Championship roundup: Cardiff City promoted to Premier League on final day, Barnsley and Burton go down

Cardiff City have been promoted to the Premier League despite drawing 0-0 against Reading.

Birmingham City’s win against promotion rivals Fulham means that the London club finished in third with Cardiff two points ahead in second.

Fulham needed to better Cardiff’s result to move into the promotion places on the final day but Lukas Jutkiewicz’s 15th-minute goal and a Harlee Dean header had Birmingham’s win wrapped up before halftime. That also meant that Birmingham’s place in the Championship was secured.

Tom Cairney pulled Fulham back into the match with five minutes to go, but the West London club were unable to find the two goals they needed to gain promotion, as Che Adams scored late on for Birmingham to win 3-1.

Reading still could have been relegated before the start of the day, and defended well to keep Cardiff at bay.

Junior Hoilett and Kenneth Zohore had good chances to score but were snuffed out by the Reading defence, with Hoilett earlier having a penalty appeal turned down. With results elsewhere going both teams way, they were happy to play out a draw. Zohore nearly sealed the win late on but his shot was cleared off the line.

Bolton Wanderers 3-2 win against Nottingham Forest means they have stayed up.

They needed an 88th-minute winner to secure their place in the Championship though after equalising in the 85th minute.

Filipe Morais and David Wheater were both denied in the first half and Aaron Wilbraham saw a goal disallowed for offside.

Adam Le Fondre finally broke the deadlock with 22 minutes to spare as Bolton climbed out the relegation zone by a point.

That did not last though as Ben Osborn’s equaliser just five minutes later returned Barnsley back into the dropzone.

Jack Colback’s goal 12 minutes from time should have won the game for Forest but Wheater equalised in the 85th minute and Wilbraham’s late winner delighted the Bolton faithful.

There were two other teams battling to avoid two relegation places and Burton Albion were consigned to relegation after a 2-1 loss against Preston North End.

With Preston in with a chance of overtaking Derby County for the final play-off place, Callum Robinson headed in to give them the lead but Billy Bodin was sent off with 40 minutes remaining.

Burton took advantage when Hope Akpan curled the ball into the top left corner from the edge of the area but that was not enough to escape the drop and Louis Moult scored Preston’s winner in the 88th minute.

Barnsley’s 4-1 loss against Derby saw them finish in the final relegation place.

Cameron Jerome scored in the 14th minute for Derby and Matej Vydra’s strike moved Derby up to fifth and cast further doubt on Barnsley’s survival before full time.

Tom Lawrence put the result beyond doubt with Derby’s fourth in the 72nd minute.

George Moncur scored a consolation with 10 minutes remaining.

Elsewhere, already-relegated Sunderland shocked champions Wolves with a 3-0 win, thanks to goals from Oviemuno Ejaria, Ashley Fletcher and Paddy McNair.

Sheffield United held on to beat Bristol City 3-2. Leon Clarke, Billy Sharp and Kieron Freeman gave United a comfortable half-time lead but goals from Aden Flint and Joe Bryan nearly earned Bristol City a point.

City rivals Sheffield Wednesday defeated Norwich City 5-1, a hat-trick from Atdhe Nuhiu the highlight for Wednesday fans.

Kemar Roofe and Kalvin Phillips scored either side of half-time to lead Leeds United to victory over Queens Park Rangers, and Freddie Sears scored early on as Ipswich Town beat Middlesbrough 2-1.

Brentford and Hull City played out a 1-1 draw, with Sergi Canos’opener being cancelled out by Jarrod Bowen.

A Shaun Williams penalty led Millwall to a 1-0 win over Aston Villa.

Championship results in full: Birmingham City 3-1 Fulham, Bolton Wanderers 3-2 Nottingham Forest, Brentford 1-1 Hull City, Bristol City 2-3 Sheffield United, Cardiff City 0-0 Reading, Derby County 4-1 Barnsley, Ipswich Town 2-2 Middlesbrough, Leeds United 2-0 Queens Park Rangers, Millwall 1-0 Aston Villa, Preston North End 2-1 Burton Albion, Sheffield Wednesday 5-1 Norwich City, Sunderland 3-0 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Cover Photo: Joe Ralls by Jon Candy used under license by CC BY-SA 2.0.