Championship roundup: Rooney on the mark, West Brom close gap on Leeds
Matheus Pereira hit a second-half double to help West Brom steam to a 3-0 win against Sheffield Wednesday and close the gap at the top of the table to a point.
West Brom won a penalty after half an hour when Dara O’Shea had his shirt pulled by Moses Odubajo. Charlie Austin swept home to put the visitors ahead with his 10th goal of the season.
The lead was doubled on the hour when Pereira met Kieran Gibbs’s whipped cross with a well-placed header. The Brazilian made the win safe late on, firing into the roof of the net from close-range to take the Baggies, who had taken one point from two games since the restart, to within a point of the leaders, Leeds.
“You can crumble under pressure but we didn’t,” said Slaven Bilic, the West Brom manager. “There was big pressure on us and we responded like a proper, mature, quality team. Hopefully, we are back in town.”
Elsewhere Tiago Silva’s terrific freekick fired Nottingham Forest to victory and extended Bristol City’s wretched run on a night when Ashley Williams was sent off. Sabri Lamouchi’s men strengthened their position in the
Championship play-off spots, the three points seeing them move up to fourth on goal difference.
Bristol City did show signs of promise at the City Ground but Lee Johnson’s stuttering side saw their winless streak extend to an eighth match as Silva’s moment of magic and Williams’ ill discipline helped Forest to a 1-0 triumph.
Wayne Rooney’s free-kick secured Derby another win. They beat Preston 1-0 at Deepdale to close the gap between them and the play-off places to a point. It was their fifth successive league victory and they moved a point behind sixth-placed Cardiff. Preston remain outside the play-off berths by four points.
Phillip Cocu dedicated the win to the defender Andre Wisdom, who was stabbed in an unprovoked attack on Saturday. “It was a very serious matter,” the manager said. “We were all very shocked about it but also extremely pleased to see him and talk with him. The team is extremely happy we are able to give the win to him.”
Huddersfield helped their survival chances with an impressive 3-0 win at Birmingham. Karlan Grant’s penalty, Fraizer Campbell’s first goal since November and Elias Kachunga’s header lifted them out of the relegation zone.
Campbell’s strike came just after Karlan Grant had a second spot-kick saved by Lee Camp.
Huddersfield are now 19th, three points above the drop zone after their first win since the enforced break. Birmingham, who are 17th and seven points clear of the bottom-three, are likely to need one more win to avoid any late scares and were second-best from the early stages.