Bournemouth climbed back into second place in the Championship with a 3-1 win against Birmingham, while their promotion rivals Blackburn crashed to a 2-0 defeat against Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.
Scott Parker’s side are two points clear of Blackburn with two games in hand as they chase automatic promotion to the Premier League via a top two finish.
Ryan Christie opened the scoring and Dominic Solanke’s 20th goal of the season doubled Bournemouth’s lead at Dean Court.
Bournemouth had Colombian midfielder Jefferson Lerma sent off in the second half two minutes before Onel Hernandez got one back for Birmingham.
Jaidon Anthony sealed the victory as the Cherries made amends for Sunday’s shock FA Cup fourth round defeat at home to non-league Boreham Wood.
James Garner and Brennan Johnson lifted Nottingham Forest into the play-off places as they defeated 10-man Blackburn at Ewood Park.
Garner, on loan from Manchester United, grabbed the first goal when he slotted past Thomas Kaminski.
Blackburn’s Darragh Lenihan was sent off early in the second half and Johnson’s penalty in the final minutes made sure Forest maintained the momentum from their FA Cup fourth round rout of Leicester on Sunday.
Billy Sharp bagged a brace to give Sheffield United a 2-0 win over West Bromwich Albion in a disappointing start to Steve Bruce’s reign as Baggies boss.
Sharp took his tally to four goals in three games after netting either side of a 39th-minute red card for West Brom’s Jake Livermore.
West Brom have failed to score in five consecutive away games, equalling the club’s worst sequence since 1923.
Middlesbrough secured a 2-2 draw at fourth placed QPR.
Ilias Chair put QPR ahead before Dael Fry levelled in first-half stoppage-time.
QPR regained the lead following a horrendous error by their former goalkeeper Joe Lumley.
Lumley collected Anfernee Dijksteel’s back-pass and inexplicably gifted the ball straight to Chris Willock, who slotted gome.
But Albert Adomah’s own goal against his former club salvaged a point for Middlesbrough.
Huddersfield remain in fifth place after a 0-0 draw against Preston extended their unbeaten streak to 11 games.
Cardiff thrashed fellow strugglers Peterborough 4-0 to improve their prospects of avoiding relegation.
AFP
