Cardiff leapfrogged Crystal Palace at the top of the Championship thanks to a hard-fought win at Barnsley yesterday.

Palace themselves were downed by Leeds at Elland Road while Leicester kept up the pressure on the top two with awin at lowly Sheffield Wednesday.

Struggling Bristol City pulled off the shock of the day by ending Middlesbrough's 11-game unbeaten run at a foggy Riverside as fellow dropzone members Ipswich and Peterborough played out a draw at Portman Road.

Here, Sports Mole picks out its top XI from yesterday's 12 fixtures.

Tom Heaton (Bristol City)
The Robins stopper was in fine form between the sticks as Bristol pulled off an unlikely triumph in particularly tricky conditions on Teesside.

Bruno Saltor (Brighton)
Brighton were denied three points by a late David N'Gog strike but they would have won thanks to the long-range from Bruno.
Mark Beevers (Millwall)
The Lions are the division's form side with five wins from their last six and this is in part down to the bullishness of Beevers and his fellow defenders. Millwall kept another clean sheet away at Blackburn yesterday, with Beevers and co. able to keep in-form Jordan Rhodes quiet.
Alan Tate (Leeds)
The Swansea defender recently joined Leeds on loan from Swansea and manager Neil Warnock hailed his performance in the victory over Palace.
Jason Shackell (Burnley)
A resilient performance from the whole Claret defence as Burnley kept a clean sheet against in-form Hull City. Shackell's presence and danger in the other box gets him a place in our XI.

James Henry (Millwall)
The playmaking midfielder only returned to the Lions' side last week and he was back on the scoresheet yesterday, netting a classy first at Blackburn.
Adlene Guedioura (Forest)
The energetic Algerian came up against his former club and scored a rasping winner to give Forest the win over Wolves.
Ben Marshall (Leicester)
The creative midfielder has been a shining light in Leicester's push for the Championship's summit and he notched the second as the Foxes piled more misery on Wednesday at Hillsborough.
Peter Whittingham (Cardiff)
Whittingham has performed consistently at Championship level for a number of years now and he was chief architect yesterday, providing the goods from set pieces for both Cardiff goals at Barnsley yesterday.

Luciano Becchio (Leeds)
Although Leeds are struggling this season, Becchio always knows where the goal is and was on the scoresheet as Leeds ended Palace's 14-game unbeaten run.
Troy Deeney (Watford)
Gianfranco Zola's Watford have lost just one of their last six and Deeney's presence up front is one of the major factors. He scored again yesterday as Blackpool nicked a point late on at Bloomfield Road.