Blackpool 4 - 0 Coventry City
Blackpool celebrated manager Simon Grayson's decision to sign a new two-year contract by securing their most comprehensive win of the season.
It was the first time the Seasiders have scored four goals in the Championship this season, and it could have been many more.
Coventry were a typical Iain Dowie outfit playing hard physical football which soon got them on the wrong side of referee Anthony Thompson.
On 31 minutes he red carded City striker Kevin Kyle for a crude off-the-ball elbow on Blackpool skipper Shaun Barker.
Four more Coventry players were to follow their way into the referee's book for yellow cards for similar fouls.
A rash challenge on 28 minutes by David McNamee took out Kaspars Gorkss from behind and the referee awarded a penalty which Wes Hoolahan converted for his sixth goal of the season.
Even though Hoolahan and Michael Flynn were pulling the strings in midfield, it took a long time for Blackpool to finally make the game safe.
Time after time they fell foul of the Coventry offside trap before it was finally sprung in the 65th minute. A long ball by Barker was well controlled by Flynn who turned nicely to score from 15 yards.
Blackpool's third swiftly followed with Gorkss heading home well from Hoolahan's corner. Substitute Scott Vernon made it four on 88 minutes after a mistake by McNamee.
Coventry's problems were underlined by the fact that they didn't force Blackpool keeper Paul Rachubka into one meaningful save all afternoon.
Afterwards City manager Dowie said: "That was our worst performance I've seen.
"We shall have to see what sort of character the dressing room has after that.
"We gave too many goals away just as we were beginning to get on top. I shall be looking at the video to see whether or not to appeal my players' sending off."
Bristol City 3 - 2 Barnsley
An injury-time goal by Darren Byfield swept Bristol City to a win over ten-man Barnsley.
The Yorkshire side, who saw Jamal Campbell-Ryce dismissed for a second yellow card early in the second half, also had Martin Devaney carried off after twice taking the lead.
They thought their workrate had seen them to a fifth away draw when Byfield was sent on for the last five minutes.
With his first touch he picked up one of the eight cards issued by referee Keith Hill. With his last he prodded home a Michael McIndoe free-kick.
It was always a niggly, physical game to keep Hill busy, but exploded with four goals in 11 minutes late in the first half.
Barnsley scored the first of them just after half an hour when Devaney robbed right-back Bradley Orr to square a path to Jon Macken, whose low drive caught keeper Adriano Basso with his reflexes down.
That goal had come after a long spell of home pressure with Barnsley's keeper Heinz Muller making one great save from Ivan Sproule while City passed up two or three good scoring chances.
After scoring only once in five games, the Yorkshiremen were still in celebratory mode when City hit back within two minutes.
Their outstanding skipper Louis Carey, who had gone up for a corner, saw his header blocked, but Enoch Showunmi swooped to boot home the equaliser with his left.
Quickly Dennis Souza headed his side back in front from an inswinging corner by Brian Howard.
Then Showunmi, who had started only his fifth game this season, again rose to the rescue with a close-in header from Michael McIndoe's lob.
When they had a one-man advantage City threw everything into attack down both flanks, but it took Byfield's late intervention to bring them three Championship points.
Cardiff City 1 - 0 Sheffield United
A flowing Cardiff City move and superb finish by Paul Parry in the 30th minute gave the Bluebirds a deserved victory.Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink flipped a pass to the impressive Peter Whittingham, who backheeled to Parry out on the right and the Wales international fired in a low shot that went across Paddy Kenny in the visitors goal and into the far corner of the net.
There were two changes in the Bluebirds line-up with Tony Capaldi and Gavin Rae replacing the Spurs-bound Chris Gunter and the suspended Steve Thompson.
Straight from the kick-off the Blades went on the attack and after just 20 seconds James Beattie was left unmarked in front of goal, but blasted the ball over the bar.
Parry was pushed into a forward position alongside Hasselbaink and he provided an outlet for the Bluebirds as they began to mount a few attacks.
A burst by Joe Ledley in the 14th minute was halted by a block from Chris Morgan and Hasselbaink's powerful free-kick struck a United defender before being cleared.
Beattie was then off-target again with a header from a Keith Gillespie corner.
After Cardiff had taken the lead they began to grow in confidence and Whittingham forced Kenny into a smart save from a 20-yard snapshot.
He then swung over another goalbound cross that Kenny pushed behind, before a blockbuster was pushed away by the overworked Blades keeper.
The visitors suffered a blow in the 58th minute when skipper Morgan limped off to be replaced by one-time City target Chris Lucketti.
Two minutes later United boss Bryan Robson went for broke by putting on Rob Hulse and Lee Hendrie in an effort to get back on level terms.
But it was Whittingham and Parry who went closest to adding to the score with dipping shots that just cleared the visitors' crossbar.
