Saturday 28 January 2017 18:38, UK
Reading moved back up to third in the Sky Bet Championship thanks to a 2-1 victory over Cardiff at the Madejski Stadium.
Successive defeats had left Reading in danger of dropping out of the play-off places but Saturday's victory made it two home wins in a matter of days.
Buoyed by their midweek success against Fulham, the Royals took the lead in the 42nd minute when John Swift shot home after Garath McCleary's ingenious backheel set him up.
Joe Ralls equalised for Cardiff from the penalty spot on the stroke of half-time but Yann Kermorgant's free-kick from the edge of the area on the hour mark found the net and secured three crucial points for Reading.
Barnsley shrugged off the loss of James Bree and Conor Hourihane [both sold to Aston Villa] to make it two wins over Yorkshire rivals in a week and move to within a point of the top six.
Seven days after coming from behind to beat Leeds, Barnsley earned a 1-0 victory over rock-bottom Rotherham courtesy of Adam Armstrong's 70th-minute strike.
Armstong's goal was delightfully created by Ryan Kent, who produced a perfectly weighted through ball to put his team mate in on goal.
Norwich are firmly back in the mix for a play-off place after making it back-to-back wins for the first time since October.
Birmingham, without a win since Gianfranco Zola took over in mid-December, were the visitors to Carrow Road and first-half goals from Cameron Jerome and Timm Klose continued their wretched form.
Jerome struck first after 15 minutes, 40 seconds after Lukas Jutkiewicz had headed against the bar at the other end.
The Norwich forward robbed a defender on halfway, and powered forward before eluding another would-be tackler and shooting home.
And Klose then doubled the lead just before half-time, heading a Robbie Brady free-kick into the net from close range.
The 2-0 success left Norwich two points behind sixth-placed Sheffield Wednesday, who have a game in hand.
Burton put the speculation surrounding manager Nigel Clough to one side and boosted their survival hopes with a 2-1 victory at QPR.
Former Nottingham Forest player Clough was this week approached by the club over the vacant managerial position at the City Ground.
But Burton gave him a reason to stay as they moved out of the relegation zone thanks to goals from Luke Murphy - his first for the club - and Lloyd Dyer.
Murphy opened the scoring with a low shot from distance and Dyer then put a shot through the legs of goalkeeper Alex Smithies after a neat pass from Lasse Vigen Christensen.
Conor Washington got one back for QPR, shooting home from a tight angle after his first shot was blocked, but they could not force an equaliser and suffered only their second defeat in six games.
In Saturday's other game, Jordan Hugill scored a late equaliser to earn Preston a 1-1 draw after Tom Lawrence had given Ipswich an early lead with his sixth goal in as many games.
The in-form Lawrence produced a beauty to open the scoring, cutting in from the left wing past two challengers and then finding the net from a tough angle.
But the hosts salvaged a point when Hugill controlled the ball on his chest and then volleyed home from close range, as the Ipswich defenders appealed for offside.
