Rocco Vata was on the scoresheet, once again, however, the Ireland Under-21 international's late strike was not enough to spark a fightback as Watford lost 2-1 to Preston North End.
The Hornets missed out on a chance to move into the Championship play-off places as Milutin Osmajic's brace helped Preston to victory.
Ireland centre-half Mark McGuinness was also on target, but also on the losing side, as struggling Luton came out the wrong side of a five-goal thriller, losing to Oxford.
Oxford's impressive unbeaten run under Gary Rowett stretched to seven matches after the 3-2 win as Tom Krauss’ opener for the Hatters was cancelled out by Michal Helik before McGuinness put Luton back in front in the 26th minute.
But Matt Bloomfield’s Luton remain second bottom after goals from Ciaron Brown and Greg Leigh helped Oxford complete the turnaround.
Sheffield United went top of the table after coming from behind to win 2-1 at 10-man Swansea.
After Florian Bianchini opened the scoring for the Swans in the seventh minute, the Blades came out firing in the second half with Rhian Brewster netting a 47th-minute leveller.
Once Harry Darling was shown a straight red card for a poor challenge on Brewster three minutes later, Chris Wilder's team made full use of the extra man with Harrison Burrows’ penalty in the 68th minute taking them two points clear at the summit.
Rivals Leeds still have a game in hand and can retake top spot with a home win against Norwich on Wednesday.
Sunderland’s 1-0 win at Derby, secured by Eliezer Mayenda’s 28th-minute effort, took them two points behind Leeds.
Tony Mowbray’s return to the dugout ended in defeat as his West Brom side were beaten 2-0 by Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium.
The 61-year-old was appointed as Baggies head coach for a second stint and oversaw his first match since recovering from bowel cancer.
Mowbray was greeted with applause from both sets of fans as he walked to the touchline prior to kick-off to face Boro, who he represented both as a player and manager.
However, his return was dampened by his hometown club who sealed the win through Hayden Hackney’s pinpoint strike and Ben Doak’s late goal.
Goals from Ellis Simms and Brandon Thomas-Asante ensured Coventry beat Blackburn 2-0 at Ewood Park, while QPR won a fourth straight match after beating Hull 2-1.
Strikes from Kenneth Paal and Koki Saito put the visitors in the driving seat as Joe Gelhardt’s 84th-minute goal for City, his first for the club since joining from Leeds on loan, was not enough to help them mount a fightback.
Substitute Yousef Salech equalised with three seconds of stoppage time remaining as Cardiff snatched a 2-2 draw at Millwall.
The Bluebirds were trailing to early goals from Calum Scanlon and Casper De Norre before Chris Willock pulled one back before half-time.
Millwall looked set to cling on for only their second win in 13 matches, but Salech – signed from Swedish side Sirius last week – denied them at the death as Cardiff rescued a point.
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