Blackpool 2 - 3 Stoke City
Slick Stoke City gave their play-off hopes another boost as Blackpool fell to their third home defeat of the season.
Tony Pulis' side had matters all stitched up by 60 minutes when Ricardo Fuller scored his side's third.
However, City suddenly took their foot off the accelerator and let the Seasiders back into the game and the Seasiders were unfortunate not to pick up a late equaliser.
City always had the extra pace and sheer size to bully Blackpool out of the game particularly with their dominance in the air.
They were confident enough to ride an early Blackpool goal scored on 14 minutes by midfielder Mike Flynn.
City failed to clear what looked like a harmless free-kick and the ball fell to Flynn who hammered home from 20 yards.
Blackpool's inability to defend set-pieces cost them dear in the run up to half-time.
On 36 minutes a free-kick from Liam Lawrence found Fuller unmarked at the far post and he took his chance well from a narrow angle.
Four minutes later Lawrence again provided the delivery - this time a corner - and Leon Cort headed home from five5 yards out.
Fuller's second on the hour came from a clinical finish after he outstripped the home defence and carefully drew the Blackpool keeper from his line before scoring from 15 yards.
Blackpool battled back and with two minutes of normal time to go Shaun Barker headed home an Andy Walsh corner.
There were five minutes of added time and City survived chances which fell to Wes Hoolahan and Andy Morrell to take another crucial three points.
Bristol City 1 - 0 Cardiff City
Cardiff City, down to ten men for most of the game, came close to snatching a point with a spirited second-half display at Bristol City.
They piled the pressure on the Robins' goal after the home side had been forced to change their keeper.Adriano Basso, who was injured in a tackle which saw Cardiff's Steven Thompson sent off, handed over his gloves in the second half to Chris Weale, who was playing his first competitive game in a year.
Weale never looked secure but made an important late deflection to deny Stephen McPhail.
It was a tense Severnside derby but hardly justified the seven cards handed out by referee Uriah Rennie.
Cardiff, who had not won on 15 previous visits to Ashton Gate, had a mountain to climb after Thompson had been sent off in the 15th minute.
The Scot, who had scored in three of his last four matches, raced into a byline challenge on Basso who was trying to shepherd a loose ball out for a goal kick.
Basso needed treatment, but minutes later pulled off a wonderful save to deny Joe Ledley. However, as the injury stiffened up he was forced to miss the final third of the game.
The Welsh side had almost taken the lead early on when Thompson's header was cleared off the line. But as they regrouped after the red card, Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink became a more and more lonely figure in attack and was eventually replaced.
He always had a hard battle though with City skipper Louis Carey and often found himself alone with the ball waiting for support to arrive.
In the first half most of the chances fell Bristol City's way and Kasper Schmeichel pulled off a first-rate save to deflect a Lee Trundle drive away before Lee Johnson and Ivan Sproule hit shots just wide.
City's breakthrough came from their fifth corner just short of the hour when Johnson's long kick was headed downwards by Marvin Elliott to squirm a shot home through a crowd of players.
Burnley 2 - 3 Preston North End
Preston boss Alan Irvine saw his side collect three precious points in a five-goal thriller at Turf Moor which saw opponents Burnley finish with only nine men.
The match began with an immediate opportunity for the home team as Robbie Blake threaded the ball through the legs of Liam Chilvers but saw his shot beaten away by Andy Lonergan. The ball fell to Kyle Lafferty whose shot was chested off the line by left-back Matt Hill.
North End had a lucky escape on 18 minutes when the lively Blake drove the ball across the face of the six-yard box but there was nobody there to apply the finishing touch.
Burnley's pressure was rewarded on the half-hour mark when Wade Elliott crossed from the right for Lafferty to send a looping far post header over Lonergan.
The home team should have increased their lead when Blake fed Elliott but, although his shot beat Lonergan, Hill was there again to clear at the expense of a corner.
North End equalised with half-time approaching as a surging run by Callum Davidson ended with Neil Mellor crossing to the far post for Chris Sedgwick to score.
North End went in front ten minutes into the second half when Davidson's headed pass sent Mellor racing clear of the Burnley defence to score.
Owen Coyle's side should have equalised through substitute Steve Jones but he placed a free header from an Elliott cross wide of the target.
But the home side did not have to wait long for their equaliser as David Unsworth's pass was dummied by Blake for Chris McCann to score.
From being the hero, McCann turned villain, when he was shown a straight red card by referee Mason for a two-footed challenge on Sean St Ledger.
