Burton Albion striker Liam Boyce bagged his fourth goal in as many games over the festive period as The Brewers ran out 4-3 winners in a thrilling New Year’s Day victory at bottom-placed Bolton Wanderers.
The 28-year-old now has 13 goals to his name for the League One side this season, however, Burton boss Nigel Clough admits that he may have to listen to offers for the former Cliftonville player's services during the January transfer window.
“We have had interest in Liam from a few clubs leading up to the window opening,” said Clough. “We we are in the process of trying to sort out contract offer for him in the next few days and we will take it from there.
“We want to try and keep him if we can, but we know the limitations that we have in trying to do that.”
The only other Northern Ireland player to get his name on the scoresheet on New Year’s Day was midfielder Matty Lund who scored his fourth goal of the season as Scunthorpe United recorded a 2-0 victory at Oldham Athletic in League Two.
For the second successive match midfielder George Saville, weighed in with an assist as Middlesbrough made it four straight wins with a 2-0 victory at Preston North End.
Paddy McNair also played after coming on as a substitute to take his place in the heart of the Boro’ defence after serving a three-game suspension.
There were assists too for Walsall striker Caolan Lavery and Jordan Thompson of Blackpool.
Michael O’Neill’s Stoke City hit four second-half goals to record an emphatic 5-2 success over fellow strugglers Huddersfield Town.
Elsewhere, former Coleraine winger Stephen Dooley hit the winner for Rochdale and former Northern Ireland under-21 international Callum Camps provided the assist for Dale's winner as they eased their relegation worries with a 2-1 success at Accrington Stanley. Ryan McLaughlin played only his second game for the club since August after missing for most of the current campaign with a heel injury.
Meanwhile, Josh Magennis was again absent from the Hull City squad that travelled to Sheffield Wednesday yesterday after receiving a fresh injury set-back.
The 29-year-old has been missing from the Tigers' side since late November because of a hamstring problem, but his manager Grant McCann revealed Magennis is to have an extended period on the sidelines.
“Josh is going to be another couple of weeks,” said the former Northern Ireland midfielder, “He’s re-hurt something. His injury was healing up but because it was healing he was compensating in other areas of his hamstring and triggered something else.
“We don’t think it’s anything serious, but we just need to make sure he gets it right.”
