Barnsley 2 Watford 1

Attendance 11,285

It was fate that Barnsley would seal victory against Watford at Oakwell, according to Simon Davey, the home team’s manager. Tommy Smith had given Watford the lead before Miguel Mostto and Stephen Foster secured the points. “It’s been a hard, trying week for everyone at the club and it’s fitting that we won,” said Davey, who revealed that Iain Hume is making progress after suffering a fractured skull in a clash with Chris Morgan, the Sheffield United defender, nine days ago. “Iain is walking around and he’s back to his chirpy self.”

Malky Mackay, the Watford caretaker manager, put the defeat of his side down to a mad five minutes after they surrendered the lead. “We’re disappointed because we played some good stuff, but we lacked a bit of nous,” he said.

Birmingham City 3 Charlton Athletic 2

Attendance 20,071

Two mistakes from Nicky Weaver, the Charlton Athletic goalkeeper, cost his side victory at St Andrew’s. Alan Pardew’s team led 2-1 through goals from Hameur Bouazza and Andy Gray, but a slip from Weaver allowed Kevin Phillips to head home on his 500th career appearance. Weaver then spilt a shot from Nigel Quashie, allowing Franck Queudrue to bundle in the winner. “An uncharacteristic mistake gave them a lift and then another one straight away gave them the win. Those two errors have cost us the points,” Pardew, the Charlton manager, said.

Alex McLeish, the Birmingham City manager, hailed the predatory prowess of Phillips, who has won eight England caps, after the forward’s strike. “That’s the greatness of Kevin,” he said. “A lot of forwards wouldn’t have followed it in because it looked like a dolly of a catch for the keeper, but that is his instinct.”

Bristol City 2 Nottingham Forest 2

Attendance 17,440

Michael McIndoe’s injury-time miss from the spot has cost him his job as Bristol City’s penalty-taker. The winger saw his weak effort saved by Lee Camp, the Nottingham Forest goalkeeper, having also failed from the spot in the previous game away to Southampton. “I never allow players to take another penalty after they have missed twice in succession. It’s too much pressure,” Gary Johnson, the City manager, said.

Nathan Tyson made one goal for Joe Garner and scored himself after a mistake by Cole Skuse, a substitute. Marvin Elliott scored a superb equaliser before a bobbling shot by Liam Fontaine restored parity once more.

Colin Calderwood, the Forest manager, said that it would have been a “travesty” had his side gone away empty-handed. “It would have been a total injustice had City scored from the late penalty,” he said.

Cardiff City 2 Crystal Palace 1

Attendance 17,478

The return of Michael Chopra inspired Cardiff City but it was his strike partner, Eddie Johnson, who earned his manager`s praise. Chopra, signed on loan from Sunderland, scored a penalty to give Cardiff the lead but Crystal Palace were level six minutes later through Sean Scannell’s goal. A superb angled strike from Joe Ledley early in the second half settled the game.

Dave Jones, the Cardiff manager, said: “Eddie Johnson led the line superbly. He won a lot of balls in the air, made good runs and brought others into the play.” The impressive Johnson was brought down in injury time by Matt Lawrence, who was sent off, but Chopra’s second penalty was pushed away by Darryl Flahavan. “Referees should be educated in the game by former players as it is not all about the laws,” Neil Warnock, the Crystal Palace manager, said.

Coventry City 0 Plymouth Argyle 1

Attendance 18,528

Craig Noone’s trickery and winning goal went unnoticed by Paul Sturrock, the Plymouth Argyle manager. Sturrock said that he did not see Noone’s goal because people were blocking his field of vision, which is seated while he nurses a recent operation on an ingrown toenail. Noone, a substitute, struck late on after his footwork fooled Isaac Osbourne out wide, allowing him to break into the area and coolly go round Keiren Westwood. He could have scored again in injury time after Westwood went up for a corner, but the 20-year-old missed an open goal from 20 yards out.

Coventry City have won just three of their past 15 league matches and Chris Coleman, their manager, said. “If we got a 0-0 draw, you might say that is something we can build on. But the only way we are going to build our confidence is by winning games.”

Derby County 3 Sheffield Wednesday 0

Attendance 30,111

Confident prematch comments from Brian Laws, the Sheffield Wednesday manager, acted as a spur for Derby County at Pride Park, according to Paul Jewell, his opposite number. Laws had talked up his team’s chances of victory, but the players failed to justify his confidence as they crashed to a sixth away defeat in the league. “Brian said that he had seen our last two home games and that [Wednesday] had a good chance to beat us,” Jewell said. “That fired us up and I thought we were by far the better side.”

