Potential Ireland recruit Patrick Bamford continued his recent rich vein of form on Saturday, netting an early winner as promoting-chasing Leeds won 1-0 at Bristol City.

Republic of Ireland manager Mick McCarthy says Patrick Bamford will soon confirm his allegiance to Ireland.

Mick McCarthy confirmed potential Ireland recruit Patrick Bamford has agreed to meet him in the coming weeks.

If Leeds United striker Patrick Bamford is to find his way to the net for Ireland then, first of all, it would be helpful if he could find his way to a phone.

Will Keane has become the first of what Mick McCarthy hopes is a steady stream of Ireland recruits under his reign.

Mick McCarthy insists that Seamus Coleman will retain his place in the Irish side — and the captaincy — regardless of his varying fortunes at Everton this season.

Former Cork City star Sean Maguire came off the bench to score Preston’s winner against Bristol City at Deepdale and keep North End’s play-off challenge firmly on course.

Burton condemned Jose Morais to defeat in his first game in charge of Barnsley with a 2-1 victory which moved Albion off the bottom of the Championship.

Second-half Leicester goals from Shinji Okazaki and Islam Slimani sent Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool out of the Carabao Cup at the first hurdle.

Liverpool 3 Middlesbrough 0: When the two minutes of injury-time were up, Jurgen Klopp stood slowly, grinned, hugged every man on the Liverpool bench, and then went and casually but earnestly shook the hand of Steve Agnew, the Middlesbrough caretaker manager.

Norwich manager Alex Neil maintains that Robbie Brady is not on the brink of leaving Carrow Road even though he concedes that the Irish international is a £10m target for a number of Premier League clubs.

Chelsea 3 Burnley 0: Eden Hazard’s revival at Chelsea looks set to be as quick, dramatic and unfathomable as his fall from grace last season after a performance at the weekend which hinted he is almost back to his very best.

Paul Linehan has been a Middlesbrough fan for about 40 years, writes Eoin O’Callaghan

Manchester City's title aspirations slipped further in a goalless draw at Carrow Road which did little to boost Norwich's hopes of Barclays Premier League survival.

There were some, you know…

The ins and outs from all the Premier League clubs during the transfer window.

Louis van Gaal believes 2015 should largely be regarded as “a very good year” for Manchester United despite their current woes.

Crystal Palace 0 Swansea City 0: Patrick Bamford is understood to have opted to end his loan stint at Crystal Palace and return to Chelsea, after missing a gilt-edged chance to settle this stalemate.

Jermain Defoe picked Scott Dann’s pocket for a poacher’s finish to seal Sunderland’s 1-0 Premier League victory at Crystal Palace.

Alan Pardew has never been slow to offer reminders when he has done something well, and considering Crystal Palace’s transformation from relegation-threatened to top half of the table this year, backed up by the most impressive transfer dealings of any side outside of the top six excepting Stoke, that knowing grin has widened.

The Raheem Sterling saga has dominated the opening transfer window exchanges. But just what moves must Chelsea, Man City, Arsenal and Man United make to improve on last season’s showing.

It was not pretty. It was painful to watch. In fact I think we are getting progressively worse week on week — 87 minutes without one shot on target tells its own story. 

Atletico Madrid 1, Bayer Leverkusen 0:

Premier League

Man City 0 Middlesbrough 2: FA Cup Fourth Round. Patrick Bamford helped Jose Mourinho’s protege Aitor Karanka mastermind one of the most stunning upsets on a day of FA Cup giant-killing, then predicted that the original Special One will inflict further misery on a Manchester City season that is rapidly spiralling out of control.

Former Manchester City manager Joe Royle has backed Manuel Pellegrini’s assessment that their late return from Abu Dhabi had little to do with their shock FA Cup exit at the hands of Middlesbrough.

League One Bradford served up one of the biggest shocks in FA Cup history as they hit back from two goals down to beat Chelsea 4-2 at Stamford Bridge.

TODAY

Liverpool 2 Middlesbrough 2

Liverpool 2 Middlesbrough 2

Martin O’Neill was at pains to stress yesterday that his squad for the game against Serbia next month is only the first word, not the last word.

Lloyd Dyer and Jamie Vardy produced two top quality goals to enable Sky Bet Championship leaders Leicester to chalk up a record-breaking victory.

While admitting he harbours reservations about Fifa’s eligibility rules — which allow players who meet certain criteria to switch countries if they haven’t already been capped in a competitive senior international — Martin O’Neill reckons it would be “foolish” if he didn’t use the same rules to maximise the Republic of Ireland’s player pool.

Fresh from his own brief tenancy in charge of the Ireland senior team, U21 boss Noel King delivered positive tidings yesterday when he met new manager Martin O’Neill for the first time.

As born winners, Martin O’Neill and Roy Keane will dig deep to turn around Ireland’s fortunes — which is good news for prospective new talent.

Ireland U21 manager Noel King may have delivered a glowing epitaph of Giovanni Trapattoni’s impact but his deputy, Harry McCue, yesterday laid bare the Italian’s disinterest in any tier beneath the senior fold.

There’s no need to whisper it — the new Ireland manager is not so badly off for personnel if he picks the right players and integrates some new ones.

Daniel Sturridge scored twice as Liverpool survived a major scare against Notts County at Anfield to book their place in the third round of the Capital One Cup, winning 4-2 after extra-time.

Ian Holloway saw his Premier League new boys Crystal Palace embarrassed by League One Bristol City in the Capital One Cup at Ashton Gate tonight.

Former Leinster, Toulouse and Ireland forward Trevor Brennan is free to resume a career today in rugby following the expiration of his five-year ban from the sport.

QPR were the Barclay’s Premier League’s biggest spenders on transfer deadline day with almost £9million invested on strikers Bobby Zamora and Djibril Cisse.

Chelsea have made a £1.5m bid for Nottingham Forest striker Patrick Bamford, according to Forest boss Steve Cotterill.

THE Ulster rugby fan who was attacked by ex-Irish international Trevor Brennan has been awarded damages for libel at the High Court in Belfast.