Championship leaders Newcastle defused the row over owner Mike Ashley's decision to rename the club's famous St James' Park stadium with a 3-1 win over Peterborough on Saturday.

Ashley was already disliked on Tyneside after a disastrous reign which has seen Newcastle relegated from the Premier League for the first time in 16 years.

So his decision this week to rebrand St James' as the 'sportsdirect.com@St James' Park Stadium' was certain to infuriate Newcastle's supporters.

There were angry protests before and during the game, with one banner directed at Ashley reading "Not wanted@St James' Park".

But, fortunately for Ashley, Chris Hughton's side subdued the mutinous atmosphere with a confident performance that kept Newcastle two points clear of second-placed West Bromwich Albion.

Jonas Gutierrez opened the scoring in the 15th minute to raise the spirits of the 43,067 crowd.

Andy Carroll made it 2-0 with an 18th-minute header and Danny Simpson's curling effort seven minutes after half-time secured the points before Dean Keats' strike for rock bottom Peterborough in the 80th minute.

West Bromwich remain hot on Newcastle's heels as they opened up a four-point gap over third-placed Cardiff with a 2-1 win at Leicester.

Roberto Di Matteo's side took the lead in the 37th minute through Graham Dorrans and Gonzalo Jara added a second goal three minutes later.

Leicester's Bruno Berner set up a tense finale with a goal in injury time but the hosts' six-match unbeaten run came to an end.

Darren Pratley scored twice to help Swansea beat south Wales rivals Cardiff 3-2 at the Liberty Stadium.

Nathan Dyer headed Swansea into a ninth-minute lead and Pratley doubled Swansea's advantage with just 16 minutes gone.

Cardiff hit back just after the half-hour mark with two goals in three minutes courtesy of Jay Bothroyd and Mark Hudson.

But it was Pratley who proved the hero for Swansea as he fired home in the 61st minute to leave Cardiff without a win against their bitter enemies since 1997.

Gordon Strachan is still looking for his first point since taking charge of Middlesbrough after Darren Ambrose handed Crystal Palace a 1-0 win at Selhurst Park.

Former Celtic boss Strachan, who took over from Gareth Southgate two weeks ago, saw his new side fail to score again as they crashed to the second defeat of his reign.

Ambrose struck in the 65th minute when the midfielder finished a sweeping counter-attack for his 10th goal of the season.

Elsewhere, Kaspars Gorkss' late goal earned QPR a 2-1 victory at Sheffield Wednesday, while Blackpool claimed a 4-1 win over 10-man Scunthorpe.

Heidar Helguson and Tom Cleverley were on the scoresheet in Watford's 2-0 win over Preston.

Reading and Ipswich remain in the relegation zone after a 1-1 draw at the Madejski Stadium.

Plymouth moved out of the drop zone with a 2-1 win over Doncaster and Bristol City drew 1-1 at Nottingham Forest.

AFP

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