When Michael Tonge was upended just outside the area in the 86th minute it spelt danger for the Bluebirds, but Phil Bardsley's rasping drive zipped past the right-hand upright.
City still had chances to add to their score in the dying minutes with Whittingham and substitute Steve MacLean both going close.
Charlton Athletic 1 - 1 Hull City
Charlton Athletic drew their first Championship match in 13 games when they shared the points from a 1-1 draw with Hull City at The Valley.
The home side had on-loan defender Danny Mills sent off against his former club for foul and abusive language to referee Tony Bates, after having previously been booked.
Mills, who was back in the team after a one-match suspension, was wound up throughout the game by his former team-mates and felt aggrieved just before half-time when former Charlton player Bryan Hughes kicked out at him, but only got a yellow card.
In a poor match Charlton failed to test Hull goalkeeper Boaz Myhill in the first half and it was the home goalkeeper Nicky Weaver who was the busier.Fraizer Campbell headed wide early on for the visitors and Weaver then had to make a good save with his legs to deny Michael Turner.
Hull took the lead eight minutes before half-time after Charlton gave the ball away in midfield and it fell kindly for Campbell, who was able to fire past Charlton keeper Weaver.
The home side, who lost defender Sam Sodje after only 22 minutes brought on Izale McLeod after half-time for Lloyd Sam and got back into the game when Jerome Thomas floated in a free-kick and Madjid Bougherra scored from close range for his first goal for the club.
After going down to ten men Charlton were forced to defend and Hull had two great chances to win the game.
Substitute Stephen McPhee forced a fine save from Weaver and in injury-time Ian Ashbee headed wide and Nicky Barmby also failed to hit the target.
Crystal Palace 2 - 1 Plymouth Argyle
You either love him or loathe him but Neil Warnock has started to prove that he is the right man for the Crystal Palace job at Selhurst Park.
He watched his side stretch their unbeaten run to ten matches with a no-nonsense 2-1 win against Plymouth Argyle.Clint Hill and Jamie Scowcroft scored first-half goals, but Jermaine Easter pulled one back early in the second half for the Pilgrims.
Although Paul Sturrock's outfit stepped up a gear and pinned Palace back for long spells in the second half, the Eagles defence was resolute and they just about deserved their win.
The first 45 minutes saw Palace in full control with a mixed assortment of direct football as well as smart, swift interchanges of passing.
Plymouth's first-half display was disappointing to say the least with Julian Speroni in the Palace goal left with just a couple of routine saves to make.
The Pilgrims were not doing themselves any favours as they conceded too many free-kicks and, indeed, both Palace's goals stemmed from set-pieces.
On seven minutes, Danny Butterfield's free-kick was met by Scowcroft who neatly headed on to Hill who, despite being under pressure, did well with his header which looped over Plymouth's defence with Romain Larrieu off his line and the ball eased into the right corner of the goal.
Larrieu had to make three important saves to deny Ben Watson, Scowcroft and Shaun Derry before Palace doubled their lead two minutes before the break.
Ben Watson's free-kick was missed by the Plymouth defence and Scowcroft from six yards out simply nudged the ball past Larrieu.
After the break, Plymouth pulled one back as, for the first time, the Eagles' defence was caught out.Nadjim Abdou, with space on the right, crossed perfectly for Easter to place his header past Speroni from close range.
Plymouth, inspired by that early second-half goal, were enjoying more possession while Palace looked edgy and were giving the ball away far too cheaply.
Argyle were certainly giving Palace a hard time and it needed some desperate defending from the home side to maintain a slender lead.
Derry, on loan from Leeds, was holding Palace together with another top performance and he has proved instrumental in Palace's unbeaten run.
Although Plymouth came close to getting a point, they found Palace in determined mood as they eventually claimed the three points and, as a result, continued to edge up the table.
Ipswich Town 0 - 0 Burnley
Ten-man Burnley extended their unbeaten away run to seven games and in the process became only the second side to avoid defeat at Portman Road this season.
Ipswich came into the match having won ten of 11 games at home this term, the exception being a 0-0 draw with Barnsley, and they were frustrated again as they could find no way through the determined visitors.
Ironically, Ipswich's best chances came when Burnley still had a full complement of players, with Gabor Kiraly denying Alan Lee and Pablo Counago, while Tommy Miller thundered a drive against the bar.
Burnley only threatened sporadically, but they were reduced to hanging on for a point when John Spicer was dismissed for an over-the-top tackle on Jon Walters in first-half stoppage time by ref Phil Dowd.
There were no real complaints about the decision, Burnley's third red card in two matches, and in fact the visitors could also have lost more men.Graham Alexander was given a stern ticking off after sarcastically applauding Dowd following a first-half booking for dissent, while Robbie Blake escaped any sanction for stamping down on Alex Bruce, also in a tetchy first period.
