Wednesday and Reading book playoff spots

LONDON: Sheffield Wednesday and Reading secured places in the Championship promotion playoffs on Saturday while at the bottom Wigan Athletic were relegated back to League One.

Promoted Brighton missed out on a chance to secure the title, losing 1-0 at home to Bristol City to a goal, two minutes before the break, from Josh Brownhill.

The loss leaves Brighton a point ahead of Newcastle, also promoted, with the final round of games this weekend.

Wednesday’s sixth straight win came with a 1-0 victory at Ipswich, thanks to a Kieran Lee goal, and means they cannot be caught by seventh-placed Leeds United.

Third-placed Reading will also be involved in the four-team battle for a place in the Premier League after they beat Wigan 1-0, through an early header from top scorer Yann Kermorgant.

That result meant an immediate return to the third tier for Wigan who join Rotherham United in being relegated to League One next season.

Huddersfield, who had already made sure of their place in the playoffs, fell to a 2-0 loss at lowly Birmingham City, who enjoyed their first win under new manager Harry Redknapp.

“We need a win — a point is nothing,” said Redknapp. “It was important we got the win — it keeps us out of it and I’d still rather be two points above it than two points behind.”

Birmingham are now two points ahead of Nottingham Forest and Blackburn Rovers, who both have 48 points and are scrapping to escape the final relegation place.

Rovers kept alive their hopes with a Danny Graham goal, which gave them a 1-0 win at home to Aston Villa, while Forest fell to a 2-0 defeat away to Queens Park Rangers.

In this week’s final round of games Forest are at home to Ipswich while Blackburn are away at Brentford.

Leeds United’s hopes of making the playoffs virtually vanished, despite coming back from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 at Norwich, leaving Fulham, who drew 1-1 at Brentford, three points ahead of them with a 13-goal advantage. Agencies