Championship round-up: Leicester strengthen grip on top as QPR snatch late equaliser with Blackpool

Elsewhere, Derby closed the gap on Rangers with a 3-0 win Charlton while Watford put four past Sheffield Wednesday

David Nugent scored Leicester's opener in the 2-0 win over Burnley (Getty Images)

David Nugent's 20th goal of the season set Leicester on the road to victory as they took a major step towards the Sky Bet Championship title.

Nugent's 35th-minute strike put former club Burnley on the back foot and substitute Chris Wood wrapped up a 2-0 victory after the break.

The Foxes are now six points clear of the Clarets at the top of the table and have a game in hand, but perhaps of more immediate importance, are 15 points better off than QPR in third as they approach the final furlong.

Burnley's misfortune allowed Rangers and Derby to close the gap, although it was Steve McClaren's men who were the main movers.

The Rams atoned for their 2-1 midweek defeat at Ipswich with a 3-0 home victory over lowly Charlton with Johnny Russell, Patrick Bamford and Chris Martin doing the damage.

However, Derby remain in fourth place after QPR came from behind at Loftus Road to snatch a point from a 1-1 draw with Blackpool.

David Goodwillie had given the visitors a first-half lead, but Junior Hoillet came off the bench to deny them victory with a 78th-minute equaliser.

Fifth-placed Wigan passed up an opportunity to edge themselves further clear of the chasing pack when Jordi Gomez saw a last-gasp penalty saved by Bolton keeper Adam Bogdan.

The Latics trailed 1-0 to Lukas Jutkiewicz's first-half strike with just two minutes remaining, but levelled through Manchester United loanee Nick Powell before Bogdan's late heroics.

Reading were unable to take advantage as they were held 1-1 at home by Huddersfield with Nakhi Wells' opener for the visitors and Pavel Pogrebnyak's equaliser from the penalty spot both coming inside the opening seven minutes.

There was no separating Ipswich and managerless Nottingham Forest either as Daryl Murphy clinched a 1-1 draw for the home side after Danny Collins had given Forest a fourth-minute lead at Portman Road.

Brighton's play-off hopes were dealt a significant blow when they went down 2-0 at home to Middlesbrough with Albert Adomah and Danny Graham firing the Teessiders to just a second win in 13 attempts.

It was a day to forget for Sheffield Wednesday too as Watford striker Troy Deeney scored twice in a 4-1 win at Hillsborough, the Hornets' first on the road in 15 games.

Yeovil endured just as painful an afternoon, going down at home by the same score at the hands of fellow relegation candidates Barnsley, for whom Chris O'Grady struck twice.

Birmingham fared little better as they too conceded four on their own pitch to Bournemouth with substitute Federico Macheda's second-half brace counting for little as Lewis Grabban matched his feat for the visitors.

Another difficult week for Leeds ended with a 2-1 home defeat by Doncaster with Billy Sharp's goal proving decisive, while bottom-of-the-table Millwall were denied a much-needed win by substitute Josh King's injury-time goal, which secured a 2-2 draw for 10-man Blackburn.

PA