Blades looking sharp

Sheffield United kept up the pressure on the Nationwide League First Division leaders, Bolton Wanderers, by beating their Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield Town 3-1 on Tuesday - thanks to a first-half spell of two goals in four minutes.

Huddersfield drew first blood in the 14th minute when Andy Payton scored his ninth goal of the season, but Howard Kendall's men surged back with strikes from Lee Sandford and Mark Patterson giving them the lead before David White killed off Town shortly after the restart.

The Blades moved up to second after their win, moving above Barnsley, who were held 0-0 by Birmingham at St Andrew's. Steve Bruce, described by his manager, Trevor Francis, as the "fourth-choice penalty-taker", missed from the spot: his effort was saved by the Barnsley goalkeeper David Watson as the home side wasted numerous chances to win the game.

Tranmere looked anything but promotion candidates as they surrendered tamely 2-0 to Reading at Elm Park. Reading took the lead after 10 minutes when their joint player-manager, Mick Gooding, sent an accurate corner to the edge of the six-yard box, where James Lambert flicked a neat header past goalkeeper Eric Nixon.

The Royals secured the points after 33 minutes when Paul Bodin's curling free-kick was met by Stuart Lovell, whose header was helped over the line by Trevor Morley.

Wycombe produced the best Second Division result of the night to lift themselves off the bottom of the table and knock Millwall off the top. Mike Bell's 77th-minute strike at Adams Park was enough to send Jimmy Nicholl's side to their fourth defeat of the season.

Brentford are the new leaders following a 2-0 win over struggling Notts County, which extended their unbeaten League run at Griffin Park to 11 matches. Goals either side of half-time from Marcus Bent and Carl Asaba were enough to condemn the Magpies to their seventh away defeat this term.

Rotherham United's 1-0 home defeat to Stockport means the Millers now prop up the Second Division.