Championship leaders Derby fell to a shock 2-0 defeat at Fulham on Saturday, while Watford came from behind to beat Leeds 3-2 at Elland Road and close the gap to three points.
Steve McClaren's side went behind to first-half goals from Nikolay Bodurov and Cauley Woodrow at Craven Cottage and never recovered.
Watford reaffirmed their automatic promotion hopes by hitting back from two goals down to condemn Leeds to a second successive league defeat
Billy Sharp struck an early opener for Leeds on his return to the side and Rudy Austin added a second, but Troy Deeney reduced the deficit shortly before the interval and Matej Vydra fired his ninth and 10th goals of the season as Watford won to climb within three points of Derby.
Middlesbrough missed the chance to go top as they slipped to a second defeat in their last three league games, with Sheffield Wednesday scoring twice in as many minutes early in the second half at Hillsborough through Atdhe Nuhiu's penalty and Will Keane's header to win 2-0.
Nottingham Forest are still unbeaten under manager Dougie Freedman after a 3-0 win at Reading, where second-half goals from Ben Osborn, Matty Fryatt and Gary Gardner clinched a third straight league win.
Bournemouth were unable to capitalise on their promotion rivals' slip-ups as they were held to a goalless home draw by Blackburn after kick-off had been delayed 30 minutes due to traffic congestion that had held up the visitors' team coach.
Huddersfield manager Chris Powell made an unhappy first return to former club Charlton, where goals from Johann Berg Gudmundsson and Tony Watt, who struck twice, secured the home side a comfortable 3-0 win.
Brentford defender James Tarkowski's own goal was enough to seal victory for Birmingham at St Andrew's.
Bakary Sako struck his 12th goal of the season and the only goal of the game as Wolves maintained their play-off chase with a 1-0 win at Cardiff and Zach Clough's solitary strike clinched Bolton a 1-0 home win against Brighton.
Kari Arnason headed an 85th-minute winner for Rotherham after Danny Ward had cancelled out Martyn Woolford's opener for Millwall in a 2-1 home win for the Millers.
Wigan clinched their first league win in 11 games as Bo-Kyung Kim and Harry Maguire both scored their first goals for the club. James McClean added a late third to condemn bottom club Blackpool to a 3-1 home defeat, while Gary Madine scored the hosts' late consolation.