THE BANTAMS returned to the League One relegation zone after Scunthorpe leapfrogged them thanks to a 2-1 home win over Coventry.

Having already made five signings in the January transfer window, Stuart McCall's Iron made it three wins on the trot to climb out of trouble with James Perch and Levi Sutton scoring the home side's goals.

Perch finally broke the deadlock midway through the second half when his shot appeared to take a deflection on its way in, while Sutton doubled the lead on 74 minutes with a superb finish.

Coventry dragged themselves back into the contest four minutes later through Conor Chaplin's close-range header, but were unable to find an equaliser.

Rochdale remain in freefall after losing 4-0 at home to Burton Albion - the same scoreline by which the Bantams won at Spotland a week ago.

Keith Hill's side are just three points above City having played a game more and with an inferior goal difference, having shipped 13 goals in three games without reply.

Burton moved up to ninth in the table as Marcus Myers-Harness scored a hat-trick.

He opened the scoring after 19 minutes with a close-range header and doubled his tally on the half-hour mark with a left-footed finish into the bottom corner.

Liam Boyce made absolutely certain of the points by making it 3-0 on 78 minutes and Myers-Harness completed his hat-trick four minutes from the end.

Sunderland squandered the chance to move into the automatic promotion places in after being held to a 1-1 draw against Charlton.

With the top two of Portsmouth and Luton in FA Cup action, third-placed Sunderland looked set to take advantage when Luke O'Nien volleyed them in front after just two minutes at The Valley.

Lynden Gooch also hit the bar on 37 minutes as the visitors enjoyed the better of the first half, but Charlton improved markedly after the interval and drew level just five minutes into the second period when Reece James diverted Lyle Taylor's cross into his own net.