From Premier League 2 to the Scottish Premiership and 2. Bundesliga. KEEPUP has you covered on all the Aussie-related news outside the A-Leagues.
Hat-trick hero Peupion sinks Robertson’s City
In an Under-21 clash pitting rising star Cam Peupion against recently-capped Socceroo Alex Robertson, the former came out on top as Brighton & Hove Albion stunned Manchester City 3-2 in Premier League 2.
Former Sydney FC youngster Peupion was the hero for Brighton, scoring a hat-trick and the 89th-minute winner on Sunday as he labelled “the Australian Jack Grealish” by one supporter on Twitter.
Others wrote: “What an incredible result for the Albion and what a young talent Peupion is, perhaps gone under the radar with the emergence of (Evan) Ferguson and (Andrew) Moran.”
“Absolute class of a player,” added another.
Peupion scored an 86th-minute equaliser in a 2-2 draw away to Liverpool last time out and the 20-year-old midfielder was at it again against a City side four points clear atop of PL2.
The Australian youngster opened the scoring in the second minute – his first-time finish from eight-yards out setting the tone before doubling the lead 30 minutes later.
Robertson, who made his international debut against Ecuador last month, and City rallied to restore parity by the 68th minute.
However, Peupion had the final say when he nodded home with four minutes of regulation time remaining as Brighton rose from ninth in the table to sixth.
Peupion is continuing to make a name for himself in England after he was plucked from A-Leagues outfit Sydney in 2020 – the Seagulls recruiting the young midfielder for their U18 outfit despite having never played an A-League Men match.
He has caught the eye on the south coast and was handed his first senior appearance by former Brighton and Chelsea boss Graham Potter in August last year.
Peupion came off the bench and supplied an assist in Brighton’s EFL Cup win over Forest Green.
He is the third Australian to play for the Premier League club after Mat Ryan and Aaron Mooy though David Clarkson played for the Seagulls in the second division in the 1990s.
Going back even further, former Joeys boss Peter Cklamovski worked closely with Peupion in 2017.
Cklamovksi, who recently departed second-tier Japanese side Montedio Yamagata, called up the youngster for the Joeys’ 2018 AFC U16 Championship qualifiers.
“I selected him for the Joeys team and he’s done really well. He wasn’t playing for Sydney’s youth team that much at the time,” former Joeys head coach Peter Cklamovski told KEEPUP.
“I got named as Joeys boss in June/July 2017. It left me a short time to pick a squad for the qualifiers. It left me about four weeks to pick a team. I scouted every game I could in and around Sydney where I was based at the time.
“Watched U14s, even U13s. U18s if there were players identified as players in that age group.
“I went to an U15 game and he was on the bench. He came on and got 10 minutes. I’m like he is not bad. He caught my eye. I went back and watched team again and he was on the bench again.
“It was interesting one but I liked what I saw. I knew he had attributes that could spark up my game, so I selected him.”
Socceroos quartet waiting for a new manager
Kye Rowles, Cam Devlin, Nathaniel Atkinson and Garang Kuol are all waiting to discover who will be their new manager after a fifth consecutive Scottish Premiership defeat prompted Hearts to sack Robbie Neilson.
Socceroos quartet Rowles, Devlin, Atkinson and Kuol – on loan from Premier League giants Newcastle United – all call Hearts home in Edinburgh, where the club have slipped to fourth in the standings on the back of four straight league losses.
The Tynecastle outfit also bowed out of the Scottish Cup in mid-March, losing 3-0 to Ange Postecoglou’s Celtic.
Neilson came under fierce criticism from supporters following Saturday’s 2-0 home defeat by St Mirren – who boast Socceroos pair Keanu Baccus and Ryan Strain – that allowed Aberdeen to leapfrog Hearts into third place.
Rowles and Devlin both featured in that match, while 18-year-old Kuol was on the bench.
A club statement on Sunday confirmed the decision to change manager ahead of next weekend’s Edinburgh derby against Hibernian at their city rivals’ Easter Road ground.
“Robbie has been a key part of the club’s ascent back to the upper echelons of Scottish football, delivering another Championship title, a third-place finish, two Scottish Cup finals and European group-stage football in the process,” Hearts’ statement said.
“This was an extremely difficult decision to reach, and we would like to thank Robbie for all of his efforts.”
There was no immediate confirmation on the future of Neilson’s assistants, Gordon Forrest and Lee McCulloch, who he brought with him from former club Dundee United.
Former Scotland striker Steven Naismith, also on the staff at Hearts, is expected to take charge of the team for the final seven matches of the season.
Postecoglou’s Celtic are surging towards a second consecutive Scottish Premiership crown after they edged bitter rivals Rangers 3-2 in Saturday’s Glasgow derby.
