Dan James marked his 100th Leeds appearance with a crucial goal as his side beat Middlesbrough 3-1 at Elland Road to regain top spot in the Championship.

James fired home in the second half after Max Wöber’s own goal had cancelled out Wilfried Gnonto’s opener. Brenden Aaronson added Leeds’s third in added time.

Patrick Roberts scored a stoppage-time equaliser as Sunderland salvaged a point to record a 1-1 draw with Bristol City. The hosts kept the ball well in the first half, but they were unable to trouble City and were frustrated further after having a penalty appeal dismissed just before the break when Aji Alese went down in the box.

Luke McNally fired the visitors ahead in the 63rd minute after Sunderland were unable to clear the ball. However, Roberts struck in the third minute of second-half stoppage time to snatch a point for the Black Cats and maintain their unbeaten run at the Stadium of Light this season.

Burnley were frustrated by a rejected first-half penalty appeal as they were held to a goalless draw by a stubborn Derby side at Turf Moor. The hosts, seeking to put pressure on Sheffield United and Leeds at the top of the table, were convinced that the defender Nat Phillips handled Josh Brownhill’s cross-shot in the 33rd minute.

Brownhill had been teed up by Jeremy Sarmiento after Callum Elder’s poor clearance had put the visitors under pressure, with Phillips claiming the shot had come off his shoulder as the referee, Andy Davies, ignored Burnley protests. Derby’s point ended a run of three straight league defeats and perhaps eased some of the pressure on their head coach, Paul Warne, whose side have now gone six matches without victory.

Makhtar Gueye stepped off the bench to fire Blackburn to a fifth straight victory with a 1-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough. Blackburn also kept a clean sheet for the fourth successive match as Danny Röhl’s side tasted defeat for the first time since their derby loss to Sheffield United a month ago.

Elijah Adebayo’s 90th-minute winner helped Luton return to winning ways with a 2-1 victory over Stoke at Kenilworth Road. Tom Cannon’s early strike mounted more pressure on the underfire Luton manager, Rob Edwards, whose side ended a three-game winless streak thanks to goals from Carlton Morris and Adebayo. Luton now sit on 22 points, five above the relegation zone, with Stoke in 16th.

Swansea ended Plymouth’s six-match unbeaten home run with a 2-1 win as Wayne Rooney’s side slipped to 23rd. Swansea took a 44th-minute lead through Jay Fulton following Josh Tymon’s cross from the left, with Liam Cullen doubling their lead on the hour. Mustapha Bundu pulled one back but Argyle were left looking up at all bar Hull in the table.

Portsmouth escaped the relegation zone for the first time since August as they drew 0-0 with Norwich at Fratton Park. Pompey and the Canaries, who had netted a league-high 35 times, had scored 18 goals between them in their last three fixtures but the expected goalfest never arrived.

The home side have put together a four-match unbeaten run, including back-to-back clean sheets, after only one victory in their opening 14 matches and looked the likelier to score.