Bacuna boosts Rooney on the road
WAYNE ROONEY saw his miserable away run as Birmingham manager come to end thanks to Juninho Bacuna’s composed finish in a 1-0 win at Cardiff.
Birmingham had suffered eight defeats in a row on the road – five of them since Rooney had taken charge.
But they stopped their slide down the Championship table with a scrappy but desperately-needed win.
Substitute Samuel Edozie helped make it 13 games unbeaten for
Southampton – but they missed the chance to keep the pressure on the top two with a 1-1 draw at Coventry.
Edozie scored a 67th-minute equaliser after HajiWright had given Coventry a surprise lead 17 minutes earlier.
QPR blew a great chance to escape the bottom three with a 0-0 draw at home to 10-man Plymouth.
Marti Cifuentes’s side failed to chalk up a fourth win on the spin even though Plymouth, grabbing just a fourth point on road this season, had Dan Scarr sent off in the first half for lunging at Ilias Chair.
Norwich warmed up for Saturday’s Old Farm derby at Ipswich with a 3-1 win to end Sheffield Wednesday’s threematch unbeaten run.
Borja Sainz marked his first City start with a cracking seventh-minute opener but Bailey Cadamarteri headed in a 32nd-minute leveller.
Ashley Barnes poked home from seven yards to put Norwich back ahead in the second half. Jon Rowe made sure of victory in the 72nd minute.
Ozan Tufan scored an 82nd-minute winner for Hull as they beat Middlesbrough 2-1.
Emmanuel Latte Lath had given Boro a sixth-minute lead before Liam Delap equalised with 21 minutes left.