A penalty save by Wes Foderingham has proved crucial as Sheffield United beat Coventry 3-1 to draw level with Burnley at the top of the Championship.

Making the day even better for the Blades was that the teams who started the day in third, fourth and fifth, as Zak Gilsenan's Blackburn, Aidan Coyne's Watford and Norwich, all lost. 

Elsewhere Chuba Akpom scored a hat-trick as Massimo Luongo and Riley McGree's Middlesbrough beat Wigan 4-1, Nikolas Bilokapic's relegation-threatened Huddersfield gained a surprise 2-1 win at Preston, and Tom Rogic's West Bromwich Albion won 2-0 at Bristol City.

WBA's Tom Rogic was a 64th-minute sub, and set up Brandon Thomas-Asante's sealer 11 minutes later, but fellow Socceroos Riley McGree at Middlesbrough and Bailey Wright at Sunderland stayed on the bench.

Compatriot Harry Souttar played a full game as Stoke drew 2-2 at Rotherham, while Hull and Blackpool (1-1) and Cardiff and QPR (0-0) also shared the points.

United led after 35 minutes at Bramall Lane through James McAtee following a flowing counter-attack but conceded a penalty four minutes after the break.

Foderingham guessed correctly to catch Viktor Gyokeres' penalty and a few minutes later Ciaran Clark headed United two-up.

Tom Doyle came off the bench to provide breathing space with a third, which United were grateful for as Gyokeres cut the deficit for City, then Blades' John Egan was sent off.

"We still needed that big moment from Wes. I thought from that moment on, we took over. It gave everyone energy," Blades boss Paul Heckingbottom said.

There are now eight points between Burnley - who host Birmingham on Tuesday - and Sheffield United, and third-placed Blackburn who were beaten by an added-time winner at Sunderland, rolled in by Ellis Simms.

That came after Ross Stewart, starting for the first time since September, scored at both ends, a 22nd-minute penalty cancelling out his 18th-minute own goal.

Watford lost 2-0 at home to Millwall, Andreas Voglsammer and Zian Flemming scoring either side of the Hornets' being reduced to ten by the dismissal of Hassane Kamara in the 38th minute.

Norwich remain fifth after conceding in the 90th minute to go down 2-1 at 10-man Luton.

Teemu Pukki cancelled out Allan Campbell's second-half opener before substitute Cauley Woodrow netted after Gabriel Osho was marched for his second yellow card.