Caltex Socceroo keeper Mat Ryan has enjoyed his first win for his new club in Belgium, while Brad Smith was involved in a nine-goal thriller for AFC Bournemouth in the EPL overnight.
Ryan started his second straight game in goal for RKC Genk as they registered an important 1-0 win over Royal Excel Mouscron.
The Aussie gloveman made a couple of important stops throughout the 90 minutes, including one late-on to keep out Farouk Miya’s long-range effort.
It was an important win for Genk, who now sit just two points outside the top six in eighth spot.
In the Premier League, Smith came on at half-time with his side already trailing 3-0 against a rampant Everton.
Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku scored twice in the first-half for the Toffees, taking him past Caltex Socceroo star Tim Cahill as Everton’s second-highest scorer in the club’s history.
Cahill tweeted his congratulations to the striker.
Despite improving immensely after Smith’s introduction at the break, Bournemouth went on to lose 6-3.
Young defender Calum Elder made his debut on loan for Barnsley in the Championship, playing a full match in their goalless draw with Preston North End.
Elsewhere, both Bailey Wright and Jackson Irvine got through another impressive 90 minutes as their respective clubs both secured vital wins.
Wright’s Bristol City beat lowly Rotheram 1-0, while Cauley Woodrow scored in the fourth-minute of stoppage-time for Burton Albion to beat Wolves 2-1.
Massimo Luongo played 78 minutes as QPR conceded in injury-time to lose 1-0 at Blackburn, while Mile Jedinak was missing with a groin injury as Aston Villa went down 2-1 at Nottingham Forest.
Teenage midfielder Aiden O’Neill enjoyed a dream debut in League One with Oldham Athletic following his six-month loan from Burnley.
O’Neill set up his side’s winning goal in stoppage-time, with his excellent cross headed in by Peter Clarke for a 1-0 victory.
It was an all-Aussie affair in Bradford and James Meredith’s City drew 2-2 with Chris Herd’s Gillingham, with the pair both putting in full shifts,
Bradden Inman played the last 30 minutes as Peterborough beat Port Vale 3-0 but Cameron Burgess’ Bury lost 2-1 at Shrewsbury Town and Andy Rose’s Coventry was beaten 2-0 by Millwall.
Keeper Alex Cisak was left out of Leyton Orient’s 2-1 loss against Carlisle United in League Two, prompting the shot-stopper to Tweet this:
In Germany, injury kept Mathew Leckie out of Ingolstadt’s hard-fought 1-0 loss at Hertha Berlin.
In Bundesliga2, Ben Halloran came off the bench with 17 minutes left but hi Heidenheim lost 3-2 against Nurnberg.
Former Melbourne City star Harry Novillo was the hero for Bani Yas in the UAE, scoring an injury-time winner as they beat Hatta 1-0.
Caltex Socceroo midfielder Mark Milligan played 90 minutes for Bani Yas, as did ex-Wanderers skipper Nikolai Topor-Stanley for Hatta.
And in the SPL, Ryan Edwards played 81 minutes for Partick Thistle as they went down 2-0 at Aberdeen.