Championship wrap: Forest move to second

Nottingham Forest climbed into the top two of the Championship after a 2-1 win over Cardiff on Saturday, while leaders QPR dropped points.

The match of the day saw second-placed Cardiff travel to Forest in fourth, but by the end of the day the standings had changed as Billy Davies’ side extended their unbeaten home record to an amazing 35 matches.

Wes Morgan converted Lewis McGugan’s assist to open the scoring after 32 minutes but Cardiff, keen to remain inside the automatic promotion places, hit back on 65 minutes.

Peter Whittingham made the most of his chance from the penalty spot to equalise but the parity was short-lived, with livewire Robert Earnshaw bagging a 67th minute winner.

The win saw Cardiff drop to fourth, a point below Welsh rivals Swansea City, who coasted to a 3-0 win over Doncaster Rovers at the Liberty Stadium.

Brendan Rodgers’ men were rarely troubled as Doncaster, who lost 6-0 at home to Ipswich on Tuesday, collapsed again.

Scott Sinclair and Ashley Williams helped themselves to first-half goals before Luke Moore sealed the victory 12 minutes from time.

Forest, Cardiff and Swansea are all still chasing QPR, but they gained ground after Neil Warnock’s side was held to a 1-1 draw at bottom-club Preston North End.

Heidar Helguson’s 37th minute goal gave the visitors the lead but Barry Nicholson netted a second-half equaliser for Preston.

Leeds United and Norwich City played out an entertaining 2-2 draw at Elland Road in a battle of two of the top six sides.

In front of nearly 32,000 fans, Leeds took the lead when Luciano Becchio scored his 14th of the season after 16 minutes, but Arsenal loanee Henri Lansbury scored on the stroke of half-time to make Leeds pay for hitting the woodwork twice.

Norwich took the lead after 50 minutes through Elliott Ward but substitute Davide Somma scored a deserved equaliser for the hosts, with the South African striker hitting a superb volley with his first touch to net his fifth goal in six Championship matches.

In other matches, second-half goals to Anthony McMahon, Scott McDonald and Leroy Lita gave Middlesbrough a 3-2 come-from-behind win at Millwall while Jay Simpson scored an 85th minute equaliser to give Hull a point and deny the in-form Ipswich Town in a 1-1 draw.

Noel Hunt’s second-half equaliser gave Reading a point in a 1-1 home draw with Watford which extended the hosts winless run to six in the league, while Scunthorpe United and Derby County also shared the spoils in a 0-0 draw.

Crystal Palace moved further away from the bottom three with a 1-0 win over Sheffield United thanks to a Darren Ambrose goal and Portsmouth won by the same scoreline, thanks to Nwankwo Kanu’s late winner against Barnsley.