Cardiff close gap to Championship leaders Wolves

LONDON (Reuters) - Second-placed Cardiff City closed back to within four points of English Championship (second tier) leaders Wolverhampton Wanderers with a 1-0 home win over Hull City on Saturday.

Sol Bamba’s 57th-minute goal ensured Cardiff maintained pressure on Wolves, who defeated Sheffield Wednesday 1-0 on Friday.

Bristol City remain third, eight points behind Wolves, after beating Nottingham Forest 2-1 at Ashton Gate thanks to first-half goals from Marlon Pack and Joe Bryan. Kieran Dowell pulled a goal back for Forest but they were unable to equalise.

Andreas Weimann scored against his old club as fourth-placed Derby County defeated fifth-placed Aston Villa 2-0 at Pride Park. Johnny Russell secured the win in second-half injury time.

Sixth-placed Sheffield United’s poor run continued with a 1-0 defeat to Preston North End at Deepdale, Jordan Hugill scoring the only goal.

Sheffield United have lost four of their past five matches and are now only one point ahead of seventh-placed Leeds United, who defeated Norwich City 1-0 at Elland Road courtesy of Pontus Jansson’s header.

Sunderland climbed out of the bottom three by beating mid-table Fulham 1-0 at the Stadium of Light. Eighteen-year-old Josh Maja scored on his league debut to give Chris Coleman’s side just their third league win of the season and first home victory since Dec. 17, 2016.

Bolton Wanders replaced Sunderland in the relegation zone after being beaten 1-0 at home by Burton Albion, who jumped from bottom to 22nd in the table thanks to Lloyd Dyer’s first-half winner.

Their victory saw Birmingham City drop to the bottom after a 2-1 defeat at home by Queens Park Rangers, Jack Robinson scoring either side of a Sam Gallagher equaliser.

(Reporting by Matt Westby; editing by Clare Fallon)