Championship round-up: Ian Holloway's second spell at Loftus Road starts with a win
Saturday 19 November 2016 21:42, UK
Ian Holloway enjoyed a winning start to his second spell in charge of QPR as they claimed a 2-1 victory over Norwich, who were reduced to 10 men in just the second minute.
Holloway received a warm welcome from the appreciative home support at Loftus Road but Tjaronn Chery missed the chance to give QPR an early lead, firing his penalty wide after Norwich's Martin Olsson had been sent off for handling on the line.
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Conor Washington and Seb Polter then found the net for Rangers, the latter from a glorious Chery pass, but the hosts ended up having to hold out for their win.
Steven Naismith pulled one back for Norwich in the 78th minute, stooping to head home a Jacob Murphy cross, but it is now four consecutive league defeats for Alex Neil's side.
Paul Lambert's first game in charge of Wolves ended in a 0-0 draw against Preston at Deepdale.
After a lifeless first half, Preston had the better of the chances in the second, with Simon Makienok and Jordan Hugill passing up great opportunities to find the net for the hosts, the latter shooting over the bar when he was through on goal in added time.
The draw means Preston have lost just one of their last nine league games, while Wolves picked up just their third point in eight games.
Junior Hoilett scored his first goal for Cardiff as they claimed an entertaining 3-2 home win over promotion-chasing Huddersfield.
First-half strikes from Sean Morrison, Hoilett and Rickie Lambert ensured it was another away day to forget for the Terriers, having been hammered 5-0 at Fulham on their last Sky Bet Championship trip.
Tommy Smith pulled one back for Huddersfield at 2-0, and Phil Billing scored a fantastic goal with 20 minutes left as he found the net with a long range volley.
But Cardiff held on to leave the Terriers with just one win from their last six.
In-form Reading continued their climb up the table with a comfortable 3-0 home victory over struggling Burton Albion.
Goals from Dominic Samuel, his first for the club, and Danny Williams, who turned a cross into the roof of the net from close range, gave Reading a healthy half-time lead.
Although Burton improved after the break, they were made to pay for poor finishing when Reading made it 3-0 in the 77th minute through a John Brayford own goal, and the Royals duly went on to claim a fourth successive win.
Derby's revival under Steve McClaren continues to gather pace as they made it three league wins in a row with a 3-0 defeat of bottom side Rotherham, who are winless in 13.
Tom Ince and Darren Bent scored within four first-half minutes of each other to put the Rams in control and Ince added a second after the break as Derby moved up to 12th.
Ince should have had a hat-trick but he had a second-half penalty saved by Millers keeper Lee Camp, who had also denied the Derby man from the spot in the first half, only for the forward to tap in the rebound.
All the goals came in the first half as Blackburn beat Brentford 3-2 in an Ewood Park thriller to claim their first Championship win in over a month.
Scott Hogan put the visitors in front after just 33 seconds but the hosts responded well and Danny Graham bagged a brace in the space of five minutes to turn the game on its head.
Hogan grabbed a second of his own on the half hour mark but his captain Harlee Dean then agonisingly turned a cross into his own net, to hand Blackburn what turned out to be the winner.
Scott Malone scored an injury-time leveller to rescue Fulham a 1-1 draw at Craven Cottage after Fernando Forestieri's fine finish appeared to have earned Sheffield Wednesday the three points.
Former Watford forward Forestieri was back in the starting line-up for the visitors and found the net in the 10th minute with a classy strike from 15 yards out.
It looked like that would be enough for Wednesday but left-back Malone saved the day for the hosts late on, smashing home a half-volley at the back post after Sone Aluko's cross had flicked off a defender's head.
Birmingham City increased their unbeaten home run to seven games with a narrow 1-0 victory over Bristol City.
Having been on the ropes for much of the second half, Birmingham grabbed the three points when Che Adams [81] forced the ball home after his header from a corner had been blocked.
But Birmingham finished the match with 10 men, Jonathan Spector having been sent off for a reckless tackle in the 87th minute.
Wigan produced a solid defensive display away from home to earn a 0-0 draw with Barnsley at Oakwell.
The draw gives Warren Joyce his first point since he took charge of the Latics but also saw them slip down to 23rd in the table.
It was the Tykes' third consecutive draw and, for the second game in a row, they failed to score, even though they arguably had the better opportunities to seal all three points.
In the evening game. Britt Assombalonga scored twice in the first half as Nottingham Forest secured their first away win of the season, running out 2-0 winners at Ipswich.
The striker scored the Sky Bet Championship's fastest goal this season 17 seconds into the game to put Forest into the lead at Portman Road.
Assombalonga then added his second, and sixth of the season, in added time at the end of the first half as Ipswich struggled to deal with the 23-year-old in a dominant 45 minutes from the away side.
