Shea Charles scored a stunning goal as Southampton’s push for a play-off place in the Championship continued with a 2-0 win over Oxford United at St Mary’s at the weekend.
With the Saints a goal up, the 22-year-old Northern Ireland midfielder fired home from all of 30 yards to score his third goal of the season and ultimately secure all three points for the home side.
Speaking to the club website, he said: “It just came out to me. I’m not sure if Cameron (Archer) meant to pass it to me, but I thought I may as well hit it.
“We were 1-0 up early on in the game, so there was nothing to lose at that point.”
Saints head coach Tonda Eckert said: “It’s a good one. I’ve seen quite a few strikes so far, so it's not the first goal from distance but, yeah, credit to him. I think he’s played a very good 90 minutes today.”
Also in the Championship QPR winger Paul Smyth hit a brace and recorded an assist as the West London outfit demolished struggling Portsmouth 6-1 at Loftus Road.
Other Northern Ireland players getting their name on the scoresheet over the weekend included Ryan Johnson, whose third of the campaign helped AFC Wimbledon secure a point in their League One contest at home to Peterborough United.
Midfielder Cameron McGeehan’s seventh goal of the season was merely a consolation as Northampton Town went down 4-1 to Mansfield Town at Field Mill, while in League Two Ronan Hale scored from the penalty spot as Gillingham fell to a fourth straight defeat with a 2-1 loss at home to Bristol Rovers.
In Scotland Liam Donnelly helped St Mirren to their first away win since November when he scored his first of the season in the Buddies’ 2-1 success at Falkirk.
Meanwhile, in the Premier League, Trai Hume was in the Sunderland side that defeated Newcastle United 2-1 at St James’ Park, though Daniel Ballard was absent due to a hamstring complaint which has also ruled him out of Thursday’s World Cup play-off showdown with Italy.
Winger Kieran Morrison, who has been called up into the Northern Ireland senior panel for the first time, was an unused substitute as Liverpool suffered their 10th league defeat of the season, losing 2-1 to Brighton and Hove Albion.
In the Championship defender Tom Atcheson, who has also received his first call-up to the senior squad for Thursday’s crunch game with Italy, produced a man-of the-match performance after starting Blackburn Rovers' goalless draw with Middlesbrough on Saturday.
The 19-year-old, who has come up through the youth ranks with both his club and Northern Ireland, earned high praise from his manager Michael O’Neill after the game.
“He’s very composed and he’s blessed with the natural attributes you want in a centre back,” O’Neill told the Blackburn website. “He has size, but also speed and he’s a good user of the ball as well.
“I thought he played with great composure and handled the threat of the opposition extremely well. Early on in the game I think they thought with a young centre back they’d try and exploit that area, but he handled that well, grew into the game and he’s a big player with a huge future.”
Finally, in the U21 Premier League, there were goals for Liverpool’s Kieran Morrison, his 14th of the season, Leicester City’s Ryan Donnelly and Nottingham Forest winger Kalum Thompson.
