Round Up for week of Tuesday, 28th November 2017

Tuesday, 28th November 2017

Premier League

West Bromwich Albion 2-2 Newcastle Utd

Ciaran Clark scored his fifth goal for Newcastle, this was also the 15th goal of the defender's career

Championship

Reading 3-0 Barnsley

Liam Kelly made his 50th appearance for Reading

Tonight's line-up also means Academy graduate @L_Kelly95 will notch up senior appearance number 5️⃣0️⃣ in a Reading shirt! 💙 #OneOfOurOwn pic.twitter.com/rORnjsznfv

— Reading FC (@ReadingFC) November 28, 2017

League 1

Blackpool 2-4 Blackburn

Jimmy Ryan was booked for the first time in two months

Charlton 2-2 Peterborough

After signing a two month deal with Charlton, Leon Best made his first start for the Addicks. This was his first appearance since January
Chris Forrester returned to the Peterborough starting XI for the first time since Saturday, 14th October

Wednesday, 29th November 2017

Premier League

Bournemouth 1-2 Burnley

Harry Arter made his 250th appearance for Bournemouth

2️⃣5️⃣0️⃣ and counting...@HarryArter2 makes a landmark club appearance in #BOUBUR tonight! 👏#afcb 🍒 pic.twitter.com/bqXBe6cFMM

— AFC Bournemouth 🍒 (@afcbournemouth) November 29, 2017

Robbie Brady scored his 25th goal of his career

Manchester City 2-1 Southampton

Shane Long was booked for the first time since Saturday, 23rd September

Scottish Premier League

Motherwell 1-1 Celtic

Charles Dunne was shown his first yellow card since Sunday, 24th September

Rangers 3-0 Aberdeen

Anthony O'Connor was booked for the first time in a month

Round Up for weekend of Friday, 24th November 2017

Friday, 24th November 2017

Bulgarian Championship

Cherno More 0-1 OFK Pirin

Conor Henderson scored his first goal for the OFK Pirin, this was the former U21 midfielder's first goal since January 2016

Saturday, 25th November 2017

Championship

Barnsley 0-2 Leeds United

Conor Shaughnessy came off the bench in the second to make his first appearance for Leeds in a month

Burton Albion 0-2 Sunderland

Joe Mason introduction in the second half was the striker's first appearance since Friday, 13th October
John O'Shea was booked for the first time this season

League 1

Scunthorpe 2-0 Charlton

Paddy Madden made his 25th appearance of the season

Southend United 1-1 Oxford United

Simon Cox scored his fifth goal of the season
Michael Timlin was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

League 2

Carlisle United 1-1 Morecambe

Jack Bonham made his 25th career start

Exeter 2-0 Accrington Stanley

Pierce Sweeney marked his 50th appearance in League Two with his third goal of the season

Sunday, 26th November 2017

Premier League

Southampton 4-1 Everton

Shane Long's second half introduction was his 250th appearance in the Premier League

Burnley 0-1 Arsenal

Robbie Brady was booked for the first time since Sunday, 10th September

Scottish Premier League

Kilmarnock 1-3 Aberdeen

Gary Dicker came off the bench at half time to make his first appearance of the season

Anthony O'Connor made his 50th start for Aberdeen

Monday, 27 November 2017

Championship

QPR 2-2 Brentford

John Egan made his 50th appearance in the Championship

Round Up for Tuesday, 21st November 2017

Tuesday, 21st November 2017

Championship

Derby County 2-0 QPR

Ryan Manning came off the bench to make his 25th appearance in the Championship

Nottingham Forest 1-0 Norwich

Daryl Murphy's winner was the striker's first goal got his club in almost two months

Sheffield United 4-5 Fulham

Samir Carruthers scored the third of Sheffield United's goals, this was the midfielder's first goal for the club and his first goal since September 2016

League 1

MK Dons 1-1 Southend United

Stephen McLaughlin scored his 15th goal of in England, also his tenth goal in League One

