Mat Ryan kept a clean sheet to earn Brighton & Hove Albion a spirited draw at Wolves, while Mathew Leckie made his Bundesliga comeback for Hertha Berlin.
Socceroos number one Ryan made a sharp save from Wolverhampton Wanderers’ top scorer Raul Jimenez in the closing stage as the Seagulls held on to claim an important point in a 0-0 draw at Molineux.
A tightly-fought first-half ended goalless and Graham Potter’s side almost grabbed the lead when Aussie playmaker Aaron Mooy found Leandro Trossard, but the Belgian’s cross flashed across the face of goal.
Solly March slashed a shot over the Wolves bar after the hour mark, before Ryan kept out the Mexican Jimenez and Leander Dendoncker blazed an effort over Ryan’s crossbar in stoppage time.
Brighton’s 29th point of the campaign pushes them two points clear of the drop zone and coach Potter was impressed with his defence against their high-flying opponents.
"It was important for us to keep a clean sheet,” Potter said. “We took part in a game against a team with a lot of dangerous players, but we restricted them to not too many clear-cut chances.”
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Elsewhere in England, Jackson Irvine played 90 minutes of Hull City’s 5-1 Championship reverse at Stoke City, while Kenny Dougall remained on the bench as Barnsley lost 2-0 at home to Cardiff City.
Down in League One, Harry Souttar claimed a shut out as seventh-placed Fleetwood Town drew 0-0 with Blackpool with the race for the playoffs hots up – only one point separates third place from eighth.
Leckie returns after four-month Bundesliga absence
Leckie made his first Bundesliga appearance since November 2019 in the closing stages of Hertha Berlin’s 2-2 draw against Werder Bremen.
The Aussie winger replaced Marius Wolf for the final few minutes after Hertha had fought back from going 2-0 down inside six minutes to pull level through Niklas Stark and Mateus Cunha’s goals.
In a rollercoaster campaign for the German capital club, their third manager of the season – Alexander Nouri – handed Leckie the chance to make a comeback after the Melbourne-native did not featuring under previous coach Jurgen Klinsmann.
Back-to-back draws keep Hertha in 15th position, eight points behind eighth-placed Freiburg, who beat Union Berlin 3-1 with Brandon Borrello an unused substitute.
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Rogic the creator for five-star Celtic
Tom Rogic teed up the second goal of Leigh Griffiths’ hat-trick in Celtic’s 5-0 thumping of St Mirren at Celtic Park.
The ‘Wizard of Oz’ was handed the start by coach Neil Lennon and the Hoops shot off to a flyer when Griffiths’ double put the home side up at half-time.
Odsonne Edouard added another, before Griffiths completed the treble as Rogic was replaced on 74 minutes for Ryan Christie.
Callum McGregor’s late penalty put the seal on a win that puts the Bhoys 16-points clear in the Scottish Premiers League, though Rangers have two games in hand.
Prior to the match, Lennon revealed Daniel Arzani may return to the first-team fold before the end of the campaign.
“He’s played a couple of development games and there’s another one next week. If he comes through that ok he may start to feature before the end of the season,” Lennon said.
Meanwhile, Martin Boyle could not prevent ten-man Hibernian slipping to a 3-1 defeat against fourth-placed Aberdeen at Pittodrie.
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Degenek and Red Star's unbeaten run continues
Milos Degenek and Red Star Belgrade kept their 11-point lead at the top of the Serbian Super Liga with a 3-0 win against Mačva Šabac.
El Fardou Ben’s double and Srdan Babic’s strike sent Crvena Zvezda cruising in to half-time at Stadion FK Mačva, as the Serbian champions' fans celebrated going 18 league games undefeated with flares and fireworks.
James Jeggo battled through 90 minutes of Austria Vienna’s 0-0 deadlocked draw with Austrian Bundesliga basement boys St. Pölten as the Violets remain in seventh place.
Meanwhile, Aziz Behich watched from the bench as İstanbul Başakşehir claimed a 3-0 win against Göztepe to go three points clear at the summit of the Turkish Süper Lig, at least until Trabzonspor play their game in hand.
Back in Australia, Josh Risdon ran riot in Western United’s 5-1 Hyundai A-League win against Adelaide United – with the Socceroos wing-back chalking up three assists.
Rhyan Grant also provided the service for one goal, while Andrew Redmayne featured, in Sydney FC’s 4-1 triumph against Big Blue rivals Melbourne Victory.
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