North End striker Paul Gallagher was unfortunate to see his shot cannon off the body of Gabor Kiraly and bounce up off the crossbar. But there was to be no escape for the ten men as Simon Whaley struck a 25-yard shot beyond Kiraly to put North End in front again.
Preston substitute Karl Hawley had a chance to extend the lead while at the other end striker Andy Gray saw his shot beaten away by Lonergan.
The Preston keeper then turned away a free-kick from Unsworth while substitute James O'Connor saw his attempt headed off the line by Whaley.
In stoppage time Burnley were reduced to nine men when substitute Joey Gudjonsson was shown a red card.
Coventry City 1 - 1 Southampton
Coventry City manager Iain Dowie is due to sit down with new owner Ray Ranson on Sunday and will certainly be keen to add to his squad if he is to guide the Sky Blues into the play-offs.
City were hoping to mark their new era with a win, but in the end could well have lost.
Dowie was able to field the line-up which had won so impressively at West Bromwich Albion. Michael Mifsud had missed the game at Hillsborough which was abandoned because of a waterlogged pitch, but he had recovered from his hamstring injury in time to start.
The returning Stern John thought his afternoon had got off to a perfect start when he netted after just five minutes but he had been stranding in an offside position when the ball came to him.
The Trinidad & Tobago international then curled a shot well wide when he should have done better.
Coventry were beginning to get joy down the left flank where Leon McKenzie was looking very sharp.
The former Norwich man forced Kelvin Davis into a save with a header from a Michael
Doyle cross in the 15th minute.
The home side's increasing share of the play bore fruit in the 19th minute when Jay Tabb nodded them into the lead.
Again it was McKenzie who was the driving force. He was the first to react when the ball hit Jason Euell and, when his effort was kept out by Davis, Tabb was there to convert.
Both sides had other chances in the half but Coventry went in to the break with a deserved lead.
Southampton needed to show more and they did step up the pace after the break. They started to push Coventry back and spread the ball wide. A goal began to look likely and it came just before the hour mark.
Euell was fed by Youssef Safri and delivered an excellent cross which Bradley Wright-Phillips headed neatly home.
Suddenly it was the visitors that were forcing the pace and Wright-Phillips should have won the game in the 77th minute when Andrew Surman sent him clear with an excellent pass. But he seemed to hurry his shot and it rolled just wide of the target.
Coventry reshuffled their attack and, although it did work to an extent, they never looked likely to record a win.
Crystal Palace 2 - 1 Sheffield Wednesday
Crystal Palace are on the up as Shaun Scannell's 90th minute strike extended their unbeaten run to nine matches.
Richard Hines headed Sheffield Wednesday into an early lead, but Clinton Morrison levelled before the break for his ninth goal of the season.
But 17-year-old substitute Scannell capped an exciting home debut with the winner with less than a minute left of normal time.
The Owls opened the scoring on ten minutes and Palace keeper Julian Speroni must be partly to blame.
It all started from a free-kick taken from the right and Wade Small was involved in a crisp passing movement, before Frankie Simek shot low and Speroni should have done better to save.
Instead, the ball rebounded to Hines, who headed past the Argentinian keeper at the second attempt.
The Eagles kept their heads up with a number of useful strikes as Lee Grant, in the Wednesday goal, did extremely well with diving stops to prevent Tom Soares and Franck Songo'o from getting Palace back on terms.
But Palace's perseverance eventually paid off on 36 minutes. Ben Watson's free-kick found Danny Butterfield on the far right and his immediate cross was headed on by Mark Hudson for Morrison to finish off with a powerful header past Grant.
After the break, Wednesday made a promising start and substitute Lee Bullen forced Speroni to make a flying reflex save and then from 20 yards Jermaine Johnson clipped the top of the crossbar.
At the other end, David Martin fired from 30 yards out, forcing Grant to make a diving stop to turn round his post and from the resulting corner the unmarked Hudson headed straight into the arms of the Wednesday keeper.
Scannell was making a big difference and it was fitting that he won the points for Palace with a cool finish with seconds left.
Speroni's long punt downfield was flicked-on by Jamie Scowcroft to Morrison. The Palace striker shot straight at Grant, who had left his goal, but the ball fell to Scannell, who lobbed over four Wednesday defenders, leaving Neil Warnock an extremely happy man.
Hull City 2 - 0 Leicester City
Hull City sealed a first win in five league games at the KC Stadium thanks to a first-half goal from Caleb Folan and a second-half strike by substitute Fraizer Campbell, leaving Ian Holloway's Leicester side closer to the relegation zone.
