Just five games of the season remain for the Championship's majority after last night's 12 matches.

Leicester City's promotion party must have been a big one as they went down 4-1 at home to Brighton & Hove Albion for their first loss in 22 league games.

That gave Burnley the chance to close in on the Foxes at the top and they did so by edging out second-from-bottom Barnsley.

In the playoffs, Derby County were the only side to not lose and now look guaranteed to finish in the top six as Queens Park Rangers, Wigan Athletic and Reading all suffered defeat.

As well as Brighton in the chasing pack, Ipswich Town, Bournemouth and Blackburn Rovers all won to close in on Reading in sixth.

Below, Sports Mole selects its best XI from last night's action and highlights the biggest numpty and best goal.

Manuel Almunia (Watford)
Former Arsenal stopper Almunia was assured in goal as Watford cruised past blundering Leeds United 3-0 at Vicarage Road.

Carlos Edwards (Millwall)
On loan from Ipswich, Edwards scored his first goal for Millwall and the only one of the game against Wigan Athletic. It might have been lucky as it deflected over Scott Carson, but the surging run from the back was impressive.
Dorian Dervite (Charlton Athletic)
The biggest game of the night at the bottom was at The Valley as Charlton took on rockbottom Yeovil Town. The Addicks came out on top 3-2 and had Dervite to thank for a towering header that put the hosts 2-1 in front.
Mark Beevers (Millwall)
Even though Wigan obviously had one eye on Saturday's FA Cup semi-final against Arsenal, Millwall were still expected to fall at the DW Stadium. Not only did they pick up a crucial win to close in on safety, they also kept a clean sheet and Beevers was one of the main reasons.
Tommy Spurr (Blackburn)
Spurr scored the second for Blackburn as they saw off QPR to keep alive their hopes of reaching the playoffs. Gary Bowyer's side are now just four points adrift of the top six.

Paul Anderson (Ipswich)
In and out of the Ipswich team all season, Anderson took his chance of a start last night by sending the Tractor Boys on their way to a 2-0 victory at Huddersfield with a fine curling strike from 20 yards.
Dale Stephens (Brighton)
Brighton bookended Leicester's 21-game unbeaten run by doing the double over the Foxes, with Stephens setting up three of their four goals last night at the King Power Stadium.
Craig Bryson (Derby)
Derby's standout player this season, Bryson was integral to the Rams' 20-minute rampage at Blackpool last night. After falling behind to a David Goodwillie goal inside the first 30 seconds, Derby fought back to lead 3-1 before a quarter of the match was up. Bryson crossed for Patrick Bamford to tap home the second before adding the third himself - his 16th league goal of the season.
Matt Ritchie (Bournemouth)
Bournemouth are the form team in the division right now, winning eight of their last 10 to climb to within just two points of the playoffs in their first season back in the Championship. Last night they annihilated Reading, scoring three in the first half. Ritchie netted the first two and both were cool strikes into the bottom corner.

Jamie Paterson (Nottingham Forest)
Forest's best player in the second half of the season, Paterson rescued a point for his 10-man team in the 87th minute when he curled home a delightful free kick from 25 yards.
Leonardo Ulloa (Brighton)
Oscar Garcia will be delighted that Ulloa is fit and firing as they look to clinch a playoff spot in the final weeks of the season. Like Ipswich and Bournemouth, Brighton are two points adrift of Reading but have the best goal difference of the trio and a lot of that is down to Ulloa, who scored two of the Seagulls' four at Leicester.

Numpty of the Week

Neil Danns: Even though Danns put Bolton ahead on their way to a 2-1 win at Doncaster Rovers, he fluffed his lines hilariously with a chance in the second half. The midfielder broke clear and had Jermaine Beckford to his left but instead of passing used his teammate's position as a decoy and went it alone. Unfortunately, his finish was far from assured. Skip to 1:20 in the video below. (Perhaps Robert Green should be here for allowing Spurr's strike in at the near post, but he gets enough stick for that England error in the 2010 World Cup!)

Goal of the Week

Emyr Huws (Birmingham City) vs. Middlesbrough: The Manchester City loanee has been Birmingham's standout player since joining the club in January. Although Birmingham were beaten 3-1 at the Riverside last night, Huws scored perhaps the Championship goal of the season with this 30-yard rocket.