Coventry City tightened their grip on top spot in the Championship as they brushed aside Preston North End 3-0 to move eight points clear at the summit. 

The Sky Blues' lead with nine games of their campaign remaining was helped by second-placed Middlesbrough, who stumbled away to lowly Charlton Athletic on Wednesday.

Tatsuhiro Sakamoto's deflected strike put Frank Lampard's side ahead in the 17th minute, before Brandon Thomas-Asante bundled the ball home 11 minutes before the break.

It got even better for Coventry five minutes after the restart when Ephron Mason-Clark was fouled in the box by Pol Valentin, with Matt Grimes slotting home the resulting penalty.

Romain Esse was twice denied by Preston goalkeeper Daniel Iversen late on, but Coventry did not need to add to their tally as they cruised to a sixth straight league victory. 

Middlesbrough's automatic promotion hopes were dealt a blow as Conor Coady's 59th-minute strike earned Charlton a surprise 1-0 victory at the Riverside Stadium.

After seeing third-placed Millwall move to within a point of them after their triumph over Derby County, Boro were unable to respond against the side in 17th place. 

Matt Targett and Callum Brittain were wasteful in good positions early on, while Aidan Morris thumped the crossbar during a strong first-half spell by Kim Hellberg's high-flyers. 

However, just before the hour, Charlton took the lead through Coady, with the former England international steering Harry Clarke's long throw beyond the grasp of Sol Brynn. 

At the opposite end of the table, Oxford United picked up a huge victory to boost their survival hopes, with Jamie Donley scoring the only goal in a 1-0 win over Blackburn Rovers.

Data Debrief: Six of the best for clinical Coventry

After going three league games without a win at the start of last month, Coventry have been in scintillating form, with their victory over Preston extending their winning streak to six matches, their best stretch in the Championship since September 27 to October 25 (also six). 

Coventry have also scored more goals (77) than anyone else in the second tier, with only Lampard's former side, Derby (33) netting in more Championship matches than the Sky Blues this campaign (32). 

And the hosts may have felt they could have added more gloss to the scoreline here. They ended the match with an expected goals (xG) total of 4.0 from their 25 shots compared to Preston's measly tally of 0.44 from their five attempts. 

It was a vastly different story for Boro, who had 34 shots but could not convert.