Championship wrap: QPR, Norwich stake promotion claims

Queens Park Rangers remain five points clear of second-placed Norwich in the Championship after both sides posted wins on Tuesday.

QPR enjoyed a 2-0 triumph over lowly Portsmouth, with Adel Taarabt on target after an hour at Loftus Road to score his 14th goal of the season after Pompey goalkeeper Jamie Ashdown let the Moroccan’s long-range strike slip through his hands.

A Clint Hill header 17 minutes from the end gave the home side all three points and extended Portsmouth’s winless streak to eight games, leaving them just four points clear of the drop zone.

Norwich kept up the pressure on the leaders with a 2-1 home win over Millwall, but needed Henri Lansbury’s last-gasp strike to seal the result. Elliott Ward had earlier cancelled out Theo Robinson’s opener for the visitors.

Swansea moved into third place with a 2-0 win over Bristol City thanks to a Darren Pratley brace, while Nottingham Forest came from behind to inflict a 2-1 defeat on Coventry City and move into fourth.

Marlon King gave Coventry the lead before Lewis McGugan and Robert Earnshaw powered the visitors to their fifth consecutive win.

Cardiff slipped from third to fifth after being held to a 2-2 draw at home by Reading, with on-loan star Craig Bellamy’s last-minute free-kick rescuing a crucial point for the hosts as the battle for play-off spots intensifies.

Sixth-place Leeds also played out a 2-2 draw, at Hull City, and needed strikes from Robert Snodgrass and Davide Somma to come back from a two-goal deficit and salvage a point.

Barnsley moved into 12th with a 2-0 win over Preston North End, and Ipswich enjoyed a 2-1 win over Derby County at Pride Park.

Doncaster Rovers had an own goal from Michael Duff to thank for their 1-0 win over Burnley, and Middlesbrough put further breathing space between themselves and the relegation zone with a 2-0 win over Scunthorpe who remain second from bottom.

Leicester City moved into 10th place thanks to an early Andy King goal that handed them a 1-0 win over Sheffield United, while Watford remain in seventh spot after a 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace at Vicarage Road.