Jaden Philogene's penalty fired Ipswich back up to second in the Sky Bet Championship as Kieran McKenna’s promotion chasers came from behind to beat Charlton 2-1.
The Tractor Boys, for whom Republic of Ireland internationals Dara O'Shea, Kasey McAteer and Jack Taylor all started, are back above Millwall on goal difference and with a game in hand, as they close in on a return to the Premier League a year after they were relegated.
In the first of three pivotal away games in six days, they started badly, falling behind to a Greg Docherty goal inside the first minute.
But they hit back through a superb Darnell Furlong strike and a Philogene penalty to keep their automatic promotion bid firmly in their own hands.
Morgan Whittaker’s 12th goal of the season cemented Middlesbrough’s place in the play-offs as they edged past Sheffield Wednesday to end their eight-game wait for a victory.
Kim Hellberg’s men closed to within three points of the automatic promotion places courtesy of a prosaic 1-0 win over already relegated Wednesday at the Riverside Stadium, but more importantly went six clear of seventh-placed Hull with just two games to play.
Perhaps fittingly on a night when they dominated, but were once again unable to kill the game off, Whittaker’s 11th-minute winner was served up on a plate by defender Gabriel Otegbayo.
Alan Browne played the full 90 minutes in midfield for the hosts.
Blackburn guaranteed their survival thanks to Japanese pair Yuki Ohashi and Ryoya Morishita in a 3-1 win at Sheffield United, where Republic of Ireland's Tom Cannon started for the home side.
Rovers needed victory to seal safety in their penultimate game of the season and Ohashi struck twice either side of Morishita’s effort as Blackburn stormed into a 3-0 half-time lead.
Blades boss Chris Wilder responded to his side’s abject first-half display by making four substitutions during the interval and Harrison Burrows pulled one back early in the second half.
But although Rovers came under sustained pressure, their defence held firm to lift them eight points clear of the drop zone with their relegation rivals having two games to play.
Matchwinner Ibrahim Osman had a night of mixed emotions as Birmingham climbed into the top 10 with a 2-1 win over Preston at St Andrew’s.
On-loan Brighton winger Osman made the first goal for Jay Stansfield and scored the second himself before going off injured, all before half-time.
Andrew Hughes halved the deficit for Preston on 25 minutes, who created several chances in the second half, while Carlos Vicente hit the post for Blues.
Andrew Moran and Robbie Brady were second-half substitutes for Preston.
Listen to the RTÉ Soccer podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.
Watch Arsenal v Lyon in the UEFA Women's Champions League on Sunday from 3pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player
