Carabao Cup heroes Bristol City were back to the grind of the Championship on Saturday and came away from QPR with a point.
Three days after beating Manchester United to make the last four of the cup, Lee Johnson’s men fell 1-0 behind when Aden Flint put through his own net.
But Bobby Reid levelled from the spot to keep City in the thick of an automatic promotion hunt being comprehensively led by Wolves.
The Molineux club continue to march towards the Premier League without so much as a thought, seeing off Ipswich 1-0.
Ivan Cavaleiro scored before the break and Wolves are seven points clear of second-placed Cardiff, who lost 2-0 at Bolton thanks to Gary Madine's 75th-minute penalty and Josh Vela's goal.
Derby are making a serious push for the top two and three goals in the space of five first-half minutes helped them beat Millwall 3-0.
David Nugent scored two of them and Matej Vydra the other – his 14th of the season. They sit third, three points behind Cardiff.
Leeds will spend Christmas Day in the playoff places after they beat Hull 1-0 thanks to Pablo Hernandez, who cashed in on a horrible error from City goalkeeper Allan McGregor.
Two under-fire managers went head-to-head at Hillsborough and it was Garry Monk's Middlesbrough who came from behind to beat Carlos Carvalhal's Sheffield Wednesday 2-1.
Ross Wallace put Wednesday ahead and when Grant Leadbitter missed a spot-kick it looked like being the home side's day. But Jonny Howson scored almost immediately after the penalty miss and then Ryan Shotton won it.
Sheyi Ojo earned Fulham a 2-1 win over Barnsley after Floyd Ayite and Tom Bradshaw had traded goals, while Paul Huntington cancelled out Ben Brereton's strike as Preston drew 1-1 with Nottingham Forest.
Birmingham slipped to the foot of the table after a 1-1 draw at improving Sunderland.
Sam Gallagher put City ahead, Lewis Grabban equalised and then Gallagher was sent off to end Birmingham's hopes of an away win.
Burton sprung a surprise as they won 2-1 at Reading. Tom Flanagan put them ahead just before the break and, although Mo Barrow got Reading level, Tom Naylor won it for Nigel Clough's men.