League 2

Cheltenham 0-0 Cambridge United

David Forde was booked for the first time this season

Newport Co. 1-2 Barnet

Padraig Amond was booked for the first time this season

Port Vale 0-4 Mansfield Town

Gavin Gunning made his 50th League Two appearance

Reflections on World Cup 2018 Qualifiers

Positives
Ireland were the lowest seeded team from the group stages to reach the play offs, and the only fourth seed to do so
We went through the qualifying campaign unbeaten away from home
The average age of the squad has dropped from 30.2 at the Euros last year to 28.5 for the play off squad - a minor change, and the retirement of Robbie Keane accounts for a lot of it, but still a positive
The squad is currently ranked 26th in the world
Beating Austria away from home was the first away win against higher ranked opposition in a qualifier since 1997 against Lithuania
Since the ranking system was introduced by FIFA in 1993, no manager had won two away qualifiers against higher ranked opposition until Martin O'Neill's teams beat both Austria and Wales.
O'Neill has almost doubled the number of victories against higher ranked opposition from six to eleven with the wins over Germany, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Italy, Austria and Wales.
In three away games against our main group rivals Wales, Austria and Serbia, we took seven points from a possible nine

Negatives
Only two players scored more than once in the qualifiers. Counting Duffy's goal in the play offs brings the list to three.
We were the lowest scoring team to qualify for the play offs with 12 goals in 10 games. Croatia were the second last scorers with 15 goals. A counter point to this is that Slovakia missed out despite finishing second in their group, and scoring 17 times
The effects of Coleman's injury, on the player himself, on the result of the Wales game, and on the rest of the qualifiers cannot be underestimated
In three consecutive home games against our main group rivals Wales, Austria and Serbia, we took two points from a possible nine
Taking off two central midfielders, to bring on two attacking/creative players, when facing one of the best attacking central midfielders in the Premier League, is a criminal change. Whatever about training or tactics, I really want to hear Martin O'Neill's explanation behind that change
While there has been no formal announcements yet, the end of a qualifying campaign brings with it player retirements. At the moment there's no obvious replacements for the expected retirees

And some general observances
Whatever preparation the management team does, or doesn't do, it seems to work better away from home than before a qualifier in Dublin.
I saw several tweets from journalists complaining about players not speaking to them after the game in the mixed zone. Players have Twitter, Instagram and Facebook accounts to issue statements after games now.
Qualifying Group D itself was poor. None of the top four sides overly impressed. Serbia topped the group with the lowest points total of the UEFA group winners
Despite the "tinkerman" style accusations against the manager, the starting XI is pretty settled IMO - Nine players started seven or more of the ten qualifiers

Round Up for weekend of Friday, 17th November 2017

Friday, 17th November 2017

Championship

Burton Albion 1-3 Sheffield United

Samir Carruthers' late introduction from the bench was his first appearance in two months

Preston North End 0-0 Bolton

Andy Boyle was booked for the first time this season

Saturday, 18th November 2017

Premier League

Bournemouth 4-0 Huddersfield

Harry Arter scored his first goal of the season, this was also the 30th goal of the midfielder's career

Burnley 2-0 Swansea

Stephen Ward was booked for the first time this season

Manchester United 4-1 Newcastle Utd

Ciaran Clark returned to the Newcastle starting XI for the first time since 1st October

Championship

Birmingham City 1-0 Nottingham Forest

Stephen Gleeson made his first appearance since Saturday, 26th August

Cardiff 2-0 Brentford

John Egan made his 50th appearance for Brentford

Reading 0-2 Wolverhampton Wanderers

Matt Doherty's first goal of the season was also his tenth goal for Wolves, and the 15th goal of his career

