Stern John and Jason Euell fired Southampton out of the relegation zone with a 2-0 win over Championship leaders Bristol City, who blew the chance to move four points clear.

Saints' top scorer John struck with his 17th goal of the season and Euell grabbed the killer second late on to lift some of the gloom at St Mary's.

John missed a good chance for a brace while Saints also had a penalty appeal rejected when Bradley Orr appeared to handle in the box.

Watford got their Championship promotion push back on track as goals from Nathan Ellington and Tommy Smith gave them a hard-fought win over Coventry.

Ellington had the Hornets in front after just six minutes when he fired in from inside the box, but Leon Best headed Coventry level just before the hour mark.

Coventry had looked likely to grab a winner, but a defensive mistake from former Watford man Stephen Hughes allowed Smith to score 11 minutes from time and give Watford their first win in nine games.

Two goals from Leroy Lita kept Charlton's hopes of reaching the play-offs alive as the 10-man Addicks saw off Plymouth with a 2-1 win on the coast.

Charlton played the majority of the match a man down after goalkeeper Nicky Weaver was sent off in the second minute for deliberate handball.

Jermaine Easter actually put the hosts ahead on the hour mark before Lita, on-loan from Reading, grabbed a quickfire double to seal a vital win for the Addicks.

QPR staged a remarkable late comeback with two last-minute goals to deny in-form Preston a sixth win from their last seven Championship outings.

Neil Mellor's 37th-minute strike was added to by on-loan Watford striker Tamas Priskin shortly after the hour mark to put North End in total control.

However, former Preston winger Gareth Ainsworth lobbed home in the 90th minute and then crossed for Dexter Blackstock to head a late equaliser.

Veteran Norwich striker Dion Dublin and Ched Evans were on target as Burnley's slim play-off hopes in the Championship suffered a major setback in a 2-0 defeat at Carrow Road.

Dublin turned back the clock to turn in a commanding display as his close-range finish with barely 60 seconds gone paved the way to a comfortable victory which was confirmed when substitute Evans scored in the last minute.

Canaries goalkeeper David Marshall was also in fine form as he superbly denied Joey Gudjonsson late in the first half and also thwarted Kyle Lafferty towards the end of the game.

Scott Vernon struck twice as Colchester clung onto their Championship status for another week and dealt a blow to Ipswich's play-off hopes with a 2-0 home win.

The Us forward struck in each half at Layer Road to notch his sixth and seventh goals of the season to end a run of 10 games without a victory.

Vernon fired into the bottom corner from 12 yards after 29 minutes to opening the scoring and wrapped up the points 17 minutes from time with another assured finish.

A seven-minute hat-trick from Sheffield United striker James Beattie cut Leicester apart and effectively ended the Championship contest inside the first 20 minutes.

Beattie benefited from a fortunate rebound for his first goal, a questionable piece of goalkeeping for the second, and slack marking for the third.

Leicester chose five defenders in the absence of the ineligible Lee Hendrie, on loan from United, but they had few answers to former England striker Beattie, who has now scored 19 of the Blades' 46 league goals this season.

Scunthorpe and Sheffield Wednesday both remain in serious relegation trouble after they played out an entertaining 1-1 Championship draw at Glanford Park earlier in the day.

Ian Morris had opened the scoring for the home side with a wonder goal in the first half, before Ben Sahar levelled for Brian Laws' team just after the interval.

Laws, a former Scunthorpe player and manager, will no doubt see this as a missed opportunity for his side to pull clear of the danger zone on his first return to Glanford Park after a decade with the Iron.

The Owls now face Sheffield United on Tuesday night and could be back in the drop zone by then despite a fifth straight draw whilst Scunthorpe will need to win at least three of their remaining four games if they are to avoid the drop.

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