IRELAND DEFENDER DARRAGH Lenihan was on target for Blackburn Rovers in their Championship victory over Queens Park Rangers, while Wayne Rooney scored his first goal for Derby County.

Leinhan’s first-half goal, which was his second in as many games, was ultimately the winner for Blackburn as their 2-1 victory keeps them on track for a play-off place.

Adam Armstrong gave Rovers the lead with a goal from 25 yards before Jordan Hugill hit the equaliser in the 22nd minute. But Lenihan had the final say eight minutes later to seal the win.

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Ireland’s Derrick Williams was on the bench for Blackburn, while Conor Masterson and Olamide Shodipo both featured for QPR, with the latter coming on in the second half. Ryan Manning was among the QPR subs.

Meanwhile, Rooney’s first goal for Derby County was not enough to prevent the Rams from suffering a 3-2 defeat to bottom side Luton Town.

Ireland duo James Collins and Glen Rea played the full 90 minutes for the victors, with Collins’ attempt at goal leading to Luton’s opening goal by Pelly-Ruddock Mpanzu.

Rooney found the target on 63 minutes when his deflected effort finished up in the net to give Derby the lead. Luton responded to take the lead through goals from Mpanzu and Donervon Daniels, before Chris Martin struck the equaliser for Derby.

There was still further drama to come as Jayden Bogle’s late own-goal gave Luton the win, while Derby’s Max Lowe was sent off.

Elsewhere, Republic of Ireland’s Callum O’Dowda made a second-half introduction for Bristol City in their 1-0 win over Reading.

Ireland’s Brian Murphy was among the substitutes for Cardiff City’s 2-1 win over a West Brom side which featured Dara O’Shea, and Sean McLoughlin was also on the bench in Hull’s defeat to Huddersfield Town.

Third-placed Nottingham Forest closed the gap on West Brom to two points as Joe Lolley’s first-half goal secured a 1-0 win at Brentford, who remain fifth.

CIRO IMMOBILE ACHIEVED a goalscoring feat not seen in Serie A for 61 years as Lazio thumped SPAL 5-1 to go second in the table.

A double each for the Italy international and Felipe Caicedo, plus a first goal for 20-year-old Bobby Adekanye, moved Simone Inzaghi’s side to within five points of league leaders Juventus with a game in hand.

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Immobile has scored 25 of Lazio’s 52 league goals this season and leads the race for the European Golden Shoe ahead of Bayern Munich star Robert Lewandowski and RB Leipzig’s Timo Werner.

Indeed, no player has ever managed more than 25 goals after the first 21 matches of a Serie A season. The only other player to equal that tally was former Inter, Roma and Milan attacker Antonio Valentin Angelillo back in 1959.

Immobile has scored 123 Serie A goals over the past 10 seasons, which is more than any other player – a record that seems more remarkable given the 29-year-old spent unsuccessful spells with Borussia Dortmund and Sevilla between 2014 and 2016.

Lazio were held to a 1-1 draw by Roma in the derby last Sunday, but they have won 12 of their past 15 league games and have not failed to score since a 1-0 loss at Inter on September 25.

CELTIC’S BID TO win a 40th Scottish Cup remains on track thanks to a 3-0 victory away to League One outfit Clyde.

The holders, who are aiming to win the competition for the fourth consecutive season, were far too strong for the third-tier side at Broadwood Stadium.

Olivier Ntcham, celebrating his 24th birthday, put Neil Lennon’s side ahead when he found the net with a curled effort from just inside the box.

Celtic captain Scott Brown doubled their lead five minutes before the break by finishing from close range after being assisted by Patryk Klimala.

The scoring was completed in the 89th minute by substitute Vakoun Issouf Bayo, who converted when he was teed up by Moritz Bauer.

The quarter-final draw has handed Celtic an away tie against St Johnstone, while last year’s runners-up Hearts will host a Rangers side who they defeated in the Scottish Premiership a fortnight ago.

WITH GLENN WHELAN contributing a man-of-the-match performance in midfield, Fleetwood Town boosted their promotion hopes with a big win on Saturday.

Joey Barton’s side are now just two points adrift of a play-off place following their 2-1 victory against League One’s most in-form side.

Fourth-placed Peterborough United were aiming for a seventh win on the trot, but they came up short against a Fleetwood outfit who also find themselves in a rich vein of form.

Fleetwood, who hadn’t won in the six games prior to Whelan’s arrival last month, have yet to taste defeat in the six games they’ve played with the veteran Irishman in the team.

They have jumped from 11th to eighth place in the table since signing the 36-year-old Dubliner, who had been a free agent as a result of his premature and somewhat acrimonious departure from struggling Scottish Premiership club Hearts.

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Saturday’s win was their fourth in succession. An extension of that run at home to fellow promotion chasers Portsmouth this Saturday could be enough to push the Lancashire club into the play-off spots.

Liam Lawrence, who played alongside Whelan for Stoke City and the Republic of Ireland, spoke about his former team-mate’s impact while appearing as a pundit on Quest TV’s EFL highlights programme over the weekend.

“He’s one of the most professional footballers that I’ve played with – his character, how he trains, how he plays, how he prepares,” Lawrence said. “He’ll have a big influence on that dressing room and the people around him, especially the youngsters.”

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Fleetwood, whose leading goalscorer is Irish striker Paddy Madden, have never reached the heights of the Championship. The club, whose Highbury home ground holds just over 5,000 spectators, were promoted to the Football League for the first time in 2012.