Sheffield Wednesday 0-0 Bristol City

Callum O'Dowda made his 50th appearance in the Championship

League 1

Bristol Rovers 1-3 AFC Wimbledon

Rory Gaffney made his 50th appearance in League One

Peterborough 0-1 Blackpool

Conor O'Malley made his first appearance in League One

League 2

Grimsby 0-1 Carlisle United

Jack Bonham made his 25th career appearance

Lincoln City 1-2 Coventry

Sean Long was booked for the first time this season

Scottish Premier League

Dundee 0-0 Kilmarnock

Darren O'Dea was sent off for the second time this season, two months after his last red card on Saturday, 16 September. This was fourth red card of his career

Sunday, 19th November 2017

Scottish Premier League

Hearts 1-1 Partick Thistle

Daniel Devine was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Scottish Championship

Dundee United 3-0 Falkirk

Willo Flood scored his first goal since Saturday, 2 September in his 200th start for Dundee United

Fun with country codes

With tonight's game taking up more real estate in our collective mindspace with every passing minute, we took a break from teams, players, goals and so on to look at something a bit silly.
You might not know this, but the three character codes that appear on the scoreline at the top of your screen while watching a game are defined by FIFA. You can see the list of countries, and each country's code, on wikipedia here: List of FIFA Country Codes
These are also the codes that make up the hashtag for a game, e.g. Republic of Ireland V Denmark tonight is IRLDEN.
With that in mind, we wondered what actual words can be made from the combination of codes?
So, we consulted the list of six letter words on yourdictionary.com and came up with this list, along with links to the dictionary definition of each word

