Mick McCarthy admitted he was a relieved man after Championship leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers finally got their promotion challenge back on track with a 1-0 win at Crystal Palace.
McCarthy’s side had been showing signs of wilting under the pressure of the battle to win promotion to English soccer’s top-flight during a run of just one win from their last 11 matches.
But Sylvan Ebanks-Blake’s second-half penalty at Selhurst Park sent Wolves five points clear at the top on Tuesday.
Ebanks-Blake kept his nerve from the spot after Crystal Palace defender Clint Hill had tripped Michael Kightly in the penalty area in the 74th minute.
“I can’t deny there’s a sense of relief,” McCarthy said. “When you’ve gone as long as us with only one win and then you come to Crystal Palace on a wet and windy Tuesday it’s always about winning. And we could have won by more.”
Reading boss Steve Coppell believes his side can produce a knockout blow in the promotion race after winning 2-1 at Sheffield Wednesday.
The Royals had won just once in their past six league matches and it looked like another bad day for Reading when Sean McAllister put Wednesday ahead on the stroke of halftime.
But Reading equalized in the 56th minute through Kevin Doyle’s 18th goal of the season.
Wednesday were furious that referee Andy Hall had waved play on despite Michael Duberry’s foul during the build-up to Reading’s 81st minute winner.
Shane Long, on for Noel Hunt, raced onto Stephen Hunt’s pass and drilled an angled shot beyond Owls goalkeeper Lee Grant to seal the points.
Reading can go top of the table if they win their two games in hand on Wolves and Coppell said: “Credit to Wednesday, they could easily have got something there. It was like two heavyweights slugging it out in the 15th round.”
“It’s now down to somebody to earn the right to play in the Premiership next year,” Coppell said. “If you put together a run of six, seven, eight victories, or eight positive results then you could be playing your football at a higher level next year.”
Cardiff City closed the gap on the top two to six points with a 3-1 home win over Barnsley.
Joe Ledley and Michael Chopra put the Bluebirds two goals up before halftime. Jon Macken pulled a goal back after the break, but Andranik Teymourian was sent off for two yellow cards before Peter Whittingham hit Cardiff’s third.
“We have now shown that there is healthy competition for places and we were awesome in the first half, and could have come in four goals up,” Cardiff boss Dave Jones said. “In the second half, we took our foot off the gas a little and they gave us a few anxious moments.”
At the foot of the table, Southampton, currently third bottom, boosted their survival hopes with a 3-0 win at Ipswich Town.
Second bottom Norwich City also claimed a crucial victory, 1-0 at Queens Park Rangers, with Ryan Bertrand scoring in the 68th minute for the Canaries.
Charlton Athletic, in last place, are now 12 points adrift of safety after losing 2-1 at home to Doncaster Rovers.
Elsewhere, Burnley won 1-0 at Blackpool, Nottingham Forest beat Preston North End 2-1, Plymouth Argyle saw off Watford 2-1 and Derby County were held to a 2-2 draw by Swansea City.
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