Out of sympathy we're tempted to give the Player of the Week award to the hapless Terry Phelan who started his first game for Everton in 22 injury-wrecked months on Tuesday night, in a League Cup match at Oxford. Twenty-three minutes later he was carried off the pitch after a kick on the thigh left him with heavy bruising and internal bleeding. The injury is not as bad as first feared but Phelan is expected to be out for a couple of weeks.

The League Cup provided 18-year-old Thomas Butler, 14 years Phelan's junior, with happier memories midweek - the midfielder from Tallaght made his debut for Sunderland in their game against Walsall.

However, Tranmere's David Kelly (right) takes our award after scoring a second-half hat-trick in a 5-1 win over Coventry in the same competition, and he made it four goals in two games with another against Portsmouth on Saturday.