Ipswich began well and should have scored in the second minute when Danny Haynes floated a cross to the unmarked Lee but the former Burnley man's header was a good height for Kiraly who dived and parried it away.Kyle Lafferty headed right across the goalmouth for the visitors from Wade Elliott's cross, before Miller was desperately unlucky with a 20-yard thunderbolt which cannoned off the bar with Kiraly helpless.
Lee did some good defensive work to clear a Blake ball which flashed across the face of the home goal before Haynes volleyed well over from a Walters cross.
Kiraly was diving to make a save again on 37 minutes, this time denying Counago when he tried to loop a far-post header in and then the game started to get a little spicy as half-time approached.
A red card looked a possibility, and Mr Dowd obliged when Spicer lunged at Walters, to follow colleagues Joey Gudjonsson and Chris McCann who saw red in last week's 3-2 home loss to Preston.
Ipswich must have felt they would break through in the second half, but in the end they created very little, with Kiraly only forced into a couple of comfortable saves down on his haunches.
Burnley understandably had all bar one back for most of the half, but Ipswich's build-up lacked the pace to find the holes to carve out even a single clear-cut opportunity.
Burnley only had one effort on goal in the whole match, and that was a volley from sub Ade Akinbiyi which went way over with 14 minutes to go.
Despite the introduction of Town's teenage hot prospect Jordan Rhodes for his senior debut and the addition of four minutes of stoppage time, the hosts couldn't find a way through although they did extend their unbeaten home record to 16 matches.
Queens Park Rangers 2 - 1 Colchester United
QPR leapfrogged Colchester United at the wrong end of the Championship thanks to an excellent brace from Akos Buzsaky
But the Londoners had to withstand a last 20-minute barrage from the Essex side and also saw Damion Stewart sent off.
The defender launched into a two-footed tackle that sent Mark Yeates sprawling as the U's piled on the pressure.
Sub Luke Guttridge had a right-foot shot well saved by Lee Camp and Clive Platt sent a tame header into the grateful arms of the Rangers keeper.
But there was nothing Camp could do when just after the hour Platt nodded on and Yeates caught the Rangers' defence dithering to nip in and chip his eightth goal of the season.
Colchester also hit the post when a speculative cross from Danny Granville was dropped by Camp and back into play, with no-one able to capitalise.
The U's resurgence came after Rangers had dominated the first 50 minutes and deservedly raced into a two-goal lead.
It looked all over when Buzsaky was on the end of a slick three-man move to slide the ball under Dean Gerken on 52 minutes.
Before that the Hungarian warmed up a tepid first-half affair with a superb left-footed strike from the edge of the box beyond Gerken to put Rangers ahead.Rowan Vine ploughed a fertile furrow down the left flank for Rangers, but his best effort in the first-half was a hammered strike from 15 yards which the keeper did well to palm over.
Twice more the loan forward delivered telling crosses with no team-mate able to get on the end.
Colchester's best effort was a dipping free-kick from Johnnie Jackson saved down low by the agile Camp.
But the U's cause took a down turn when Kemal Izzet was forced to go off holding his wrist following a crunching tackle with Bob Malcolm.
Colchester recovered to finish the stronger team, only to lose out on what would have been a deserved share of the spoils
Scunthorpe United 0 - 1 Norwich City
Norwich City continued their revival with a fifth win in their last seven games, but Scunthorpe plunged deeper into trouble after nine games without a home win.
It was leading marksman Jamie Cureton who came off the bench to win it for the Canaries.
He struck in the 78th minute with a shot that went in off a post after a surging run forward by full-back Jon Otsemobor had opened up the home defence.
Earlier Darren Huckerby had squandered a couple of golden second-half opportunities for Norwich.
First he blasted a clear-cut chance high over the top and then he forced his way unmarked into the box to fire in an effort that was blocked by goalkeeper Joe Murphy.
Murphy had rescued Scunthorpe in the first half with a couple of good close-range saves to deny striker Ched Evans, on loan to the Canaries from Manchester City.
But Scunthorpe played their part in a hard-fought game with former Carrow Road junior Paul Hayes just inches away with a cracking volley.Martin Paterson went close for the home side with a close-range effort that was blocked away by the legs of goalkeeper David Marshall.
And when Scunthorpe did get the ball in the back of the net early in the second half, through striker Jonathan Forte, he was unlucky to see it ruled out for offside.
The home side battled right to the very end and, in stoppage time, came within a whisker of an equaliser when a curling effort from Paterson was turned away at full stretch by goalkeeper Marshall.
Sheffield Wednesday 0 - 1 Watford
Jobi McAnuff grabbed his first of the season to end Watford's disastrous spell that had seen then knocked off the Championship top spot.
The little midfielder struck early in the game to ease a mini-crisis for Aidy Boothroyd's promotion chasers after a spectacular start to the season.
