A review of Tuesday night's action in the Sky Bet Championship.
On the night the top two, Newcastle and Brighton, both slipped up by both drawing while the chasing pack in the Play Off zone all won. This closed the gap to just four points. Fulham were able to move up to 8th spot and are now 6 points outside the Play Off zone. The big losers of the night were Derby who fell from 8th to 11th place after losing 3-4 at home to Cardiff.
In the
Fulham versus Nottingham Forest game down at Craven Cottage the visitors had the best possible start after just two minutes, when
former Fulham Pajtim Kasami was left unmarked and able to volley left-footed past David Button
in the 2nd minute .
Fulham however managed to turned the game around in the space of three minutes.
Firstly, a Ryan Sessegnon pass on the half-hour mark found captain Cairney to slot home the equaliser and then Piazon made a fine solo run into the box, with Forest defenders looking flat-footed, to turn the ball past Vladimir Stojkovic.
The visitors levelled three minutes after the restart when Ben Brereton headed home a cross by Daniel Fox but Hobbs' scored an unwitting own goal off a shot by Fulham Super Sub Neeskens Kebanoin the 72nd minute which left Fulham celebrating three points.
Elsewhere Jamaal Lascelles rescued
Newcastle with an 81st-minute equaliser as Rafael Benitez's men maintained their one-point lead at the top of the Sky Bet Championship with a 2-2 draw at
Norwich.
| Pos |
Teams |
FT |
Teams |
Time |
| 1 |
Aston Villa |
1-3 |
Barnsley |
19.45 |
| 2 |
Brighton |
1-1 |
Ipswich |
19.45 |
| 3 |
Derby |
3-4 |
Cardiff |
19.45 |
| 4 |
Fulham |
3-2 |
Nottm Forest |
19.45 |
| 5 |
Leeds |
2-1 |
Bristol C |
19.45 |
| 6 |
Norwich |
2-2 |
Newcastle |
19.45 |
| 7 |
Preston |
2-1 |
Birmingham |
19.45 |
| 8 |
Rotherham |
2-3 |
Huddersfield |
19.45 |
| 9 |
Sheff Wed |
2-1 |
Blackburn |
19.45 |
| 10 |
Wolves |
0-1 |
Wigan |
19.45 |
| 11 |
Reading |
3-2 |
Brentford |
20.00 |
The Magpies had made a dream start at Carrow Road when Ayoze Perez fired the opener with just 24 seconds on the clock but Norwich hit back to level through Jacob Murphy.
Cameron Jerome capitalised on a blunder by Newcastle keeper Karl Darlow to give the Canaries the lead after 17 minutes but in an end-to-end thriller Lascelles volleyed home from a tight angle with time running out.
Second-placed
Brighton failed to take full advantage as they were held to a 1-1 draw by
Ipswich at the AMEX Stadium.
| Pos |
Teams |
P |
GD |
Pts |
| 1 |
Newcastle |
31 |
35 |
66 |
| 2 |
Brighton |
31 |
26 |
65 |
| 3 |
Huddersfield |
31 |
7 |
61 |
| 4 |
Reading |
32 |
6 |
60 |
| 5 |
Leeds |
32 |
11 |
57 |
| 6 |
Sheff Wed |
31 |
10 |
55 |
| 7 |
Norwich |
32 |
12 |
51 |
| 8 |
Fulham |
31 |
15 |
49 |
| 9 |
Barnsley |
32 |
6 |
49 |
| 10 |
Preston |
32 |
4 |
48 |
| 11 |
Derby |
31 |
7 |
47 |
| 12 |
Cardiff |
32 |
-7 |
42 |
| 13 |
Ipswich |
32 |
-7 |
40 |
| 14 |
Birmingham |
32 |
-11 |
40 |
| 15 |
Brentford |
31 |
-1 |
37 |
| 16 |
Aston Villa |
31 |
-6 |
36 |
| 17 |
N Forest |
31 |
-10 |
36 |
| 18 |
Wolves |
31 |
-5 |
35 |
| 19 |
QPR |
31 |
-14 |
34 |
| 20 |
Bristol C |
31 |
-4 |
32 |
| 21 |
Burton |
31 |
-14 |
31 |
| 22 |
Wigan |
31 |
-8 |
29 |
| 23 |
Blackburn |
31 |
-13 |
29 |
| 24 |
Rotherham |
32 |
-38 |
17 |
Luke Chambers stunned the home side when he headed the visitors in front after just eight minutes, but Tomer Hemed's 29th-minute penalty levelled matters.
David Wagner's in-form
Huddersfield moved within four points of the Seagulls after twice coming from behind at bottom club
Rotherham before snatching another dramatic stoppage-time winner.
Joe Lolley cancelled out an early opener from Sam Ajayi before Tom Adeyemi's stunning long-range strike put the Millers back in front. But Elias Kachunga equalised before Tommy Smith stepped up to make it 3-2 in the second minute of injury time.
Reading also kept up the pace in fourth after coming from behind to grind out a precious 3-2 win over
Brentford.
Two goals in three minutes midway through the second half from Jose Peleteiro Ramallo and Lasse Vibe threatened to give the visitors a shock win after John Swift's 22nd-minute opener.
But Danny Williams equalised for the Royals after 77 minutes and four minutes later substitute Roy Beerens completed the dramatic recovery.
Leeds maintained their play-off push as a goal in each half from Chris Wood and Pablo Hernandez grabbed a 2-1 win over
Bristol City at Elland Road.
To make matters worse for the struggling Robins they lost leading scorer Tammy Abraham to injury in the first half before substitute Milan Djuric grabbed a late consolation.
Sheffield Wednesday clung on for a dramatic 2-1 win over
Blackburn at Hillsborough after the visitors had Hope Akpan sent off three minutes from time for protesting when his potential equaliser was ruled out for handball.
Vincent Sasso had opened the scoring for Wednesday after 18 minutes and despite a Sam Hutchinson own goal two minutes later, Sasso's second just before the interval proved enough to take the points.
Blackburn's night got worse as
Wigan clambered above them in the battle to beat the drop into Sky Bet League One, Jake Buxton heading home Max Power's 88th-minute corner to give the Latics a 1-0 win over
Wolves at Molineux.
Derby's play-off hopes took a major hit as a last-minute penalty from Joe Ralls saw
Cardiff get the better of a seven-goal thriller.
Julien De Sart and Darren Bent put the home side in command before a brace from Kadeem Harris and a third from Craig Noone turned the tie around for Neil Warnock's men.
Bent scored his second 15 minutes from time to drag Derby back level before a foul by Alex Pearce handed Ralls the chance to give the Bluebirds their second straight away win.
Aston Villa lurched to their eighth straight league game without a win as two goals from Tom Bradshaw and an Adam Armstrong penalty saw
Barnsley cruise to a 3-1 win at Villa Park, with Jonathan Kodija netting for the hosts.
Meanwhile Gianfranco Zola's problems intensified as his
Birmingham side fell to a 2-1 defeat at
Preston and ended the game with 10 men after Craig Gardner's late sending-off.
Callum Robinson's early opener for the hosts was cancelled out by Che Adams but Jordan Hugill struck the 78th-minute winner moment before Gardner saw red for a second bookable offence.