The Championship season continued with the latest round of games played – the first over the festive period.
Brighton won whereas Newcastle lost to see Albion go top. However, Rotherham remain bottom but closed the gap to safety – Wigan and Blackburn make up the bottom three.
Here’s a round up of the Championship action from the other games played.
Results
Monday 26th December 2016 – Sky Bet Championship
Brentford 2-2 Cardiff City 13:00
Aston Villa 2-1 Burton Albion 15:00
Barnsley 2-0 Blackburn Rovers 15:00
Huddersfield Town 2-1 Nottingham Forest 15:00
Ipswich Town 0-2 Fulham 15:00
Preston North End 1-4 Leeds United 15:00
Reading 3-1 Norwich City 15:00
Rotherham United 3-2 Wigan Athletic 15:00
Wolverhampton Wanderers 3-2 Bristol City 15:00
Newcastle United 0-1 Sheffield Wednesday 19:45
Tuesday 27th December 2016 – Sky Bet Championship
Brighton & Hove Albion 3-0 Queens Park Rangers 12:30
Derby County 1-0 Birmingham City 15:00
Newcastle missed the chance to ensure they would retain their lead – whatever Brighton did – after suffering a 1-0 defeat at St James’ Park against play-off chasing Sheffield Wednesday in the last game on Boxing Day. The Magpies – at the time – retained top spot though with the Owls’ fifth win in six keeping them in 6th.
However, the first game to kick off on Boxing Day though saw Brentford play host to relegation threatened Cardiff – this was a game that ended with the points shared at Griffin Park after a 2-2 draw.
Aston Villa made it back-to-back wins – three in four – when seeing off struggling Burton at Villa Park. The Brewers’ fourth straight defeat means they remain a place and a couple of points above the bottom three.
The side directly below Burton remain as Blackburn after Owen Coyle’s side were beaten 2-0 at Oakwell against Barnsley – who made it four wins out of five to move into the top 10.
An unbeaten Huddersfield run was extended to five games with a fourth straight win when Town saw off the challenge of visiting Nottingham Forest to retain 4th place. Forest’s third defeat in a winless run of four leaves them very much embroiled in a relegation battle heading into the New Year.
Fulham retained their play-off push as a 2-0 win at Ipswich keeps the Cottagers four points off the top six. However, the Tractor Boys’ third defeat in five leaves them in the lower reaches of the table.
Preston became the third side in a row – in fact the fifth in six – beaten by promotion chasing Leeds when Gary Monks saw his team run out 4-1 winners at Deepdale. This was a game that saw North End striker Jermaine Beckford sent off for a second game in a row just minutes into his return from his previous suspension!
A third win in four games saw Reading close the gap on Newcastle to six points. This 3-1 defeat for Norwich though was an eighth in the last 10 to leave the Canaries exactly midtable – some seven points from a play-off place.
It will take something quite special for Rotherham to turn around their fortunes and stay in the Championship in the New Year. However, a 3-2 win against fellow strugglers Wigan – who remain in 23rd and four from safety – saw the Millers close the gap to nine points.
Wolves recorded back-to-back victories when Paul Lambert’s side ran out 3-2 winners against Bristol City to move up to 15th. This defeat at Molineux was a fourth in a row and seventh in the last 10 for the Robins.
Tuesday lunchtime saw Brighton with the chance to move to the top of the Championship following the slip by Newcastle the night prior. Albion took this as a fourth straight win – and eighth in the last 10 unbeaten – against QPR put them two clear at the summit. The R’s 3-0 defeat at the Amex Stadium was an eighth in the last 10 with Ian Holloway’s side losing six on the spin.
Derby have lost only once in the last 10 and extended the unbeaten run to nine with an eighth win from this period as the Rams saw off Birmingham 1-0 at the iPro Stadium – they remain a point off the play-off. Whereas Gianfranco Zola has suffered successive defeats since his appointment with the Blues – he’ll hope for it to be third time lucky!
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