Championship wrap: Norwich exploit Swansea slip-up

Swansea’s challenge for an automatic promotion spot took a blow after a 2-1 loss to lowly Preston North End in the Championship.

Trailing Norwich by just one point heading into the match, Swansea knew a victory away at bottom-side Preston could move them back into the top two.

Ashley Williams? 24th minute goal looked like it would at least give Swansea a share of the points after Iain Hume scored from the penalty spot on three minutes for Preston.

But a second from Hume in the 83rd minute gave Preston a much-needed three points, while Swansea drop down to fourth.

It was a much different story for Norwich City, who cemented their top-two spot with a 6-0 hammering of 10-man Scunthorpe United.

Scunthorpe were already a goal down when Paul Reid saw red in the 31st minute and Norwich went for the kill after that, with both Grant Holt and Simeon Jackson scoring hat-tricks.

Cardiff City broke their four-game winless streak and moved into third with a 4-1 thrashing of Derby County.

Jay Bothroyd, Dekel Keinan, Paul Quinn and Peter Whittingham were all on the scoresheet for Cardiff, with Robbie Savage’s late penalty a mere consolation for Derby.

Leeds jumped to fourth after a 4-1 win over Nottingham Forest in a heated battle at Elland Road.

The dismissal of Forrest?s Chris Cohen in the first half saw tempers boil over, with several scuffles breaking out across the pitch.

It took Leeds until the 51 minute mark to make the most of their numerical advantage, with Jonathon Howson eventually putting them ahead.

Luciano Becchio doubled their lead soon after only for Garath McCleary to pull one back for the visitors on 65 minutes.

A late double from Max Gradel settled the matter, consigning Forest to their eighth successive game without a win.

A Shane Long double gave Reading a 2-0 win at home to Portsmouth, while Coventry City won by the same margin against Watford.

Ipswich Town won 2-1 on their trip to Burnley thanks to first-half goals from David Norris and Connor Wickham, while a late penalty from James Vaughan gave Crystal Palace a 2-1 win at home against Barnsley.

A last-gasp goal from Shane McManus salvaged a 3-3 draw for Middlesbrough against Leicester City after a Yakubu hat-trick had earlier put the visitors 3-1 up.

Britsol City beat Doncaster Rovers 1-0 courtesy of Nicky Maynard’s 76th minute goal.