Ipswich moved a point clear at the top of the Championship after a thrilling 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough at Portman Road.

Town went into the game looking to take advantage after seeing automatic promotion rivals Leicester and Leeds lose to Plymouth and Blackburn respectively.

In a breathless first half the visitors took the lead through a header from Emmanuel Latte Lath but Town struck back 10 minutes later when Massimo Luongo crashed home a corner by Leif Davis.

Ipswich goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky produced two wonderful saves, firstly from Isaiah Jones and then Matt Clarke, to keep the scores level deep into the second period.

Ipswich were on the front foot from the start but Middlesbrough were carving out their own chances and they got their noses in front after 20 minutes when a cross from Leeds loanee Luke Ayling found Ivorian striker Latte Lath, who headed home.

There were strong shouts for handball after Boro defender Clarke blocked a cross from Axel Tuanzebe but referee Sam Allison ruled it out and awarded a corner from which Town equalised as Luongo came rushing in at the far post and fired the ball home via the underside of the bar.

Town almost immediately took the lead when Jeremy Sarmiento was played through by Conor Chaplin and chipped Seny Dieng as he rushed off his line.

It looked like it was going into the net but it clipped a post. Ali Al-Hamadi tried for the rebound with a back-heel flick but it was blocked.

Boro wasted a great chance to take the lead just before half-time when they countered down the left through Sammy Silvera.

Latte Lath’s first shot was deflected, with a handball shout from the visitors, before the second went out for a corner from which former Norwich midfielder Jonny Howson headed wide.

A dazzling run by Omari Hutchinson saw him leave Middlesbrough defenders in his wake and as he closed in on goal his shot was deflected over the bar by Danish defender Lukas Engel.

As both teams pushed Hladky had to dive to his right to deny Boro substitute Sam Greenwood after Town skipper Sam Morsy lost possession while at the other end Dieng parried away a shot from Hutchinson.

Hladky produced two wonderful saves to keep the game level. First he stopped Jones from point-blank range and then stretched to palm over a header from Clarke as the game drew to a nail-biting close.

Ellis Simms ended Maidstone’s FA Cup fairytale as his first-half hat-trick helped fire Coventry into the quarter-finals.

The striker’s treble and Fabio Tavares’ late double sent the Sky Blues into the last eight for the first time since 2009 after a 5-0 win.

It was a disappointing climax to the Stones’ historic Cup run, which had seen them win seven ties – including knocking out Barrow, Stevenage and Ipswich – to become the first team outside the top five divisions to reach the fifth round since Blyth Spartans in 1978.

George Elokobi’s National League South side became heroes following their fourth-round win at Portman Road but there was never any danger of a repeat at Coventry.

The Sky Blues were determined to avoid suffering the same fate as their Championship rivals, with Mark Robins’ men rampant from the start and 2-0 up inside 15 minutes.

Haji Wright forced Lucas Covolan into early action before Simms fired them into a ninth-minute lead.

Reiss Greenidge’s loose pass was seized on by Liam Kelly and he found Kasey Palmer to slip in Simms, who confidently beat Covolan.

The striker then netted his fourth goal in four games six minutes later, again combining with Palmer to drill in a low angled effort from 15 yards.

Maidstone, who lost 2-0 to Aveley on Saturday to leave them eighth in National League South, were outclassed and outgunned.

A rare Liam Sole effort dropped over but the visitors were contained by their hosts, who had moved into cruise control following Simms’ brace.

As their pace dropped, so did the amount of chances although Tavares dragged wide from 25 yards, until Simms completed his hat-trick 10 minutes before the break.

Again Palmer was the creator when his first-time volley from 35 yards caught out Covolan and the goalkeeper could only parry it into the path of Simms, who rammed in from four yards.

It was game over and half-time substitute Callum O’Hare went searching for another four minutes after the restart only to shoot straight at Covolan.

The goalkeeper turned Palmer’s strike away just after the hour and gathered Josh Eccles’ shot but the game had already begun to lose momentum.

Yet Coventry still found time to score twice late on through Tavares.

The midfielder rifled in from Matty Godden’s pass with two minutes left before he followed up in stoppage time to net after Covolan parried Godden’s effort.

Substitute Omari Hutchinson struck the winner at the death as Ipswich boosted their Championship automatic-promotion hopes with a 4-3 win over bottom-placed Rotherham.

Hutchinson’s effort in the sixth minute of added time after Cafu’s levelling penalty moments earlier left the Tractor Boys behind second-placed Leeds only on goal difference, with Southampton losing to Hull.