Whelan has experience of promotion from League One from his time at Sheffield Wednesday, with whom he tasted play-off success back in 2005.

Before making his Fleetwood debut on 25 January, Whelan hadn’t played a game in five weeks. However, he has not missed a minute of action yet for his new club.

Despite dropping down to the third tier of English football, Whelan looks likely to retain his place in the Republic of Ireland team for next month’s Euro 2020 play-off against Slovakia.

“Glenn, for me, who has been probably the star man in three or four of our games, he has the edge on those, without any doubt,” Ireland manager Mick McCarthy said last week when asked about the selection prospects of players like James McCarthy, Jayson Molumby and Jason Knight. 

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Wolves 3-0 Norwich

ON-FIRE DIOGO JOTA bagged a brace as Wolves comfortably crushed Norwich 3-0 at Molineux to maintain their push for European football again next season.

After scoring a hat-trick in a 4-0 Europa League thumping of Espanyol on Thursday night, Jota took his tally to 14 for the season with both goals in the first half.

Raul Jimenez then poached his 21st of the campaign early in the second period to leave Nuno Espirito Santo’s side two points behind fifth-placed Manchester United, and woeful City propping up the Premier League, seven points from safety.

For the opening 15 minutes, though, Wolves appeared to be suffering a post-Europa League hangover following the win over Espanyol as they were sluggish and off the pace.

The opening two chances fell the way of the visitors, initially with Teemu Pukki’s flick to a low ball in from the left from Kenny McLean saved by the feet of Rui Patricio in the seventh minute.

Four minutes later Pukki turned provider for McLean, laying a ball back to the midfielder who unleashed a first-time strike from the edge of the area that had Patricio just holding on due to the swerve on the ball.

But from Wolves’ opening goal in the 18th minute there was then only one team in the game as a Norwich side clearly lacking in confidence fell away.

From Leander Dendocker’s cross from the right, Matt Doherty collected, spun and played in Jota, who followed up with a spin away of his own from his marker before firing a low shot underneath Tim Krul from eight yards.

The goal eventually stood despite a typically-lengthy VAR check for a potential handball against Doherty in the build-up.

After Alexander Tettey had cleared off the toes of Jimenez a byline ball from Jota into the six-yard box, the latter made it 2-0 on the half-hour.

BRADFORD CITY HAVE terminated the contract of Tyrell Robinson after he was charged with sexual activity with a child today. 

According to the West Yorkshire Police, it is alleged that the 22-year-old engaged in penetrative sexual activity with a child in August 2018. 

Robinson, who joined Bradford City from Arsenal in 2017, is also accused of making an indecent image of a child and distributing an indecent image of a child. 

Following the news, the League Two side have sacked the player, who plays left-back or as a winger. He had previously been suspended since his initial arrest 18 months ago. 

“Bradford City Football Club has parted company with Tyrell Robinson,” a club statement reads.

“This comes after West Yorkshire Police confirmed charges had been brought against Robinson, following his arrest in August 2018.

IRISH INTERNATIONAL MATT Doherty registered a goal and an assist as Wolves came from behind twice to beat Tottenham 3-2 in the Premier League today.

Irish international Troy Parrott came on in second-half stoppage time for his second appearance in the league, but could not rescue his side.

Raul Jimenez boosted Wolves’ bid to qualify for the Champions League as his late winner capped the visitors’ dramatic fightback.

Nuno Espirito Santo’s side trailed twice in north London, but hit back from 2-1 down thanks to second half goals from Diogo Jota and Jimenez.

Wolves moved two points above Tottenham into sixth place in the Premier League.

As it stands, finishing fifth could lead to a Champions League place, owing to second placed Manchester City’s European ban, against which they are appealing.

Sitting level on points with fifth placed Manchester United and just three behind fourth placed Chelsea, Wolves are firmly in the hunt for an unexpected berth in Europe’s elite club competition

They fell behind to Steven Bergwijn’s first half opener, but Doherty equalised and even Serge Aurier restoring Tottenham’s lead couldn’t knock Wolves out of their stride.

It was a bitter blow for injury-hit Tottenham, who suffered three consecutive defeats in all competitions for the first time this season.

Heading into this weekend, Spurs had kept just three clean-sheets in 22 games in all competitions since Mourinho took charge.

So Mourinho dropped defenders Toby Alderweireld and Jan Vertonghen as part of four changes following last week’s defeat at Chelsea, with keeper Hugo Lloris sidelined by a groin injury.

Those switches included midfielder Eric Dier dropping back to centre-half and exploited Mourinho’s reshuffle time and again.

Tottenham had their chances and took the lead with a superb counter in the 13th minute.

Giovani Lo Celso picked out Aurier’s run down the right and when the right-back’s cross reached Dele Alli, his shot was pushed out by Rui Patricio into the path of Bergwijn, who slotted home from close-range.

It was the Dutch winger’s second goal since joining Tottenham from PSV Eindhoven in January.

But the hosts remained creaky at the back and Nuno’s men crafted an impressive equaliser in the 27th minute.

Ruben Vinagre ran onto Jota’s pass and fought his way past Aurier to the touchline, where he delivered a teasing cross into the six-yard box.

Dier and Japhet Tanganga both made a hash of attempting to clear and Doherty made them pay as the defender fired past Paulo Gazzaniga for his seventh goal of the season.