Sky Bet Championship highlights and round-up: Leeds lose as Nottingham Forest, Fulham and Brentford close in on top two
A review of Saturday's action in the Sky Bet Championship.
Results
- Wigan Athletic 1-2 Preston North End
- Barnsley 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday
- Blackburn Rovers 0-1 Fulham
- Brentford 3-2 Middlesbrough
- Huddersfield Town 2-0 Queens Park Rangers
- Luton Town 0-1 Cardiff City
- Reading 1-1 Hull City
- Stoke City 3-1 Charlton Athletic
- Swansea City 2-3 Derby County
- Nottingham Forest 2-0 Leeds United
- Friday's report: Blues enjoy Ashton Gate trip
Leeds woes continue as Nottingham Forest boost automatic promotion hopes
- Highlights to appear here
Leeds' promotion hopes suffered another blow with a 2-0 Sky Bet Championship defeat at Nottingham Forest.
Sammy Ameobi gave Forest a half-time lead before Tyler Walker wrapped it up in added time to move Forest to within a point of their second-placed opponents.
Faltering Leeds have won just one of their last nine Championship games and are now level on points with Fulham.
It was a deserved victory for the home side, who knocked Marcelo Bielsa's team out of their usual passing stride with their high-tempo pressing game.
Ameobi opened the scoring in the 31st minute with a powerful shot that should have been saved at his near post by Leeds goalkeeper Kiko Casilla.
Forest should have wrapped the game up nine minutes into the second half when Lewis Grabban fired at Casilla with the goal gaping.
However, Walker made the points secure from close range after Jack Harrison was caught napping.
Leeds, who were 11 points clear of third place earlier in the season, had to wait until 75 minutes to get a shot on target when Liam Cooper headed straight at Brice Samba.
Watkins seals late victory for Brentford
Ollie Watkins struck three minutes from time as Brentford maintained the pressure on the top two in the SkyBet Championship with a 3-2 win over Middlesbrough in a pulsating clash at Griffin Park.
The home side took the lead in the 24th minute, Julian Jeanvier credited with the goal - given via goalline technology - following a scramble.
Lewis Wing and Ashley Fletcher twice levelled for Boro after Bryan Mbeumo's deflected effort had put the Bees back in front.
Watkins then grabbed the winner for Thomas Frank's side in the 87th minute, the striker also making it 20 goals for the season.
Fulham edge Blackburn thanks to Mitrovic strike
Aleksandar Mitrovic's 20th goal of the season was enough to give Fulham a 1-0 win at Blackburn.
The Serbian's powerful turn and shot midway through the second half broke the stubborn resistance of the hosts, whose 10-match unbeaten run at home - stretching more than four months - was ended.
In truth, Scott Parker's side controlled the majority of the game without creating a raft of clear-cut chances, save for a frantic last 15 minutes when Blackburn had four strikers on the pitch.
But, marshalled by the outstanding Michael Hector, the Cottagers made it four wins in five and a fourth clean sheet in that time.
It was their first league double over Rovers since 2001 - when they won promotion to the Premier League for the first time.
Blackburn remain six points off the top six after suffering only their third defeat at Ewood Park this season.
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Check back on Monday as we look to make it a hat-trick with a special midweek edition.
Swansea lose at home to Derby after late Lawrence strike
Derby secured their first away win since the opening day of the Sky Bet Championship season thanks to Tom Lawrence's late strike.
Martyn Waghorn's first-half tap-in was cancelled out by two goals in two minutes from Yan Dhanda and Kyle Naughton after the interval.
But Phillip Cocu's side rallied with goals from Duane Holmes and Wales international Lawrence to snatch only their second win on the road all season.
Stoke bounce back
Improving Stoke boosted their survival hopes with a 3-1 win at home to relegation rivals Charlton.
Tom Ince and Nick Powell both scored second-half goals to earn the three points and stretch City's unbeaten home run to six matches in the Sky Bet Championship.
James McClean gave the hosts the lead with his sixth goal of the season but Stoke went into the break all square after Ben Purrington equalised in stoppage time.
Ince scored his first goal since August 10 to put Stoke back in front just after the restart, before Powell made the points safe.
The result moved Stoke one point above their opponents, who are one place and four points above the bottom three.
Spoils shared at the Madjeski after Wilks' late goal
Mallik Wilks struck eight minutes from time to rescue a point for Hull in a scrappy 1-1 draw against Reading at Madejski Stadium.
Jordan Obita had put the Royals on course for a first victory in six Sky Bet Championship matches but Wilks' deflected effort left Mark Bowen's side frustrated.
The point ended Hull's run of four successive defeats as they bounced back from last weekend's 5-1 hammering at home to Brentford.
Cardiff seal vital away win to boost play-off hopes
Lee Tomlin scored the only goal of the game as Cardiff gave their play-off hopes a major boost by winning 1-0 at bottom side Luton.
Tomlin decided the contest with 17 minutes to go, winning it for the visitors when his effort from just outside the box nestled into the bottom corner.
Victory was enough for the Bluebirds to climb up to eighth in the table, just four points behind the top six.
Huddersfield ease drop fears with QPR win
Huddersfield recorded a vital 2-0 win over QPR to move six points clear of the Sky Bet Championship relegation places.
Both of Town's goals came within the space of four second-half minutes, with Elias Kachunga scoring the opener and then winning the penalty for the second, which Steve Mounie put away.
For QPR, this was a third straight league loss and they now sit just three points above the Terriers.
Preston battle past Wigan in hard-fought derby
Preston moved back into the top six of the Sky Bet Championship after a hard-fought but ultimately deserved 2-1 derby victory at Wigan, who remain in the bottom three.
Preston took the lead in the seventh minute, thanks to a wonderful team move. Ben Pearson's clever ball found Daniel Johnson, whose cross was tapped home at the far post by Tom Barkhuizen.
Only a fantastic save from David Marshall kept it at 1-0, the Scotland number one at full stretch to touch a Sean Maguire header round the post.
Wigan gradually forced their way back into the game, with Kieffer Moore having a shot blocked by Darnell Fisher and Chey Dunkley heading just over the top.
Wigan would have gone into the break knowing they were fortunate to only be one goal down. But within three minutes of the restart when Preston scored the second goal their dominance had undoubtedly warranted.
Again it was far too easy for them, with the Wigan defence stood watching as another fine move ended up with the ball at the feet of Johnson, who drilled past Marshall from 12 yards.
Wigan sub Joe Gelhardt made an impact by immediately laying on a goal for Wigan - the England Under-18 star's cross from the left was cushioned by Moore, before Dunkley rifled home from close range but the visitors held on.
Points shared at Oakwell
Barnsley and Sheffield Wednesday shared the points at Oakwell with a 1-1 draw in a gripping South Yorkshire derby.
Wednesday new-boy Josh Windass had put the Owls in front on his debut before a calamitous Cameron Dawson mistake gifted Cauley Woodrow the equaliser.
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