Burnley retained their position at the Championship summit as England’s second-tier broke up for a mid-season break.
Ashley Barnes’ second-half brace and Anass Zaroury’s goal saw Burnley thrash East Lancashire rivals, Blackburn 3-0 to stay top, whilst Rovers slipped to third in the table.
George Baldock’s smash-and-grab 64th minute winner saw Sheffield Utd defeat Cardiff in Wales to climb to second.
Second-half goals from Riley McGree and Matt Crooks saw Middlesbrough come from behind to defeat play-off challengers, Norwich 2-1 at Carrow Road after the Canaries had led through Josh Sargent’s opener just days after the Amerian was named in USA’s World Cup squad.
Watford consequently benefitted from Norwich’s loss to climb to fourth with a goalless draw at Bristol City, which meant that the Hornets sat just one point above Dean Smith’s Canaries in fifth position.
Zian Flemming’s hat-trick and Charlie Cresswell’s header saw Millwall round out the play-off spots in sixth following a 4-2 victory at Preston North End, after Flemming’s opening two goals had been cancelled out by Andrew Hughes and Ched Evans in a thriller.
Down in the relegation zone, Huddersfield remain rock-bottom despite having held Swansea to a goalless draw in Yorkshire.
Blackpool slipped into the relegation zone and sit second-bottom following a 2-1 defeat at Wigan who leapfrogged the ten-men Tangerines to go third-bottom, with second-half goals from James McClean and Curtis Tilt to overturn Gary Madine’s opener following Marvin Ekpiteta’s red card.
West Brom climbed out of the relegation zone with a 2-0 home win over Stoke City, as Kyle Bartley and Brandon Thomas-Asante both found the net for the Baggies.
Elsewhere, Amad Diallo provided an assist for Ellis Simms then curled in a goal of his own to secure Sunderland a 2-1 victory away at Birmingham City in Friday Night Football, despite the hosts netting a consolatory goal through Lukas Jutkiewicz.
Viktor Gyokeres’ brace saw Coventry defeat QPR 2-0 to extend their winning run to four matches.
Ryan Longman’s injury-time own goal saw Reading come from behind to defeat Hull away on Humberside, after Yakou Meite cancelled out Jacob Greaves’ ninth-minute headed opener.
Luke Berry’s late strike cancelled out Jamie Lindsay’s first-minute opening strike as Luton fought back to hold Rotherham to a 1-1 draw, in their first match since Nathan Jones departed to take up the managerial position at Southampton.
The Sky Bet Championship will now take a three-week break to make way for the Group and Round of 16 stages in 2022 FIFA World Cup, before returning on Saturday 3rd December as Sunderland host Millwall in a rearranged clash, with full fixture lists resuming a week later.