Sunderland slip to fifth as Portsmouth, Peterborough and Barnsley take advantage in League One

The Black Cats were without a game today after their clash with Blackpool was postponed due to international call-ups.

In their absence, Pompey defeated AFC Wimbledon 2-1, taking a two-goal first-half lead through Tom Naylor and Gareth Evans and then holding on after James Hanson pulled one back in the 63rd minute.

Portsmouth lead Peterborough, who were 2-0 winners against Scunthorpe thanks to a second-half brace from Matt Godden against his former club.

Mamadou Thiam's spectacular goal was the pick as Barnsley defeated Luton 3-2 to stay third.

Brad Potts and Cameron McGeehan put the Tykes two up inside half an hour before James Collins pulled one back from the penalty spot in first-half stoppage time.

Thiam restored Barnsley's two-goal cushion with 11 minutes left, curling in a long-range effort, and Collins' second of the afternoon made it a tense finish but Barnsley held on.

Doncaster took advantage of Sunderland's inaction during the international break by beating Rochdale 3-2 at Spotland to climb into fourth.

Ali Crawford put Rovers ahead in the 20th minute and, after John Marquis hit the post at the end of the first half, Andy Butler scored the second shortly after the restart.

Ian Henderson pulled one back from the penalty spot to give Dale hope but Jermaine Anderson's third restored the two-goal lead before Kgosi Ntlhe closed the gap again with eight minutes to go.

Accrington continued their fine start to life in League One and moved into the play-off places after beating Bradford 3-1.

Billy Kee converted from the spot shortly before the break after Ryan McGowan's handball and Offrande Zanzala used his pace to double the lead.

Eoin Doyle halved the deficit in the 62nd minute but only four minutes later Sean McConville grabbed Accrington's third.

In the game between the bottom two, Oxford overtook Plymouth thanks to a 2-0 victory at the Kassam Stadium.

Jamie Mackie netted after only four minutes and Curtis Nelson added to Oxford's advantage with 16 minutes left, while Plymouth's miserable afternoon was complete when Yann Songo'o saw red.

In-form Simon Cox made it five goals in five games with a brace in Southend's 2-0 victory over Gillingham while late goals secured three points for Burton and Coventry.

Pressure paid off for Coventry against Wycombe as Conor Chaplin clinched a 1-0 win in the 82nd minute while Burton had to wait until injury time for Ben Fox to strike as they beat Bristol Rovers by the same score.

Fleetwood were the day's final winners, Paddy Madden and Wes Burns putting them two up inside half an hour in a 2-1 victory over Shrewsbury, who pulled one back through Josh Laurent.