Norwich City, Reading and Blackburn Rovers all starred in the latest Championship game-week. A weekend that proved to be positive for the division’s top six.
Norwich City, Reading and Blackburn Rovers Star in Latest Championship Game-Week
Canaries Extend Winning Run to Seven
Norwich maintained their ten-point gap at the summit, winning 3-0 in their seventh successive Championship victory, with Luton Town becoming their latest victims.
After a bright start from their opponents, the hosts broke the deadlock in the 12th minute, when Teemu Pukki expertly hammered home from Todd Cantwell‘s cut-back. The Finnish forward then grabbed his 20th goal of the season, two minutes before half time, when he reacted quickest to Emi Buendia‘s deflected effort and converted from inside the six-yard box. Cantwell added a third in the 73rd minute, cutting in from the left flank and driving his effort past Simon Sluga in the Luton goal.
With just 11 games to go, Premier League promotion looks like a certainty for the Norfolk club. They remain ten points clear of second place and 11 from third. For Luton, mid-table mediocrity seems the likely outcome from this season – a brilliant position for the Hatters to be in, given last season’s relegation scrap.
Royals Cruise Past Ten-Man Owls
Julian Borner‘s 29th minute red card played a massive part in Reading securing a comfortable 3-0 win at home to Sheffield Wednesday.
Michael Olise dispatched the resulting penalty after Borner had mauled down George Puscas, with the forward about to open the scoring anyway. Wednesday battled hard after being reduced, but it was the play-off chasing hosts who continued playing on the front foot. Lucas Joao netted his 21st goal of the season against his former club in the 65th minute, tapping home from Andy Yiadom‘s pass. The right-back then added a third in the 88th minute to emphasise a good day’s work for the Royals, with his driven effort finding the bottom corner.
The three points mean that Reading stay in fifth place and are a step closer to making the play-offs this season, despite Cardiff City and Barnsley’s recent runs. For the Owls, the situation looks bleak. They remain seven points from Championship safety after losing their sixth successive game.
Blackburn End Seven-Game Championship Winless Run in East London
Blackburn Rovers earned all three points at The Den with a 2-0 win against a Millwall side who have turned their home ground into somewhat of a fortress of late.
Bradley Back opened the scoring in the 18th minute, with his right-footed effort deflecting past Bartosz Bialkowski in the Millwall goal. As the game wore on, both teams pushed forward for that all-important second goal. Matt Smithuncharacteristically nodded wide from a header, whilst Dack nearly had an easy tap in for his second, but for a perfectly-timed tackle. With 15 minutes to go, Sam Gallagher added a second in a rather fortuitous manner, when the ball pinged around in the box before hitting the towering forward and going in.
Millwall are now 11 points from the play-offs, with the home loss seemingly ruling out the possibility of making the Championship top six. The victory for Blackburn, perhaps eliminates any relegation worries, after Rovers had only picked up a single point from their last seven games.
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