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| - Reading suffered a third successive defeat on Saturday, losing 3-0 to Stoke as Watford and Norwich closed to within one point of the early-season pacesetters in the English Championship. The home side dominated most of the first half but were punished for defensive lapses. Tyrese Campbell and Steven Fletcher gave Stoke a 2-0 half-time lead and Jacob Brown struck deep into stoppage time to make it 3-0. Reading had won seven of their eight opening matches to lead the second tier by seven points at one stage. But a 3-2 defeat at Coventry, followed by a 3-0 home loss to Preston on Wednesday, had seen the gap to the chasing pack reduce substantially. "There is a mix of immaturity in some moments and a mix of fatigue, accumulation of games and injuries that we are going through," said Reading boss Veljko Paunovic. "I have to say, though, that there were still a lot of positives." Watford were made to work for a 3-2 victory over Coventry at Vicarage Road, in a game that sprung into life in the second half. Ismaila Sarr struck a 83rd-minute penalty to secure the win after William Troost-Ekong had equalised following a Coventry comeback. After Andre Gray put the Hornets ahead, the Sky Blues turned the game around through two goals in two minutes from Gustavo Hamer and Tyler Walker but they could not hold on. Marco Stiepermann's 84th-minute goal earned Norwich a hard-fought 1-0 win over fellow high-flyers Swansea at Carrow Road. The German midfielder fired in the latest of a series of late winners for the Canaries after being set up by Emi Buendia to make it seven games unbeaten for Daniel Farke's in-form side. They are now third, level with second-placed Watford on 21 points. Bournemouth returned to winning ways with a deserved 3-1 victory away to Birmingham to climb to fourth in the Championship table. Brentford played out a 0-0 draw with Middlesbrough while the match between Sheffield Wednesday and Millwall also finished goalless. Derby, on the verge of a takeover, lost 2-0 to Barnsley and are now bottom of the table, while Blackburn beat QPR 3-1. Rotherham overcame Preston 2-1 and Nottingham Forest saw off Wycombe 2-0. Huddersfield and Luton drew 1-1. jw/td
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