Huddersfield Town manager Simon Grayson endured an afternoon to forget at former club Leicester City, while Hull City and Middlesbrough suffered frustration on their travels.
Brighton & Hove Albion and Blackburn Rovers were impressive winners, Leeds United battled past Bolton Wanderers and Charlton Athletic beat Watford in a seven-goal thriller.
Joe Mason's 41st minute goal was enough for Cardiff to beat Birmingham City 1-0 at St Andrew's to cement their position at the head of the standings.
Hull City lost ground on the leaders after being held to a 0-0 draw by Blackpool at Bloomfield Road.
Chris Wood enjoyed a dream debut for Leicester as he scored twice inside the opening half-hour during a 6-1 rout of Huddersfield at the King Power Stadium.
Middlesbrough missed out on the chance to move into the automatic promotion spots after suffering a 3-1 defeat at Derby County.
Crystal Palace intensified the pressure on Wolves manager Stale Solbakken as Andre Moritz scored a goal in each half during a 3-1 win at Selhurst Park.
Blackburn made it back-to-back wins since the sacking of Henning Berg after inflicting a 3-0 defeat on new Nottingham Forest boss Alex McLeish at Ewood Park.
Ipswich Town's resurgence under Mick McCarthy was given a jolt as the in-demand Craig Mackail-Smith was among the scorers in Brighton's 3-0 success at Portman Road.
Luciano Becchio converted a 66th minute penalty as Leeds beat Bolton 1-0 at Elland Road to close to within two points of the play-off places.
Tommy Rowe scored an 87th minute winner as Peterborough beat managerless Barnsley 2-1 at London Road to climb out of the bottom three.
Charlton edged a topsy-turvy game at Vicarage Road as Yann Kermorgant scored a goal in each half during the 4-3 victory over Watford.
Adam Smith pounced 15 minutes from time to hand Millwall a 2-1 home win over Bristol City, who are off the bottom of the table only on goal difference.
Sheffield Wednesday slipped back into the relegation zone after second-half goals from Keith Treacy and Ross Wallace earned Burnley a 2-0 triumph at Hillsborough.
