West Ham moved level with Southampton at the top of the npower Championship with a 1-0 win over Coventry.
Although they were not at their best, the Hammers got the breakthrough in the 66th minute when Kevin Nolan took advantage of some poor defending to finish from close range.
And that was enough for West Ham to join the Saints on 47 points as seconds after Nolan's goal, Jake Forster-Caskey pounced on an error from Kelvin Davies to put Brighton 1-0 up against Southampton en route to a 3-0 win.
Matthew Sparrow doubled the lead in the 76th minute and then scored again four minutes from time to sink Southampton, who had Rickie Lambert sent off for the first time in his career following a clash with Adam El-Abd early in the second half. Brighton also finished with 10 men following the late dismissal of Gordon Greer.
Middlesbrough could have gone top with a victory at Blackpool, but suffered a 3-0 reverse as Lomano LuaLua and Matt Phillips ran riot. LuaLua set up Phillips for the first in the 50th minute, then turned in the second following a fine run from Ludovic Sylvestre. Phillips was at the heart of the third, with his low ball turned into his own net by Seb Hines.
Cardiff joined Middlesbrough on 45 points with a 3-1 victory over Reading while third-from-bottom Nottingham Forest needed only five minutes to find the net at Portman Road, where they beat Ipswich by the same score.
Leeds scored twice in the dying stages to snatch a 2-1 win over 10-man Burnley, who looked on course for an unlikely victory and a fourth-straight defeat for the hosts.
Derby leapfrogged Hull in the battle for a play-off place with a 1-0 away win at the KC Stadium while in the early game, Neil Danns dealt a blow to the play-off hopes of his former club Crystal Palace as he led Leicester to a 2-1 win at Selhurst Park.
Doncaster climbed off the foot of the table with a 2-0 win over Barnsley, James Hayter and Kyle Bennett getting the goals.
A Marlon King penalty in the last minute rescued a 1-1 draw for Birmingham at Peterborough while Portsmouth beat Watford 2-0 with goals from Marko Futacs and Hayden Mullins, with Hornets goalkeeper Scott Loach sent off late on.
Source: PA
