Sky Bet Championship round-up: Norwich City up to fourth, Middlesbrough held by Rotherham
A review of Tuesday's action in England's second tier...
Sky Bet Championship results
- Birmingham 2-1 Reading
- Middlesbrough 0-0 Rotherham
- Millwall 2-1 Wigan
- Norwich 2-1 Aston Villa
- QPR 3-0 Sheff Wednesday
- Sheff United 1-1 Stoke
- Swansea 3-1 Blackburn
High-flying Canaries
In-form Norwich recovered from an early deficit to beat Aston Villa 2-1 at Carrow Road and move up to fourth in the Sky Bet Championship table.
Villa made an excellent start to Dean Smith's second match in charge and went ahead after 19 minutes when James Chester nodded home a corner via a slight deflection off marker Tom Trybull.
But hopes of a second successive win under the new head coach disappeared in the second half as Jordan Rhodes struck twice for the impressive hosts.
The striker produced a fine header from a corner to level early in the second period and wrapped up the points with 18 minutes left with a well-taken second.
Rotherham hold Boro
Middlesbrough remain at the top of the Sky Bet Championship table, but they have now gone four-and-a-half hours without a home goal after they were held to a goalless draw by Rotherham.
The Millers picked up their first away point of the season as they followed Swansea and Nottingham Forest in neutering Middlesbrough at the Riverside, and Paul Warne's side were rarely troubled as they held the league leaders.
Marek Rodak saved from Martin Braithwaite after the Middlesbrough striker broke clear in the first half, but Rotherham might have claimed all three points had Darren Randolph not made a superb first-half save of his own to prevent Ryan Williams from side-footing home.
Blades denied top spot
Joe Allen's late free-kick salvaged a 1-1 draw for Stoke at Sheffield United, who were denied top spot in the Sky Bet Championship.
Leon Clarke's first goal of the season midway through the second half appeared to have clinched victory for the Blades, but Allen buried an 88th-minute free-kick into the bottom corner.
The Blades, beaten at Derby on Saturday, are second in the table behind leaders Middlesbrough on goal difference.
Brum go 10 unbeaten
Midfielder Gary Gardner struck to help sink Reading and lift Birmingham over their bitter rivals - and his parent club - Aston Villa.
The 26-year-old opened the scoring in the hosts' 2-1 win for his first Birmingham goal - the last time he scored at St Andrew's it was for Villa two years ago.
Lukas Jutkiewicz's brilliant header - his seventh goal of the season - sealed the points despite Yakou Meite grabbing a late consolation.
It extended Birmingham's unbeaten run to 10 games as they moved into the top half of the Sky Bet Championship, above Villa, for the first time since August 2017.
The Royals dropped to 21st, two points above the relegation zone.
Swansea turn it around against Rovers
Swansea turned the tables on play-off chasing Blackburn with a second-half comeback to secure a 3-1 victory.
Charlie Mulgrew's penalty looked like it was going to be enough to put Tony Mowbray's men within touching distance of the Championship leaders.
But David Raya's unfortunate own goal was followed by a Connor Roberts strike four minutes later, and Bersant Celina made sure Swansea's three match winless run came to an end.
The victory takes Swansea to within a point of the play-off places, while Blackburn missed the opportunity to cut the gap at the top to two points as they suffered their first defeat in four matches.
Hoops in comfortable home win
Nahki Wells scored his first goal for QPR as their resurgence continued with a 3-0 Sky Bet Championship victory over Sheffield Wednesday.
Tomer Hemed and Luke Freeman netted at Loftus Road before Wells, on as a substitute, sealed the win with seven minutes remaining.
Hemed put Rangers in front 10 minutes before half-time with his second goal in as many games.
The on-loan Brighton striker nodded in the loose ball after Pawel Wszolek's shot from the left-hand side of the penalty area was parried by Cameron Dawson.
Rangers went further ahead after 57 minutes and again Wszolek was involved in the build up.
Ebere Eze laid the ball off to the Polish winger, who crossed from the right for Freeman to head home.
And Eze set up the third with a precise pass through to on-loan Burnley forward Wells, who fired into the far corner.
It was the third win and clean sheet of a four-match unbeaten run for Rangers, who have recovered well since losing their first four league games under boss Steve McClaren.
The R's, hammered 7-1 at West Brom and then beaten 3-0 at home by Bristol City during that nightmare start for McClaren, have lost just two of their subsequent 10 Sky Bet Championship matches.
Millwall in second-half comeback
Steve Morison bagged a late winner as Millwall climbed out of the Sky Bet Championship relegation zone with a comeback 2-1 win over Wigan at the Den.
The visitors took the lead on the stroke of half-time through a Jed Wallace own goal, but the game swung on the hour mark, when two penalties in as many minutes completely altered the momentum.
Moments after Josh Windass had missed his chance to make it 2-0 from the spot, the home side hit back, Shaun Williams made them pay the penalty.
From then on there was only one winner, and the hosts got the decisive goal inside the final 10 minutes, as Morison rounded off an excellent move to inflict a fifth straight away defeat on Wigan.
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Odds may change and correct as of 2200 BST on 23/10/18
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