Championship leaders Norwich had to settle for a 1-1 draw against Rotherham, while fellow pace-setters Watford were also held 1-1 by Brighton on Saturday.
Neil Adams' Norwich side, beaten 1-0 at home on Tuesday by Charlton, suffered more frustration at Carrow Road as they failed to convert their early chances before Rotherham went ahead on 44 minutes through a penalty from Paul Green.
The Canaries upped the tempo in the second half as Rotherham sat back and they drew level when Cameron Jerome knocked in a rebound after a free kick from substitute Kyle Lafferty was saved in the 77th minute.
"We have let five points slip through our fingers in the past two games, however if we had been very poor, I would have been worried, but at the moment, there is very little wrong with our performances," Adams said.
"We have had two freak games, you normally get one a season, we have just had two of them back to back, but the main concern would be if we are not causing teams problems, which is not the case."
With Nottingham Forest not in action against Ipswich until Sunday, Watford could have climbed to the summit with a win but instead they had to settle for second place after being frustrated by struggling Brighton at Vicarage Road.
Daniel Tozser's free kick eight minutes into the second half looked to have put the high-flying Hornets on course for a fifth win in six unbeaten games at home this season.
But they were pegged back when Lewis Dunk headed Brighton level from a corner 13 minutes from time.
"You could argue we never created as much as we would have liked, but I felt we were in good control of the game," Watford manager Billy McKinlay said.
"Obviously after the goal they've had one or two half-chances they might have felt disappointed they didn't take, but I was really pleased with our performance."
- Gritty Millwall -
Fourth-placed Derby couldn't find a way past gritty Millwall, who earned only their second point in six games in a 0-0 draw at the iPro Stadium.
Middlesbrough, in fifth place, made up ground on the leaders thanks to a 2-0 home win over Fulham, with Adam Reach and Albert Adomah scoring to end the Cottagers' good run of results under caretaker boss Kit Symons.
The dismissal of Dougie Freedman failed to inspire an upturn in fortunes for Bolton, with Bournemouth overcoming the dismissal of Yann Kermorgant to prevail 2-1 at Macron Stadium thanks to a brace from striker Callum Wilson.
Jota, Alex Pritchard and Jonathan Douglas were on target for Brentford as they beat Reading 3-1 at Griffin Park.
David Edwards and Bakary Sako netted for Wolves, but they had to settle for a 2-2 draw with Wigan as James Perch and Marc-Antoine Fortune replied for the visitors at Molineux.
Leeds manager Darko Milanic is still waiting for his first victory after a 1-1 draw against Yorkshire rivals Sheffield Wednesday at Elland Road.
"After they scored it was very difficult and we lost a little bit of calm," Milanic said.
"But after we made it 1-1 I believed we could win the game. The players have quality, but we have to do some things better."
Charlton drew 1-1 with Birmingham and Blackburn were held to a 0-0 draw by Huddersfield.
Source: AFP
