London (AFP) – Bobby Reid scored three goals as Bristol City moved back up into a play-off place in England’s second-tier Championship with a 4-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday. 

This win took City into sixth position, with midfielder Reid scoring twice in the first half before firing in a third goal — his 19th of the season — after Josh Brownhill had made it 3-0 shortly before the interval as Wednesday slipped to a fourth straight defeat in all competitions.

Only the top two at the end of the regular season are guaranteed automatic promotion to the lucrative Premier League, but they will be joined in the top flight by the ultimate winners of a series of play-off games involving the teams that finish in third to sixth spots. 

Fulham leapfrogged Derby County into fourth place with a 2-1 win over the Rams on a day when the icy weather gripping Britain, and much of the rest of Europe, saw half the day’s scheduled Championship fixtures postponed.

The win saw Fulham extend their unbeaten league run to 13 games, with Aleksandar Mitrovic scoring his third goal in as many matches to give the Cottagers ahead.

Ryan Sessegnon doubled Fulham’s lead before Tom Huddlestone gave Derby hope with a second-half goal.

Sean Maguire proved a ‘supersub’ for Preston as he came off the bennch to score two goals in a 3-1 win away to Bolton Wanderers.

Tom Barkhuizen equalised following Mark Beevers’s first-half opener for Bolton before Maguire struck twice in the closing 13 minutes.

Elsewhere, bottom of the table Sunderland were denied a much-needed win in a 1-1 draw with Millwall.

Bryan Oviedo gave Sunderland a lead at the break but Millwall substitute Shaun Hutchinson grabbed a point for the south London side in the second half.

Nottingham Forest inflicted fresh misery on Birmingham with a 2-1 win at home against their Midlands rivals.

Victory gave Forest the rare joy of back-to-back league wins and condemned Birmingham to a fifth defeat in as many league fixtures. 

Goals in either half from Joe Lolley and Matt Cash put Forest 2-0 up before they were made to sweat by a header late on from Birmingham’s Michael Morrison.