Wales On Sunday

CHAMPIONSH­IP

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JOSH Bowler scored for Blackpool as Sky Bet Championsh­ip leaders Fulham were held to a 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage.

Aleksandar Mitrovic scored after just six minutes but the hosts were unable to capitalise on an impressive start.

Blackpool grew in confidence as the match - which was suspended for more than 40 minutes following a medical emergency in the crowd - progressed, and got their reward when Bowler equalised with 57 minutes gone.

Blackburn remain five points behind the Cottagers after they were held to a goalless draw by play-off chasing Luton at Kenilworth Road.

Bournemout­h won 1-0 at Barnsley following an early goal from Philip Billing but were forced to hold on after being reduced to 10 men.

Denmark midfielder Billing scored the decisive goal for the Cherries after 12 minutes while defender Gary Cahill was sent off in the closing stages.

QPR thrashed Reading 4-0 to boost their promotion hopes and pile more pressure on Royals boss Veljko Paunovic.

Lyndon Dykes scored twice and there were also goals for Luke Amos and Jimmy Dunne as fourthplac­ed Rangers made it five wins and a draw from their past six matches.

The victory left the west London side just two points behind Blackburn with a game in hand. Reading, however, are struggling near the relegation zone and have now gone nine games without a win.

Emil Riis Jakobsen secured a point for Preston with an equaliser deep into stoppage time but their play-off push was hit by a 2-2 draw with Bristol City.

Ryan Lowe’s inconsiste­nt side missed out on the chance to put renewed pressure on the top six with a disappoint­ing performanc­e as Jakobsen had to equalise twice to earn a share of the spoils.

Mason Bennett and Benik Afobe’s second-half heroics lifted mid-table Millwall to a 2-0 win over promotion-chasers West Brom at The Den.

Millwall’s opener came in the 67th minute through Bennett’s low shot. Their second followed within nine minutes. Afobe’s beautiful piece of skill helped him to round the defender while running towards goal, before placing his shot into the corner.

Andraz Sporar’s fourth goal in his last six matches lifted Middlesbro­ugh up to sixth after sealing a 1-0 win over Coventry.

The Sky Blues, who were only a place and a couple of points behind Boro beforehand, had their chances and hammered the woodwork at the Riverside.

But it was Sporar’s eighth goal of the season that proved decisive to return Middlesbro­ugh to winning ways.

Boss Chris Wilder said: Wilder, whose side have lost one of their last nine, said: “We have talked long and hard about the depth off the bench and now we have game-changers in there. We have competitio­n for places.

“I was delighted we had that opportunit­y to make those changes when we wanted to. We felt the time was right, we needed a spark from somewhere and got that from Flo.

“It is a good result. It wasn’t a stand-out performanc­e from us, it wasn’t a Forest, Huddersfie­ld or a Stoke performanc­e that we have previously turned in, and you have to look at your own performanc­e and we gave it away cheaply.

“The result always is the focus and we would have liked our performanc­e to be better.

“We didn’t get the result on Monday when we felt the performanc­e was good enough to get something.

“They have hit the bar, they have had a couple of good chances. They were as bright as we have played all season. It was bright, tough from them, they were good.

“We have to get the mentality right now and we need the players to be brave to get to the level of domination Coventry had against us.”

 ?? ?? Aleksandar Mitrovic scores for Fulham past Blackpool goalkeeper Daniel Grimshaw
Aleksandar Mitrovic scores for Fulham past Blackpool goalkeeper Daniel Grimshaw

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