Leicester City failed to take advantage of Millwall's loss, as they were held to a dull goalless draw at home by Northampton Town.
The Foxes had been third in the table before the day's fixtures, but Leeds United moved above them and Millwall with a 3-0 win over Walsall at Elland Road.
Fabian Delph struck two spectacular goals after Luciano Becchio had opened the scoring - the win was Leeds' seventh home win on the bounce.
Oldham Athletic were surprisingly beaten by Swindon Town, leaving the Latics fifth.
Defender Sean Morrison, 17, scored his first goal in senior football to put the Robins ahead and Jack Smith made the result safe with a converted penalty.
MK Dons occupy the final play-off position after a 3-1 win over Cheltenham Town, in a full-blooded encounter at the mk:stadium that saw both sides have a player sent off.
Ali Gerba's brace, along with a goal from Sam Baldock, gave the home side the victory despite haivng their goalkeeper Wlily Gueret red carded after clashing with the Cheltenham forward Stuart Fleetwood in an off-the-ball incident.
There were plenty of high-scoring games away from the play-off spots, with Colchester United hammering Carlisle United 5-0.
The tone was set after just three minutes when Mark Yeates ran rings around the Carlisle defence. His cross was parried by the visiting keeper Ben Alnwick and the onrushing David Perkins rammed the loose ball into the net.
Yeates went on to score twice himself, with Dean Hammond and Akanni-Sunday Wasiu also netting.
Peterborough United kept up their push for the top six with a 4-0 hammering of Huddersfield Town at London Road.
Aaron McLean marked his first start since dislocating an elbow at the beginning of September by opening and completing the scoring, George Boyd and Chris Whelpdale grabbed the other two.
Four goals from Rickie Lambert destroyed Southend United as the Bristol Rovers striker confirmed his place as the season's leading scorer.
The former Rochdale man has already notched 15 for the season, with his goals at the Memorial Stadium rendering Peter Clarke and Francis Laurent's strikes maningless.
Stockport County extended their unbeaten away run in League One to seven matches when Tommy Rowe struck three minutes into injury time to give them a 1-0 win at Hereford United.
Hartlepool United kept their first clean sheet of the season as on-loan Kevin Kyle's goal gave them a 1-0 home victory over Brighton and Hove Albion.
Yeovil Town kept a clean sheet for the first time this season as they moved out of the bottom four with a goalless draw at home to Leyton Orient.