Wolverhampton Wanderers have leapfrogged Leyton Orient at the top of League One after Kenny Jackett's men cruised to a 2-0 victory over Tranmere Rovers at Molineux tonight.
Wolves, whose 0-0 draw with Brentford on Saturday allowed Orient to move back into top spot, secured the points within the opening 45 minutes, as an error from goalkeeper Owain Fon Williams helped the hosts take the lead through Leigh Griffiths on 23 minutes.
David Edwards added a second three minutes before half time to ensure that the West Midlands outfit capitalised on Orient's 2-2 draw with Bristol City at Ashton Gate to move back to the summit of England's third tier.
Russell Slade's men were twice pegged back in their pursuit of the three points. Sam Baldock cancelled out David Mooney's first-half strike, before Dean Cox saw his 73rd-minute strike negated by an own goal from defender Scott Cuthbert as the Robins earned a valuable point in their fight for survival.
Elsewhere, 10-man Preston North End defied their numerical disadvantage and registered a 2-0 victory away to Port Vale during a feisty affair in Staffordshire.
Joe Garner struck in either half to propel Simon Grayson's men to third in League One, despite being forced to play with 10 men for the majority of the contest.
Neil Kilkenny was given his marching orders on 12 minutes for an off-the-ball incident with midfielder Anthony Griffith, with eight other players booked throughout the course of the game.
The Lilywhites move ahead of Brentford on goal difference, as the Bees scored twice in the final 10 minutes to record a 3-2 victory at home to Peterborough United.
Posh hit a quick-fire brace on the hour mark through Jack Payne and Britt Assombalonga to cancel out Gabriel Zakuani's earlier own goal.
However, Uwe Rosler's side rallied and hit an 81st-minute equaliser from George Saville, before Clayton Donaldson pounced to steal the points three minutes from full time.
Consequently Darren Ferguson's men sustain a crushing blow in their bid for automatic promotion, with the East Anglians sitting fifth in the standings and 10 points adrift of second-placed Leyton Orient.
Coventry City slumped to back-to-back defeats, with Rotherham United emerging as comfortable 3-0 winners at Sixfields tonight.
The Sky Blues, who went down 5-1 to Tranmere at the weekend, failed to bounce back from the loss as Steven Pressley's charges went down to second-half goals from Nouha Dicko, Alex Revell and a Kieran Agard penalty.
Meanwhile, Notts County remain at the foot of the table after being held to a 1-1 draw with Bradford City at Valley Parade.
Gary Liddle fired the Magpies into a 1-0 lead at the break, but Shaun Derry's men failed to hang on to their advantage as Mark Yeates equalised 20 minutes from time.
Gillingham bounced back from defeats to Oldham Athletic and Brackley Town in the FA Cup to edge past Stevenage 3-2 at the Priestfield Stadium.
Danny Kedwell and Donervon Daniels hit second-half strikes to cancel out Simon Heslop's opening goal, before Francois Zoko equalised for Boro.
However, John Mousinho struck in the final 15 minutes to earn Martin Allen's victory.
Results in full: Bradford City 1-1 Notts County, Brentford 3-2 Peterborough United, Bristol City 2-2 Leyton Orient, Carlisle United 2-1 Crewe Alexandra, Colchester United 3-1 MK Dons, Coventry City 0-3 Rotherham United, Crawley Town 0-0 Swindon Town, Gillingham 3-2 Stevenage, Port Vale 0-2 Preston North End, Sheffield United 1-1 Walsall, Shrewsbury Town 1-2 Oldham Athletic, Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 Tranmere Rovers
Shane Callaghan
