All four teams who started the day below City in the table played, but none of them managed to win.
Luton fared the best, drawing 0-0 at Stoke. That point means they go above the Tigers, now 21st. Stoke had Ricardo Fuller sent off, before Luton were also reduced to ten men when defender Sol David was dismissed. Markus Heikkinen picked up his fifth yellow card of the season.
The bottom three all lost. Barnsley went down 5-2 at Southampton courtesy of an Andrew Surman hattrick and Kenwyne Jones brace. Daniel Nardiello, having scored the opening goal of the game, was dismissed in the second half, and he'll now miss the Tykes' game against City on Tuesday. Defender Bobby Hassell will also incur a suspension after being shown his fifth yellow card of the season, but will still be available for Tuesday's game before starting a one-match ban.
Southend suffered a 4-0 defeat at Sunderland. After Peter Clarke got his fifth booking of the season, they were dealt another blow when Campbell Rice was stretchered off to leave them with ten men for the closing stages.
Cardiff, who had two players sent off, beat Leeds 1-0 courtesy of a goal from Michael Chopra, who was one of the Bluebirds to be given his marching orders. Leeds also picked up two suspensions - Tresor Kandol's 10th booking resulting in a two-match ban, while Hayden Foxe got his fifth yellow. They remain bottom of the Championship table.
Further up the division, neither QPR nor Norwich played. Leicester beat Coventry 3-0.