On a bad weekend for most of the Championship high-flyers, Derby County stormed to the top of the table as the only side in the top five to not lose on matchday 32.
The Rams twice came from behind to edge out 10-man Sheffield Wednesday 3-2 at the iPro Stadium as Middlesbrough, Bournemouth, Ipswich Town and Watford all suffered defeat.
Norwich City won 3-0 at Watford to leapfrog the Hornets and they now could be above arch rivals Ipswich come the East Anglian derby on Sunday.
Elsewhere, Wolverhampton Wanderers stayed in touch with the top six by trouncing Rotherham United, while at the bottom Millwall, Wigan Athletic and Blackpool continue to occupy the relegation spots.
Below, Sports Mole chooses its best XI from the weekend's action, in a traditional 4-4-2 formation, as well as highlighting the biggest numpty and best goal.
Marco Silvestri (Leeds United)
Leeds produced one of the bigger Football League shocks by ending Boro's nine-match unbeaten run with a 1-0 win at the Riverside. Silvestri was in inspired form, making a total of 10 saves to preserve a clean sheet for the improving Whites, who have now won five of their last six games.
Inigo Calderon (Brighton & Hove Albion)
Scored twice from right-back as Brighton came out on top in a seven-goal thriller against Birmingham City for a rare home win.
Michael Hector (Reading)
The Royals nicked a 1-0 win at Ipswich Town, who had the strongest home record in the league going into this weekend's games. Hector was rock-solid at the back on his 25th league start, keeping the division's top scorer Daryl Murphy quiet.
Sol Bamba (Leeds United)
Silvestri was lauded for his shot-stopping, but Bamba's positional sense and crucial reading of the game was arguably the main reason Leeds held on for three points.
Kostas Stafylidis (Fulham)
Fulham drew 0-0 at Millwall in a big game in the bottom half, but it could have been defeat had Stafylidis not made an acrobatic goalline clearance. He also send over a cross that Hugo Rodallega tucked home for the game's controversial disallowed goal.
Chris Burke (Nottingham Forest)
Burke keeps his place in our Team of the Week after two goals in Forest's 4-1 hammering of Bolton Wanderers. It's now 10 points out of 12 since Dougie Freedman took charge.
Alex Pritchard (Brentford)
Despite all the off-field issues at Brentford, the Bees are still a fine footballing outfit and proved it with a 3-1 victory over automatic-promotion chasing Bournemouth. Brentford are now right back in the playoff mix, with Pritchard scoring one and setting up the other two at Griffin Park.
Frederic Bulot (Charlton Athletic)
A goal and an assist for Bulot as Charlton extended Wigan's lousy form at home with a 3-0 win on Friday night.
Bakary Sako (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
Back to somewhere near his best against the Millers, netting one and assisting another at Molineux.
Benik Afobe (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
Afobe now has five goals in seven games for Wolves since joining from Arsenal last month. He scored two and set up one in the 5-0 win over Rotherham.
Lewis Grabban (Norwich City)
The Canaries were fortunate to win the penalty that sent them on their way against Watford, but Grabban dispatched it coolly before sealing the 3-0 win with a neat first-time finish.
Numpty of the Week
Artur Boruc: Pritchard's free kick for Brentford was well-struck, but Boruc should have never let it through his guard as he tried to punch it clear and only succeeded in directing it into the corner.
Goal of the Week
Michail Antonio (Nottingham Forest) vs. Bolton Wanderers: Netted one of Forest's four with a surging run and bullet finish at the City Ground.
Pascal Lemesre
