Norwich City ensured that they would go into Christmas in pole position in this season’s Championship with an impressive display against Cardiff City. Whilst at the other end of the table, Tony Pulis recorded his first win as manager at Sheffield Wednesday, securing a 1-0 win to put an end to Coventry City’s seven-game unbeaten run.
Norwich, Middlesbrough and Brentford Star in Latest Championship Game-Week
Norwich Extend Lead at the Top of the Championship
Norwich stretched their lead at the top of the Championship table to five points and extended their unbeaten run to eight at Carrow Road in an impressive 2-0 win against Cardiff City.
Emi Buendia fired the hosts into a well-deserved lead in the 27th minute, finding the bottom corner expertly from just outside the box. Norwich maintained this dominance and had a number of opportunities to extend their advantage before Todd Cantwell sealed the game in the 70th minute with his emphatic strike from just outside the box swerving away from Alex Smithies’ reach.
The victory for Norwich made it five straight wins who now find themselves seven points clear of third place. For Cardiff, it is just the second time in seven games where they been unable to secure a win. They now sit four points off the play-off positions.
Rampant Boro Score Four to Defeat the Blues
Middlesbrough made it three wins from their last three in a 4-1 victory over Birmingham City. Boro had to withstand early pressure but eventually, their clinical nature in front of goal earned the Teeside club all three points against a Birmingham side who caused the visitors a number of problems.
Maxime Colin fired the home side into the lead after 15 minutes, with his left-footed strike finding the top corner. But, Birmingham’s early dominance and subsequent advantage counted for nothing as Britt Assombalonga squeezed an equaliser before George Saville put the visitors in the lead just four minutes later.
In the 56th minute, Boro added a third when Blues goalkeeper Neil Etheridge fumbled Lewis Wing‘s corner into his own net, before the midfielder himself made it four- finding the bottom corner from 25 yards out.
Their recent form has taken the Teeside club back into the play-offs and just five points off the automatic spots. The Blues find themselves six points above safety and share the same number of points as their ground-sharing counterparts Coventry City.
Free-Scoring Bees Sweep Away Royals
Brentford leapfrogged Watford into fourth place with a 3-1 victory over Reading.
Mathias Jensen opened the scoring for the Bees but was helped massively by Reading goalkeeper Rafael Cabral who saw the ball roll through his own legs after seemingly having control over the situation. Bryan Mbeumo doubled the advantage in the 23rd minute, cutting in from the right flank and unleashing an effort that was too powerful for the Reading shot-stopper.
The young Frenchman then grabbed his second and Brentford’s third just six minutes later, firing low into the bottom corner. The visitors improved in the second half and pulled a goal back in the 64th minute, with Sone Aluko nodding past David Raya,
The three points extended the Bees’ unbeaten run to a rather impressive 13, whilst the picture is not so pretty for the Royals, who have now lost seven of their last 12 matches and have subsequently dropped to 8th after their brilliant start to the campaign.
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