West Brom beat Wednesday to boost promotion push

London, July 1, 2020 (AFP) - West Bromwich Albion improved their prospects of automatic promotion to the Premier League as Matheus Pereira struck twice in a 3-0 win at Sheffield Wednesday.

Charlie Austin ended Albion's 443-minute wait for a first league goal since February when he converted a 38th-minute penalty at Hillsborough after Dara O'Shea was fouled by Moses Odubajo.

Pereira headed home Kieran Gibbs' 58th minute cross and then struck again in the closing stages to seal the points.

It was Albion's first win in five league games and moved Slaven Bilic's men to within one point of leaders Leeds.

They are also five points clear of third-placed Brentford, with the top two guaranteed promotion.

Tiago Silva lifted Nottingham Forest into fourth place with a 1-0 victory over 10-man Bristol City at the City Ground.

Forest's goal arrived in the 62nd minute after Ryan Yates had been fouled by Andreas Weimann, with Silva dispatching the resulting free-kick.

City had Ashley Williams sent off for violent conduct after he clashed with Yuri Ribeiro in the closing stages.

Wayne Rooney ruined Preston's record 5,000th league game and dented their promotion hopes by firing Derby to a 1-0 win at Deepdale.

Rooney got his chance in the 18th minute after Paul Huntington had fouled Louie Sibley.

The 34-year-old former England skipper curled his free-kick over the wall and past Declan Rudd.

Derby climbed to seventh place, just a point adrift of Cardiff in the final play-off place with six games remaining.

"It was a great goal by Wayne. We played in some periods of the game really good football, and we showed character at the end when we needed it to defend well," Derby boss Phillip Cocu said.

"We have many more challenges to face, playing a lot of top teams in the table. So we cannot be too satisfied. We are heading in the right direction but we are not there yet."

Huddersfield's 3-0 victory at Birmingham lifted the Terriers into 19th place and three points clear of the relegation zone.