West Brom lost ground on the Championship leaders Bournemouth as Jamie Paterson’s superb strike secured Swansea a 2-1 comeback win.
Karlan Grant’s goal after just 52 seconds gave the visitors a deserved 1-0 half-time lead, but Swansea were the better side after the break. The in-form striker Joel Piroe’s eighth goal in all competitions brought them level and then set up Paterson who finished with aplomb.
Fulham climbed above West Brom into second place in the table after a 2-0 home win against Cardiff. The substitute Tom Cairney marked his return after a 10-month absence with the goal that set the hosts on course for victory at Craven Cottage and increased the pressure on the Cardiff manager, Mick McCarthy.
Cairney appeared as a half-time replacement for his first appearance since December and took just 12 minutes to fire them in front. Aleksandar Mitrovic added the second in the 63rd minute for his 13th league goal of the season as Marco Silva’s side stepped up their early promotion challenge.
Coventry stay fourth despite losing 2-1 at home against Preston. Tyler Walker put Coventry ahead but goals after the break from Patrick Bauer and Emil Riis Jakobsen turned the game on its head.
Goals from Andraz Sporar and Matt Crooks maintained Middlesbrough’s march up the table as Neil Warnock’s team won 2-0 against Barnsley at the Riverside.
Reading slipped out of the play-off places after squandering a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 against Blackpool. Scott Dann and Tom Dele-Bashiru scored to put Reading in control heading into half-time but second-half strikes from Owen Dale and Jerry Yates, his second goal coming from the penalty spot with five minutes remaining, sealed a stirring victory for Blackpool.
In the big game towards the bottom end of the table, Peterborough won 2-1 at Hull. Jack Taylor and Josh Magennis scored late in the first half and, after Magennis had blazed a penalty over the crossbar after 66 minutes, Siriki Dembele won it for Peterborough shortly afterwards.
Huddersfield and Birmingham shared the points in the only goalless game of the night although that was enough to move Town up to sixth in the table.