Wolves, Birmingham and Reading falter
Swansea moved into the fourth and final play-off spot with a 1-0 win over Plymouth thanks to Jason Scotland's penalty.
The Welsh side hold the prized position on goal difference from Bristol City, who defeated Coventry 2-0 at home, and Preston, who were held 1-1 by Sheffield Wednesday at Deepdale.
Watford moved eight points clear of the relegation zone with a priceless 2-1 win over fellow strugglers Nottingham Forest at Vicarage Road.
The hosts took the lead after five minutes through Grzegorz Rasiak's header, Matt Thornhill equalised for Forest after 17 minutes and Tamas Priskin wrapped up the points two minutes before the break.
It was the Hornets' fifth win in six games, while Billy Davies' Forest are left hovering precariously in 19th place, just two points above the drop zone.
Elsewhere, Doncaster increased the pressure on QPR manager Paulo Sousa, beating the Hoops 2-0 at the Keepmoat Stadium.
With League One leaders Leicester playing tomorrow, second-placed Peterborough closed the gap at the top to nine points, recovering from going a goal down in the first half to beat Scunthorpe 2-1.
Third-placed MK Dons posted a 1-1 draw at home to Huddersfield . Millwall drew level on points with the Dons by beating Northampton 1-0 at home while Leeds moved up to fifth with a 4-0 win over Yeovil which featured a Jermaine Beckford hat-trick.
In League Two, leaders Brentford returned to winning ways, with an early Marcus Bean strike enough to overcome Barnet 1-0.
The result put the Bees seven points clear of second-placed Wycombe, who slumped to defeat at Lincoln and are now only a point clear of Rochdale, who moved back into third with a 3-0 win over Bradford.
At the bottom, Bournemouth continued their remarkable bid for survival after starting the season on minus 17 points, moving two places and two points clear of the relegation zone with a 3-1 win at promotion-chasing Exeter.
