West Brom moved top of the Championship table on Tuesday night after title favourites Newcastle suffered a shock defeat at Derby.

The Baggies leapfrogged the Magpies as goals from in-form Roman Bednar and Giani Zuiverloon in either half saw Roberto Di Matteo’s men sink lowly Scunthorpe 2-0.

The win at the Hawthorns took West Brom 59 points, the same number as Newcastle who went down 3-0 to Nigel Clough’s Rams at Pride Park.

Rob Hulse gave the home side the lead on 40 minutes before second half strikes from Kris Commons and Shaun Barker sealed an emphatic win, with Newcastle ultimately surrendering top spot through goal difference.

Meanwhile, Nottingham Forests’ automatic promotion hopes took a knock as they went down 1-0 away to Coventry with Freddy Eastwood’s goal settling the contest.

Cardiff took full advantage of 3rd-place Forests’ slip up by closing the gap between them and Billy Davies’ men to seven points with a game in hand, courtesy of a 2-0 win over basement club Peterborough.

Scottish defender Chris Burke broke the deadlock on the half-hour mark while fellow defender Anthony Gerrard doubled their lead on 78 minutes, ensuring the Bluebirds remain well placed for a play-off finish.

Swansea added to financially-struggling Crystal Palace’s woes by defeating the Eagles 1-0 at Selhurst Park with Finnish striker Shefki Kuqi grabbing the only goal of the game.

Elsewhere, Leicester failed to match the winning ways of their play-off rivals after being held 0-0 at the Walkers Stadium to a sturdy Doncaster Rovers.

Manager Nigel Pearson is likelier to be more disappointed with the injury to Matty Fryatt than the result as the 12-goal striker suffered a broken jaw in the first half.

Middlesbrough played themselves back into contention for a play-off spot with a hard fought 2-1 in over Barnsley taking them to within two points of Leicester, who currently hold the final slot in 6th place.

Chris Killen and Gary O’Neill gave Boro a half-time lead and, despite Hugo Colace pulling one back for the Tykes, Gordon Strachan’s men held on for a vital win.

Rejuvenated Sheffield Wednesday continued their fine run of results with a very professional 2-0 win over Blackpool, who are slipping further away from the play-off positions by the week.

James O’Connor got the Owls off to the perfect start with his 3rd minute finish before former Liverpool midfielder Darren Potter sealed a comfortable win with his effort shortly after the break.

Meanwhile, Watford edged a step closer to safety with a 2-0 win over Bristol City at Vicarage Road courtesy of Heidar Helguson and Martin Taylor, who each struck in the first half.

Preston boss Darren Ferguson, son of Manchester United manager Alex, continued his good work in charge at Deepdale with a creditable 2-1 win over Sheffield United.

Mathew James, on loan from Old Trafford, grabbed the opener with just 10 minutes on the clock before Jon Parkin’s 10th goal of the season sealed the win.

Mark Yeates pulled one back for the Blades with nine minutes remaining to ensure a nervy finish for the home side, but North End ultimately pulled though for the three points.

Problems continue at Loftus Road however, where a 2-1 home defeat to Ipswich sees QPR hovering dangerously above the relegation zone.

David Norris gave the Tractor Boys an 8th minute lead before on-loan Sunderland forward Daryl Murphy doubled the lead shortly before the break.

Jay Simpson got the home side back in the game with around 24 minutes remaining but Roy Keane’s men showed the stability which was lacking earlier in the season to see out the win, which lifts them above Scunthorpe into 20th place.

Elsewhere at the bottom, Reading secured their third win on the spin as Shane Long’s last gasp penalty handed the Royals a 2-1 win over relegation rivals Plymouth.

Long had earlier gave the Royals the lead, but that was cancelled out by Carl Fletcher’s 68th minute equaliser. Long went on to steal the show, however, as he coolly completed his brace from the spot after Hal Robson-Kanu was brought down by Chris Clark inside the area.

England had a lot of the ball in today’s (June 29th) final of the U21 Euro Championships in Malmo, Sweden. The problem was, they didn’t really know what to do with it, and Germany did. However, there probably weren’t too many people out there who would have bet on a 4-0 Germany victory. To those who did, then congratulations.

England were behind the eight ball from the get go, due to the suspension of strikers Gabriel Agbonlahor and Fraizer Campbell, along with number one goalkeeper Joe Hart. But that’s the nature of football, and sports in general for that matter. You need to be prepared for anything and England clearly weren’t. While Theo Walcott, and James Milner are players with some admirable offensive skills, they’re not pure strikers.

In fact, England didn’t have any other strikers to suit up in the final and that shows the sorry state of football today as well as terrible management by England’s Stuart Pearce and his staff. How you can only take two strikers out of a squad of 23 to a major tournament is beyond me. But that just goes to show you how much importance is placed on scoring goals in today’s game.

