It had been a fortnight to remember for Gary Doherty even before the weekend. By then he'd made his senior Irish debut at Lansdowne Road and signed for Spurs from Luton. But, just to cap it all, he made his Premiership debut on Saturday at Old Trafford in front of 60,000 people. Good going.

Heady days, too, for young Graham Barrett who has already been promised a regular place in the first team squad at Arsenal next season. On Thursday he scored in a 3-1 win for the club's youth team, which he captains, in the first leg of the FA Youth Cup final away to Coventry, picking up the man of the match award just to complete his evening.

This week's award, though, goes to Mark Kennedy who scored in Manchester City's promotion-clinching win at Blackburn yesterday and will make a welcome return to Premiership football next season. Spare a thought for Matt Holland -the Irish and Ipswich midfielder now faces his third successive promotion play-offs (the club's fourth) after being beaten to the second automatic promotion spot by City.