How the Irish fared: Dynamic Matt Doherty tames the Shrews

Few would argue against the assessment that Matt Doherty has been the top-performing Irish player in Britain this season.

The 27-year-old Dubliner has been a key man in a Wolves team that has taken the Premier League by storm with their fearless attacking approach.

That Doherty has chipped in with four goals from full-back illustrates their willingness to attack from every area of the pitch.

Doherty scored the only goal of the game in Wolves at Crystal Palace in October and also netted a last-gasp winner at Newcastle last month.

But none of Doherty’s goals were as timely as his last-gasp intervention against League One outfit Shrewsbury in Saturday’s FA Cup fourth round clash.

A humiliating exit looked inevitable when the Shrews went 2-0 up with 19 minutes to go thanks to Luke Waterfall but Raul Jimenez gave Wolves a lifeline before Doherty popped up to save the day with a towering header in the second minute of stoppage time.

While Wolves and Doherty can continue to dream of a Wembley date in May, the FA Cup dream is over for Kevin Long after Burnley were hammered 5-0 by Manchester City.

To compound Long’s misery, he put through his own net for City’s fourth goal.

In the Championship, the in-form Alan Browne scored his 10th goal of the season as Preston won 2-0 at Stoke.

Reflecting on his landmark goal, Browne said: “It was pleasing for me to get to double figures now and I think Darnell Fisher probably should’ve played me in originally! I was screaming for it on the edge of the box but thankfully I managed to get a shot away and thankfully for me it fell in the back of the net.”

Sean Maguire was also a central figure, his final contribution before being substituted in the 81st minute being the assist for Preston’s second goal.

In League Two, a late header from Eddie Nolan gave Crewe a 2-1 win over Colchester United while Jay O’Shea was on the scoresheet in Bury’s 3-3 draw with Lincoln City.