Newcastle 6 Barnsley 1
QPR 3 West Brom 1
Nottm Forest 1 Swansea 0
Sheff Wed 2 Leicester 0
Cardiff 1 Middlesbrough 0
C Palace 1 Sheff Utd 0
Blackpool 1 Ipswich 0
Peterborough 0 Coventry 1
Bristol C 2 Doncaster 5
Plymouth 1 Preston 1
Derby 2 Watford 0
Nottingham Forest moved into second place after an injury-time header from recalled defender Luke Chambers gave them a 1-0 win over Swansea at the City Ground.
It gave Billy Davies' side a 10th successive home league win but Swansea, who remain fourth, felt they were denied a penalty after Darren Pratley had his heels clipped by Chris Cohen.
QPR's new manager Neil Warnock got off to an impressive winning start at Loftus Road as Rangers beat promotion-chasing West Brom 3-1.
Warnock, who quit Crystal Palace to join the Hoops this week, looked on as goals from Jay Simpson, Matt Connolly and Akos Buzsaky secured only their second win in 12 matches.
Chris Brunt pulled one back for Albion but they fell to a costly defeat, which leaves them nine points behind Newcastle at the top.
Jay Bothroyd scored his eighth league goal of the season for Cardiff to give them a 1-0 win over play-off rivals Middlesbrough in what was manager Dave Jones' 100th game in charge of the Bluebirds.
Leon Clarke gave Sheffield Wednesday's survival chances a huge lift with a goal in each half in a 2-0 win over play-off hopefuls Leicester.
Clarke lashed home the opening goal from 20 yards in the sixth minute and steered home his fifth of the season just after the hour to halt a run of three straight defeats for Wednesday and inflict Leicester's first defeat since January 26.
Jason Euell scored his first goal since October as Blackpool beat Ipswich 1-0 at Bloomfield Road to boost their play-off bid and increase Town's relegation fears.
The former Charlton man struck in the 54th minute with his fourth of the season as the Seasiders claimed their third home win in succession.
Coventry closed in on the play-off places with a 1-0 win over bottom club Peterborough.
Jon Stead ran through to score the second goal of his loan spell from Ipswich as new Posh boss Jim Gannon lost his winning touch at London Road.
Posh are now 13 points adrift of safety with only 12 games remaining and their brief flirtation with second-tier football looks to be coming to an end.
Crystal Palace boosted their survival hopes with a deserved 1-0 victory over Sheffield United in Paul Hart's first game in charge at Selhurst Park.
Hart was appointed as the Eagles' new boss this week following Warnock's switch to QPR and the former Portsmouth manager saw his reign get off to the best possible start as Alan Lee grabbed the only gol of the game midway through the first half.
Michael Tonge's first goal since August 2007 paved the way for Derby to secure a 2-0 win over Watford at Pride Park.
Tonge opened the scoring early on and Chris Porter doubled his side's lead after 77 minutes as the Rams completed a domestic double over a Watford side now without an away win since October.
Arsenal loanee Jay Emmanuel-Thomas starred for Doncaster as they eased to a fine 5-2 victory over Bristol City at Ashton Gate.
Emmanuel-Thomas was on the scoresheet twice, as was Billy Sharp, for the visitors while Bradley Orr scored the City goals before rounding off the scoring with an own goal.
Plymouth fell further adrift in their battle for survival despite coming from behind to grab a 1-1 draw against Preston.
Sean St Ledger gave Preston the lead in a first half dominated by the visitors but Paul Mariner's men were rewarded when Damien Johnson equalised from the penalty spot after the interval.