achieve promotion, and incredibly enough, both came to pass.

Rotherham scored an equaliser in the final 10 minutes, taking advantage of Lewis Grabban's early red card to secure a 1-1 draw against the Canaries. Meanwhile, Fulham beat Middlesbrough 4-3 in a spectacle for the ages, Ross McCormack striking right at the end of the regulation.

As Sky Sports' Peter Hall put it, it was just another day in the Championship:

ESPN FC also had difficulty keeping up with the action:

Brentford and Wolverhampton Wanderers both managed to win their respective matches, meaning the duo will enter the final round of fixtures just two points behind Derby County for the final play-off spot. That's significant, as Derby's goal differential is far superior to either team.

If Derby had managed to beat Millwall, their spot in the play-offs would have been secure. Instead, both they and Ipswich Town could still lose out.

Things could have been worse for the visitors, however. Lee Gregory scored a hat trick to put Millwall up 3-1, and it took a very late goal from Jeff Hendrick to salvage a point and stop the meltdown. The Guardian's Sachin Nakrani couldn't believe how quickly Derby folded against the east Londoners:

Millwall came within minutes of jumping over Rotherham in the standings in the race to avoid relegation. The latter side still has a match in hand and a one-point advantage, and they could secure their safety with a win over Reading on Tuesday.

Wigan Athletic will need a miracle on the final matchday to avoid the drop. If Rotherham lose their final two matches and Millwall doesn't beat Wolverhampton on the final matchday, a victory at Brentford could still save the club.