Ireland international Finn Azaz Caspar Jander netted their first Southampton goals as caretaker boss Tonda Eckert's hopes of becoming full-time manager were boosted with a 3-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday.
Under-21 boss Eckert gained control of the first team after Will Still was sacked last weekend and has since won back-to-back matches to change the mood at St Mary’s.
Summer signings Jander and Azaz rushed Saints into a two-goal lead before Harry Amass pulled one back before half-time, but Adam Armstrong made sure of the points shortly after the restart.
Eckert, who has previous assistant manager experience at Barnsley and Genoa, is now the most likely candidate to take over from Still permanently.
An awful error from goalkeeper Daniel Iversen was costly for Preston at Millwall as they came away from The Den with a 1-1 draw.
In a clash between teams who began Saturday in the top six of the Sky Bet Championship, it was Preston who struck first when Michael Smith pounced on a mistake by Lions' Camiel Neghli.
However, Iversen’s air kick led to Mihailo Ivanovic cancelling out the Lilywhites’ lead as they missed out on the opportunity to go second in the table ahead of the afternoon kick-offs.
Joe Gelhardt scored his fifth goal in six games as Hull defeated struggling Portsmouth 3-2 at the MKM Stadium.
The Leeds loan signing showed supreme calmness to dink the ball over goalkeeper Josef Bursik from inside the penalty area after he latched onto Charlie Hughes' long ball in the 77th minute.
Hull have now matched last season’s tally of five home wins – they have also lost just once in eight games – but looked up against it after Terry Devlin opened the scoring during a breathless first half.
Enis Destan and Kyle Joseph cancelled out Devlin’s deflected goal, but Portsmouth showed laudable grit to restore parity when Devlin headed in Josh Murphy’s brilliant cross just before the break.
Yet Pompey, who have not won since October 4, left East Yorkshire with nothing to show for their endeavours following Gelhardt’s moment of quality.
John Eustace returned to Ewood Park to spoil Blackburn's 150th anniversary celebrations as his Derby side held on to earn a 2-1 victory.
After controversially swapping play-off-chasing Rovers with the relegation-threatened Rams in February, Eustace’s first return always promised to be hostile and so it proved.
But his Derby outfit are vindicating that decision and stood up to the test. They raced into a two-goal lead through headers of differing technical qualities.
In-form Carlton Morris deftly nodded the Rams into a 19th-minute lead – his sixth in four games – before Patrick Agyemang powered in a header of his own on the stroke of half-time for his second goal of the season.
Yuki Ohashi’s 66th-minute penalty reduced the arrears and Derby had to survive an onslaught of long throws and corners but held firm to record their fifth successive win, moving to the fringes of the play-offs.
Cameron Burgess was the toast of his old club Ipswich as he conceded two second-half own goals to condemn Swansea to a 4-1 defeat.
The Swans' central defender helped a Lief Davis shot into the back of his net in the 56th minute as Ipswich restored their lead and then lunged at a cross from Jens Cajuste in the 81st minute to again send the ball past Lawrence Vigouroux in the home goal.
It meant Ipswich picked up their second 4-1 triumph on the road in the space of eight days as they extended their unbeaten run to four matches.
Ephron Mason-Clark scored a dramatic late goal as Coventry beat Stoke 1-0 to stretch their lead at the top of the Sky Bet Championship.
Mason-Clark smashed home a brilliant bicycle kick from Ellis Simms' corner with four minutes of regular time to go to seal a deserved win.
Substitute Josh Windass' spot-kick sent Wrexham into the international break on the back of 1-0 win against last season’s promotion rivals Charlton.
Saturday’s Championship encounter came just six months after the Red Dragons sealed a historic third straight promotion by beating the Addicks 3-0 at a rocking SToK Cae Ras.
Charlton joined Wrexham by winning the League One play-offs and saw their five-match unbeaten run come to an end as Windass struck from the spot after Onel Hernandez was adjudged to have handled.
Substitute Aune Heggebo's winner ensured West Brom ended their recent poor run as they came from behind to beat Oxford 2-1 at The Hawthorns.
The Norway striker glanced home in the 70th minute after Greg Leigh’s own goal ended the Baggies’ 382-minute goal drought and cancelled out Will Lankshear’s opener.
Victory was Albion’s first in five league games and eased the supporters’ growing frustrations at the indifferent form after they booed their side off at half-time.
Jordan James headed home an injury-time winner as Leicester came from behind to secure a 2-1 win at Norwich and ensure their hosts have still lost every home Championship match this season. The home side sacked manager Liam Manning after the loss.
The struggling Canaries gave themselves a great chance of ending that depressing seven-match run when Mathias Kvistgaarden scored for the second game running to give his side the lead after 62 minutes.
But substitute Bobby Decordova-Reid equalised for the Foxes 13 minutes later, with the visitors then going on to secure only their second win in 11 matches when James got on the end of a fine Abdul Fatawu cross – with the goal leaving Liam Manning's side still marooned in the bottom three with almost a third of the season completed.
Struggling Sheffield United had a frustrating afternoon in front of goal as they were held to a 0-0 draw by QPR at Bramall Lane.
Middlesbrough put talk of head coach Rob Edwards joining Wolves to one side by beating Birmingham 2-1 at the Riverside Stadium.
The Boro fans made their feelings known about Edwards' pending Molineux switch throughout the 90 minutes, while the players on the pitch did what was required to move back into the Championship’s top two.
Even though Teessider Dael Fry’s 17th-minute volley was cancelled out by Demarai Gray’s close-range strike 12 minutes later, Middlesbrough found a way to respond with a winner.
Hayden Hackney cleverly flicked Aidan Morris’ long-range effort into the net in the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time as Boro’s stand-in management team of Adi Viveash, Harry Watling and Craig Liddle oversaw an important victory.
