Birmingham went top of the English Championship on Saturday thanks to Kevin Phillips' winner in a 1-0 win over QPR, while previous leaders Wolverhampton crashed 3-1 at Swansea.

Phillips grabbed his fourth goal of the season in first-half injury time at St Andrews to move Birmingham one point clear of local rivals Wolverhampton.

The former Sunderland and England striker tapped-in Garry O'Connor's cross to give Alex McLeish's side 23 points from 10 games and leave QPR without a win in four successive games.

Mick McCarthy's Wolverhampton, who were thrashed at home by Reading in midweek, slumped to a dispiriting 3-1 defeat at the Liberty Stadium.

They fell behind after just 26 seconds when Jordi Gomez scored his third goal in four games for Swansea.

Andy Keogh equalised 15 minutes later but Jason Scotland put the Swans back in the lead on 41 minutes and the Trinidad and Tobago striker grabbed a second after the break to ended Wolves' unbeaten away record.

The Hunt brothers combined to keep Reading in third place as Steve Coppell's side beat Burnley 3-1.

The Royals, who maintain their 100 percent home record, got off to a flying start when Noel Hunt headed them in front after only four minutes.

Reading made the game safe after half-time through goals from Stephen Hunt and Shane Long, who had come on for Noel Hunt in the first half.

Burnley got consolation through Chris McCann in the final minute but the game ended on a sour note for the visitors when Stephen Jordan was sent off for a second booking.

James Beattie scored twice to inspire Sheffield United's 3-0 rout of Bristol City at Bramall Lane.

Beattie broke the deadlock in first-half injury time with a powerful volley from David Cotterill's corner.

The Blades doubled their lead when Liam Fontaine's attempted headed clearance only found the back of his own net in the 56th minute before Beattie got the third from another Cotterill corner.

Plymouth jumped to fifth place as Paul Sturrock's team thrashed Sheffield Wednesday 4-0 at Home Park.

The victory was especially sweet for Sturrock, who spent two years in charge at Wednesday.

Wednesday had lost only one of their previous seven league matches, but Plymouth secured their fourth win in five games thanks to Mark Beevers' own goal and first-half strikes from Paul Gallagher and Jamie Mackie before Marcel Seip's last-minute header.

Elsewhere, 10-man Barnsley beat Doncaster 4-1, Charlton defeated Ipswich 2-1, Derby won 2-1 at Norwich, Watford were 2-1 winners against Preston and Crystal Palace beat rock-bottom Nottingham Forest 2-0, while Blackpool drew 1-1 with Cardiff.

AFP

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