South Wales Echo

CHAMPIONSH­IP

-

NORWICH were crowned champions, while Sheffield Wednesday survived to set up a grandstand finish on the penultimat­e weekend of action in the Sky Bet Championsh­ip.

With promotion already sealed, Daniel Farke’s Canaries were in celebrator­y mood as they thumped Reading 4-1 at Carrow Road despite falling behind to Josh Laurent’s 12th minute header.

Kieran Dowell’s double either side of the interval and late strikes from Xavier Quintilla and Teemu Pukki sealed the hosts’ coronation in style.

Second-placed Watford, whose return to the Premier League was also secure, went down 2-0 at play-off bound Brentford, whose goals came early in the second half from Marcus Forss and an Ivan Toney penalty.

The win was enough to secure third place in the table for the Bees, guaranteei­ng them a home game in the second leg of the play-offs.

The real action was at the bottom of the table where Wednesday’s goalless draw in the early kick-off against Nottingham Forest meant they would be relegated if Derby secured at least a point at Swansea.

But Wayne Rooney’s men slumped to a 2-1 defeat - their sixth in a row - setting up a crunch Pride Park clash between the Rams and Wednesday next weekend when the visitors must win to stand a chance of staying up.

The relegation conundrum is further complicate­d by Rotherham, who boosted their hopes of staying up after Lewis Wing’s late equaliser in a 1-1 draw with Blackburn.

Uche Ikpeazu’s fourth-minute effort gave Wycombe a 1-0 win over Bournemout­h and ensured Gareth Ainsworth’s men also avoided relegation, although they need a mathematic­al miracle to extend their stay.

With their play-off berth already secure, Barnsley lost 2-0 at Preston, for whom Jordan Storey and Ched Evans scored either side of the break.

Jed Wallace’s fifth-minute opener paved the way for Millwall to romp to a 4-1 win over Bristol City at the Den.

Tommy Conway quickly equalised for the visitors but Scott Malone restored Millwall’s advantage and Billy Mitchell and Tom Bradshaw secured an emphatic victory for the Lions.

Goals from Charlie Austin and Osman Kakay earned QPR a 2-0 win at Stoke, whose end-ofseason winless run stretched to six games as a result.

Luton and Middlesbro­ugh shared the points in a 1-1 draw at Kenilworth Road, Glen Rea heading the Hatters in front on 19 minutes before Duncan Watmore nodded home from Marvin Johnson’s cross two minutes later.

Danny Ward’s 79th-minute strike earned Huddersfie­ld a 1-1 draw against Coventry, who had gone ahead through Jordan Shipley 10 minutes earlier.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom