Football League: Fulham thrash Birmingham to go five points clear
Fulham moved five points clear at the top of the Championship table thanks to a relentless 6-2 win at home to struggling Birmingham.
It was a third high-scoring encounter in the space of a week for Marco Silva’s side following a 7-0 romp at Reading and a 6-2 home success at Bristol City’s expense. Neeskens Kebano, Fabio Carvalho and Tom Cairney added to an own-goal opener, with Birmingham’s Ivan Sunjic pulling one back to make it 4-1 at half-time.
Gary Gardner gave Blues brief hope of an unlikely comeback with a 74thminute second before Carvalho scored his second and Antonee Robinson helped himself to a sixth.
Ten-man Preston pulled off a sensational second-half comeback as they came from behind to draw 2-2 with SheffieldUnited at Deepdale.
The hosts looked down and out after Jayden Bogle and Billy Sharp scored for the Blades before half-time, while Andrew Hughes was dismissed. But Ryan Lowe’s side were far from dead and buried and they staged a dramatic turnaround late on, grabbing a point thanks to goals from Alan Browne and Emil Riis.
Bogle smashed a low drive through a forest of legs and into the back of the net from the edge of the area to score
United’s first goal in almost five hours of football.
They would add a second before the break after Rhian Brewster raced through on goal before being hauled down by Hughes. The defender was shown a straight red card for his troubles and to rub salt into the wounds, Sharp stepped up to resoundingly lash home the resulting spotkick and double the lead.
Daniel Johnson and Riis both drew saves out of Foderingham before they halved the deficit with 19 minutes remaining as Browne calmly converted from 10 yards after being well picked out by Johnson.
Lowe called upon ex-Blade Ched Evans in the search for an equaliser and the striker duly delivered an assist by teeing up Riis to dramatically prod home from close range to make it 2-2 in the dying minutes.
Wigan moved up to second in League One with a hard-fought 2-1 win at Morecambe.
Stephen Humphrys headed home with 17 minutes left to earn the Latics a fifth consecutive victory in all competitions but it could have been very different in Lancashire. Cole Stockton had put Morecambe ahead after only seven minutes with his 19th effort of the campaign.
Visiting Wigan looked set to trail at the break but Will Keane levelled on the stroke of half-time. And Humphrys header saw Leam Richardson’s men leapfrog Rotherham and Sunderland to move within a point of leaders Wycombe,
who have played four more games than their nearest rivals.
AFC Wimbledon edged a further point clear of the relegation zone with a goalless draw at home to play-off chasing Portsmouth.
Cambridge made it four wins in a row with a 3-1 triumph over basement club Doncaster. Harvey Knibbs broke the deadlock in first-half stoppage time for the U’s with a neat finish.
Harrison Dunk headed home a second at the back post after 62 minutes but Rovers set up a grand finale when Joe Dodoo tapped in from close range. Mark Bonner’s men wrapped up the points late on through Sam Smith to move up to 13th with Doncaster rooted to the bottom and 11 points from safety.
Fog caused the League Two encounter between leaders ForestGreen and in-form Mansfield to be abandoned after just four minutes.
Thick fog engulfed The Fully Charged New Lawn just before kickoff, with referee Carl Brook starting the game 15 minutes late. Play lasted only four minutes, with Forest Green’s Jamille Matt hitting a speculative strike through the fog to test Manchester United loanee Nathan Bishop in the Stags’ goal.
That was it for action, with the referee choosing to abandon the game as conditions worsened.
Sutton climbed to third after a stoppage-time goal from midfielder Will Randall saw them come from behind to beat strugglers Colchester 3-2.
Salford won 1-0 at PortVale, where a tractor was sent on to help fix a dislodged goalpost during the first half.
There was a stoppage on the halfhour mark after Vale defender Connor Hall and Salford striker Tom Elliott had clattered into the woodwork, which caused damage to the goal.
Eventually the Vale Park ground staff brought a tractor onto the pitch to help rectify the issue and play was able to resume, with 10 minutes added at the end of the first half.
Salford went in front shortly after the restart when Elliott stabbed the ball in at the near post after a corner was not cleared.
Stevenage put some distance between themselves and the relegation zone with a 2-1 home win over Crawley. Carlisle and Hartlepool played out a goalless draw at Brunton Park.