Injury ravaged Sheffield Wednesday, with just one win in five, were behind after six minutes as Watford sliced through their back four in clinical fashion, Nathan Ellington threading the ball to McAnuff who stabbed it beyond Lee Grant's reach from 12 yards.
Wednesday, with three strikers sidelined through injury, carved out an opening after a Jordan Stewart blunder let in Jermaine Johnson on the right flank, but his teasing cross aimed for Burton O'Brien was cut out by Damien Francis.
Watford should have grabbed a second as the hard-working Ellington teased the home defence as he cut inside to pump in a low cross to midfielder John O'Toole, who scooped the ball over the target from six yards.
Midfielder O'Brien found a chink in the Watford rearguard as he got the better of Lloyd Doyley before picking out Steve Watson who miscued ten yards out. Marcus Tudgay was the culprit on 36 minutes as Wednesday squandered another good chance.Glenn Whelan, who could be on his way out of Hillsborough when the January transfer window opens, found Wade Small on the left wing, his precise pass fell nicely for unmarked striker Tudgay, who dragged his low strike wide of the far post.
Tudgay produced a stunning strike minutes after the restart, pushed round the post in spectacular fashion by Richard Lee, before McAnuff forced his way into the area only for his right-foot shot to be blocked by centre-back Richard Hinds.
Substitute Yoann Folly went close minutes later as he beat his marker at the far post to reach a Whelan cross, but headed wide from eight yards as the Sheffield side desperately searched for an equaliser.
Southampton 0 - 1 Preston North End
Preston North End substitute Lewis Neal delivered a late sucker-punch to spoil Southampton's fine December run.
Neal came off the bench ten minutes from time to convert Patrick Agyemang's low centre after a game in which the home side had largely dominated in terms of possession but failed to find a killer touch in front of goal.
It was the Saints' first defeat of the month and, after a brief resurgence, now face tricky away trips to Colchester and Barnsley as pressure mounts at the cash-strapped club.
They should have had the game well and truly sewn up by the time Neal arrived unmarked in the final minutes as, in a largely tepid first 45 minutes, it seemed almost inevitable a goal would arrive.Andrew Surman should have done better when Rudi Skacel crossed from the byline, but the young Southampton midfielder completely mis-kicked from 12 yards out.Adam Hammill then drove down the right-hand side and crossed into the path of Bradley Wright-Phillips but the striker tamely flicked the ball wide.
Wright-Phillips nearly broke the deadlock ten minutes later when he was fed by Jason Euell but took a touch allowing Matt Hill to get back in time and make a crucial last-ditch interception.
The second half was marginally more vibrant as the 200 Preston fans who had made the festive trip south, thought they had taken the lead three minutes after the break, but alas Paul Gallagher's near-post effort cannoned into the side-netting.
Former Birmingham midfielder Darren Carter then tried his luck from 25 yards with the ball beating Kelvin Davis but unfortunately striking the upright and rebounding away to safety.
As the game opened up with Southampton desperately chasing the three points, Preston goalkeeper Andy Lonergan was called upon to produce crucial saves from first Euell and then substitute Grzegorz Rasiak.
Those saves were to have even greater importance as Agyemang battled his way down the left-hand side and pulled the ball back for Neal to drill his finish past Davis.
Stoke City 3 - 1 West Brom
Ricardo Fuller celebrated signing a new contract with a brilliant hat-trick as Stoke City won the Championship's match of the day against West Bromwich Albion.
Stoke took the lead from the first chance of the match and it was Fuller who applied the expert finish. John Eustace's pass was flicked on by Mamady Sidibe and Fuller burst clear to place a low shot past the advancing Dean Kiely.
Albion dominated most of the possession and forced Stoke back as Roman Bednar and Zoltan Gera fired shots off-target.
But the visitors struggled to create a clear opportunity as Stoke's occasional raids carried much more potency.
Sidibe and Fuller were proving a real handful and it was no surprise when the latter notched a second seven minutes before the break.Liam Lawrence's right-wing free-kick found its way to the far post, where Fuller, who had spun off his marker, turned to hammer an unstoppable shot past Kiely.
Albion made a double substitution at the interval, bringing on Kevin Phillips and Ishmael Miller for the ineffective Chris Brunt and Felipe Teixeira.
Wave after wave of attacks were soon raining on the Stoke goal and Albion almost pulled one back in the 63rd minute when Leon Cort cleared Miller's header off the line.
But Stoke were in the comfort zone after Fuller completed his treble with a magnificent individual effort four minutes later.
The Jamaican international picked the ball up on the left flank and tore infield to leave Bostjan Cesar and Pele stranded, before rolling his shot past Kiely.
Albion grabbed a consolation goal 18 minutes from time when Bednar headed in from six yards from Martin Albrechtsen's cross.
Coca-Cola League Clubs from Football.co.uk
22nd Dec: CC Championship
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