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EFL Championship round-up: Brentford keep up automatic promotion hopes, West Brom held to draw

Writer's picture: Andrew ZarbAndrew Zarb

Brentford players celebrate scoring as they recorded an impressive 3-1 win away at Derby County.

Results: Friday Huddersfield Town 0 Luton Town 2 Fulham 2 Cardiff City 0 Saturday Charlton Athletic 0 Reading 1 Derby County 1 Brentford 3 Barnsley 0 Wigan Athletic 0 Blackburn Rovers 1 West Bromwich Albion 1 Hull City 0 Millwall 1 Middlesbrough 1 Bristol City 3 Preston North End 1 Nottingham Forest 1 Queens Park Rangers 0 Sheffield Wednesday 3

Round-up: The EFL Championship's weekend action began with a huge fixture on Friday evening in the relegation battle, as strugglers Huddersfield Town and Luton Town took on each other. In the end, it was Luton who prevailed in a 2-0 win thanks to goals from Sonny Bradley and Elliot Lee - a result which could prove to be a significant boost in Luton's hopes of avoiding relegation, whilst Huddersfield remain under massive pressure to avoid the drop. Friday saw another clash at the top end of the table, as Fulham hosted Cardiff City, with Fulham recording a 2-0 win thanks to an Aleksandar Mitrovic penalty and a Josh Onomah goal either side of half-time. It is a result which keeps Fulham's hopes of achieving automatic promotion to the Premier League alive, with the West London side set to travel to second-placed West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday. On the other hand, as for Cardiff City, this result does nothing to strengthen their grip on the final promotion play-off spot they currently occupy. The action on Saturday began with a game at the top half of the table, as third-placed Brentford, who had won every game since the league resumed, travelled to Derby County. Brentford took the lead after only 3 minutes thanks to a goal from Ollie Watkins. However, that lead was cancelled out just before the half-hour mark as Jason Knight equalised for the hosts. Brentford re-took the lead just 4 minutes into the second half thanks to key player Said Benrahma, although the goalkeeping from Derby goalkeeper Ben Hamer left a lot to be desired. Benrahma then bagged a second goal in the 64th minute, though this time Hamer was not at fault in any way and it was down to sheer brilliance from the Algerian. Benrahma's second goal wrapped up a 3-1 win which keeps up Brentford's hopes of automatic promotion to the Premier League, whilst it also guarantees them a spot in the promotion play-offs in the event they do not secure automatic promotion. At the same time as the match between Derby and Brentford, Reading secured a 1-0 win away at Charlton Athletic thanks to a 3rd minute penalty which was converted by George Puscas. The action continued in the afternoon with six fixtures concerning both the race for promotion, as well as the relegation battle. In the race for promotion, second-placed West Bromwich Albion travelled to Blackburn Rovers knowing that a win would take them to top spot above Leeds United who play tomorrow. However, West Brom were held to a 1-1 draw as Blackburn midfielder Joe Rothwell stepped off the bench to cancel out Filip Krovinovic's first half goal which put West Brom in front. As a result, West Brom as they moved level on points with Leeds (who play tomorrow) but with inferior goal difference, meaning that Leeds remain on top spot, and West Brom's advantage to third-placed Brentford has reduced from 5 points to only 3. Meanwhile, in the relegation battle, Barnsley were held to a goalless draw by Wigan Athletic who are aiming to ensure that they have a 12-point advantage to the relegation places due to the fact that they will be facing a 12-point deduction for going into administration. As a result of this draw, Wigan hold a 9-point advantage over 22nd-placed Hull City, who suffered a 1-0 defeat at home to Millwall thanks to a 2nd minute goal from Ryan Leonard. Furthermore, down at the bottom, Middlesbrough suffered a disappointing 3-1 defeat at home to Bristol City who have recorded two successive victories since sacking manager Lee Johnson, with today's victory coming thanks to a Nahki Wells sandwiched by a goal from Jamie Paterson, in a result which has reignited Bristol's hopes of claiming the final promotion play-off place. Speaking of the promotion play-off battle, Preston North End failed to capitalise on Cardiff's defeat to Fulham, as they had to come from behind to salvage a 1-1 draw at home to Nottingham Forest, whose hopes of automatic promotion (which had faded already) are gone, however, their prospects of claiming a promotion play-off place are still strong. Finally, Sheffield Wednesday recorded a 3-0 win away at Queens Park Rangers thanks to goals from Dominic Iorfa, Josh Windass and Jacob Murphy.

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