Anel Ahmedhodzic's 79th-minute winner sent Sheffield United to the Sky Bet Championship summit with a hard-fought 1-0 victory at struggling Luton.
The contest at Kenilworth Road looked destined to finish goalless between two teams who have experienced contrasting fortunes since relegation from the Premier League last season.
Ahmedhodzic had other ideas and fired home after the hosts’ failed to deal with a long-throw to move Chris Wilder’s side a point ahead of Leeds, who play on Monday before the two Yorkshire rivals face off on 24 February.
Meanwhile, Matt Bloomfield’s Luton remain rooted to the bottom of the table following another blank.
Earlier in the day Portsmouth secured an important 2-0 victory away to Oxford after goals by Andre Dozzell and Ireland U21 international Mark O'Mahony, who is on loan from Brighton.
Third-placed Burnley played out a goalless draw at Lancashire rivals Preston to lose ground in the battle for automatic promotion.
Scott Parker’s Clarets did register an 11th consecutive clean sheet, but the result was overshadowed by an incident between Hannibal Mejbri and Preston’s Milutin Osmajic which was reported to the referee.
Burnley player Mejbri was left incensed following a heated verbal exchange in the second half with Osmajic.
Managerless Blackburn were able to move on from John Eustace’s shock departure to Derby with a 2-0 win over FA Cup giant-killers Plymouth.
Adam Forshaw opened the scoring in the 55th-minute before Tyrhys Dolan wrapped up the points for play-off hopefuls Rovers with a second 12 minutes from time.
West Brom complete the top six after they played out a 1-1 draw at Millwall with a second consecutive own goal by Lions’ defender Joe Bryan enough to ensure the spoils were shared in London.
A brace by Ellis Simms means Frank Lampard’s Coventry are a point behind sixth-placed West Brom following a dramatic 2-1 victory away to Sheffield Wednesday.
Sims struck in the second minute of stoppage time after his 16th-minute opener had been cancelled out by Joel Latibeaudiere’s 62nd-minute own goal.
Moussa Sissoko helped ease the scrutiny on Watford boss Tom Cleverley following a five-match winless run with the only goal to earn victory in a tight contest away to Middlesbrough.
Second-half strikes by Wouter Burger, Bae Jun-Ho and Lewis Baker helped Stoke come from behind to win 3-1 at home to Swansea.
Hull are a point outside the relegation zone after Matt Crooks’ goal earned a 1-1 draw with Norwich, while Yousef Salech’s stoppage-time equaliser ensured Cardiff claimed a point at home to Bristol City.