Scott Loach, who played with Watford last season, started in goal, while many supporters thought Peterborough United’s Joe Lewis would have been a better choice. But in the end, it doesn’t really matter as you’re not going to win any football games if you don’t score at least one goal.

England got off to a good start, but Gonzalo Castro put Germany ahead with a beautifully timed run and an excellent pass from Mesut Ozil. Castro neatly slid the ball past the oncoming Loach. That goal held up until half time, but once the second period started it didn’t take Germany long to double the lead as Ozil let a screaming free kick go from 35 yards, that Loach totally misplayed and while he got his hand to it, the ball dribbled over the line.

That seemed to take the starch out of England, and while they did create a few chances, Lee Cattermole nicked the crossbar with a long-range shot in the 57th minute and two others were cleared off the line, but none of them actually forced the keeper to make a save, and Germany punished them further with goals by Sandro Wagner in the 79th and 84th minutes. He could have had a hat trick, but blew a sitter in the 77th minute after being set up by Ozil, who was a thorn in England’s side all night long.

The game was definitely decided by this point and it was just a matter of how many goals Germany might bang in. But, the scoring was over and Germany added the U21 title to go along with the U19 and U17 championships which they currently hold as well.

While Pearce will be seen as some type of hero in many experts’ eyes, let’s look at the facts here. He didn’t bring along enough attacking strength and paid the ultimate price for it after his strikers were suspended. And his team didn’t respond well in the big games. After taking a 3-0 lead against Sweden in the semi final, England then surrendered seven straight goals. So they didn’t look too good in the defensive end of the pitch either. I’m no expert, but that’s no way to win a championship.

Manchester United proved again what can be achieved when you put your mind to it and go for goals. After trailing 2-0 to 10th place Tottenham at Old Trafford with 33 minutes to go, they banged in five goals to come out of it with a 5-2 win. It was eerily similar to a game a few years ago when Spurs had a 3-0 lead over United, only to have the red devils storm back in the second half and escape with a 5-3 win.

It was a huge three points for United in the English Premier League title race as Liverpool had beaten 17th place Hull 3-1 earlier and third-place Chelsea had taken care of eighth-spot West Ham 1-0 at Upton Park. Hull have only won one of their last 18 games and are dangerously close to the relegation zone now, just three points ahead of Middlesbrough (31 pts), who looked pretty bad in a 2-0 loss to fourth-place Arsenal in London on Sunday. Arsenal has now gone 20 games without a league defeat.

Meanwhile, bottom feeders West Brom managed to thump 15th place Sunderland 3-0 at home, while Blackburn gained a much needed three points with a 2-0 win over 11th place Wigan to jump into a 14th place tie with Portsmouth at 37 points each. Portsmouth plays the other relegation-zone team, Newcastle on Monday night in a huge game for both clubs. Wolverhampton Wanderers have clinched the Championship Division and will be back in the Premier next season. League One side Peterborough United clinched second place and have now earned promotion in two successive seasons. It will be their first time in the second tier of English football since 1994.

Off the pitch, West Ham manager Gianfranco Zola has signed a new contract that will keep him at the club until 2013. In my eyes this is too long a contract and it’s no wonder clubs are going into debt all over the place. If Zola does a brutal job a couple of years from now, West Ham will need to buy him out. There’s no reason to give managers contracts of over two years. On a sad note, the half brother of England and Tottenham striker Jermain Defoe died after being attacked in daylight on an east London street. DJ Jade Defoe, 26, died on April 24th from serious head injuries he received on April 20th afternoon in the Leytonstone district.

In Spain, La Liga leaders Barcelona dropped two important points in the title race with a 2-2 at Valencia on April 25th. Thierry Henry saved a point for Barcelona with his 17th of the season in the 86th minute.

Barcelona moved seven ahead of second place Real Madrid, who play at Sevilla today (April 26th). Barcelona leads with 82 points, Madrid has 75, Sevilla 57 and Valencia 56.

Deportivo La Coruna drew 1-1 at Malaga in a match holding European qualifying implications as both teams stayed in the race to clinch a spot in next season’s Europa League, the renamed UEFA Cup. Malaga occupies the final European place with 51 points, while Deportivo has 50 and Atletico Madrid 49.

Over in France, Bordeaux won the French League Cup for the third time after beating second-division Vannes 4-0. Bordeaux also won the League Cup in 2002 and 2007.

In Italy, Fiorentina beat AS Roma 4-1 to improve its chances of securing a Champions League spot for next season. The loss just about ends Roma’s hopes of qualifying for Europe’s premier club competition next season. Fiorentina moved ahead of Genoa into fourth place. In the other match yesterday, Udinese beat Chievo Verona 2-1.

Reigning German champions Bayern Munich lost 1-0 at home to Schalke, leaving Bayern in third place, three points behind leaders Vfl Wolfsburg, with five games to play.