Championship round-up: George Boyd adds teeth to Tigers' rise

On his first start after joining Hull City on loan from Peterborough, George Boyd scored twice and Mohamed Gedo added another double as the Tigers reclaimed second place in the Championship with a 5-2 thumping of Birmingham City. "If there has been a better home debut I haven't seen one for a long time," Hull manager Steve Bruce said. "He was terrific from first to last."

Hull climbed to within five points of leaders Cardiff City, who lost 2-1 at Middlesbrough, where first-half goals from former and on-loan Newcastle players, Kieron Dyer and Sammy Ameobi respectively, saw Boro move to within a point of the top six. "We gave away two goals which we would never normally concede," Cardiff's disappointed manager, Malky Mackay, said. "But we had enough chances to have got the leveller."

Boyd's scoring feats were upstaged by former team-mate Dwight Gayle, who grabbed a hat-trick in 16 first-half minutes as Posh won 3-2 at Blackburn Rovers, and by Brighton's Leonardo Ulloa, who also scored a hat-trick as the Seagulls beat Huddersfield Town 4-1 to hang on to sixth place. Leicester stay fifth despite losing 1-0 at Ipswich.

Bristol City replace Peterborough at the bottom despite earning a point from a 0-0 draw at Blackpool – still no goals or wins for the Seasiders under Paul Ince – and Barnsley hover a point above the relegation zone after a 3-2 home defeat by Bolton.

Having seen his penalty saved by Millwall's David Forde, Ross McCormack won another for Leeds United, but this time Stephen Warnock took it cooly to earn Neil Warnock's side three points and keep alive their play-off ambitions. Burnley won 1-0 at Charlton – Charlie Austin's 25th goal of the season was the Clarets' first in 348 minutes – and Nottingham Forest won 1-0 at Sheffield Wednesday.

League Two York City sacked manager Gary Mills after yesterday's 2-0 home defeat by Bradford City, the Minstermen's 11th match without a win. Mills, 51, had been manager since October 2010 and took York back into the Football League last season.