Championship leaders Southampton tripped up in the race to join the English Premier League in a shock 2-0 loss at lowly Bristol City, opening the door for chasers West Ham and Cardiff to make up ground.
Cardiff took full advantage, beating visitors Nottingham Forest 1-0, while West Ham host Derby in Saturday's late match.
At Ashton Gate, Ghana midfielder Albert Adomah opened the scoring for Bristol City just after half time and striker Nicky Maynard applied the coup de grace to continue the Robins' impressive revival under new boss Derek McInness.
Former England goalkeeper David James was rarely troubled in the Robins' net.
However, the win was not enough to lift City out of the relegation zone.
In the Welsh capital, Cardiff saw off former European champions Forest thanks to a header from the in-form Joe Mason, who came off the bench to score in the 70th minute.
The Bluebirds, in third place, are now five points behind Southampton in their bid to reach the Premier League for the first time.
Middlesbrough, two points behind Cardiff in fourth, were held to a 1-1 draw at Peterborough, where Paul Taylor curled in an impressive goal with nine minutes left, in what was a clash between the Championship's tightest defence in Boro and leakiest in the Posh.
Visitors Barnsley grabbed their first victory at Elland Road since 1990 as they beat hosts Leeds 2-1 in a Yorkshire derby.
First-half goals from Portuguese striker Ricardo Vaz Te and then Craig Davies were enough for Barnsley, though Ross McCormack's second-half free kick made for a supercharged atmosphere.
Birmingham snatched a 2-2 draw at Blackpool in a battle between two clubs relegated from the top flight last season, with Serbia striker Nikola Zigic coming off the bench to salvage a point with three minutes left at Bloomfield Road.
The point was enough to edge Blackpool into the last play-off spot ahead of Hull, who conceded a last-minute goal to suffer a 3-2 defeat at home to Burnley.
The Tigers had been 2-0 up with 12 minutes to go before a brace from Canada defender David Edgar and a winner from Jay Rodriguez condemned former England midfielder Nick Barmby to his first defeat as Hull's caretaker manager.
Leicester's David Nugent returned to haunt Portsmouth, the former Pompey striker scoring an impressive equaliser in a 1-1 draw at Fratton Park to spoil Michael Appleton's first match in charge of the south coast club.
Portsmouth's Russian owner Vladimir Antonov was granted conditional bail by a London court on Friday as Lithuania tries to extradite him over the collapse of the bank he owns.
Reading grabbed a dramatic 3-2 victory at Ipswich with two goals in the 90th minute to consign the Tractor Boys to their fifth straight Championship defeat.
The Suffolk side had looked set for victory with a 79th-minute goal but Alex Pearce and Josh Hunt struck late to snatch victory for the Royals.
Crystal Palace and Millwall played out a goalless south London derby at Selhurst Park, with Palace missing a second-half penalty.
Brighton extended visitors Coventry's winless streak to eight games with a 2-1 win that leaves the Sky Blues six points from safety in the relegation zone.
Rock-bottom Doncaster held lowly visitors Watford to a goalless draw.
Source: AFP