Hull created an opening in the early stages of the game when Bryan Hughes did well down the left to find space and cross the ball towards Richard Garcia, but the Tigers winger could not get enough on his header at the back post and his effort hit the side-netting.
The home side took the lead on 17 minutes when Dean Windass flicked a throughball over the top of the Leicester defence towards Folan who chased it down and registered his first goal for the Tigers as he neatly slotted the ball into the bottom corner of the net.
Leicester came close to equalising soon after as Alan Sheehan found space in the Hull area and struck a left-footed shot that keeper Boaz Myhill managed to turn past the post for a corner.
Hughes could have put Hull further ahead midway through the first half when Garcia played in a neat ball from the right across the Leicester goal, but the ex-Birmingham midfielder could only place the ball straight into the hands of Marton Fulop from six yards out.
Holloway made two positive changes at half-time in an attempt to get his Leicester side back in the game as Sheehan and Hossein Kaeibi came off for the attacking pair of Carl Cort and Collins John.
Hull were given the chance to double their lead in the 78th minute when Bruno N'Gotty brought down Windass in the box with a late challenge.
Windass took the penalty himself but his right-footed effort was palmed onto the post by Fulop. However, substitute Campbell was the first to react, and the Manchester United loanee fired home the rebound from close range to confirm Hull's victory.
Ipswich Town 3 - 2 Scunthorpe United
Sub Tommy Miller came off the bench to clinch Ipswich's 14th home win in their last 15 games at Portman Road against a battling Scunthorpe side, who chalked up a tenth game without a victory.
Miller's 20-yard free-kick sealed the points in a topsy-turvy encounter in which Scunthorpe led 1-0 and then trailed 2-1 before drawing level, all in the first 33 minutes of the match.
Their resolute defending and less praiseworthy timewasting looked as if it was going to hold out for a valuable point, but Ipswich had kept knocking all through the second half and just about deserved the win.
Ipswich had an early penalty shout denied when Danny Haynes went down under an Andy Butler challenge, before Martin Paterson poked wide from close range when a Paul Hayes cross reached him six yards out.
The visitors went ahead on 16 minutes when Town stood off Ian Morris and his 25-yard screamer crashed down off the bar for Paterson to finish from close range. Replays showed Morris' shot had gone in, but the officials hadn't spotted it.
Within five minutes though Ipswich were in front, as first Pablo Counago prodded home from close-range after a free-kick and then the Spaniard split the Scunthorpe defence with a superb ball and Owen Garvan rounded Joe Murphy to slot home.
Town nearly scored again on 24 minutes when another excellent Counago pass freed Jon Walters down the flank and when he crossed the striker smashed a left-foot shot against the bar from 15 yards.
Garvan had a low shot held by Murphy, but, just as Ipswich seemed to be in control, Gavin Williams lost the ball deep in his own half to Hayes and it rebounded to Paterson who raced through to coolly score.
Murphy palmed away a Williams cross-cum-shot, Garvan volleyed over from a corner and then Counago shot over from a Walters pass as Ipswich sought to regain the lead before the break.
Both sides had chances early in the second half, Haynes shooting over and wide for Ipswich, while a corner from Kevan Hurst went right across the Town six-yard box with no-one on hand to turn it home.Neil Alexander palmed away a Paterson header from a Hurst cross which could have brought him his hat-trick, but it was an isolated moment as wave after wave of Ipswich attacks swept forward.Jim Goodwin cleared a Jason De Vos header off the line from a Miller corner and then Alan Lee's looping header was somehow scrambled away when it looked set to drop into the far corner.
Murphy saved a low Walters shot and De Vos headed another Miller corner onto the roof of the net, before Town scored what proved to be the winner when Marcus Williams needlessly handled on the edge of his box and Miller curled the ball just inside the post.
Counago and Garvan both came close to a fourth goal for the hosts and despite Scunthorpe making a late double change, Town held on fairly comfortable for their tenth home win in 11 games this term.
Queens Park Rangers 0 - 0 Wolverhampton Wanderers
QPR and Wolves had to settle for a point after each side squandered a golden chance to break the deadlock.
Rangers' Dexter Blackstock missed a sitter early on and Wolves forward Stephen Elliott was guilty of an even bigger gaffe in front of goal in the second half.Gareth Ainsworth picked Blackstock out after getting the better of Michael Gray on the right flank, only for the striker to poke the ball wide of the near post.
That was the best chance of an uninspiring first half in which Wolves' Wayne Hennessey was the busier goalkeeper.
