October 30th
English Premier League
Saturday marked a memorable day on the pitch for Brighton and Shane Duffy. Brighton came away from Anfield with a share of the points after coming from two goals behind in what was Duffy’s 100th Premier League appearance for the Seagulls.
English Championship
Scott Hogan scored his first goal in seven games as Birmingham City beat Middlesbrough 2-0. The striker is now up to four goals for the season.
Swansea’s Ryan Manning was the only other Irish contributor in the Championship on Saturday. He assisted their second goal, and his third in as many games, as they comfortably beat Peterborough United 3-0.
Elsewhere there were starts and wins for Mark Travers and Gavin Kilkenny at Bournemouth, as well as Sean Maguire and Alan Browne in Preston’s home win over Luton Town. Unfortunately for John Egan and Enda Stevens they were on the losing end of a 1-0 score-line in their home tie with Blackpool.
English League One
James McClean, arguably Ireland’s most in-form player, made it seven goal contributions from seven games for club and country when he scored his fifth of the season in Wigan’s 2-0 victory over Burton Albion. And it wasn’t a tap-in either from McClean who made it look easy with a first time volley at the back post to give his team a lead inside 10 minutes. The win takes the Latics up to second in the league.
Wycombe Wanderers are level on points with Wigan and could’ve been on more if it wasn’t for two second-half goals from Fleetwood Town. Irish international Daryl Horgan set up Wycombe’s second in the 3-3 draw. Meanwhile, Rotherham United hammered Sunderland 5-1 and rubbed salt further into the wounds by overtaking them in the league and moving up to fourth. Ireland U-21 striker Joshua Kayode featured for the final 15 minutes and made an impact by setting up their final goal in the win. Aiden McGeady headed for a shower early in the second-half after he was shown a red card.
Oxford United remain in the play-off spots are they beat Morecambe 3-1. Mark Sykes claimed the second goal of the game after the ball ricocheted off his shoulder and went in.
After enduring a poor patch of form in the league, Portsmouth were back to winning ways against Bolton on Saturday. Ronan Curtis set up the only goal of the game while Gavin Bazunu claimed his fifth clean sheet of the season.
And finally, after a day or two of deliberation from the dubious goals panel, Peter Kioso was awarded MK Dons’ third goal in their 4-1 win on Saturday. The 22-year-old’s performances at wing-back appear to be slipping under the radar. In his nine appearances this season Kioso has scored four goals and assisted a further two (which came in the weekend win over Crewe). He is definitely one to keep any eye on.
English League Two
Aaron Drinan turned on the style in Leyton Orient’s 5-0 win, scoring a hat-trick and assisting the remaining two goals in the win. Drinan doubled his goal tally for the season in the win and his second goal was the pick of the three as he curled a half-volley over the goalkeeper after a misplaced pass fell at his feet.
Both Liam Kelly and Eoghan O’Connell were involved in Rochdale’s 2-1 win away to Barrow as they set up Jake Beesley’s brace either side of the half-time break.
October 31st
English Premier League
Andrew Omobamidele made his second Premier League start and went on to score his first senior goal in Norwich City’s defeat to Leeds United on Sunday afternoon. The 19-year-old defender had his hands full against tricky winger Raphinha but held his own and even earned himself three Fantasy Premier League bonus points… for anyone who uses that particular rating system as their go-to for performance reviews. Omobamidele also played the majority of the ninety minutes as a makeshift left-back and rose the highest to head home a Rashica corner just after Leeds opened the scoring.
Eredivisie
Following on from his first start for Fortuna Sittard in the KNVB Cup (also his first senior professional start), Ryan Johansson retained his place at right-full and made his full league debut in the Dutch top flight. Unfortunately he could not celebrate the occasion with a result as Fortuna Sittard lost 4-3 to Go Ahead Eagles.
November 1st
English Premier League
Seamus Coleman’s Everton fell to a second consecutive defeat on Monday night, this time Wolves were the victors in a 2-1 result at the Molineux Stadium.
November 2nd
English Championship
After a seven game wait for his fourth goal of the season, Scott Hogan made it two in two on Tuesday evening when he doubled Birmingham City’s lead in their home tie with Bristol City. Hogan got himself on the end of a knock-on before calmly slotting home his fifth goal of the campaign. The Blues’ striker’s two goals this week means he is currently the top Irish goalscorer in the top two divisions in England, two ahead of Callum Robinson who has scored three goals so far this season.
Elsewhere there were starts for Jack Taylor and Sammie Szmodics at Peterborough, Ryan Manning slotted in again at left centre-back in a back three in Swansea’s 2-1 win, while both Enda Stevens and John Egan played the full ninety minutes as Sheffield United picked up a point on the road against Nottingham Forest.
English League One
There was also only one Irish scorer in League One on Tuesday evening. Will Keane levelled the score in Wigan’s 3-2 win over Fleetwood Town with his seventh goal of the season. The 28-year-old forward nodded in a bicycle kick cross before Wigan found the decisive winner four minutes later. James McClean continued his run in the side, making his 100th appearance for the club in the win which keeps them top of the pile in League One.
EFL Trophy
Evan Ferguson had to settle for a seat on the bench as fellow Irish teammates Andrew Moran and James Furlong took to the pitch in Brighton U-21’s EFL Trophy clash away to Northampton Town. However, Ferguson’s services were soon called upon in the second-half and he took his chance in style with a smashing goal. After his attempted first time cross was blocked, the 17-year-old demonstrated his strength by holding off the opposition defender before effortlessly curling an effort in the top corner to make the game all-square. Brighton’s youngsters went on to score a stoppage time winner against their senior counterparts.
Eoin Doyle wrapped up the win for Bolton with his penalty on the stroke of half-time in a straight-forward 3-0 win against Rochdale. Doyle has now scored five goals in all competitions in Bolton’s first season back in the third tier.
Ireland U-21 striker Tom Cannon made his second appearance in the EFL Trophy for Everton. He was substituted at half-time in a 1-0 defeat to Hartlepool United.
November 3rd
English Championship
On Wednesday evening, Jason Knight returned to the Derby County starting lineup after a short stint in the treatment room. They fell to a 2-1 defeat to Barnsley.
Callum Robinson set up Karlan Grant for the winning goal in the 69th minute as West Brom beat Hull City. There was also a senior league debut at wing-back for Ireland U-19 international Taylor Gardner-Hickman.
Both Sean Maguire and Alan Browne started in Preston’s 2-1 win at top of table Bournemouth where Mark Travers was between the sticks. Meanwhile Jimmy Dunne returned to QPR’s starting eleven for their 1-0 victory away to Cardiff City. Ireland U-21 international Mark McGuinness started at the back for the home side.
Finally, it was a night to definitely forget for Darragh Lenihan and Blackburn Rovers who suffered a 7-0 thrashing at the hands of the in-form Fulham.