Mulgrew stars in the taming of the Shrews
BLACKBURN beat promotion rivals Shrewsbury 3-1 at Ewood Park to move within two points of automatic promotion.
Third-placed Rovers took the lead in the 14th minute through Charlie Mulgrew’s
25-yard strike but Shrewsbury equalised before the break through Jon Nolan’s spot-kick.
A close-range effort from Danny Graham (below) restored Blackburn’s lead on the hour mark and Mulgrew added his second with a penalty
10 minutes later to extend their unbeaten run to 15 league games.
Wigan failed to take full advantage of the Shrews’ slip-up but a
0-0 draw with Peterborough increased their lead at the top to three points.
Scunthorpe have now gone six league matches without defeat after a 1-1 draw at play-off rivals Portsmouth.
Jamal Lowe put Pompey ahead on 15 minutes before fourth-placed Scunthorpe drew level just after half-time through Kevin van Veen.
Mark Marshall’s
63rd-minute strike saw Charlton rise into the play-off places with a 1-0 win at bottom side Bury.
Bradford remain fifth despite losing 2-1 against struggling Northampton at Valley Parade, with John-Joe O’Toole and Chris Long scoring either side of half-time.
Rochdale are now seven points adrift of safety as Lee Martin’s second-half strike helped Gillingham to come from behind to win 2-1.
Elsewhere, AFC Wimbledon are also in the bottom four after being held to a goalless draw at rivals MK Dons. Oldham remain just above the drop zone having fought back to draw 1-1 at home to Rotherham thanks to Craig Davies’ first-half equaliser.
Amadou Bakayoko and Erhun Oztumer were on the scoresheet as Walsall beat Oxford 2-1, while two goals in five minutes from Toumani Diagouraga and Paddy Madden sent Fleetwood on their way to a 2-1 victory at Southend.
Ryan Edwards cancelled out Alfie Beestin’s first-half goal to earn a 1-1 draw for Plymouth at Doncaster, while Blackpool and Bristol Rovers played out a goalless stalemate.
CHRIS COLEMAN’S return to Wales ended in painful defeat as Cardiff got back to winning ways.
Callum Paterson scored twice and Joe Ralls and substitute Anthony Pilkington were also on target as Neil Warnock’s men put their dreadful Christmas and New Year run behind them.
Sunderland’s miserable day extended to a red card for Didier Ndong four minutes after the break with the score at 1-0, the Gabon midfielder dismissed for a poor over-the-ball challenge on Junior Hoilett.
Coleman enjoyed plenty of special moments at the Cardiff City Stadium during almost six years as Wales boss, which ended when he took over at Sunderland in November.
Belgium, then ranked the second best team in the world, were beaten at Cardiff on Coleman’s watch. But his battle to prevent rock-bottom Sunderland sliding towards a second straight relegation may prove an even bigger task for the Welshman.
“It was painful,” Coleman said. “We were 1-0 down 45 seconds after the restart and I can’t accept that.
“We made a poor mistake and you can’t do that where we are. Well, you can – but if you do we will stay where we are.”
On Ndong’s dismissal, Coleman added: “Sometimes they are given, sometimes they are not. His studs are up on the ball and then he hits the Cardiff boy quite high, so he has given the referee a decision to make.”
What attacking threat there was in the first half came from a Cardiff side who had lost their four previous games.
A fifth would have meant the Bluebirds’ worst run in the league for 20 years, while veteran boss Warnock had not lost five in a row since 1995.
Cardiff’s early probing saw Paterson head a Ralls free-kick into the arms of Robbin Ruiter, before the Black Cats managed a rare foray which saw George Honeyman blaze over.
The contest changed right at the start of the second half when Paterson met Ralls’ corner inside 90 seconds of the restart. Two minutes later referee Andy Madley made the correct call as Ndong stretched and left his studs on Hoilett’s ankle.
There seemed no way back for Sunderland and so it proved as Cardiff produced the best move of the match.
Neat passing released Kenneth Zohore down the left and his cross was swept home by the supporting Ralls in the 55th minute.
Sunderland came close to a lifeline when Bruno Ecuele Manga almost sliced into his own net. But Paterson punished them again when Zohore’s free-kick deflected into his path and he fired home left-footed from 18 yards with 10 minutes remaining.
Sunderland’s heaviest defeat under Coleman was confirmed when Yanic Wildschut set up fellow substitute Pilkington for the simplest of finishes in stoppage time.
Warnock said: “We had to work hard to get that goal but you could see the relief when we scored at the start of the second half.
“We were then free to play and we really stepped up a gear, we played some good stuff and the energy was back. We looked a little bit lethargic over Christmas so it was just nice to get back to winning ways.”