Abel Hernandez scored a first-half hat-trick as Hull romped to a 6-0 victory at home to Charlton and closed the gap on Sky Bet Championship leaders Middlesbrough to two points.

The Addicks, who were thumped 5-0 at Huddersfield in midweek, were 4-0 down at half-time, with Robert Snodgrass adding to Hernandez’s treble.

Jose Riga’s first game in charge of his second spell at Charlton went from bad to worse after the break as Mohamed Diame added a fifth and Arsenal loanee Isaac Hayden sealed a crushing victory with 10 minutes to go.

Middlesbrough fell to a surprise 1-0 defeat at Bristol City as Wes Burns’ glancing header in injury time earned the managerless Robins a huge win in their fight to beat the drop.

Third-placed Derby lost ground on the top two as Paul Robinson’s strike, Stephen Gleeson’s superb curling effort and Maikel Kieftenbeld’s 25-yard volley earned visiting Birmingham a comfortable 3-0 victory.

Brighton’s goal drought ended at Blackburn as Bobby Zamora’s sixth goal of the season in the third minute was enough to claim maximum points.

Craig Noone bagged a first-half brace as Cardiff claimed a 3-1 win at Wolves to relieve the pressure on manager Russell Slade.

Michal Zyro pulled one back for the home side before the break, but Joe Ralls restored the Bluebirds’ two-goal cushion in the second half.

Crisis-club Bolton had goalkeeper Ben Amos sent off after just 11 minutes of their clash at Nottingham Forest and their hosts took full advantage.

Nelson Oliveira scored the resulting penalty and Oliver Burke doubled their lead shortly afterwards, with Jamie Ward sealing a 3-0 success with seven minutes remaining.

QPR started life without Charlie Austin with a 3-0 win at Rotherham as goals from Junior Hoilett, Matt Phillips and Sebastian Polter eased Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink to his first win since taking charge.

Gary Hooper’s quick-fire double secured Sheffield Wednesday a 2-0 win against Yorkshire rivals Leeds in the early kick-off.

Hooper scored two goals in three minutes early in the second half and Leeds could have few complaints, despite having a 78th-minute effort from Liam Cooper controversially disallowed by referee Anthony Taylor.

Taylor deemed the Owls had not completed Fernando Forestieri’s substitution before a free-kick which led to the goal was taken.

Joe Walsh scored the only goal of the game as MK Dons grabbed a vital 1-0 win against Reading, while the matches between Ipswich and Preston and Huddersfield and Fulham both ended 1-1.

Daniel Johnson’s strike was cancelled out by Town’s Daryl Murphy at Portman Road, while Mark Hudson equalised for the Terriers after Ross McCormack’s early strike.