Daily Times

LONDON: Bournemouth’s charge towards the Premier League continued with a 2-0 win at Reading on Saturday as Fulham beat fellow promotion-chasers West Brom 3-0. The Cherries are still unbeaten under Scott Parker in the league and moved nine points clear of third-placed West Brom with a fifth straight win despite being far from their best. Dominic Solanke and Jamal Lowe got Bournemouth’s goals either side of half-time with the visitors’ first two shots on target. Fulham still trail the league leaders by five points, but opened up a four-point cushion over the Baggies thanks to Aleksandar Mitrovic’s hat-trick. The Serbian opened the scoring from a contentious penalty decision and pounced on a poor backpass by Robert Snodgrass to double the Cottagers’ lead before half-time.

West Brom were also unhappy with the decision to send off wing-back Darnell Furlong in the 70th minute, with Fulham’s Tosin Adarabioyo also collecting a red card in the 85th minute. By that point it was 3-0 as Mitrovic completed his second hat-trick of the season from close range. Fourth-placed Coventry beat Hull 1-0 thanks to an early goal from Matt Godden, while Huddersfield climbed to fifth after Jonathan Hogg’s late header sank Millwall 1-0. Managerless Cardiff came from 3-0 down to draw 3-3 at Stoke with a remarkable second-half comeback. Jacob Brown put the hosts ahead after 10 minutes and Steven Fletcher grabbed a goal in each half to put them in control. But three goals in five minutes hauled Cardiff level. Rubin Colwill pulled one back in the 66th minute, Mark Harris added a second and Kieffer Moore struck a minute later to complete the fightback.

Andi Weimann’s double was enough to Bristol City a first home league win since January by beating Barnsley 2-1. First-half goals from Jake Bidwell, Joel Piroe and Olivier Ntcham handed Swansea a 3-0 win over Peterborough. Ben Brereton Diaz scored twice in the first 20 minutes as Blackburn beat bottom side Derby 2-1. Emil Riis celebrated his new contract at Preston with both goals in the 2-0 defeat of Luton. Two goals in three second-half minutes from Marc Roberts and Scott Hogan gave Birmingham a 2-0 win at Middlesbrough and Keshi Anderson’s late goal secured a 1-0 victory for Blackpool at Sheffield United.