League round-up: Tamas tames Reading as Albion do their level best
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Your support makes all the difference.West Bromwich Albion centre-back Gabriel Tamas was their unlikely hero, scoring four minutes from time at the Madejski Stadium as Roberto Di Matteo's second-placed side survived a stiff test against Reading, the Championship's in-form team, to earn a 1-1 draw. The Royals took the lead after six minutes when Jimmy Kebe's effort was blocked on the line to leave Gylfi Sigurdsson to tap in his 15th goal of the season. But a Graham Dorrans corner was headed against the post by Jonas Olsson and Tamas thumped in the rebound.
"A point here is a very good point," Di Matteo said, "and we had to chase the game for most of it. We have had quite a few games where we battled away and got something out of it."
Tricky fixtures for top-six sides Leicester City and Swansea City, too. Chris Weale, Leicester's goalkeeper, saw Andy King's 19th-minute back-pass roll over his foot into the net to gift Midlands rivals Derby County a 1-0 home win, while the Swans kept their 22nd clean sheet of the season, equalling a club record. But they still find scoring a problem and Ipswich Town held them to a 0-0 draw, the Swans' ninth of the season.
"I am very glad we are through a difficult month and can refresh ourselves before next Saturday's derby at Cardiff," Paulo Sousa, the Swans manager, said
Blackpool still shadow the top six. Goals in the last quarter by Charlie Adam and Stephen Dobbie sealed a 2-0 win at Plymouth Argyle. Pool are four points off the play-offs, Argyle six points from safety. A 1-1 home draw with Middlesbrough leaves Watford just above the bottom three, as are Sheffield Wednesday, whose former captain Richard Wood scored for his new club, Coventry City, in a 1-1 draw.
League One
Two own goals and Steve Morison's 18th goal of the season contributed to third-placed Millwall's 5-0 win over bottom club Stockport County. Kenny Jackett's Lions are level on points with second-placed Leeds.
League Two
Chris Dagnall scored a hat-trick as Rochdale kept their 10-point lead after a 4-1 defeat of Grimsby Town, while Luke Rodgers' 90th-minute goal saw second-placed Notts County beat Rotherham United 1-0, the Millers losing third place to Bournemouth, who beat Accrington 2-0. In the Conference, third-placed Luton scored seven in the first 35 minutes in an 8-0 thrashing of Hayes & Yeading.
Scottish Premier
Robbie Keane scored twice as Celtic beat Kilmarnock 3-1, their first match under interim manager Neil Lennon. Keane has scored 11 goals in 11 games since joining from Spurs.
Europe
Roma beat the Italian league leaders Internazionale 2-1 to move only a point behind them at the top. Daniele De Rossi put them ahead but Inter twice hit the crossbar before Diego Milito equalised shortly after the hour mark. Luca Toni scored the winner. Barcelona warmed up for their Champions' League clash with Arsenal by beating Mallorca.
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