Town initially fell behind after just two minutes through Tom Eaves, but responded thanks to a Keiffer Moore strike and Wes Burns’ first-half brace.

Hakeem Odoffin pulled one back for the Millers in the second half before the nail-biting additional time.

The visitors got off to the perfect start through Eaves.

Ipswich defender Harry Clarke had a chance to clear from Town’s penalty box but Sam Clucas stuck out a foot and toed the ball into the path of the Millers striker who guided his shot beyond the reach of goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky.

But Town struck back eight minutes later through Burns.

Sam Morsy swept forward into the Rotherham penalty area and his cross was firmly headed home by the winger.

Ipswich’s dominance after conceding an early goal paid off in the 14th minute when Moore put them in front, notching his fourth goal in five games following his arrival on loan from Bournemouth.

It came from a wonderful run down the right by Burns who swept past Lee Peltier. His pinpoint cross found the unmarked Wales international striker who side-footed home on the run and into the far left corner of the net.

Burns got his second goal to put Town further ahead in the 29th minute.

Conor Chaplin played him in down the right and his initial shot was parried out by Viktor Johansson but fell to raiding full-back Leif Davis whose shot found Burns and he stabbed home from close range.

There was a lengthy delay when Rotherham midfielder Ollie Rathbone crashed into the advertising boards following a challenge with Jeremy Sarmiento and was stretchered off on the medical cart to be replaced by Femi Seriki.

Burns almost completed a hat-trick when he headed narrowly wide of the Rotherham left-hand post but the visitors pulled a goal back through Odoffin.

Hladky failed to punch the ball clear when challenged in the six-yard box and it fell to the Rotherham central defender who coolly slotted the ball into the empty net.

United pressed for an equaliser and Sam Nombe struck the post but they equalised in added on time with a penalty by substitute Cafu, only for Hutchinson to secure the three points with a stunning strike past Johansson to raise the roof of Portman Road.

Fulham boss Marco Silva challenged Rodrigo Muniz to make the forward position his own after he scored in a 3-1 win at Ipswich to send them through to the Carabao Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 2004.

The Premier League opposition proved too strong for the Championship high-flyers with Harry Wilson, Muniz and Tom Cairney on target at Portman Road before substitute Elkan Baggott pulled one back late on.

It was the performance of Brazil striker Muniz which caught the eye after his movement helped create Wilson’s ninth-minute opener from Bobby Decordova-Reid’s pass before the 22-year-old fired home in the 50th minute from Andreas Pereira’s cross.

Muniz endured a difficult 2022-23 campaign on loan at Middlesbrough but after scoring his first Fulham goal since January of last year, Silva talked up his chances of starting Saturday’s clash with Manchester United.

“He is always a candidate and he had a very good pre-season,” Silva said.

“Unfortunately in the moment he was showing his quality, showing how he was growing, even if last season was tough for him, he had a muscle injury and it stop a little bit his development in the pre-season.

“He came back and had a very good game against Tottenham in the first Carabao Cup match we have and he is taking his chances. So, he is always a candidate like the others, like Raul (Jimenez) and Carlos Vinicius.

“They are fighting for the position, we don’t have a number one, two or three. It is for me to decide for each game regarding the strategy and what I want from the game. It is up to them to show the quality they have and to show they are able to play.

“Rodrigo did really well. Let’s see what is going to be my decision for the next match.”

Fulham’s passage into the last-eight was clinched when Cairney’s low effort went through Christian Walton in the 77th-minute.

While Silva was frustrated with Baggott’s headed consolation, he praised the application of his side.

He added: “Yes very good performance. Credit to the players, congratulations to them.

“It is true we did eight changes in our XI and even we probably needed more because we are going to play an early kick-off on Saturday, but in some positions it was impossible to do it.

“If I had the chance, I would do even more (changes), but the main thing for me is we kept our structure, we kept the same way. All the players know the way we want to play and we were really serious in the way we approach the game.”

Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna was able to take plenty of positives from only their second defeat of the campaign.

“It was a tough game, no doubt about that, but I think a game and a night we will be much stronger for,” he said.

“It was always going to be a massive challenge irrespective of how the game went or which team we picked.

“To concede an early goal against a really good Fulham team it was always going to be a really tough game, but I’m pleased with how we stuck at it.

“I am pleased we kept trying until the last minute, we tried to stick to our football and there is big positives to take.”