Championship: West Brom back on top and lowly Middlesbrough get rare win | Football

West Brom moved back to the top of the Championship with a 4-1 victory over Bristol City at the Hawthorns. Grady Diangana was the key man for Slaven Bilic’s side, setting up Kieran Gibbs to open the scoring on 10 minutes with a smart back-heel and then being brought down on the edge of the area five minutes from half-time.

Matheus Pereira took full advantage of the free-kick with a left-foot shot over the wall and into the top corner. Famara Diédhiou pulled a goal back for the visitors 10 minutes from time after West Brom failed to clear a corner, but Hal Robson-Kanu made it 3-1 just two minutes later and the substitute Charlie Austin completed the scoring in the 87th minute.

Nottingham Forest moved up to fourth with a 4-0 win at Queens Park Rangers, who had Lee Wallace sent off early in the second half. Tobias Figueiredo headed Forest in front after 15 minutes and the home side had a mountain to climb when Wallace was shown a straight red card for bringing down Joe Lolley.

It took until the 82nd minute for Lewis Grabban to double his side’s lead and further goals from João Carvalho and Alfa Semedo completed a miserable evening for QPR.

Middlesbrough moved out of the relegation zone with a 1-0 win over the bottom side Barnsley at the Riverside. Ashley Fletcher scored the only goal of the game for Jonathan Woodgate’s side to leave Barnsley eight points adrift of safety.

Bradley Dack’s 11th-minute goal was enough for Blackburn to get the better of Brentford at Ewood Park, while Hull thrashed Preston 4-0 at the KCOM Stadium. Jarrod Bowen opened the scoring on the half-hour and the home side put the result beyond doubt with two goals in three minutes at the start of the second half. Josh Magennis made it 2-0 from the penalty spot on 48 minutes after Ryan Ledson had brought down Josh Bowler, and Kamil Grosicki put the finishing touch to a sharp passing move just three minutes later. Bowen grabbed his second of the night and 14th of the season on 77 minutes.

Sheffield Wednesday and Birmingham had to settle for a point apiece at Hillsborough, where Kadeem Harris struck in the 81st minute to cancel out Álvaro Giménez’s opener for the visitors early in the second half.