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Blades beat Portsmouth after owners’ merger statement Wednesday rock bottom following defeat at Millwall Sheffield United lifted themselves out of the Championship’s relegation zone on the day their owners reiterated their desire to take the club to the Premier League with a 3-0 win against 10-man Portsmouth. Patrick Bamford scored on his full United debut, turning home a scrappy rebound early in the second half for his first goal in 19 months, after Sydie Peck’s penalty had given the Blades a 1-0 interval lead. Peck converted his first senior goal for the club after the Pompey defender Terry Devlin had been shown a straight red card for handling on the goalline shortly before half-time. Gus Hamer, on as a substitute, sealed back-to-back wins for Chris Wilder’s side with a brilliant curling effort from 25 yards. Earlier in the day the Sheffield United co-chairs, Steven Rosen and Helmy Eltoukhy, had issued a statement in response to reports that they contacted Sheffield Wednesday’s administrator over the prospect of a stunning merger of the clubs. The statement read: “Be under no illusion: bringing regular Premier League football to Sheffield United is why we are here. We are working as hard as we can to further modernise the club so that it is in the strongest position to compete. This journey is a marathon, not a sprint. Like all clubs there has certainly been some ups and downs. However, our goals and commitment remain the same today as the day we walked in. ” Sheffield Wednesday remain bottom of the Championship after they lost 1-0 at Millwall. Femi Azeez scored on his return from injury after seeing his side spurn a succession of chances. He sprung from the bench and headed in the winner as the Lions secured their first win in five games to lift them to fourth in the table. Paul Smyth scored a late winner to condemn Blackburn to a sixth home defeat of the season in a 1-0 win for QPR. Despite coming into the game on a run of four victories in five, Blackburn have struggled on their own turf, picking up just four points all season. That frailty felt likely to appear the longer the game remained goalless and Smyth did the damage just six minutes after his introduction from the bench with a superbly directed header for his third goal of the campaign and he almost added another at the end with a sumptuous volley that rattled the woodwork. But QPR held on for back-to-back wins to propel themselves within two points of the top six. Marvin Ducksch’s equaliser for Birmingham denied West Brom victory in a 1-1 draw in a typical blood-and-thunder West Midlands derby at the Hawthorns. Alex Mowatt’s 50th career goal gave Albion a deserved 12th-minute lead but they failed to take their chances and were pegged back by Ducksch’s 78th-minute header. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Nathan Broadhead was on target as Wrexham claimed a deserved 2-0 win against Bristol City. Broadhead scored only his third league goal since joining the Red Dragons from Ipswich in the summer with a stunning first-half strike. The hosts wrapped up victory with an own goal off the Robins goalkeeper Radek Vitek after George Thomason’s corner struck the post and rebounded in via the Manchester United loanee.