Championship round-up: Brighton drop to third after draw with Ipswich

http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/oct/02/championship-roundup-brighton-ipswich

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Brighton lost their leadership of the Championship on Tuesday night as a home draw against Ipswich dropped them into third place behind Cardiff City – who went top with a 2-1 home win over Birmingham – and Leicester, who moved to second in the table thanks to victory at Huddersfield.

Brighton needed a late equaliser even to salvage a point in their 1-1 home draw with struggling Ipswich. Daryl Murphy converted a Carlos Edwards cross in the 27th minute but the substitute Will Buckley levelled with 10 minutes to go.

That left Cardiff to move to the top as Mark Hudson fired home a 57th-minute winner against Birmingham. Malky Mackay's men had to battle hard to see off the rejuvenated Birmingham, who had done Cardiff a favour by grabbing a surprise win at Brighton on Saturday.

Craig Bellamy's 38th-minute opener was cancelled out by Leroy Lita's 54th-minute equaliser for the visitors before Hudson bundled home a cross from Peter Whittingham.

Behind Cardiff now are Leicester, who handed Huddersfield their second consecutive home defeat with a 2-0 win. Anthony Knockaert scored both goals for Leicester, the first from 35 yards in the 30th minute and the second on the hour from close range after Paul Konchesky's ball into the box.

Wolves missed the chance to go above Brighton as they were undone by two late Wilfried Zaha goals for Crystal Palace at Molineux. Sylvan Ebanks-Blake gave Wolves a 53rd-minute lead but Zaha's goals in the 67th and 73rd minutes delivered Palace another fine away win after Saturday's success at Bolton.

Ian Holloway's Blackpool rediscovered their form with a dramatic 3-2 win over Hull City at the KC Stadium. Despite Matt Phillips' 11th-minute opener for Blackpool, Hull looked set to take the points when Sone Aluko equalised on 39 minutes and Stephen Quinn made it 2-1 two minutes into the second half. Blackpool hit back through Kevin Phillips on 71 minutes and then the substitute Nouha Dicko, who had been on the pitch for only nine minutes when he converted a Kevin Phillips cross for the winner.

A late header from Kevin Davies gave Bolton a 2-2 draw with Leeds at the Reebok Stadium, while bottom-placed Peterborough continued their revival with a second consecutive away win as goals from George Boyd and Tyrone Barnett brought them a 2-0 victory at Barnsley.

Gianfranco Zola's Watford also continued their recent improvement with a 2-1 win at Charlton despite having Fernando Forestieri sent off in first-half injury time after picking up a second yellow card for diving. Watford won it with a superb 70th-minute free-kick from Almen Abdi.

Charlie Austin's hat-trick for Burnley was not enough to take the points at Turf Moor as Sheffield Wednesday hit back three times to claim a 3-3 draw. Austin's 22nd-minute opener was immediately cancelled out by Chris O'Grady, who did it again in the 64th minute to make it 2-2. Austin grabbed his third in the 84th minute but even that was not enough as Michail Antonio hit a dramatic long-range leveller two minutes later.

Bristol City and Millwall shared the points in a 1-1 draw at Ashton Gate after Steven Davies put the home side in front and Darius Henderson equalised with a 38th-minute header.