Angola(ANG) v Lesotho(LES) = ANGLES

Bangladesh(BAN) v Germany(GER) = BANGER

Bangladesh(BAN) v Netherlands(NED) = BANNED

Belgium(BEL) v Lesotho(LES) = BELLES

Belgium(BEL) v Uganda(UGA) = BELUGA

Bermuda(BER) v Thailand(THA) = BERTHA

Cambodia(CAM) v Bermuda(BER) = CAMBER

Cambodia(CAM) v Peru(PER) = CAMPER

Canada(CAN) v Chad(CHA) = CANCHA

Canada(CAN) v Netherlands(NED) = CANNED

Chile(CHI) v Australia(AUS) = CHIAUS

Chile(CHI) v Lesotho(LES) = CHILES

Chile(CHI) v Netherlands(NED) = CHINED

Chile(CHI) v Russia(RUS) = CHIRUS

Colombia(COL) v Liechtenstein(LIE) = COLLIE

Comoros(COM) v Bermuda(BER) = COMBER

Comoros(COM) v Ethiopia(ETH) = COMETH

Comoros(COM) v Malaysia(MAS) = COMMAS

Cyprus(CYP) v Russia(RUS) = CYPRUS

Denmark(DEN) v Netherlands(NED) = DENNED

DR Congo(COD) v Germany(GER) = CODGER

Estonia(EST) v Russia(RUS) = ESTRUS

Finland(FIN) v Estonia(EST) = FINEST

Finland(FIN) v Germany(GER) = FINGER

Finland(FIN) v Netherlands(NED) = FINNED

Gabon(GAB) v Bermuda(BER) = GABBER

Gabon(GAB) v Lesotho(LES) = GABLES

Gambia(GAM) v Bolivia(BOL) = GAMBOL

Gambia(GAM) v Estonia(EST) = GAMEST

Gambia(GAM) v Malaysia(MAS) = GAMMAS

Gibraltar(GIB) v Bermuda(BER) = GIBBER

Guam(GUM) v Malaysia(MAS) = GUMMAS

Guinea(GUI) v Lesotho(LES) = GUILES

Honduras(HON) v Estonia(EST) = HONEST

Hungary(HUN) v Germany(GER) = HUNGER

Iceland(ISL) v Andorra(AND) = ISLAND

Kenya(KEN) v Netherlands(NED) = KENNED

Lesotho(LES) v Senegal(SEN) = LESSEN

Macau(MAC) v Lesotho(LES) = MACLES

Madagascar(MAD) v Denmark(DEN) = MADDEN

Panama(PAN) v Netherlands(NED) = PANNED

Paraguay(PAR) v Angola(ANG) = PARANG

Paraguay(PAR) v Lesotho(LES) = PARLES

Paraguay(PAR) v Tanzania(TAN) = PARTAN

Puerto Rico(PUR) v Estonia(EST) = PUREST

Puerto Rico(PUR) v Germany(GER) = PURGER

Puerto Rico(PUR) v Palestine(PLE) = PURPLE

Samoa(SAM) v Palestine(PLE) = SAMPLE

Samoa(SAM) v Panama(PAN) = SAMPAN

Sierra Leone(SLE) v Azerbaijan(AZE) = SLEAZE

Singapore(SIN) v Germany(GER) = SINGER

Singapore(SIN) v Netherlands(NED) = SINNED

Solomon Islands(SOL) v Andorra(AND) = SOLAND

Somalia(SOM) v Bermuda(BER) = SOMBER

South Korea(KOR) v Malaysia(MAS) = KORMAS

Suriname(SUR) v Estonia(EST) = SUREST

Sweden(SWE) v Venezuela(VEN) = SWEVEN

Tanzania(TAN) v Netherlands(NED) = TANNED

Trinidad and Tobago(TRI) v Libya(LBY) = TRILBY

Trinidad and Tobago(TRI) v Palestine(PLE) = TRIPLE

Tunisia(TUN) v Netherlands(NED) = TUNNED

Turkey(TUR) v Bangladesh(BAN) = TURBAN

Turkey(TUR) v Botswana(BOT) = TURBOT

Turkey(TUR) v Netherlands(NED) = TURNED

Vanuatu(VAN) v Netherlands(NED) = VANNED

Wales(WAL) v Russia(RUS) = WALRUS

Round Up for Saturday, 11th November 2017

Saturday, 11 November 2017

League 1

Gillingham 1-1 Bury

Mark Byrne made his 50th appearance for Gillingham
Eoghan O'Connell made his 25th appearance in League One

Oxford United 1-2 Northampton

Sam Foley was booked for the first time this season

League 2

Cambridge United 0-0 Accrington Stanley

Jake Carroll made his 100th appearance in League Two

Cheltenham 2-2 Luton

Alan Sheehan was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Exeter 2-0 Grimsby

Liam McAlinden's return to the Exeter starting XI for the first time in a month was also the striker's 25th start for Exeter

Scottish League Challenge Cup

Inverness CT 1-0 Falkirk

Aaron Doran returned from injury for Inverness Caledonian Thistle to make his first appearance since February

Australian A-League

Adelaide United 1-2 Newcastle Jets

Roy O'Donovan made his 50th appearance in the A-League

FIFA World Cup 2018 European Play Off First Leg

Denmark 0-0 Republic of Ireland

Starting XI
Darren Randolph made his 27th appearance for Ireland
Cyrus Christie made his 16th appearance for Ireland
Shane Duffy made his 16th appearance for Ireland
Ciaran Clark made his 29th appearance for Ireland
Stephen Ward made his 48th appearance for Ireland
James McClean made his 56th appearance for Ireland
Jeff Hendrick made his 36th appearance for Ireland
Callum O'Dowda made his eighth appearance for Ireland
Harry Arter made his tenth appearance for Ireland
Robbie Brady made his 38th appearance for Ireland
Daryl Murphy made his 31st appearance for Ireland

Substitutes
Glenn Whelan made his 84th appearance for Ireland
Conor Hourihane made his fourth appearance for Ireland
Shane Long made his 77th appearance for Ireland

Round Up for week of Tuesday, 7th November 2017

Tuesday, 7th November 2017

Football League Trophy

Oldham 4-1 Newcastle United U21

Courtney Duffus made his first appearance since Saturday, 12th August
Jack Byrne hadn't scored in a month before tonight and ended his mini-drought with his fourth and fifth goals of the season, unfortunately he also picked up his fifth booking of 2017/18 and is suspended for the next game

