By ESPN staff
West Ham missed the chance to make Southampton pay for slipping up at Doncaster, a 2-1 home defeat to Burnley leaving Sam Allardyce's men two points adrift of the Championship leaders, while Ipswich plunged further into the mire after losing 2-1 to Watford at Portman Road.
Southampton, who entered their clash with Doncaster having won five of their last six, crashed to a fourth loss on the road as Billy Sharp's 60th-minute winner proved enough to earn Rovers only their second home triumph of the season.
The Hammers - top of the league's f orm table and searching for a fifth successive win - failed to capitalise, however, as Burnley came from behind to halt West Ham's charge. The Upton Park crowd were in good spirits when Kevin Nolan fired them in front from the edge of the area early in the second half, but they were soon stunned into silence when Chris McCann drew the visitors level five minutes later.
Sam Vokes' header 15 minutes from time sealed all three points for Burnley, who have now completed three straight league victories for the first time since April.
Ipswich Town were lying in the play-off places in mid-October, but a six-match losing run had left them hovering above the drop zone on goal difference prior to their encounter with Watford. Paul Jewell and his troops were desperate for all the points and there was reason to cheer when Keith Andrews put them in front before half time.
However, Marvin Sordell picked himself off the floor to score from the penalty spot a nd Troy Deeney wrapped up a big victory for Watford, who were without a maximum in six on their travels.
Substitute Will Buckley snatched the points for Brighton with an injury-time winner as Albion climbed back into the play-off places with a 1-0 victory that left Nottingham Forest languishing in the bottom three.
It was the only highlight of a dreadful encounter at the Amex Stadium. It looked like both sides would cancel each other out, and the stalemate would have been no surprise when you consider the form of the clubs heading into the game. Albion had failed to score in five of their last league fixtures, while Forest had drawn a blank in four of their last six. But Buckley broke the trend in the second minute of injury time after being teed up by Craig Mackail-Smith.
Robert Snodgrass struck twice in the space of two second-half minutes to see off Millwall 2-0 as the memory of Gary Speed served to inspire Leeds for the seco nd successive match. The on-field action had played second fiddle to an emotional final tribute at Elland Road for Speed, including a minute's applause, six days after the former Leeds midfielder was found hanged at his home in Cheshire.
Leeds manager Simon Grayson, who signed on for the club as a schoolboy on the same day as Speed, and his players had managed to harness their grief in positive fashion on an emotional night at Nottingham Forest on Tuesday, turning in arguably their best display of the season to win 4-0.
Speed's widow Louise and two sons Edward and Thomas were in attendance against Millwall, together with former team-mates David Batty, Gordon Strachan and Gary McAllister as Leeds clinched their first home win in over two months.
A largely forgettable first half was followed by two moments Speed himself would have been proud of just after the hour-mark when Snodgrass secured the points with a brilliant free-kick and then, two minutes later, a brave diving header.
Craig Davies had the last word as Barnsley thwarted Peterborough's spirited comeback to earn a third successive league victory with a thrilling 4-3 triumph.
The Tykes stormed into a 2-0 lead by half-time at London Road thanks to goals from Jim O'Brien and Jacob Butterfield, and the heroics of Luke Steele in the visiting goal. Ricardo Vaz Te added a third after the break but Peterborough raced back to equalise with strikes from George Boyd, Ryan Bennett and substitute Lee Frecklington. But Davies condemned the Posh to a seventh defeat in their la st eight league games with an unstoppable drive 10 minutes from time.
Nigel Pearson endured a turbulent return to Hull City as his 10-man Leicester were beaten 2-1 by Robert Koren's superb late effort. Pearson left the KC Stadium for a second spell in charge of the Foxes just 18 days ago and it ended up being a miserable day back in East Yorkshire after Koren struck a curling effort into the top corner with two minutes of normal time returning.
Pearson's new side had looked like earning a worthy point after Paul Konchesky's neat curling finish five minutes before the break had cancelled out Matty Fryatt's controversial 28th-minute penalty. That spot-kick was awarded after referee Simon Hooper harshly adjudged Matt Mills to have fouled Aaron Mclean in the area and dished out a second dismissal of the season for the Leicester skipper.
But Koren had the final say and it meant Pearson suffered his first defeat while back in charge at Leicester whi le the Tigers end a run of two successive defeats.
Callum McManaman bagged his first goal for Blackpool as Reading lost for the first time in three Championship outings. McManaman, on loan from Wigan, beat Royals keeper Adam Federici with a superb curling effort 10 minutes after half-time to hand the Tangerines all three points.
Portsmouth put their off-field woes behind them to record a morale-boosting 2-1 win over struggling Coventry. The south coast club's owners, Convers Sport Initiatives, went into administration last week, sparking fears that Pompey could be plunged into financial turmoil once more.
Manager Michael Appleton insisted on Friday that his players would be paid on time and they responded by delivering his first win since taking charge, Joel Ward netting the winner. Greg Halford opened the scoring with a 20th-minute penalty following a calamitous piece of defending from the visitors, who sink to the foot of the t able despite drawing level through Lukas Jutkiewicz.
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