Bradford claimed their first win under Mark Hughes as goals from Callum Cooke and Andy Cook earned them a 2-0 victory over the 10 men of stuttering league leaders Forest Green.
Cooke opened the scoring for the Bantams midway through the second half before Rovers defender Udoka Godwin-Malife was shown a second yellow card for a bad foul on Jamie Walker.
Cook sealed the three points for Bradford in stoppage time as City ended a run of five successive defeats, while pacesetters Forest Green continue to stumble as they have now failed to win in six.
However, second-placed Northampton failed to capitalise on Forest Green’s loss as they suffered a 2-1 defeat at the hands of in-form Carlisle at Brunton Park
Tobi Sho-Silva broke the deadlock in the 74th minute and although the Cobblers struck back five minutes later through Paul Lewis, the Cumbrians snatched victory in stoppage time when Jordan Gibson scored from the penalty spot. Carlisle have now won four on the bounce under new boss Paul Simpson.
Newport moved back into third position after claiming a 2-0 win over lowly Stevenage at the Lamex Stadium.
Rob Street fired in from close range to open the scoring and Ryan Haynes’ superb curling effort from outside the box rubber stamped all three points for the Exiles.
Dion Conroy netted a stoppage-time goal as Swindon returned to winning ways with a 1-0 victory over relegation-threatened Oldham, who had Jordan Clarke sent off at the death.
Bristol Rovers continued their surge up the table with a convincing 3-0 win over Harrogate the Memorial Stadium.
Aaron Collins opened the scoring in the 33rd minute when he curled an effort into the top left-hand corner and the Pirates soon made it two through Elliot Anderson. Collins grabbed his second to seal the three points in the 55th minute when he superbly chipped Town keeper Mark Oxley.
Sutton dropped to seventh after losing their first game in four as they were beaten 1-0 by Walsall.
Conor Wilkinson scored from the penalty spot after he was bundled over inside the area for the only goal of the game and Michael Flynn’s side have now gone four unbeaten.
Port Vale came from a goal down to thrash Crawley 4-1 to close the gap on the play-offs spots to four points.
Crawley opened the scoring when Vale’s Nathan Smith put the ball in his own net but the hosts equalised through Ben Garrity after 26 minutes.
David Worrall put Vale in front before half-time when he poked home James Wilson’s cross and strikes from Connor Hall and Garrity again in the second half made sure of the points.
Colchester also came from a goal down to beat 10-man Scunthorpe 3-1 as the Iron sunk deeper into relegation trouble.
Joe Nuttall gave Scunthorpe the lead after 11 minutes but they were reduced to 10 men in the 35th minute when Luke Matheson was shown a second yellow card for bringing down Brendan Sarpong-Wiredu.
The U’s took advantage of the extra man and Noah Chilvers bagged either side of an Owura Edwards strike to claim victory.
Exeter were held to a goalless draw by Salford while there no goals in the games between Leyton Orient and Hartlepool, or Rochdale and Barrow, either.