Bradford City 0-3 Rotherham

Richie Towell scored his first goal in almost two months, and was also booked for the first time this season

Newport Co. 1-2 Cheltenham

Joe Quigley started his first game since August, in what his first appearance since Saturday, 30th September

Rochdale 1-1 Blackburn

Niall Canavan's first appearance since Saturday, 2nd September was his 50th appearance for Rochdale

Southend United 2-0 Colchester

Simon Cox was booked for the fifth time this season and is suspended for the next game

Gillingham 7-5 Reading U21

Conor Wilkinson scored his first goal for Gillingham

Northampton 3-3 Southampton U21

Sam Foley scored his first goal for Northampton

Wednesday, 8th November 2017

Football League Trophy

Carlisle United 1-2 Fleetwood

After returning from injury, John O'Sullivan made his first appearance of the season
Jamie Devitt was shown his first yellow card in exactly three months, his last booking was on Tuesday, 8 August

Bury 3-1 Stoke City U21

Callum Reilly scored his first goal for Bury, almost 15 months after his last goal in August 2016

Grimsby 1-1 Sunderland U21

Sam Kelly's appearance in Grimsby's starting XI was his first start in a month

Bristol Rovers 2-4 Swindon Town

Ryan Sweeney's third goal of the season was his first goal in the Football League Trophy
Donal McDermott was booked for the first time this season

Round Up for weekend of Friday, 3rd November 2017

Friday, 3rd November 2017

English FA Cup

Port Vale 2-0 Oxford United

Gavin Gunning marked his first appearance in the FA Cup with his first goal since March 2014

Saturday, 4th November 2017

Premier League

The nine Irish players to appear in the Premier League games today equals the season high for players in one day

Huddersfield 1-0 West Bromwich Albion

James McClean was booked for the first time in a month

Newcastle Utd 0-1 Bournemouth

Ciaran Clark's introduction from the bench was his first appearance since Sunday, 1st October

Championship

Bristol City 2-1 Cardiff

After scoring his first goal for Bristol City recently, Callum O'Dowda's opener against Cardiff was his first goal in the Championship

Aston Villa 1-2 Sheffield Wednesday

Scott Hogan returned to the Aston Villa starting XI for the first time since Tuesday, 19th September

Derby County 2-4 Reading

Alex Pearce's introduction from the bench (his first appearance since Tuesday, 12th September) was his 50th appearance for Derby County

Ipswich 3-0 Preston North End

After coming off the bench in Derby's previous game, Kevin O'Connor started first game since Tuesday, 8th August
David McGoldrick scored his first goal since Tuesday, 26th September

Scottish Premier League

Hibernian 2-1 Dundee

Anthony Stokes was booked for the first time since August

English FA Cup

Bradford City 2-0 Chesterfield

Connor Dimaio's first start in two months was also his 50th career appearance

Peterborough 1-1 Tranmere

Conor O'Malley made his first start for Peterborough in a month

Shrewsbury 5-0 Aldershot

After extending his loan deal at Aldershot by another month, Ipswich Town's Adam McDonnell made his first appearance in the FA Cup

Hereford 1-0 AFC Telford

Dara O'Shea made his first appearance in the FA Cup while on loan at Hereford from West Brom

Gravesend 2-6 Doncaster Rovers

Ian Lawlor was shown his first yellow card of 2017/18

Carlisle United 3-2 Oldham

Paul Green started his first game in almost three months, his last start came on  Wednesday, 9th August 2017

Cheltenham 2-4 Maidstone United

Kevin Dawson scored his fifth goal of the season, also his first goal in the FA Cup, then was sent off for the third time in his career. The midfielder's last red card came almost exactly a year ago on Saturday, 5th November 2016

