Saturday Afternoon Round-Up

The Championship:

With Newcastle not due to kick off until 17:20, West Brom had an opportunity to close the gap at the top to just one point with a home game against Preston. The Baggies took their chance in a lively 3-2 victory, with all the goals coming in the first half. Having taken a 2-0 lead through goals from Ben Watson and Chris Brunt in the 7th and 9th minute, Preston defender Sean St. Ledger pulled one back for the visitors. Greame Dorrans restored a two-goal cushion for Roberto Di Matteo's side before Neil Mellor pulled another goal back for Preston on the stroke of half time. And 3-2 it stayed to take the automatic promotion chasing Baggies within a point of rivals Newcastle who would face Bristol City later on.

Robert Earnshaw's early goal proved to be the decider for Billy Davies' Nottingham Forest as they secured their 11th home win on the bounce over struggling Peterborough. The result leaves Forest 8 points behind automatic promotion with only 8 games remaining, which will surely prove to be insurmountable with Forest's patchy away form.

Playoff hopefuls Doncaster and Sheffield United played out a 1-1 draw at The Keepmoat Stadium, where it took a late James Harper equaliser to bring The Blades back on level terms. Meanwhile, playoff outsiders Middlesbrough and Reading also finished 1-1, as Blackpool needed a late Ben Burgess equaliser to share the spoils in a 2-2 draw with Crystal Palace. The result leaves the league table looking ominous for Palace, as they drop into the relegation zone.

Elsewhere in the relegation battle, there were valuable home wins for both Ipswich and Scunthorpe. The 1-0 win for Roy Keane's side over Barnsley takes them 8 points clear of the meleé, and they can surely regard themselves as nearly home and dry. Scunthorpe secured a massive win over fellow strugglers Plymouth Argyle to lift themselves out of the relegatio zone and leave Plymouth 6 points off safety with a 65 minute Martyn Woolford winner in a 2-1 victory. And Scunthorpe's win left steel city club Sheffield Wednesday looking nervously over their shoulders with just a point separating them and the drop zone following a 0-0 stalemate at home against Derby County.