2019-20 Sky Bet Championship: Week 18 Roundup

West Bromwich Albion stay top of the Sky Bet Championship after a crazy round of midweek action. 

First-half goals from Kieran Gibbs and Matheus Pereira put the Baggies in firm control at home against Bristol City, until Famara Diedhiou’s 80th minute strike halved the deficit. 

Hal Robson-Kanu then restored West Brom’s two goal cushion just two minutes later before Charlie Austin’s rebound from his first shot secured a 4-1 win over the Robins, as the West Midlands based club went seven points clear of third place. 

Leeds remain two points behind after Jack Harrison headed in a late winner from Helder Costa’s cross. 

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Fulham climbed to third after thumping Derby 3-0 in which Bobby Reid opened the scoring with a seventh minute header. Aleksandar Mitrovic then added their second from Ivan Cavaleiro’s cross before setting up Tom Cairney to fire in their third. 

Nottingham Forest meanwhile are fourth by virtue of less goals than the Cottagers, although they did batter QPR in a dominant 4-0 win in which Sammy Ameobi created their second and fourth goals from Lewis Grabban and Alfredo Semedo respectively. 

Preston therefore drop to fifth after an embarrassing four goal trashing at Hull, in which Jarrod Bowen got a brace either side of goals from Josh Magennis and Kamil Grosicki. 

Swansea round out the top six after clinching a draw at Huddersfield, having initially led through Jay Fulton’s 18th minute effort before Karlan Grant equalised shortly before the break. 

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Down at the bottom, Luton came from behind to beat Charlton through strikes from Pelly Ruddock Mpanzu and Izzy Brown to move out of the relegation zone, having initially fallen behind to a seventh minute goal from Jonathan Leko. 

Middlesbrough are one point clear of the drop after Ashley Fletcher’s tap-in proved enough to edge rock-bottom Barnsley at a rain soaked Riverside Stadium. 

Wigan meanwhile twice blew one goal leads in a 2-2 draw at Millwall, consequently dropping them into the relegation zone.  

Stoke however continue to be the relegation zone sandwich after falling to a narrow defeat at Cardiff, in which Leandro Bacuna put away the Bluebirds’ 11th minute winner from a Gary Madine backheeled pass. 

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Elsewhere, Kadeem Harris’ late strike earned Garry Mon’s Sheffield Wednesday a hard fought point against his former club – Birmingham City who had led through Alvaro Gimenez’s slot in of Jeremie Bela’s cross. 

Finally, Blackburn made it two successive wins after Stewart Downing set up Bradley Dack to tap in an eventual 11th minute winner.