Championship Review: Leeds & Wednesday share spoils, Villa's malaise continues

Honours were even in the Championship on Friday with Leeds United held at Sheffield Wednesday and Aston Villa drawing against Bristol City.

Sheffield Wednesday winger Adam Reach.

Adam Reach and Mateusz Klich scored stunning goals as Sheffield Wednesday and Leeds United shared an entertaining 1-1 draw at Hillsborough on Friday.

Beaten 2-1 by Birmingham City last week, Marcelo Bielsa's men fell behind in spectacular fashion when winger Reach lashed an audacious first-time effort that dipped over goalkeeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell before the break.

The Whites responded in kind through Klich's delightful curling equaliser nine minutes after the restart and they seemed destined to find a winner in a one-sided end to the encounter.

Wednesday, though, clung on amid persistent pressure in the Yorkshire derby, forcing table-topping Leeds to settle for a point.

Friday's other match delivered the same scoreline as Bristol City and Aston Villa split the points at Ashton Gate in a result that will do little to quieten Steve Bruce's critics.

The pressure would have been more intense had Birkir Bjarnason not cancelled out Josh Brownhill's 16th-minute opener, but a fifth draw in 10 matches represents a dissatisfying return for a club that has invested heavily in recent seasons.

Bjarnason's equaliser, a close-range header, came in first-half stoppage time and denied the Robins a first win in three fixtures.