By Craig Hope

WEST Bromwich Albion narrowed the gap on Newcastle United to one point on Tuesday night, but third-placed Nottingham Forest slumped to a sixth straight away defeat at Barnsley leaving them nine points adrift of the league leaders.

The Tykes, beaten 6-1 at St.James' Park earlier this month, enjoyed a 2-1 victory over their promotion-chasing visitors thanks to a double from Maltese strike Daniel Bogdanovic, scorer of that consolation against United.

The Baggies, meanwhile, left Swansea City's Liberty Stadium with a controversial 2-0 success. Goalless approaching the final 10 minutes, Giles Barnes went down softly in the area under a challenge from Angel Rangel with Graham Dorrans converting the subsequent spot-kick. Ishmael Miller then made sure of the points in the 89th minute.

The maximum return leaves Roberto Di Matteo's men just one point behind The Magpies having played two games more.

The Geordies face Scunthorpe United at home on Wednesday night.

Top Three Latest; 1 NUFC P 35 Pts 73 2 WBA P 37 Pts 72 3 NFFC P 37 Pts 64

Tuesday's Results:

Barnsley 2-1 Nottingham Forest
Coventry City 1-2 Cardiff City
Crystal Palace 0-1 Leicester City
Derby County 2-2 Middlesbrough
Peterborough United 1-2 Doncaster Rovers
Plymouth Argyle 3-2 Bristol City
Preston North End 2-2 Sheffield Wednesday
Reading 1-0 QPR
Sheffield United 3-0 Blackpool
Swansea City 0-2 West Bromwich Albion
Watford 2-1 Ipswich Town