Bluebirds take top spot; Eagles undone; Robins stun Boro
Another victory for Cardiff on Saturday took them to the top of the table, with Crystal Palace's run of wins halted away at Leeds.
Elsewhere, Leicester won again to remain very much in the hunt for a top-two finish, Millwall maintained their recent fine form and Bristol City stunned high-flying Middlesbrough.
Ben Nugent is unlikely to forget his first start for Cardiff any time soon, with the 19-year-old defender opening the scoring as the Bluebirds took to the summit with a 2-1 win away at out-of-sorts Barnsley.
Crystal Palace, who entered the weekend on the back of five straight wins, slipped into second place after going down to efforts from Luciano Becchio and Paul Green against Leeds - with Elland Road rocking again on the back of a successful takeover and a welcome three-point haul.
Leicester sit third, three points adrift of the automatic promotion places, after inflicting a fourth successive defeat on Sheffield Wednesday, with Danny Drinkwater and Ben Marshall on the scoresheet at Hillsborough.
Middlesbrough found themselves lost in the Teesside fog, with Albert Adomah, Stephen Pearson and Steven Davies stunning Tony Mowbray's men as Bristol City picked up a first success in 12 as they ran out 3-1 winners at the Riverside Stadium.
Hull City remain inside the top six, but a familiar face came back to haunt them on Saturday as former Tiger Dean Marney found the target for Burnley as they left the KC Stadium with a 1-0 win.
Unbeaten
Blackburn tumbled out of the top six on the back of an uninspiring display against in-form Millwall, with goals from Chris Wood and James Henry allowing the Lions to stretch their unbeaten run to 13 games and clamber into the play-off places.
Brighton dominated their home date with Bolton but were left to rue a first-half penalty miss from Ashley Barnes as David Ngog struck in the dying moments to earn the Trotters a 1-1 draw.
Nottingham Forest recovered well from conceding early on away at Wolves, with goals from Billy Sharp and Adlene Guedioura seeing the Reds move up the standings and Stale Solbakken contemplate an eighth game without a win.
In the evening kick-off, Derby came out on top in a five-goal thriller Midlands derby against Birmingham at Pride Park, where four of the goals came in the final 11 minutes.
Charlton came within two minutes of securing a fourth win in as many outings, but Adam Clayton kept his cool to convert a late spot kick for 10-man Huddersfield in a 1-1 draw.
Watford also saw late drama deny them the opportunity to collect another victory, with Kevin Phillips and Isaiah Osbourne helping Blackpool to hit back from two goals down to collect a point at Bloomfield Road.
At the opposite end of the second tier table, Peterborough avoided a fifth defeat in a row away at fellow strugglers Ipswich, but a DJ Campbell penalty meant they were forced to settle for a share of the spoils at Portman Road and remain bottom of the division as a result.
