Sky Bet Championship goals & reports: Stoke win for new boss Michael O'Neill, West Brom, Leeds and Preston all win
New Stoke boss Michael O'Neill had an instant impact as his side hammered Barnsley 4-2 at Oakwell, while the top three in the table all won.
Sky Bet Championship results
- Nottingham Forest 1-0 Derby County
- Barnsley 2-4 Stoke City
- Birmingham City 0-1 Fulham
- Hull City 0-1 West Bromwich Albion
- Leeds United 2-1 Blackburn Rovers
- Millwall 2-1 Charlton Athletic
- Preston North End 3-1 Huddersfield Town
- Queens Park Rangers 2-2 Middlesbrough
- Reading 3-0 Luton Town
- Sheffield Wednesday 2-2 Swansea City
- Wigan Athletic 0-3 Brentford
New Stoke boss Michael O'Neill had an instant impact as his side hammered Barnsley 4-2 at Oakwell in the bottom-of-the-table Sky Bet Championship clash.
The Northern Irishman was named as Nathan Jones' successor on Friday and he was off to a fine start courtesy of Sam Clucas' early goal and Lee Gregory's penalty on the half hour.
Cameron McGeehan gave the Tykes hope in the 47th minute, but further goals from Joe Allen and Clucas left them without a win since the opening day of the season, with Patrick Schmidt grabbing a late consolation.
The win ended a three-match losing streak for the Potters, who moved off the bottom at the expense of Barnsley and to within three points of safety.
West Brom consolidated their position at the summit of the Championship table with a hard-fought 1-0 win over Hull at the KCOM Stadium.
The Baggies didn't have it all their own way in East Yorkshire and Grant McCann's side were confident having won their last three outings, but it was an old face that came back to haunt the Tigers.
Jake Livermore, who spent three-and-a-half seasons as a Hull player before joining West Brom in 2017, scored the only goal in the 28th minute, firing home from distance.
The home side had their chances, with Kamil Grosicki spurning their most notable opportunity, but West Brom showed the grit of promotion contenders to ensure Livermore's strike was decisive.
Preston cruised to a dominant 3-1 win at home to Huddersfield to remain second in the Sky Bet Championship table.
Alex Neil's side have now lost just once in their last 13 league games, as goals from Jayden Stockley Alan Browne and Paul Gallagher ended Huddersfield's seven-match unbeaten run.
Huddersfield struggled to live with the attacking force of the hosts for the majority of the game, as Danny Cowley's side saw their seven-game unbeaten run come to an end in wet conditions in Lancashire.
Leeds remain firmly in the hunt for automatic promotion after a hard-earned 2-1 win at home to Blackburn.
However, their fans were again made to sweat for the points, despite having led 2-0.
Patrick Bamford ended his long goal drought to open the scoring from the spot before teeing up Jack Harrison for the second shortly after.
Despite Derrick Williams notching for Rovers, Leeds held on to remain third and stay just two points behind leaders West Brom.
Late drama saw Swansea extend their unbeaten league away record with an equaliser deep into stoppage-time to make it 2-2 at Sheffield Wednesday after conceding moments earlier.
Andre Ayew gave the visitors a first-half lead and Wednesday finally equalised through substitute Fernando Forestieri (81) after hitting the woodwork three times.
The home side thought they had won it when Morgan Fox put them ahead but Ben Wilmot struck at the death to level.
Lewis Grabban gave Nottingham Forest local bagging rights, scoring his seventh goal of the season in a 1-0 win over poor travellers Derby at the City Ground.
Aleksandar Mitrovic's 12th goal of the season ensured Fulham beat Birmingham 1-0 and move into sixth, but the striker will be banned for next week's clash with QPR after collecting a fifth yellow card.
The Serbian striker, who earlier had an effort disallowed for offside, hooked home in the 52nd minute after Birmingham goalkeeper Lee Camp dropped substitute Cyrus Christie's cross.
Fulham had to withstand heavy pressure from the hosts in the latter stages but goalkeeper Marek Rodak made a superb save from striker Lukas Jutkiewicz's point-blank header while Maxime Colin had an effort blocked.
Britt Assombalonga scored twice for struggling Middlesbrough as they drew 2-2 at QPR in the Sky Bet Championship.
Boro were staring at another defeat before Nahki Wells' appalling back-pass went straight to Assombalonga, who capitalised by calmly lifting the ball over keeper Joe Lumley.
Wells' ninth goal of the season had brought Rangers level just after they had fallen behind to Assombalonga's first, and an own goal by Jonny Howson a minute before half-time meant the hosts led at the interval.
After keeper Darren Randolph pushed out Grant Hall's header, the ball bounced off the unfortunate Howson and into the net.
That seemed to sum up what has been a miserable season for Jonathan Woodgate's Boro side so far - but they left with a point courtesy of Assombalonga's 69th-minute equaliser.
Striker Matt Smith came off the bench to net a stoppage-time winner as Millwall beat London rivals Charlton 2-1 at the Den.
In a game dominated by set-pieces, a sixth-minute header from captain Shaun Hutchinson put Millwall in front, but they were pegged back shortly after half-time by Jonathan Leko's smart finish.
The game looked to be petering out into a tame draw but Smith, brought on with just four minutes remaining, rose at the back post and powered the ball past Dillon Phillips to earn the hosts all three points.
Charlton have still not beaten Millwall in the league since 1996, when manager Lee Bowyer, then a teenager, was on the scoresheet.
Reading extended their unbeaten Championship run under new manager Mark Bowen to four matches with a 3-0 home win over Luton.
Defender Michael Morrison gave Reading a 22nd-minute lead when nodding in from a corner.
On the half-hour, midfielder Ovie Ejaria made it 2-0 with an angled drive from outside the area.
Against a poor Luton side, Reading added a third goal 11 minutes from time when substitute Garath McCleary coolly slotted home.
Brentford moved into the top half of the Sky Bet Championship, and within touching distance of the top six, after a straightforward 3-0 victory at struggling Wigan.
Bryan Mbeumo fired the bees in front just five minutes into the match before second-half strikes from Kamo Mokotjo and Josh Dasilva made sure of the win.
Both sides finished the contest with 10 men, with Cedric Kipre seeing red for the home side and Julian Jeanvier taking an early bath for Brentford.
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