Newport Co. 2-1 Walsall

Liam Kinsella made his 25th start for Walsall

Australian A-League

Newcastle Jets 3-0 Wellington Phoenix

The first goal of Roy O'Donovan's brace was his 25th goal in the A-League

Perth Glory 1-0 Adelaide United

Andy Keogh was booked for the first time this season

Sunday, 5 November 2017

Championship

Middlesbrough 1-0 Sunderland

The six Irish players to start this game was a season high for the Championship
Cyrus Christie was booked for the fifth time this season and will be suspended for Middlesbrough's next game

English FA Cup

Coventry 2-0 Maidenhead

Michael Doyle made his 50th appearance in the FA Cup

Solihull Moors 0-2 Wycombe Wanderers

After signing a short term deal with Solihull Moors, Sean St Ledger made his first appearance in more than two years

Exeter 3-1 Heybridge Swifts

Liam McAlinden scored his first goal in the FA Cup was also his tenth goal for Exeter

October 2017 Appearance Stats

Irish Abroad players appearance statistics for October 2017

Wins
With the play off for the World Cup in Russia looming on the horizon, Richard Keogh won the most games in October, finishing on the winning side four times

Draws
Sunderland teammates John O'Shea and Aiden McGeady started the most drawn games, finishing all square on three occasions

Losses
Leeds midfielder Eunan O'Kane lost four games in October, more than any other player

Starts/Completed Games
O'Kane also started the most games in October, being named in the Leeds starting XI on five occasions, and completing 90 minutes in each one

Substitutions/Introductions
Jeff Hendrick and new international squad member Aiden O'Brien were both substituted three times. Four players were introduced twice - Wes Hoolahan, James McClean, Scott Hogan and Graham Cummins

Stayed On Bench
Five players were left on the bench four times - goalkeepers Brian Murphy and Stephen Henderson, along with Alex Pearce, Kevin Long, and Samir Carruthers

Goals
Only six players scored in October, and only Hendrick and Sean Maguire scored more than once. Anthony Stokes was the only player to score a penalty

Discipline
Darren O'Dea was shown three yellow cards in October

Round up for week of Tuesday, 31st October 2017

Tuesday, 31st October 2017

Championship

Leeds United 1-2 Derby County

Richard Keogh was shown his first yellow card in a month

QPR 1-0 Sheffield United

Ryan Manning made his 25th appearance for QPR

Sunderland 3-3 Bolton

Sunderland started four Irish players (John O'Shea, Marc Wilson, Darron Gibson and Aiden McGeady) for the first time since April 2008
This was Wilson's first start since Tuesday, 26th September

League 1

Blackburn 2-2 Fleetwood

Derrick Williams was booked for the first time in two months

Football League Trophy

Bristol Rovers 1-3 West Ham U21

Ryan Sweeney made his first appearance in the Football League Trophy

Wednesday, 1 November 2017

Championship

Preston North End 0-2 Aston Villa

This game featured eight Irish players on the pitch in the Championship for the first time since Sunderland V Luton in December 2006, and four ex-League of Ireland players on the pitch at the same time for the second time this season
Andy Boyle returned to the Preston North End team for his first start since Tuesday, 8th August
Daryl Horgan came off the bench to make his 25th appearance in the Championship
Kevin O'Connor made his Championship debut as a second half substitute

Movember 2017

Once again, Irish Abroad is participating in Movember. The Movember Mo' icon has been added to our social media account AVIs. The in game updates will point to the Movember team page instead of the live blog, but the summary when all fixtures are complete will still have the live blog link

Joe is clean shaven after sacrificing the beard last night (see below), and has set a Move target of cycling 200km during the month. Best of luck!

Before and after! It's #Movember time again, and details on how to donate to the team will be posted tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/k0RLCiAZxx

— Irish Abroad (@irish_abroad) November 1, 2017

The site is run on a voluntary, spare time basis. There's no advertising, nor have we ever requested donations to keep things going.

Bearing that in mind, if you enjoy the as-it-happens updates, the round up of appearances after each round of fixtures, or the appearance stats blogs, please donate to the Irish Abroad Movember team here: https://moteam.co/irish-abroad-mo-team?mc=1