Rampant Wolves move closer to promotion

LONDON: Wolves moved a step closer to the English Premier League as the English Championship leaders crushed Reading 3-0.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side had won just one of their previous five games to see their lead at the top of the second tier cut to three points.

Hammered 4-1 by local rivals Aston Villa in their previous match, Wolves got back on track in style with a dominant display at Molineux.

Matt Doherty put Wolves ahead in the first half and a 58th-minute goal from Benik Afobe increased the hosts’ lead before Doherty netted again to seal the points.

Wolves remain three points clear of second-placed Cardiff and 10 ahead of third-placed Villa in the battle for automatic promotion.

Cardiff are also in a strong position to return to the top flight after a 3-1 win at Brentford.

Sol Bamba, Callum Paterson and Kenneth Zohore scored for Neil Warnock’s side after Neal Maupay had opened the scoring for Brentford.

It left Cardiff holding a seven-point advantage over Villa, whose automatic promotion hopes suffered a major blow with a surprise 3-1 defeat at home to QPR.

Ryan Manning’s header and Jake Bidwell’s deflected effort put the visitors 2-0 up at half-time.

Luke Freeman added a late third at Villa Park before James Chester got one back for Villa.

Sheffield United closed the gap to the play-off places to two points after a 2-0 win over second-bottom Burton.

Enda Stevens opened the scoring in the first half before David Brooks’ goal after the break helped lift them to seventh.

Barnsley inched three points clear of the relegation zone after a 1-1 draw with Norwich.

Oli McBurnie celebrated his first Scotland call-up with a neat volley to put Barnsley ahead just before halftime, only for Josh Murphy to equalise in the second half.