Bristol City, Nottingham Forest and Watford all earned comfortable wins this Championship game-week, as the division passed its midway point.
Bristol City, Nottingham Forest and Watford Star in the Championship
Bristol City Maintain Pressure on the Championship Play-Off Places
Bristol City ran out as comfortable 2-0 winners against a Preston North End side who are travelling well this season. The Robins made it three wins from their last four home games with a dominant display over the Lancashire club, despite being out of action since December 29.
After a spell of early pressure, Famara Diedhiou opened the scoring the ninth minute, nodding home from an inviting Tommy Rowe corner kick. As the half wore on, The Robins continued to dominate possession but were unable to carve out a second. Preston started the second half a lot brighter and started to create a few half-chances, but the home side were soon back on top and testing Declan Rudd in the North End goal. The lead was eventually doubled in the 77th minute with centre-back Zak Vyner scoring his first goal for the club. The defender reacted quickest to a loose ball in the box, scuffing his effort into the bottom corner.
City’s win keeps the club four points adrift of the play-offs and takes them into ninth place. Meanwhile, Preston’s second successive defeat means that they drop to 13th, with their hopes of making the play-offs slowly diminishing.
Forest Continue Recently Improved Form Against a Struggling Millwall
Nottingham Forest made it six games without defeat with a 3-1 victory over a Millwall side who have now only won a single game in their last 15.
Sammy Ameobi fired the hosts into the lead in the 34th minute, when his deflected effort flew beyond Bartosz Bialkowksi in the Millwall net. The former Newcastle United man doubled his tally and his sides’ lead in the 70th minute with a fantastic curling effort after clever link-up play with Alex Mighten. Ryan Yates added a third 13 minutes later, tapping home from Cafu’s corner kick and subsequently killing the game off. The visitors did manage to reply late on when Ben Thompson volleyed past Brice Samba after the Forest keeper was unable to clear his lines.
Victory for Forest takes the club into the 19th place and more importantly, six points above the relegation zone. However, The Lions find themselves in a polar opposite situation to Forest, as they continue to be dragged into a relegation scrap and only sit a point above Saturday’s opposition.
Hornets Sting Terriers Back Just as Bad
Watford made it two homes wins from two under Xisco Munoz, with a 2-0 win over Huddersfield Town; payback for the reverse fixture played under a month ago.
Both sides failed to create any clear-cut chances in the early exchanges with the hosts controlling possession in the first 45. Watford continued their dominance with the ball into the second half and got the goal that their pressure deserved, when Tom Cleverley tenaciously beat Ryan Schofield to a pass back, hacking the ball into the net from inside the six-yard box. Teenage superstar Joao Pedro made it two in the 64th minute, when he tapped home from Kiko Femenia low cross after the Spanish full-back did brilliantly to get around the Huddersfield defence.
The win takes the Hornets into fifth place, but ultimately, remain five points off the automatic promotion places. For Huddersfield, their third defeat in four games means they drop to 14th and the possibility of a play-off charge seems unlikely now.
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