Ireland international Jimmy Dunne was on the mark as QPR struck at the death to defeat Birmingham City 2-1.
Substitute Kieran Morgan struck with the last kick of the match to fire the Londoners up to sixth.
Blues thought they had secured a point when Patrick Roberts cancelled out the QPR captain's first-half header in the third minute of stoppage time.
The opening goal came on 40 minutes after Birmingham only half-cleared a corner.
Koki Saito swung the ball back towards the far post where Dunne rose to powerfully head his second goal of the season past Beadle.
The Dundalk native had scored a last-minute, 30-yard screamer to win the match the last time these sides met at Loftus Road, two seasons ago. This one was about 29 yards closer.
Daniel Jebbison's late goal reduced Coventry's lead at the top to five points after a resilient 10-man Preston team frustrated the league leaders in a 1-1 draw.
Jebbison seriously dashed Coventry's advantage with his prodded finish 14 minutes from time.
Until the Canadian's equaliser, Coventry were in complete control, with the help of Liam Lindsay's red card for dragging back Haji Wright, and took the lead after Andrew Hughes' deflected a shot into his own net.
Middlesbrough maintained their 100% record under new head coach Kim Hellberg with an impressive 2-1 victory at Charlton.
Riley McGree and Morgan Whittaker (above) scored during a dominant first half for the visitors at the Valley.
George Edmundson's own goal halved the deficit in the closing stages, but second-placed Boro held on to make it three straight wins under the Swede as they closed the gap to leaders Coventry.
Substitute Vivaldo Semedo's equaliser in the seventh minute of stoppage time for Watford denied Sheffield Wednesday a second Championship win of the season.
Charlie McNeill's third goal in two games appeared to have handed rock-bottom Wednesday a rare bit of cheer in a difficult campaign.
But just when wasteful Watford, who missed a penalty through skipper Imran Louza, seemed to have run out of ideas, Semedo squeezed a volley from Mamadou Doumbia's cross under goalkeeper Pierce Charles to salvage a point.
Tonda Eckert continued his impressive start as Southampton manager with a sixth victory in seven games as the Saints held off a West Brom fightback to win 3-2 at St Mary's.
Championship top scorer Adam Armstrong scored twice before half-time to take his tally to 11 after Leo Scienza set the hosts on their way with an early goal.
The Baggies put up a second-half fight through goals from Karlan Grant and Nathaniel Phillips and went close to a late leveller but have now lost their last seven away games.
Valerien Ismael felt it was two points dropped rather than one gained even as his Blackburn side came from behind in a 1-1 draw at home to fellow strugglers Oxford.
Rovers needed a 78th-minute penalty from captain Todd Cantwell, a half-time substitute, to get level after Ciaron Brown had put Oxford ahead in first-half stoppage time, but Blackburn played the more positive football without being able to test visiting goalkeeper Jamie Cumming often enough.
It leaves Rovers still with only one win at home, and six points from 10 points at Ewood Park, all season.
Swansea earned their second win in four days to ease their relegation concerns thanks to substitute Liam Cullen's strike to seal a 1-0 win over Portsmouth.
The Wales international swept home a superb effort from 20 yards in the 78th minute for the only goal of a tight content between two clubs who have been in poor recent form.
But following Swansea's victory over Oxford last weekend, it means new boss Vitor Matos has delivered back-to-back league victories for the first time since April.
The win has lifted Swansea six points clear of the relegation zone but Pompey remain in the bottom three and have won just once in their last 10 matches.
Sheffield United's four-match winning run came to an end as they were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Norwich.
The hosts - whose starting line-up featured eight changes from the weekend due to "illness and injuries" - took the lead early in the second half with a goal from Danny Ings.
Norwich, though, hit back to equalise with Djibril Soumare scoring an own goal.
Additional reporting: PA
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