Nigel Adkins believes Southampton are the Championship's great entertainers after his side cemented their position on top of the table with a 3-0 victory over promotion rivals Middlesbrough.
Guly Do Prado netted twice and David Connolly was also on the scoresheet as Adkins' team maintained their 100 percent home record at St Mary's.
Guly opened the scoring when he was allowed a free header from Danny Butterfield's cross.
Tony Mowbray's side, who slipped to fourth place, had not learned their lesson and Rickie Lambert peeled off his marker to head back across goal for Guly to score in the 29th minute.
Substitute Connolly ensured Saints stayed three points clear of West Ham by striking high into the net after good work from Lambert in the 80th minute.
"We got three excellent goals and we could have got a few more against a very good Middlesbrough side," Adkins said.
"At one stage for the third goal we strung together 25 passes before Connolly scored at the 26th."
At Upton Park, second-placed West Ham held off a fightback by managerless Leicester to claim a 3-2 win that prompted Sam Allardyce to hit back at the critics who claim his side are dour.
Sam Baldock and Julien Faubert made it 2-0 to the Hammers at the break before Andy King gave the visitors some hope.
Baldock scored again on the break and King bagged a brilliant second goal for Leiecester to set up a thrilling finish as the Foxes pushed in vain for an equaliser.
"It was a great, entertaining football match," Allardyce said. "The quality of all our three goals was very pleasing. All the goals were earned rather than gifted.
"The whole team are giving everything they've got. It's back-to-back wins, great entertainment and the right result."
Crystal Palace rose one place to third despite being held to a 0-0 draw by Reading at Selhurst Park.
Palace manager Dougie Freedman said: "I felt that we defended very well but did not quite have the guile to open them up, so I was delighted with the point.
Steve Cotterill's 100 percent start as Nottingham Forest manager came to end as Hull won 1-0 at the City Ground.
Aaron Mclean was the hero for the sixth-placed visitors when he bagged the winner in the 74th minute.
Derby are fifth after cruising to a 3-1 win at home to Cotterill's former club Portsmouth.
Birmingham and Brighton remain just outside the play-off places after their 0-0 draw at St Andrews.
At the other end of the table, Coventry drew 1-1 at Doncaster and joined their opponents in the relegation zone.
Bottom of the table Bristol City boosted their survival hopes with a 2-1 win at Barnsley in Derek McInnes's first match as boss.
Millwall manager Kenny Jackett is adamant the Lions will continue marching up the table after Jay Simpson's double helped see off Ipswich 4-1.
"The table is still tight points-wise so hopefully this little run will give the boys confidence. We want to continue playing well, scoring goals and pushing up the table," Jackett said.
"The players are a determined bunch and don't want to be down the bottom of the league. There are no poor teams in the Championship so you have to be on your game to get a result."
Watford recorded a rare win, 3-2 over Peterborough at Vicarage Road, to climb out of the relegation zone.
Source: AFP
Source: AFP