It was a bad weekend for the two pacesetting sides in the Championship as both Derby County and Middlesbrough suffered 2-0 defeats away from home.

The pair remain in the automatic promotion places after going down at Fulham and Sheffield Wednesday respectively, but the top six is even tighter now with 12 games of the season to go.

Norwich City and Watford are just a point behind Boro and three adrift of Derby following victories, with Bournemouth and Ipswich Town sliding down to fifth and sixth as they dropped points.

Seventh-placed Brentford also scored no points over the weekend as they lost at Birmingham City, with Wolverhampton Wanderers and Nottingham Forest keeping their playoff charges alive with wins on the road.

It was also a big weekend at the other end of the table, with the bottom four sides involved in two crucial six-pointers.

Wigan Athletic got the better of Blackpool in a battle between the two favourites for the drop, while Rotherham United pulled six points clear of 22nd-placed Millwall with a late win at home.

Here, Sports Mole chooses its best XI from the matchday 34's action, in a traditional 4-4-2 formation, as well as highlighting the biggest numpty and best goal.

Jason Steele (Blackburn Rovers)
Blackburn Rovers held Bournemouth to a goalless draw in Saturday's delayed kickoff and in doing so became the first team to stop the Cherries scoring at home this season, with Steele making some vital stops.

Liam Palmer (Sheffield Wednesday)
Wednesday scored more than once at home for just the second time this season as they saw off high-flying Boro and Palmer was key to the clean sheet by making a goalline clearance.
Russell Martin (Norwich City)
The biggest game of the weekend took place at Carrow Road on Sunday as Norwich and Ipswich contested the 97th East Anglian derby. The Canaries came out on top 2-0 for their sixth win in a row, but it was a game of few chances and captain Martin's solidity at the back stood out.
Nikolay Bodurov (Fulham)
Fulham picked up their first win in nine by stunning leaders Derby at Craven Cottage. As well as helping keep a clean sheet with plenty of clearances, Bodurov opened the scoring with his first Fulham goal and it was a fine, outside-of-the-boot finish from a narrow angle.
Danny Fox (Nottingham Forest)
Forest have now picked up 16 points out of a possible 18 under Dougie Freedman to get themselves right back into the playoff mix. They blew away Reading 3-0 with three brilliant goals and two of them were set up by left-back Fox.

Jermaine Pennant (Wigan Athletic)
On his second start for the Latics, winger Pennant was always looking to create and set up two of their goals in the crucial 3-1 win at Blackpool.
Zach Clough (Bolton Wanderers)
Dropped behind the strikers as Bolton picked up a much-needed win over fellow strugglers Brighton & Hove Albion. The youngster is enjoying a breakout season and now has five goals in seven league appearances after netting the winner against the Seagulls.
Scott Parker (Fulham)
Drove Fulham to victory over Derby with a marauding performance in the middle. It was his surge from midfield that was key to the Cottagers' second on Saturday.
Bakary Sako (Wolverhampton Wanderers)
Keeps his place on the left after netting his fourth goal in three games to seal a narrow victory for Wolves at Cardiff.

Matej Vydra (Watford)
The Hornets fell two down at Leeds United, but rallied back to claim all three points. Vydra has been out of the side because of Odion Ighalo's form of late, but took his chance to impress with the Nigerian absent by scoring two and setting up the other at Elland Road.
Tony Watt (Charlton Athletic)
The only other player with a brace on matchday 34 was Charlton frontman Watt, who is enjoying a run in the Addicks team under Guy Luzon. A dangerous dribbler, the ex-Celtic man scored his second and third goals for the club against Huddersfield Town as they notched their third 3-0 win in four games.

Numpty of the Week

Will Hughes: Usually so composed on the ball, Hughes was careless in possession to give Fulham the opportunity to break and double their lead at Craven Cottage. Derby never looked like mounting a comeback afterwards.

Goal of the Week

Rodolph Austin (Leeds United) vs. Watford: A bumper weekend for great goals, but we're just going to favour Austin's dipping volley that came from out of nowhere against Watford to put Leeds two up. Check it out below and also watch the video underneath to see Forest's three goals against Reading - all three were superb in their own right.