Updated at 18.11
NEWCASTLE REGAINED POLE position in the race for the Premier League after a 2-1 victory at Brentford put them back on top of the Championship on Saturday.
Dwight Gayle netted his 20th goal of the season to give Newcastle the lead at Griffin Park after breaking the offside trap and finishing from a tight angle.
Lasse Vibe scrambled in from close range to level for Brentford but Daryl Murphy sealed the win with his first league goal for the Magpies with 12 minutes remaining when he converted Ayoze Perez’s cross.
Murphy was making just his second Championship appearance since joining Newcastle from Ipswich at the end of the summer transfer window.
The Irish international opened his Magpies account in last week’s 1-1 draw with Birmingham in the FA Cup and made it two goals in two games today, after replacing the injured Gayle on 28 minutes.
The victory moved Newcastle one above Brighton, who drop to second place after seeing their 17-match unbeaten run in all competitions ended by 2-0 defeat at Preston, with ex-Dundalk star Daryl Horgan making his Championship debut for Simon Grayson’s side.
Paul Huntington headed in Paul Gallagher’s free-kick for Preston’s opener before Callum Robinson hit his seventh goal of the season to earn the hosts all three points as Brighton missed a late penalty through Tomer Hemed.
Sheffield Wednesday made it six wins in their last eight league matches with a 2-0 victory over 10-man Huddersfield.
Ross Wallace gave sixth placed Wednesday the lead before Jack Payne was sent off for the visitors for an off-the-ball incident with Sam Hutchinson.
Fernando Forestieri killed off fifth placed Huddersfield in the closing stages.
Bottom of the table Rotherham secured only their second win in 20 matches with a 2-1 victory over 10-man Norwich to put more pressure on Canaries manager Alex Neil.
Jerry Yates marked his first league start for Rotherham by netting a seventh-minute opener and matters got worse for the visitors when Nelson Oliveira received his marching orders for an off-the-ball incident moments later.
Despite being down to 10 men, Cameron Jerome equalised for Norwich early in the second half but Tom Adeyemi sealed the three points for the league’s basement club.
Cardiff twice came from behind to condemn Bristol City to their seventh successive league defeat with a 3-2 victory at Ashton Gate.
Tom Lawrence came back to haunt his former loan club Blackburn by scoring a brace to earn Ipswich a 3-2 success.
Fulham were 2-0 victors over Barnsley thanks to Chris Martin’s first-half penalty and Scott Malone’s second-half strike.
Callum Connelly capped his Wigan debut by scoring both goals in their 2-0 win over fellow strugglers Burton.
Gianfranco Zola is still waiting for his first win as Birmingham manager as his side were held to a 0-0 draw by Nottingham Forest.
Additional reporting by Paul Fennessy
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