Watford maintained their lead at the top of the English Championship with a gutsy 1-0 win against Leicester despite playing half of Tuesday's match with 10 men.
Young midfielder John-Joe O'Toole was sent off for hauling back Stephen Clemence just before half-time at Vicarage Road.
But Adrian Boothroyd's side won it in the 45th minute when Leigh Bromby drilled a low cross to the far post and Darius Henderson was perfectly placed to poke home.
Henderson's 11th goal of the season enabled the Hornets to remain one point ahead of Bristol City and move a further two points clear of West Bromwich Albion.
Bristol City's surprise promotion push gathered pace as Bradley Orr's late goal earned a 1-0 win at Scunthorpe.
Gary Johnson's side moved into second place thanks to an 83rd minute winner from Orr to settle a hard-fought game at Glanford Park.
West Bromwich lost ground in the race to reach the Premier League after being held to a goalless draw by Sheffield United at the Hawthorns.
Tony Mowbray's team slipped to fourth because Stoke held on to defeat Southampton 3-2 in a thrilling match at the Britannia Stadium.
Stoke went ahead when Darren Powell sliced the ball into his own net in the 27th minute.
Ryan Shawcross increased Stoke's lead eight minutes later as the defender met Liam Lawrence's cross with a bullet header.
It got even better for the hosts a minute before half-time when Mali striker Mamady Sidibe scored his first goal this season.
Saints staged a determined fightback after the break as Trinidad forward Stern John scored twice, but it wasn't enough.
Ipswich claimed only their second away win this season as Danny Haynes's first half goal secured a 1-0 victory at play-off rivals Crystal Palace.
Andy Cole scored his first hat-trick for over seven years as Burnley roared back from two goals down to stun QPR with a 4-2 win at Loftus Road.
In-form QPR looked odds on to record another win when goals from Gavin Mahon and Patrick Agyemang put them in control.
But former Manchester United striker Cole brought Burnley back into it when he deflected a free-kick past Lee Camp four minutes before half-time.
Inevitably it was Cole got the equalizer in the 56th minute before Ade Akinbiyi put the visitors ahead.
Cole rounded off a stunning victory in the final minutes.
Johnnie Jackson gave Colchester a crucial 2-1 win against fellow strugglers Preston at Layer Road.
Scott Vernon broke the deadlock from the penalty spot in the 68th minute after Preston defender Sean St Ledger was sent off for a professional foul.
Former Liverpool striker Neil Mellor leveled for the visitors in the 81st minute, but Jackson won it with two minutes to play.
Elsewhere, Jamie Mackie scored twice on his debut to help Plymouth beat 10-man Barnsley 3-0 at Home Park.
Sheffield Wednesday shared a goalless draw with Charlton , Blackpool drew 0-0 with > Wolverhampton , managerless Coventry were held 0-0 by Cardiff and Norwich drew 1-1 with Hull .
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier