Manning on the mark in Saints win
Ryan Manning bagged his sixth league goal of the season for Southampton at the weekend as the Saints maintained their push for the play-offs with a 3-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday.
Manning pounced in the first minute of first-half injury time, curling home a brilliant free-kick from a yard outside the angle of the penalty area, bending his left-footed inside the near-side left-hand post of Seny Dieng, who was well beaten by the effort.
It was his second goal in four games as the south-coast side have now taken an impressive 20 points from their last eight games to keep them seventh in the table, one place and four points behind Wrexham in 6th, the final play-off spot.
That chase of the play-offs will be put to one side this weekend as the FA Cup takes centre-stage, with Tonda Eckert taking his side to west London on Sunday for a 5th Round tie with Premiership side, Fulham; but they will be back in league action next Wednesday with another away game, this time against struggling West Bromwich Albion (21st).
Their south coast rivals, Portsmouth (19th, suffered a blow to their survival hopes last weekend, losing 1-0 at home to Hull City. Pompey manager John Mousinho is hopeful Conor Shaughnessy will be available for this tomorrow's crunch clash away to Blackburn Rovers (20th), with both sides looking for a first win in three games.
Down in League One, Baba Adeeko remains sidelined at Wigan Athletic after undergoing surgery on a hamstring injury back in December, missing last weekend's 1-0 win at home to Huddersfield Town that lifted them two places in the table to 19th.
They are away tomorrow to a Blackpool side one place below them in the table; while they are on home soil on Tuesday when they host Plymouth Argyle (12th).
Aaron Conolly’s Leyton Orient side slipped back in the relegation spots last weekend when a 3-1 defeat at home to Barnsley saw them drop one place to 21st in the table. They are away to Bradford City (4th) tomorrow and face a trip to Stevenage (9th) on Tuesday.
Accrington Stanley's outside push for the play-off spots in League Two have derailed somewhat in the last fortnight after they suffered three defeats on the spin, including a 2-1 loss away to Bromley last weekend.
Seamus Conneely started that game before being replaced in the 77th minute of a defeat that leaves them 15th in the table, and they face a tall task to snap that losing run tomorrow as they host high-flying Cambridge United (2nd).
Up in the Premier League, Alex Murphy continues to be involved in the Newcastle United first team match-day squad, being an unused sub both in last Saturday's 3-2 defeat at home to Everton and Wednesday night's 2-1 win at home to Manchester United.
The Magpies welcome Manchester City to St James' Park tomorrow in the 5th Round of the FA Cup; and then roll out the welcome mat for Barcelona on Tuesday in the first leg of the Last 16 tie in the Champions League.
Fellow Galwegian, Kyle Fitzgerald, featured prominently for the Newcastle United U-21s last Friday, playing the full 90 minutes of their 2-2 draw at home to Brighton & Hove Albion in their Premier League 2 clash, providing the assist for their second goal. United sit 21st in the Premier League 2 table and are away to Leicester City (11th) on Tuesday.
With the 2027 Women's World Cup qualifying campaign kicking off this week, the various women's leagues are on a two-week break. Lucia Lobato's Charlton Athletic sit on top of the Super League 2 table and host Sunderland (8th) on Sunday week, March 15, when league action resumes, needing just 10 points from their last eight games to secure promotion.
Up in the NIFL, Pat Hoban's Glentoran have climbed to second in the table after picking up back-to-back wins in the past week, the Galway man bagging a 15-minute hat-trick last Saturday in their 5-1 hammering at home to Crusaders; and they ran out1-0 winners at home to Carrick Rangers on Tuesday.
That made it an incredible 22 goals in 24 league games for the hot-shot striker, and his first hat-trick since scoring six times in the 7-0 win over Carrick Rangers on January 3. They are five points behind table-toppers Larne, and have three league games remaining, with Larne having two game to play.
The sides put that race for the league title to one side tonight when they meet in Belfast in the quarter-finals of the Irish Cup; before Glentoran travel to Bangor (9th) on Tuesday, with Larne not in action again until next weekend.
Down in Australia, Joe Shaughnessy's Newcastle Jets saw their record winning run come to an end at the weekend when they were held to a scoreless draw away to Central Coast Mariners.
They had been on an eight-match winning run and were just two shy of equalling the league record 10-match winning run of Western Sydney Wanderers from 2013.
The draw did see them make it 10 games without defeat, but it has seen their lead at the top of the table cut to two points.
They are at home to Western Sydney Wanderers (11th) in the early hours of tomorrow (Saturday) morning.