Football
PA Sport 8y

Burnley and Middlesbrough both win to keep promotion hopes alive

Andre Gray scored twice as Burnley stormed back to the top of the table with a 2-1 victory at struggling Lancashire rivals Bolton.

Although Burnley's unbeaten run was stretched to 11 games, they had to come from behind to secure the three points, with Liam Feeney giving Bolton a 69th-minute lead.

However Gray, who was flagged offside on half-a-dozen occasions, quickly levelled before smashing an unstoppable left-footed winner beyond Paul Rachubka with five minutes to go.

Middlesbrough netted two first-half goals to gain a comfortable 2-0 victory at Craven Cottage against Fulham.

The opening goal came after just three minutes, after Stewart Downing found space on the left to cross into Albert Adomah who headed home well. 

The visitors doubled their lead on 20 minutes, when Chris Baird upended David Nugent in the box. Captain Grant Leadbitter sent goalkeeper Andrew Lonergan the wrong way from the penalty spot. 

To add insult to injury, Richard Stearman was shown a red card for the hosts after fouling substitute Jordan Rhodes. 

Wolves midfielder George Saville's first two goals for the club halted a three-match losing run and condemned promotion-chasing Derby to a 2-1 defeat.

Saville gave Wolves a 14th-minute lead in the Championship clash before Chris Martin equalised on the stroke of half-time.

But Saville's 86th-minute header gave Wolves their first win in eight games to deal a blow to Derby's hopes of climbing into the Barclays Premier League.

Derby had arrived at Wolves after back-to-back wins but were unable to capitalise on their dominance of the ball.

At the other end of the table, Rotherham did their chances of survival no harm with a vital 2-1 victory over Brentford.

Matt Derbyshire had given the Millers a 29th-minute lead but Alan Judge equalised for the Bees just before the break.

Substitute Danny Ward, though, climbed off the bench to secure a first win in eight Championship games for Rotherham which leaves them three points adrift of safety.

Charlton missed the chance to move off the foot of the table as former striker Yann Kermorgant came back to haunt them with Reading.

Kermorgant, who left the Valley in 2014 to join Bournemouth, struck twice in the first half as the Royals ran out 4-3 winners in an enthralling contest.

On-loan Benfica winger Ola John also netted for Reading who were 3-1 ahead at half-time before Yaya Sanogo, on loan from Arsenal completed his hat trick with 84 minutes on the clock.

Deniss Rakels, though, came off the bench to score the winner two minutes into added time for the visitors to break Charlton hearts.

MK Dons will be looking over their shoulders after Jordi Gomez's last-gasp winner secured a 3-2 win for Blackburn.

Samir Carruthers had given the Dons a first-half lead before Gomez netted his first after 53 minutes.

Elliott Bennett then put Rovers in front but Alex Revell's first goal for the club looked to have secured a point for the away side.

Gomez, though, had the final say when he curled a superb free kick past Cody Cropper.

Aden Flint scored the winner for Bristol City in a 2-1 win at Nottingham Forest.

Ben Osborn gave Forest the lead, which was equalised by Jonathan Kodjia, before Flint headed home with 20 minutes left.

Elsewhere, Anthony Pilkington scored two penalties for Cardiff who beat Preston 2-1 despite Callum Robinson's late consolation.

Ben Pringle scored the only goal in Ipswich's 1-0 victory against Huddersfield while Tjaronn Chery and Junior Hoilett, from the spot, secured a comfortable 2-0 triumph for QPR at home to Birmingham.

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