Blackburn hammered Birmingham 4-0 on Saturday to win their fifth straight match and climb to third in the English Championship in one of just five games played due to coronavirus outbreaks.

Tony Mowbray's side moved one point behind second-placed Bournemouth after the Cherries' 1-0 defeat at Middlesbrough.

John Buckley gave Blackburn an early lead and although Birmingham rallied towards the end of the first half, the home side put them to the sword with three second-half goals.

Reda Khadra's composed finish made it 2-0 and Ben Brereton Diaz slotted home a penalty on the hour before the Chile international capped a fine move with a close-range header, his 19th goal of the season.

Blackburn's promotion push shows no signs of relenting after they registered a fifth consecutive clean sheet for the first time since the 1996/97 season, and a fifth straight league win for the first time since 2000.

The last time that happened, they were promoted to the Premier League.

In the early kick-off, Middlesbrough's improvement under Chris Wilder continued as they made it 10 points from the past four matches with a 1-0 win over Bournemouth.

Andraz Sporar's second-half penalty decided the game at the Riverside, with the Slovenian slotting home after Isaiah Jones had been fouled.

Dominic Solanke and Ryan Christie squandered chances for Bournemouth, who missed out on the chance to leapfrog Fulham at the top of the table.

Scott Parker's team have now gone six games without a victory, raising questions about their automatic-promotion credentials.

"You have to weather these moments, and understand there's always going to be a bit of a blip and some adversity along the way," he said. "We're right amongst that at this present moment in time."

There were also wins for Nottingham Forest, Blackpool and Huddersfield but five fixtures were postponed due to the coronavirus crisis.