Hennessey twice dived to tip away long-range efforts from Martin Rowlands, and comfortably held Akos Buzsaky's free-kick and Ainsworth's tamely-struck shot.
Wolves rarely threatened but did go close to scoring shortly before the break when Darron Gibson sent a left-foot shot wide of the target.
The visitors survived a scare two minutes after the interval, when defender Neill Collins allowed the ball to bounce over him near the edge of the penalty area and Blackstock volleyed wide.
Rangers kept the pressure up and had appeals for a penalty waved away after striker Marc Nygaard appeared to be bundled over in the area by Kevin Foley.
Wolves looked unimpressive throughout but should have gone ahead in the 70th minute. Gibson's right-wing cross presented Elliott with a simple chance but he nudged the ball wide when it seemed easier to score.
A defeat would have been tough on Rangers, who battled hard and were unlucky not to score a late winner.
Hennessey did well to push Rowlands' drive over the bar and Ainsworth fired inches wide in the closing stages.
Sheffield United 1 - 0 Barnsley
Matt Kilgallon struck in the 65th minute to ease the pressure on Bryan Robson and lift the Bramall Lane gloom in a gritty South Yorkshire derby.
The United manager, aiming for a top-six place by Christmas, had been slammed by angry fans expecting a quick return to the Premier League.
But after securing just one win in their last seven home games, the Blades were indebted to Kilgallon who grabbed his first goal for the club since his £2million move from Leeds 11 months ago.
United, hoping to bounce back after two straight defeats, almost took the lead in the ninth minute when midfielder Nick Montgomery surged into the area tracked by Brian Howard.
The Barnsley skipper lunged in from behind as referee Phil Dowd waved away United's appeals for a penalty.
United, playing the more direct football, pressed again, midfielder Michael Tonge drilling in a long-range strike that was safely snuffed out by Heinz Muller.
Minutes later the German keeper stuck out a foot to deflect Phil Bardsley's low drive as the Blades turned the screw.
A stinging Keith Gillespie free-kick was hacked clear of the packed goalmouth, Kilgallon saw his low strike curl wide of the far post and Montgomery's looping cross almost dropped in at the far post as Muller scrambled back.
Barnsley carved out their first effort on goal ten minutes after the break, Martin Devaney picked out Jon Macken. The little striker headed the ball back to Istvan Ferenczi but Paddy Kenny produced a reflex save to keep out the lanky Hungarian striker.
United snatched the lead in the 64th minute when the under-pressure Barnsley back four were unable to keep out Gillespie's free-kick and Kilgallon steered the ball past the sprawling Muller from six yards.
Watford 0 - 1 Plymouth Argyle
It was less than two months ago that some pundits were predicting Watford would run away with the Championship, but on current evidence the Hornets will do well to even make the play-offs after Plymouth Argyle grabbed a last-gasp, but richly-deserved victory at Vicarage Road.
The fact that a fourth home defeat in five meant Aidy Boothroyd's men lost the leadership of a division they have held since September 1 is largely irrelevant - that has been on the cards for some time now.
What is more worrying is a run of results at Vicarage Road that now reads one point taken from the last 15 available.
That is relegation not promotion form and it is rendered even more bizarre because Watford have one of the very best away records in the country.
But it is home results, more often than not, that secure elevation and the Hornets need to get back on track and quickly.
Although it was another below-par showing by Boothroyd's men, it looked like they would at least have the consolation of back-to-back clean sheets until a minute from the end of normal time.
Then Barry Hayles went rampaging away down the right and although the impressive Peter Halmosi failed to connect with his cross at the near post, the unmarked David Norris was in the right place to tuck home the winner.
It was no more than Argyle deserved. Both Norris - stabbing wide with the goal at his mercy - and Nadjim Abdou, who missed the target with a gilt-edged header, should both have scored after a dull opening period, while the best the shot-shy home side could muster was a Tommy Smith shot that hit the woodwork.
In many respects though, the game was a sideshow to the main event at half-time. That was when an emotional Al Bangura was joined on the pitch by Hornets chairman Graham Simpson and local MP Claire Ward to continue publicising the plight of the young midfielder, who is on the verge of being deported back to his native Sierra Leone after losing an immigration hearing earlier this week.
The Hornets have since embarked on a mass media offensive and the 19-year-old, who has also become a father recently, was moved to tears as he was applauded by all four sides of Vicarage Road.
The fact his team that went on to lose did not seem so important in the overall scheme of things.
Coca-Cola League Championship 15th Dec
TOTW/F/M Award(s): 1
