Sky Bet Championship results and round-up: Luton shock Brentford, wins for promotion chasers West Brom and Nottingham Forest
A review of Tuesday's action in the Sky Bet Championship.
Results
- Cardiff City 0-1 Nottingham Forest
- Huddersfield Town 2-1 Bristol City
- Luton Town 2-1 Brentford
- Queens Park Rangers 2-1 Derby County
- West Bromwich Albion 2-0 Preston North End
Luton stun promotion-chasing Brentford to move off bottom
Struggling Luton picked up a stunning 2-1 win over promotion-chasing Brentford as they gained revenge for their 7-0 thumping at the hands of the Bees earlier in the campaign.
Back in November, the Hatters had been humbled by their west London opponents, but the tables were turned this time, as Graeme Jones' side moved off the bottom of the Sky Bet Championship table and are now just four points from safety.
The hosts were in front after nine minutes when a free-kick by Luke Berry was turned into his own net by Shandon Baptiste.
Town had a crucial second on the stroke of half-time when experienced defender Martin Cranie volleyed into the top corner for his second goal of the season after Berry's set-piece was not cleared.
The Bees, who won the reverse fixture 7-0 earlier in the season, did have one back after 83 minutes, when top scorer Ollie Watkins coolly converted Mads Roerslev's right wing delivery from close range, his 22nd of the campaign.
Brentford almost had a late leveller as well, Said Benrahma seeing his bending attempt just miss the target as Luton held on for a fourth win in seven matches, giving them a real chance of avoiding relegation back to League One.
Forest close gap on Leeds with win in Wales
Nottingham Forest moved to within three points of the automatic promotion places as they ended a run of three games without a win with a 1-0 victory at Cardiff.
A goal from Tiago Silva three minutes into the second half was enough to allow Sabri Lamouchi's men to maintain the pressure on second placed Leeds as they became the first side to beat Cardiff at home in the Championship since Neil Harris took over as manager in November.
Silva's winner added insult to injury for the Cardiff fans, who were screaming for a penalty in the dying moments of the first-half when Josh Murphy went down in a challenge from Matty Cash.
Cardiff lost forward Lee Tomlin to a training ground knee injury and have now suffered back-to-back defeats to Stoke and Forest in the space of four days. They stay in 10th place six points off the play-off places.
Robson-Kanu and Livermore fire West Brom further clear
West Brom stretched their lead at the top of the Championship to seven points after a routine 2-0 win over Preston.
First-half goals from Hal Robson-Kanu and captain Jake Livermore punished some poor defending from Preston.
North End had to play the last 26 minutes with 10 men following the straight red card issued to right-back Darnell Fisher.
The Baggies moved further clear of second-placed Leeds, who play on Wednesday, while their advantage over Nottingham Forest in third is 10 points.
Chair makes most of Rooney error as QPR defeat Derby
Ilias Chair capitalised after a mistake by Wayne Rooney to score QPR's winner in a 2-1 victory over Derby.
Martyn Waghorn had hauled the Rams level after Grant Hall put Rangers ahead, but Chair's emphatic finish restored the home side's lead.
Chair, just on as a substitute, netted with 15 minutes remaining at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium.
Rooney's attempted cross-field ball was intercepted by Ebere Eze, who cut in from the left and fed Chair with a clever pass.
The young midfielder did the rest, controlling the ball with an excellent first touch and then firing past keeper Ben Hamer.
Hall opened the scoring with a cracking strike 11 minutes before half-time.
Matt Clarke failed to deal with Geoff Cameron's ball into the box and it ricocheted off him towards Rangers captain Hall, who blasted in off the underside of the bar from 20 yards.
Willock and Grant give Huddersfield three welcome points
Lowly Huddersfield stopped the rot to ease their relegation fears with a 2-1 win over play-off chasing Bristol City.
Danny Cowley's troubled Terriers had frustratingly gone three games without a win in the Sky Bet Championship.
But goals from Benfica loanee Chris Willock and Karlan Grant, from the penalty spot, did the damage at the John Smith's Stadium.
Famara Diedhiou pulled a goal back in the 89th minute but it was too little, too late for the visitors.
Victory moved the West Yorkshire team up to 19th, five points clear of the drop zone.
However, defeat put a dent in the Robins' play-off bid - three points now stand between them and a place in the coveted top six.
More worrying for Lee Johnson is the fact that his side have now lost three matches in a row without scoring.
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