Newcastle stumble at Wednesday, Norwich hit seven

Newcastle United Rafael Benitez’s side had been knocked off top spot by Brighton’s 2-1 win at QPR on Friday and they were unable to reclaim first place after a limp display at Hillsborough.

Jonjo Shelvey almost gave Newcastle the lead with an audacious effort on the stroke of half-time, the former Liverpool midfielder striking the crossbar from inside his own half. 

But Tom Lees broke the deadlock in the 59th minute as the Wednesday defender headed home from a Ross Wallace free-kick for his first goal since March 2016. Wednesday striker Steven Fletcher made amends for two earlier misses when he struck with a looping header from a 68th minute long throw. 

Shelvey got one back in the 88th minute, but it was too late for a Newcastle escape act. Newcastle remain in second place, two points behind Brighton with five games remaining, while sixth placed Wednesday hold onto the final play-off spot. 

At Carrow Road, Norwich’s Nelson Oliveira opened the floodgates with a third minute penalty and Wes Hoolahan, Russell Martin and Alex Pritchard, who netted twice, were all on the scoresheet before half-time. Yann Kermorgant got one back for fourth placed Reading, but Hoolahan added his second after the interval and Cameron Jerome made it seven to complete the visitors’ humiliation. 

Huddersfield’s pursuit of automatic promotion suffered a major blow as they lost 2-0 at lowly Nottingham Forest. Eric Lichaj put Mark Warburton’s side ahead and Jamie Ward sealed the win to leave third placed Huddersfield 10 points adrift of the top two. 

Fifth placed Leeds consolidated their position in the play-offs with a 3-0 win against Preston at Elland Road. Kemar Roofe struck first and Pablo Hernandez and Souleymane Doukara also netted. 

Fulham remain seventh, two points behind Wednesday, after a 3-1 win against Ipswich at Craven Cottage. Derby still have an outside chance of making the play-offs after their manager Gary Rowett enjoyed a 2-1 win on his return to his old club Birmingham. Rowett was surprisingly sacked last year to make way for Gianfranco Zola, who has struggled to emulate his predecessor’s solid results. 

Derby went ahead at St Andrew’s through Birmingham keeper Tomas Kuszczak’s own goal. Che Adams levelled for the hosts, but Tom Ince snatched the points for Derby in the 90th minute. Aston Villa drew 1-1 at Burton, while Cardiff beat Brentford 2-1. At the bottom of the table, Bristol City boosted their survival hopes with a 3-1 victory over Wolves. Blackburn occupy the final spot in the bottom three and trail City by four points after losing 2-0 at home to Barnsley. 

Rotherham are already relegated and Wigan could soon join them, but the Latics gave themselves a lifeline as they beat the Millers 3-2