Birmingham have surged top of the top while Preston and Cardiff both dropped points.
Birmingham have surged top of the top of the Championship, Preston were stunned by Luton while Colchester held Cardiff.Steve Bruce's side have moved two points clear at the summit of the table following a 3-0 victory over slumping Plymouth.
All the goals arrived in the first half with Nicklas Bendtner, Matthew Upson and Gary McSheffrey securing the points for Blues.
Cardiff City have hit a rut of late and that continued after being held to a goalless draw against Colchester at Ninian Park.
The result of the day came at Kenilworth Road as Luton Town snapped their losing streak with a 2-0 success over Preston.
The Lilywhites are challenging for promotion, although they picked up nothing on Saturday thanks to first-half goals from Rowan Vine and Carlos Edwards.
Stoke City have slipped out of the play-off positions after being held to a goalless draw against Coventry at The Ricoh Arena.
West Brom left it late before securing a 1-0 win over in-form Derby thanks to John Hartson's last-gasp winner.
Sunderland also were level with Norwich for long periods before Daryl Murphy snatched the points with a 76th minute decider.
Southend's struggles continued after slumping to a 1-0 home loss to Wolves. Jody Craddock's header on the hour mark settled the contest.
Crystal Palace find themselves moving in the right direction after securing a 3-0 London derby win over QPR.
Shefki Kuqi fired The Eagles two-up following Dougie Freedman's opener just 13 minutes into the Selhurst Park encounter.
Clinton Morrison wrapped up the points for Peter Taylor's men in the closing stages.
Ipswich salvaged a late draw at home to Burnley thanks to Alan Lee's penalty when Kyle Lafferty looked to have won the match moments earlier.
Hull battled back from two-down against Southampton before slipping to a 4-2 loss at The KC Stadium.
Grzegorz Rasiak's 12th of the season and a Gareth Bale free-kick had the visitors in control before The Tigers levelled matters on the stoke of half-time.
Nick Barmby reduced the arrears with Craig Fagan sending the sides level at the break after capitalising on a poor back pass.
However, The Saints shrugged off surrendering a two-goal lead with further efforts from Rasiak and Bradley Wright-Phillips sealing the win.
Sheffield Wednesday ran riot at lowly Leicester with a 4-1 success over the 10 men at The Walkers Stadium.
Chris Brunt's controversial penalty put The Owls in front before Patrick McCarthy received his marching orders for collecting two yellow cards.
Brunt's second looked to have sealed the points, although Stephen Hughes responded for the 10 men.
However, two long-range efforts from Glenn Whelan and Marcus Tudgay secured the three points for Brian Laws' side.
Barnsley stay out of the Championship's bottom three after a 2-2 draw at Yorkshire rivals Leeds United.
Daniel Nardiello's early opener stunned The Whites although Tresor Kandol's first goal for the club brought Leeds level.
Nardiello restored Barnsley's advantage for a second time, however, Ugo Ehiogu's effort secured a share of the spoils.
Click below for match summaries:
Birmingham City 3-0 Plymouth Arygle
Cardiff City 0-0 Colchester United
Coventry City 0-0 Stoke City
Crystal Palace 3-0 Queens Park Rangers
Hull City 2-4 Southampton
Ipswich Town 1-1 Burnley
Leeds United 2-2 Barnsley
Leicester City 1-4 Sheffield Wednesday
Luton Town 2-0 Preston North End
Southend United 0-1 Wolves
Sunderland 1-0 Norwich City
West Bromwich Albion 1-0 Derby County
