Birmingham maintained their two-point lead at the top of the English Championship with a 3-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday.

Alex McLeish's side stayed ahead of local rivals Wolverhampton, who won 3-2 at Watford, thanks to two goals from Scotland striker Garry O'Connor.

O'Connor opened the scoring in the 11th minute at St Andrews when he headed in Sebastian Larsson's cross.

Birmingham's lead was short-lived as Etienne Esajas equalised with a fine free-kick in the 15th minute. But O'Connor restored Birmingham's advantage a minute later with a sharp finish.

Former England striker Kevin Phillips put the hosts in complete control when he collected Franck Queudrue's pass and slotted home. Wolverhampton survived a thriller at Vicarage Road to remain in second place.

Mick McCarthy's team took the lead within a minute when Chris Iwelumo latched on to Sylvan Ebanks-Blake's cross and finished from close range.

Watford were level after 21 minutes when Carl Ikeme could only parry a Will Hoskins drive and Grzegorz Rasiak tapped-in.

David Jones put the visitors ahead in the 39th minute with a superb free-kick before John-Joe O'Toole touched in Tommy Smith's set-piece to level in the 47th minute.

Watford had a chance to go in front when Jones brought down O'Toole in the box on the hour mark, but Smith smashed his penalty over the bar. Michael Gray made Smith pay in the 71st minute with a cool finish from Michael Kightly's cross.

Cardiff moved into fourth place with a 1-0 win at struggling Nottingham Forest.

Dave Jones' side extended their unbeaten away record after Ross McCormack converted a 54th-minute penalty awarded for Lewis McGugan's needless foul on Stephen McPhail.

Ugo Ehiogu scored his first goal for 19 months to fire Sheffield United into fifth place and condemn Preston to a 1-0 defeat - their sixth loss in seven games.

Former Aston Villa defender Ehiogu, 35, got the only goal at Bramall Lane in the 50th minute after the visitors failed to clear a free-kick from Brian Howard.

Norwich scored twice in the last seven minutes to beat Doncaster 2-1 at Carrow Road. Brian Stock's 77th minute penalty put the visitors in front but Antoine Sibierski levelled six minutes later before Leory Lita grabbed a last minute winner.

Elsewhere, Ipswich won 3-1 at Plymouth, Swansea beat Southampton 3-0 and Crystal Palace drew 2-2 at Blackpool.

Bristol City, last season's beaten play-of finalists, stay in the top six after a goalless draw at Barnsley. Charlton drew 1-1 with Burnley and Coventry shared a 1-1 draw with Derby.