Watford chip at gap as Norwich drop rare point
BLACKBURN Rovers came from behind to take a point off Championship leaders Norwich City at Carrow Road.
The Canaries looked on course to make it 10 League wins in a row as Kenny McLean’s crisp finish following an exchange of passes with Kieran Dowell had them ahead in a tight encounter.
But the visitors made sure of leaving Norfolk with a share of the spoils when Sam Gallagher headed in to secure a 1-1 draw.
Watford moved to within eight points of the summit with a straightforward win over Lee Bowyer’s Birmingham City, 3-0 at Vicarage Road.
Ken Sema put the Hornets ahead early on, tucking home after Joao Pedro’s low effort had been turned into his path.
The points were secured when captain Nathaniel Chalobah headed in 10 minutes into the second-half before Andre Gray completed a good win.
Fellow promotion hopefuls Brentford were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Nottingham Forest in the early kick-off. Ivan Toney’s penalty – his 28th League goal of the campaign – was cancelled out by Filip Krovinovic’s effort.
Cardiff City claimed an important 1-0 South Wales derby victory over Swansea City at the Liberty Stadium thanks to Aden Flint’s early goal.
Flint has now scored more goals in English League football than any other defender since August 2014 and his 38th effort in that time gave
Cardiff their first derby win since 2013. He headed home in the eighth minute.
At the other end of the table, there were crucial wins for both Rotherham United and Sheffield Wednesday in their battle against the drop.
Jordan Rhodes scored once in either half as Wednesday won 2-1 away to South Yorkshire rivals Barnsley, who pulled one back through Carlton Morris.
Rotherham, meanwhile, were 2-0 victors away to Bristol City as Michael Smith headed in moments before the interval and Richard Wood doubled the advantage later on.
Bottom club Wycombe Wanderers drew 0-0 away to Coventry City.
Yakou Meite scored his third goal in three games as Reading came from behind to draw 1-1 at home to Queens Park Rangers, who had led at half-time through Lyndon Dykes.
Millwall ran out 1-0 winners over Middlesbrough courtesy of a Grant Hall own goal, while Luton Town beat Preston North End 1-0 with Daniel Iversen turning into his own net late on.
That defeat spelled the end for Preston manager Alex Neil.
The 39-year-old Scot was sacked yesterday.
The defeat to Luton was the club’s third in succession and their eighth in 12 League games.