Saturday 10 December 2016 18:46, UK
Newcastle returned to the top of the Sky Bet Championship after a hat-trick from Dwight Gayle helped them to a comfortable 4-0 win over Birmingham at St James’ Park.
Brighton's 2-0 home victory over Leeds on Friday night had seen them go top of the table but Newcastle regained top spot as former Crystal Palace striker Gayle took his tally for the season to 16 goals.
First he headed home a pinpoint cross from Mohamed Diame before converting from close-range after Isaac Hayden played the ball into the box from the left flank.
Yoan Gouffran effectively put the result beyond doubt just two minutes after the break after he drilled home from a Jonjo Shelvey cross before Gayle secured his treble on 77 minutes.
Dutch midfielder Roy Beerens scored both goalss for Jaap Stam's side, who held on despite Wednesday substitute Steven Fletcher pulling a goal back two minutes into time added-on.
Elias Kachunga opened the scoring for hosts Huddersfield after 10 minutes only for Tammy Abraham to equalise.
But Huddersfield secured the points in farcical fashion as Nakhi Wells nicked the ball from City keeper Fielding being rounding him and rolling the ball into the empty net.
Game of the day in the division undoubtedly came at Molineux, where Wolves and Fulham played out a 4-4 draw.
Kortneu Hause gave Wolves the lead midway through the first half but strikes from Stefan Johansen, Floyd Ayite and Tom Cairney swung the game in the Cottagers' favour.
Three goals on the bounce from the hosts - Matt Doherty, Ivan Cavaleiro and Dave Edwards were the men on target - saw the game swing back in their favour.
But Fulham, who thrashed promotion hopefuls Reading 5-0 last week, were not to be denied and they secured a point courtesy of Ayite's second goal of the game four minutes into stoppage-time.
Norwich remain a point off the play-offs despite being beaten 2-1 at Barnsley, who were two-goals up at half-time thanks to goals from Tom Bradshaw and Conor Hourihane before Nelson Oliveira halved the deficit for the Canaries.
At the other end of the table, Rotherham picked up just their second league win of the season after Isaiah Brown scored the only goal of the game against QPR, although they remain bottom.
Second-bottom Wigan looked good for a point away to Aston Vila but they could not hold out and Jack Grealish drilled the ball into the top corner from outside the area two minutes from time.
Cardiff remain in 22nd place after they drew 1-1 away to Ipswich, with City defender Sol Bamba involved in a touchline altercation with his manager Neil Warnock after he was dismissed 20 minutes from time.
Luke Varney equalised for Ipswich after Aron Gunnarsson had opened the scoring for City seven minutes before the break but the real drama was to follow, as Samba saw red before the red mist descended as he appeared to tussle with Warnock as he left the pitch.
Meanwhile, Brentford ended a run of four consecutive league defeats after they defeated Burton 2-1 at Griffin Park.
Scott Hogan scored both goals for the Bees, either side of a Jamie Ward strike, as the home side moved up to 16th in the table.
