Blackburn became the first Premier League winners
to be relegated to League One despite beating
Brentford 3-1 on the final day of the Championship
season.
Rovers were demoted on goal difference after
Birmingham and Nottingham Forest both won.
Charlie Mulgrew and Danny Guthrie gave Blackburn
the perfect start as they found themselves two up
inside 16 minutes, but results elsewhere soon
began to go against them.
Lasse Vibe pulled one back for Brentford in the
second half, before Craig Conway’s penalty restored
Blackburn’s two-goal lead.
Che Adams grabbed Birmingham’s winner 16
minutes in for a 1-0 victory at Bristol City as Harry
Redknapp’s side survived.
Forest thrashed Ipswich 3-0 on an eventful
afternoon for Britt Assombalonga.
The striker scored a penalty two minutes before
half-time before Chris Cohen fired in a second from
distance after the break.
Assombalonga then had a second spot-kick saved
by Bartosz Bialkowski, although he did complete his
brace in the 69th minute.
Elsewhere, Newcastle snatched the title after Aston
Villa equalised late on against Brighton.
Rafael Benitez’s side were 3-0 winners against
Barnsley thanks to goals from Ayoze Perez, Chancel
Mbemba and Dwight Gayle.
Glenn Murray’s penalty looked to have sealed
victory and top spot for Brighton , with Nathan Baker
sent off conceding the spot-kick, but Jack Grealish
grabbed a late leveller for Villa.
The playoff places had already been decided but
Reading guaranteed third in the table with a 4-2
triumph at Burton.
Goals from Joseph Mendes, Jordan Obita and Yann
Kermorgant put the Royals 3-0 up before Ben Turner
and Cauley Woodrow strikes threatened a
comeback, only for Lewis Grabban to fire Reading’s
fourth six minutes from time.
Huddersfield goalkeeper Danny Ward will be
suspended for their playoff encounter with Sheffield
Wednesday after he was sent off in a 3-0 defeat to
Cardiff in which a Joe Bennett brace added to
Kenneth Zohore’s opener.
Wednesday lost 2-1 to playoff rivals Fulham , with a
Neeskens Kebano double turning the game around
after Sam Winnall had broken the deadlock nine
minutes in.
The Owls had Marco Matias sent off on the stroke
of half-time.
Already-relegated pair Rotherham and Wigan bowed
out with 1-1 draws against Derby and Leeds respectively, Norwich thrashed QPR 4-0 and Wolves
beat Preston North End.
