Seven in a row for flying Villa

ASTON VILLA moved into second place in the Championship following a 2-0 win over local rivals Birmingham City at Villa Park.

Albert Adomah scored his 13th goal of the season on the hour and Conor Hourihane netted a second after 81 minutes to enable Villa to chalk up their seventh successive league win, while Birmingham were reduced to 10 men at the death following Cheikh Ndoye’s second yellow card.

Wolves extended their lead at the top of the table to 13 points by beating QPR 2-1 at Molineux.

Goals from Alfred N’Diaye and Helder Costa put the hosts in control at half-time before Conor Washington reduced the arrears for QPR soon after the restart.

Wolves rode their luck in the closing stages, but clinched their third straight league win.

Derby stayed second but lost ground on the leaders as they were held 1-1 at home by Norwich.

Matej Vydra’s 17th league goal of the season put the Rams ahead and, although Canaries striker Nelson Oliveira’s penalty shortly before the interval was saved by Scott Carson, James Maddison fired a second-half equaliser.

Paul Heckingbottom lost his first game in charge of Leeds as Billy Sharp’s double against his former club earned Sheffield United a 2-1 triumph at Bramall Lane.

Sharp volleyed the Blades into an early lead and, after Pierre-Michel Lasogga headed Leeds level, the striker converted a penalty following a foul on him by Eunan O’Kane.

Barnsley responded to Heckingbottom’s departure this week by drawing 1-1 against Sheffield Wednesday in another all-Yorkshire lunchtime kick-off, but they slipped into the bottom three.

Atdhe Nuhiu’s first-half penalty, following Andy Yiadom’s challenge on Lucas Joao, was cancelled out by Barnsley’s on-loan Swansea striker Oli McBurnie on his first start for the club.

Bolton forward Adam Le Fondre checked Fulham’s march up the table with a second-half equaliser in a 1-1 draw at the Macron Stadium.

Matt Targett had headed the Cottagers into an early lead, but Le Fondre equalised just after the hour mark to ensure Bolton’s mini revival continued.

Bristol City’s play-off hopes suffered another setback as they squandered a three-goal lead to draw 3-3 at home against Sunderland.

Middlesbrough kept in touch with the top six thanks to a 2-1 home win over struggling Reading.

Adama Traore struck twice in five minutes for Boro either side of halftime and Grant Leadbitter hit a post before Reading pulled one back through Chris Martin.

Britt Assombalonga fired a late penalty for Boro over the crossbar.

Florian Jozefzoon’s second-half equaliser earned Brentford a 1-1 home draw against 10-man Preston. Tom Barkhuizen’s opener for Preston was cancelled out by Jozefzoon six minutes later before visiting defender Greg Cunningham was shown a second yellow card.

Ipswich were held 0-0 by Burton at Portman Road, while Hull halted their nine-game winless run in the Championship with a 2-0 triumph at Nottingham Forest.