Laws kept his players in the dressing-room for an hour at the end of the match to pick over another dispiriting away display. “We seem to be, psychologically, a different team away from home,” Laws, whose side have won five of their eight home league games, said. “We are resilient at home but we concede a bucketful of goals away. We must sort it.”

Doncaster Rovers 1 Ipswich Town 0

Attendance 10,823

Doncaster Rovers scored their first home goal since August and it was enough to hand them three vital points. Shelton Martis, the on-loan defender, headed the decisive goal to move Sean O’Driscoll’s bottom-placed side level on points with Nottingham Forest.

“I think I’m going to have to wear this jacket, shirt and pants every game now,” the Doncaster manager said. In praise of his match-winner, he added: “He’s got pace and attacks the ball well. In his two games we’ve kept two clean sheets. He’s done very well for us.”

Jim Magilton, the Ipswich Town manager, admitted that his side had put in an off-key performance at the Keepmoat Stadium. “It’s a poor defeat because the last seven or eight games we’ve been very good. Four or five players were below par. We lacked a little bit of know-how and quality in vital areas,” he said.

Norwich City 2 Swansea City 3

Attendance 24,262

Roberto Martinez, the Swansea City manager, refused to get carried away after an excellent victory at Carrow Road. The Welsh side scored three times in five minutes either side of half-time through Jason Scotland, Darren Pratley and Ferrie Bodde. Martinez was delighted with his team’s response after they had gone behind to Arturo Lupoli’s 28th-minute strike. “Everyone must have a dream and ours is to play in the Premier League, but it could take us five years or even ten years to achieve,” Martinez said. “We still have to prove that we can compete week in, week out at this level.”

An own goal from Angel Rangel gave Norwich City hope but they were unable to complete a comeback despite almost constant pressure. “I should be sitting here talking about a Norwich victory,” Glenn Roeder, the home team’s manager, said.

Queens Park Rangers 1 Burnley 2

Attendance 13,226

Burnley came from behind to win in West London for the second time in four days. Owen Coyle’s side arrived at Loftus Road buoyed by Wednesday night’s famous Carling Cup penalty shoot-out win around the corner at Stamford Bridge and proved that performance was no fluke with goals from Robbie Blake and a superb winner from Alan Mahon, a substitute, after Dexter Blackstock had given Queens Park Rangers an early lead. “I didn’t want it to be a case of after the Lord Mayor’s show – it would have left a sour taste in my mouth if we had not won after the performance at Chelsea,” the Burnley manager said.

Gareth Ainsworth, the caretaker manager at Loftus Road, was left to rue a couple of possible penalty decisions that went against his side. He said: “The penalty changes the game, and I said that to the referee at the end.”

Sheffield United 0 Reading 2

Attendance 25,065

Steve Coppell, the Reading manager, reserved special praise for Kevin Doyle after the Ireland international striker had inspired his side to victory at Bramall Lane. Doyle was a thorn in the side of the Sheffield United defence, particularly in the first half, setting up the opening goal for Kalifa Cissé with a low cross and heading home his fifth goal in three games to double Reading’s lead.

“Kevin is an excellent player and it is the responsibility of good players to produce,” Coppell said. “Sometimes a player does not develop but I would like to think that Kevin can accept that responsibility and is thriving on the situation.”

Kevin Blackwell, the Sheffield United manager, admitted that his side were always up against it after conceding so early. He said: “We didn’t start bright enough. We showed too much respect to Reading.”

Southampton 1 Wolverhampton Wanderers 2

Attendance 17,812

Lee Mason incurred the wrath of Jan Poortvliet, the Southampton manager, after the referee sent off Jason Euell at St Mary’s. The home side were forced to play for 50 minutes with ten men after the midfield player was shown a red card for a late lunge on Richard Stearman, the Wolverhampton Wanderers defender. “The referee is the man in charge and you have to deal with it, but I did not like some of his decisions,” Poortvliet said.

Wolves had not won away to Southampton in 28 years but ended that record with two goals inside the opening 17 minutes through Chris Iwelumo and David Jones. Alex Pearce headed Southampton’s reply. Mick McCarthy, the Wolves manager, had mixed emotions despite his side maintaining their six-point lead at the top of the table. “I don’t know whether we’re worthy winners or whether we got out of jail,” he said.