West Ham moved level on points with Southampton at the top of the Championship after a 1-0 win over bottom of the table Coventry as the leaders suffered a 3-0 drubbing away to south coast rivals Brighton.
Kevin Nolan broke the deadlock at Upton Park in the 66th minute to give London club West Ham, looking to return to the Premier League at the first opportunity following last season's relegation, bagged a win that saw them equal Southampton's tally of 47 points.
Only the top two teams at the end of the regular season are guaranteed promotion to the Premier League and Southampton, although still well-placed, suffered a second straight defeat following last week's loss to Bristol City.
And this reverse was made worse by the sight of striker Rickie Lambert being sent off following a clash with Adam El-Abd early in the second half.
Then Jake Forster-Caskey's 66th minute goal, after an error by Saints goalkeeper Kelvin Davies, put Brighton in front and the Seagulls, managed by former Uruguay international Gus Poyet, doubled their lead when Matthew Sparrow made it 2-0 in the 76th minute.
Sparrow scored his second and Brighton's third 10 minutes later in a match the hosts also finished a man down after a red card for Gordon Greer.
Middlesbrough could have gone top with a win at Blackpool but instead lost 3-0 after goals from Lomano LuaLua and Matt Phillips and an own-goal from Boro's Seb Hines.
Cardiff moved up into third place, level on 45 points with Middlesbrough, after a 3-1 victory at home to Reading.
All of Cardiff's goals came in the first half, courtesy of Joe Mason, Aron Gunnarsson and Kenny Miller before Jobi McAnuff pulled one back for Reading just before the break.
At the other end of the table, Doncaster climbed off the bottom with a 2-0 win over Barnsley in a Yorkshire derby while former European champions Nottingham Forest ended a run of seven games without a goal in a 3-1 win away to Ipswich.
Leeds gave under-pressure manager Simon Grayson a boost with a dramatic 2-1 win over 10-man Burnley.
Despite Kieran Trippier collecting two yellow cards early on, Burnley led through Charlie Austin's 69th minute goal.
But Leeds, looking at a fourth straight defeat, turned the match around two minutes from time when Burnley's Brian Easton put through his own net before Ross McCormack completed the hosts' revival.
Portsmouth leapfrogged Watford, and went six points clear of the relegation zone, with a 2-0 win at home to the Hornets, who had goalkeeper Scott Loach sent off late on.
Theo Robinson's goal saw Derby beat Hull 1-0 and move above the Tigers in the race for a playoff spot while in the day's early match Neil Danns scored against his old club as Leicester beat Crystal Palace 2-1.
Meanwhile, Marlon King's last minute penalty secured a 1-1 draw for Birmingham at Peterborough, who led after just 29 seconds through Emile Sinclair.
Source: AFP
