Manchester City's celebrations had to go on hold this afternoon when West Brom's victory at Coventry meant their automatic promotion to the Premiership is still not assured. City won 2-0 against Wolves at Molineux thanks to a brace from Shaun Wright-Phillips, moving them eight points clear at the top of Division One.
West Brom turned up the heat on their Black Country rivals by drawing level on points with them after a 1-0 triumph at play-off chasing Coventry, Bob Taylor's fifth goal of the season in the 16th minute proving to be enough. The Baggies had striker Trevor Benjamin sent off four minutes from time but the Sky Blues, whose play-off chances are waning, were unable to equalise.
Norwich were the only side to make major gains in the play-off race as they moved from ninth to seventh with a 1-0 win at Bradford, Paul McVeigh netting the only goal for the Canaries in the 88th minute. Burnley were held at Fratton Park by Portsmouth, on-loan striker David Johnson giving the Clarets the lead only for Bulgarian Svetoslav Todorov, sent off on Saturday at Preston, to equalise with a quarter of an hour left.
The Crystal Palace and Birmingham match ended goalless. Millwall could not break through Rotherham's resolute rearguard at Millmoor as Ronnie Moore's team gained another valuable point in their bid to secure survival.
Preston's chances of reaching the First Division play-offs for the second successive season suffered a blow today as Barnsley, desperately in need of points to stay up, moved out of the relegation zone at the expense of Crewe with a 2-1 win.
Crewe succumbed to defeat at Gillingham, Marlon King's penalty on the stroke of half-time the only goal at Priestfield. Grimsby kept their heads just above water with a point which probably also suited the visitors Sheffield Wednesday, who had Danny Maddix sent off within the first 10 minutes at Blundell Park.
Walsall improved their hopes of survival but remain in 23rd place in spite of a 3-2 win at Nottingham Forest, and they are now just one point away from climbing out of the relegation zone.
Wimbledon kept alive their outside hopes of reaching the play-offs with a 1-0 win at Sheffield United, Neal Ardley scoring the only goal in the 39th minute. Already-relegated Stockport celebrated only their fifth league win of the season.
Filed by Sinéad Kissane
