Northern Ireland defender Jamal Lewis helped bottom of the table Newcastle United secure their first Premier League victory of the season as he once again starred for the Magpies as they defeated Burnley 1-0 at St James’ Park at the weekend.
The 23-year-old’s game time has been limited as he has played second fiddle to Matt Ritchie this season, but the former Scottish international's suspension over the past few weeks has seen Lewis play back-to-back games in the Premier League for the first time since February.
Elsewhere in the Premier League, Craig Cathcart and Jonny Evans played the full 90 minutes as Watford and Leicester City both suffered defeats, while Stuart Dallas was in the Leeds United side which hit an injury-time equaliser at home to Brentford.
In the Championship, George Saville was an unused substitute as Millwall won 3-1 at home against Birmingham City, however Daniel Ballard was absent after he underwent a knee operation last week which looks set to keep him out of action for the next three months.
Josh Magennis, Ali McCann, Paddy McNair and Luke Southwood were all named in their respective clubs' starting XIs, while striker Shayne Lavery continued his comeback from injury with a second half substitute appearance for Blackpool who went down 3-0 at home to Luton Town.
Meanwhile, in the FA Cup, Conor Washington provided an assist for Charlton Athletic’s opening goal in their 2-0 win at Gateshead, while Jordan Jones came on as a late substitute for Wigan Athletic who will also be in Monday’s third round draw following their 2-1 victory at Colchester United.
Northern Ireland under-21 international Liam Ravenhill made his first appearance of the season for Doncaster Rovers who were knocked out of the competition after losing 3-2 at Mansfield Town.
Missing from the Rovers squad for Saturday’s tie was on-loan Manchester United midfielder Ethan Galbraith who was unavailable because of a hip injury.
“He (Ethan) just felt a tight hip flexor," explained Rovers caretaker boss Gary McSheffrey. “I think he felt it Wednesday night but grinded it through. He did a fitness test but he still felt sore.”
Defender Ryan McLaughlin and on-loan midfielder Alfie McCalmont will also be looking forward to the third round draw after Morecambe recorded a slender 1-0 victory over non-league Buxton FC who had former Northern Ireland international Jamie Ward in their line-up.
In the FA Women’s League Cup, international team-mates Simone Magill and Sarah McFadden came face to face as Everton Women defeated Durham 1-0 thanks to a second half goal from Toni Duggan at Haig Avenue.
On the goalscoring front, Liam Boyce scored his 11th of the season as he hit the only goal of the game in Hearts' victory at Livingston and Accrington Stanley’s Liam Coyle bagged his first goal for the club as they recorded an impressive 5-1 League One success over Fleetwood Town, who had no fewer than five Northern Ireland players in their 18-man squad.
In the Scottish Premiership Liam Donnelly, who has been sidelined for the last three months with a knee injury, returned to the Motherwell panel and was an unused substitute in their draw with Hibs, while Steven Davis was rested for Rangers' comfortable 3-0 home success against Dundee.
Finally, on the youth front, Ross McCausland scored his eighth of the season for the Rangers ‘B’ team at the weekend, Dale Taylor netted twice in Nottingham Forest U18s' 3-0 win over Wolves and Ben Wilson was on target for Brighton & Hove Albion’s U23 side who also won 3-0 at home to Liverpool.
