Leaders Leicester missed the chance to move clear at the top of the Championship as they suffered a shock 1-0 defeat away to relegation-threatened Plymouth, thanks to Mustapha Bundu’s 21st-minute winner.

Second-placed Ipswich remain level on points with the Foxes, with Leeds a point further back ahead of their games on Saturday with all three clubs currently having four matches left.

Managerless Argyle climbed to 16th on the back of their first home win in seven, under the caretaker management team of director of football Neil Dewsnip and first-team coach Kevin Nancekivell and now sit five points clear of the bottom three.

It only took five minutes for Leicester to test home goalkeeper Michael Cooper as Abdul Fatawu’s thumping right-footed shot – following a flowing move – forcing him into a diving save low down to his left.

Ricardo Pereira was next to test Cooper, following a defence-splitting one-two with Wilfred Ndidi. Again it was all diving Cooper could do to parry the ball away.

Stephy Mavididi latched on to the aerial ball and headed it back across the goal, which resulted in a goalmouth scramble and Argyle eventually clearing the ball.

Mavididi went close with a curling 13th-minute shot after being teed up by playmaker Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall on the edge of the box. The attacking midfielder’s shot beat Cooper for pace but flew just past the post.

Totally against the run of play, Plymouth stunned their visitors with a 21st-minute goal on the counter.

Adam Forshaw intercepted a Leicester attack and released recalled striker Bundu with a superb, measured pass through the middle of the park.

Bundu sprinted forward and – as he got into the penalty box – let fly with a fierce angled drive from the right that beat diving Mads Hermansen and rocketed into the far corner.

Harry Winks fired wide from 20 yards as Argyle failed to clear their lines following another City corner with the half-hour mark approaching.

Argyle’s next best chance fell to Bundu, after good work by Forshaw and substitute Joe Edwards, but this time the striker fired high over.

Cooper did well to save low at his near post as Dewsbury-Hall fired across the face of goal in the 44th minute from close range.

Cooper was again called into action early in the second half as he made another save, while Dewsbury-Hall tried his luck from 25 yards moments later.

Central defender Dan Scarr did well to stoop and head a pacy Fatawu cross from the right away at the near post as Leicester continued to press or an equaliser.

Fatawu’s next cross from the right – after 56 minutes – found striker Patson Daka and his deft near-post touch beat Cooper but spun past the far upright.

Daka’s last action was firing wide when well placed at the far post after 67 minutes. He was replaced by former England international striker Jamie Vardy.

With just over 15 minutes remaining, Wout Faes’ cross from the right was smashed towards goal by Mavididi but again, Cooper was equal to the effort.

Cooper made an even better stop, bravely diving in to deny Vardy as the Leicester striker broke into the box, one-on-one, in the 88th minute but the hosts held on for the much-needed victory.

Plymouth caretaker boss Kevin Nancekivell has called for his side to keep up the good work for the final five games of the season after they picked up a valuable 1-0 Championship victory at Rotherham.

The defeat rubberstamped Rotherham’s return to League One after two seasons in the second tier, while Argyle had been heading towards the trapdoor themselves following a hapless run under former boss Ian Foster.

Nancekivell and Neil Dewsnip replaced him in the hotseat this week and got a much-needed win with Bali Mumba’s first-half strike seeing them move four points above the drop zone.

He said: “I am relieved – it’s been a traumatic week and to come and get three points is massive for us.

“We are really, really pleased. It’s only three points and there is a lot of work to do but we look forward to Tuesday against QPR.

“They are all huge games now. We know what we have got to do, recover and prepare properly and hopefully get a repeat performance. We are all in it together.

“There was a lot on the game. It was a high-pressurised game and when it is, you lose that little bit of quality.

“It’s always nervous at 1-0 and the longer it goes on you get a bit fearful but you can’t be too greedy.”

Mumba’s strike just after the half-hour mark proved decisive. He was picked out by Argyle’s star man Morgan Whittaker at the back post and managed to squeeze his shot beyond Viktor Johansson.

Rotherham then went out with a whimper and never really threatened to get back in the game.

It was the visitors pushing for a goal late in the game and they missed a host of chances with substitute Ben Waine striking the post and then being denied when clean through by Johansson.

Rotherham head coach Leam Richardson, who has only won twice since replacing Matt Taylor in December, said: “That doesn’t represent me. I am not hiding away from anything, I am at the front of it and I take the full blame.

“I also take responsibility for making Rotherham United a better football club. The biggest positive is that we know about it and we know the areas where we need to get better. I have never shied away from a challenge.

“We are in a competitive league and we can’t hide away from that.

“It was a poor game. They deserved to win. I thought we would be a better version of ourselves tonight.

“There’s a couple who can still hold their head up to a level.

“It’s not one game, it’s not the Plymouth game. It’s been 40 games.”