Watford beaten by Blackpool as Bristol City climb off bottom
Watford remain five points off the top of the Championship after being beaten 2-1 by Blackpool, while the race for the play-offs was left wide open as Crystal Palace drew and Leicester City and Brighton & Hove Albion both suffered defeats.
At the bottom of the table, Bristol City boosted their survival hopes with a home win over Middlesbrough and Peterborough United drew with Ipswich Town, as Wolverhampton Wanderers lost to Nottingham Forest.
Leaders Cardiff City and third-placed Hull City were not in action on Saturday so Watford had the opportunity to strengthen their position in the second automatic place, but they could not take advantage as Cristian Battocchio's goal was cancelled out by Tom Ince's fine effort and Gary MacKenzie sealed a first win as Blackpool manager for Paul Ince.
Crystal Palace had to settle for a 2- 2 draw against Leeds United and former manager Neil Warnock as they extended their unbeaten record at Selhurst Park to 18 games, but the result was still good enough to take the Eagles ahead of Hull in third place on goal difference.
Leicester grip on a play-off spot was loosened and the pressure on manager Nigel Pearson increased as Connor Wickham gave struggling Sheffield Wednesday an important 1-0 win at the King Power Stadium.
Marcos Alonso scored the only goal of the game at the Reebok Stadium as Bolton Wanderers saw off fellow play-off hopefuls Brighton 1-0 to notch a fifth straight victory.
Hanging perilously
Nottingham Forest also registered a fifth straight victory as they capitalised on Brighton's defeat to climb into the top six courtesy of a 3-1 victory over Wolves. Henri Lansbury struck twice as Dean Saunders' side were left hanging perilously above the drop zone.
Bristol City climbed off the foot of the table as goals from Albert Adomah and Steve Davies secured a 2-0 victory over stuttering Middlesbrough.
Barnsley replace them at the bottom as Peterborough also picked up a point thanks to a goalless stalemate at home to Ipswich.
Derby County endured an eighth straight game without a win as Birmingham City came from behind to prevail 3-1 at St Andrew's, with substitute Wes Thomas netting twice.
Callum Harriott's early strike proved to be the difference between the sides at the John Smith's Stadium as Charlton Athletic edged out Huddersfield Town 1-0.
