ALAN BROWNE SCORED his 11th goal of the season in Preston’s 2-1 win away to Bolton Wanderers, a result which lifts North End to 14th in the table. Cork-born Browne opened the scoring five minutes before the break, before another Irish international, Sean Maguire, assisted Tom Barkhuizen for a second eight minutes from time. 

Clayton Donaldson pulled a late goal back for Bolton, who saw Irish U18 international Luca Connell subbed early in the first-half through injury. 

Callum O’Dowda created the only goal of Bristol City’s win against Blackburn, which keeps them in the sixth and final play-off spot, sitting between West Brom and Derby with the same number of points. 

Nottingham Forest remain in contention to snaffle that position, with Martin O’Neill’s team five points behind after a 2-1 win over Brentford. 

Elsewhere, Derby and Birmingham kept in the playoff hunt with wins against Hull City and QPR respectively, while there were draws between Rotherham and Wigan along with Sheffield Wednesday and Reading. Swansea City beat Millwall 1-0. 

In League One, Kieran Sadlier scored his first goal for Doncaster Rovers in a 3-1 win over Peterborough, while James Collins scored his ninth goal in as many games as Luton Town beat Wycombe 3-0. 

Patrick Madden scored the only goal of Fleetwood’s 1-0 win at Bradford City, while Jimmy Dunne scored for Sunderland in a 1-1 draw with Oxford. 

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