Socceroo Aaron Mooy returned from injury and started as Celtic moved 12 points clear atop the table.
There was a big result for Mark Birighitti and Aziz Behich after lowly Dundee United stunned James Jeggo’s Hibernian 2-1.
Former A-Leagues goalkeeper Birighitti started along with Socceroos full-back Behich as Dundee United celebrated their first win in 12 matches courtesy of a 90th-minute penalty to boost the club’s survival hopes.
Behich set up the opener to help Dundee United move within two points of safety.
Can anyone stop St Pauli?
St Pauli celebrated their 10th consecutive victory after they edged Heidenheim 1-0 in Germany’s 2.Bundesliga.
Third-placed Heidenheim had the best home record in the second tier entering the contest, but not even they were able to stop red-hot St Pauli, who had captain Jackson Irvine and fellow Socceroos Connor Metcalfe in the starting XI.
The most in-form side in the division, St Pauli are fourth in e standings, four points behind Heidenheim and 11 points adrift of league leaders Darmstadt through 27 rounds.
A big weekend for Muscat’s Marinos
On Saturday night, Yokohama F.Marinos bounced back in the J1 League with a 5-0 dismantling of lowly city rivals Yokohama FC.
Kevin Muscat’s defending champions went down 2-1 to Cerezo Osaka in their last league fixture but they returned to winning ways with a rout of Yokohama FC, who have A-Leagues great and former Marinos assistant John Hutchinson on their coaching staff.
Marinos, who have scored the second highest amount of goals this season with 13 through seven rounds, are fifth in the table but just three points behind leaders Vissel Kobe.
Vissel Kobe fired a blank as Thomas Deng’s Albirex Niigata held the pacesetters to a 0-0 draw away from home.
Mitch Langerak’s Nagoya Grampus are second in the table after the star Australian goalkeeper kept another clean sheet in a goalless draw with Urawa Reds.
Genreau’s first start of the season in France and an assist
Denis Genreau has been restricted to a bit-part role with Toulouse in 2022-23, but the A-Leagues graduate earned a spot in the starting XI over the weekend.
For the first time this season, the 23-year-old was in the line-up and he capped the 69-minute performance with an assist for the game’s opening goal.
COUPE DE FRANCE FINAL: Aussie Genreau & Toulouse into decider for first time in 66 years
Genreau supplied a perfectly-weighed pass across the penalty area to tee up Thijs Dallinga as Toulouse beat Montpellier 2-1.
Toulouse are 12th in the standings, while Patrick Kisnorbo’s Troyes slipped further towards relegation.
KISNORBO: Raging Aussie takes aim at Troyes players as relegation looms large
A 2-0 loss to Clermont Foot left Troyes 18th in the 20-team league and seven points adrift of safety.
Socceroos star dropped amid relegation battle
Harry Souttar was benched by Leicester City for the first time as his club, manager-less and increasingly desperate, plunged even deeper into the Premier League relegation mire.
MUNN: Former Melbourne City CEO revealed as Tottenham’s new chief football officer
The Foxes’ caretaker bosses, Adam Sadler and Mike Stowell, in their first and possibly last team selection following the sacking of Brendan Rodgers, caused surprise by ditching the big Socceroo defender, who had been omnipresent since arriving from Stoke City at the end of the January transfer window.
A Rodgers favourite, Souttar instead had to watch a dismal 90 minutes from the Foxes on Saturday as they lost a relegation six-pointer 1-0 at home to fellow strugglers Bournemouth.
The loss leaves them one from bottom on just 25 points, two points clear of basement club Southampton but two behind 18th-placed Nottingham Forest and Everton, who are 17th. Bournemouth have shot up to 15th on 30 points.
The interim management team reckoned that they had dropped Souttar to the bench for the first time after nine straight starts because of his recent travel schedule, having returned to Australia for the recent internationals against Ecuador where he picked up an ankle injury.
“This was our third game in seven days and I felt the team needed some freshness in certain positions,” said Sadler.
“In Harry’s case, I know he’s had a busy schedule of late. He had the international break a few weeks ago and this would have been his third game in a week, so it was purely about giving some freshness to the team and hoping that would be what we needed to have an impact on the performance.”
In the EFL Championship, Riley McGree’s Middlesbrough lost 2-1 to promoted Burnley and Bailey Wright’s Rotherham topped Tom Rogic’s West Brom 3-1.
Over in MLS and Milos Degenek’s Columbus Crew were too good for Wayne Rooney’s DC United 2-0 as they moved fourth in the Eastern Conference and within four points of top spot.
In the Dutch Eredivisie, Mat Ryan’s AZ Alkmaar succumbed to Sparta Rotterdam 1-0.
