Jamie Mackie was in scintillating form for Scotland on Friday night as they secured a narrow 2-1 away win in Cyprus. Mackie scored a spectacular second goal and was a clear man of the match.

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The game was Mackie’s first for Scotland in almost exactly a year – he scored on his debut against the Faroe Islands at Aberdeen shortly before breaking his leg in an FA Cup game at Blackburn and hasn’t played since. But he seemed to relish his recall last night, tormenting the home defence with a series of eye catching dribbles, one of which led to a fantastic second goal which sealed the victory.

Match Highlights

Afterwards Mackie told the Daily Record: “It's been a long road back for me and this feels really special. I have a lot of people to thank for getting me back to a level where I can again play for my country. The lads have welcomed me back with open arms. I missed seven games, including the bulk of the qualifiers, and that was hard. Missing those qualifiers in the run-in to Euro 2012 was harder to cope with than missing club games. The qualifiers were massive and mentally that was a hard time for me. It's nights like this that make it extra special for me. I'm so glad now that I put the extra mile in my recovery.

"I've not managed 90 minutes yet for QPR so to get that game under my belt for Scotland is a huge thing for me. I'm pleased with how I played. I could have scored one in the first half but the keeper made a really good save. As for my goal, I just decided to take the players on. Once I was in on the goalie I only had one thought in mind and that was to bury it in the net. I slid it nicely into the corner - it was a great feeling.”

Not such a good night for Adel Taarabt whose Morocco side was surprisingly beaten at home by Uganda, managed by former Plymouth boss Bobby Williamson, 1-0. This is part of a four team mini tournament taking place this week that also includes Sudan and Cameroon.

Taarabt has been named on the shortlist for this year’s African Footballer of the Year Award which is announced two days before Christmas.

The full shortlist is: Andrew Ayew of Marseille, Samuel Eto'o of Anzi Makhatchakala, Didier Drogba of Chelsea, Asamoah Gyan of Al In, Yaya Toure of Manchester City, Kevin-Prince Boateng of AC Milan, Seydou Keita of Barcelona, Yao Koussi Gervinho of Arsenal, Moussa Sow of Lille and Adel Taarabt of Queens Park Rangers.

Taarabt, and Armand Traore, are likely to miss several QPR games at the end of January and beginning of February as Morocco and Traore’s nation Senegal have both qualified for the African Nations Cup. The Fulham Chronicle reports that Neil Warnock is eyeing Man City defender Nedum Onouha in the January transfer window to combat this, although it doesn’t mention that Onouha’s mother is currently battling cancer and therefore the player is reluctant to move too far from Manchester.

Warnock said: “I’ve got a list of maybe four of five players in the transfer window that I would really like, and if I get them it’s going to strengthen our squad considerably.”

Danny Gabbidon was not involved for Wales this weekend because of his recent struggles with a knee injury.

Gabbidon told the club’s official website: “"It always disappointing when you get injured. I'd been playing in the team and to get injured was frustrating. It's been nice to be involved in the last couple of games and hopefully, touch wood, I can stay fit for the rest of the season. I was out for five weeks and trained twice before I came on early at Spurs. That was a bit of a baptism of fire. And then we played Man City - arguably the best team in the league at the minute - and that was another tough one. Obviously the circumstances were not perfect for me personally, but they're the types of games that you want to be involved in. Playing in those matches two was really good for me and I enjoyed both of them. There are some more big games to come and hopefully I can be involved in those too."

The international break didn’t suit everybody at Harlington, former England defender Luke Young said: “There's always a strange mood around the training ground on an international break. A few lads go away and you're training with less numbers. It's always a little bit of a strange mood and one of frustration too. As a player, you want games to come thick and fast. You feel that this season's hardly got going with the amount of international breaks we've had."

When the players return to training next week, they’ll find Bromley teenager Arron Rhule among their number. Sky Sports reports that Rangers are set to give a second trial to the teenage midfielder as he continues to impress in the Conference South.

Finally, as we like to try and finish on something amusing where possible, Chelsea boss Andre Villas Boas has been charged with misconduct for the remark he made about the refereeing following QPR’s 1-0 victory against his team last month.

Loan Watch

Michael Doughty was on the scoresheet for Crawley as they won 2-0 at Bury in the FA Cup this afternoon. Doughty had replaced striker Matt Tubbs midway through the second half. Success also for Max Ehmer whose Yeovil side progressed to round two with a 3-0 win at Hereford – Ehmer played a full 90 minutes. And Gary Borrowdale also had a good result today, playing for 65 minutes as Barnet avoided an upset with a 2-1 away win at Conference side Southport.

Poor Wycombe thought were eliminated by Conference side Fleetwood. Martin Rowlands was substituted injured just before half time and Gary Waddock’s side finished the game on the wrong end of a 2-0 defeat.

QPR this week agreed to help out Rangers fan and long time friend of LFW Dave Howell who is currently the manager of Southern Premier Division side St Albans City. Youngsters Michael Harriman and Mo Shariff have both joined St Albans on loan for a month in an attempt to move them up the table from their current position of fourteenth.

And in what is sure to be the least surprising piece of news you’ve heard all day, Millwall have decided against extending the loan of striker Patrick Agyemang. Dave made one start, one sub appearance, and needless to say scored no goals during his one month at The Den.

Former R’s

There was to be no FA Cup shock for our one time central midfielder Tommy Doherty today. The well known chain smoker and mentalist looked well off the pace as his Newport County side was beaten at home by League Two Shrewsbury live on ESPN at lunchtime. Newport are currently struggling, sitting third bottom of the Conference, and recently appointed former Rushden gaffer Justin Edinburgh as their new manager. Doherty, now 32, didn’t look capable of playing even at that level for much longer.

Elsewhere Carl Ikeme has left Wolves on loan again. The goalkeeper will join Championship side Doncaster until January as they continue to fight against relegation. Ikeme has spent time on loan with Charlton, Leicester and Middlesbrough as well as QPR as he struggles for first team football at Molineux.

He said: “I am still confident in my own ability and just want to keep moving forward and keep improving. I enjoyed my games at Middlesbrough and will try and do the same for Doncaster. But beyond that I want to try and push for a place at Wolves and wouldn't have signed this contract if I didn't. Short term I need to keep playing games but long term I want to try and play for Wolves."

Doncaster recently signed up to a controversial arrangement with agent Willie McKay which gives him complete control of the club’s transfer budget, with new manager Dean Saunders granted a veto only. McKay is using Rovers as a showcase for his clients who are out favour elsewhere, bringing them in on loan or short term contracts and then taking a cut of any subsequent sell on fee. The move has been ratified by the Football League.

Ipswich will be without centre back Damien Delaney until Christmas after he suffered a stress fracture to his foot. Delaney, who has played nine times for Town this season, suffered the injury in a 1-0 loss to high flying Crystal Palace last week.

Manager Paul Jewell said: “He had an operation on Monday and he will be out for a while. It may be six weeks or so, but I'm not sure on an exact timescale so we will have to just wait and see."

Premiership Shorts

- Life doesn’t get any better for Spurs manager Harry Redknapp. Havign already been ordered to take five weeks off work after heart surgery, the veteran boss also faces a nervous fortnight in January when he will stand trial on tax evasion charges. Redknapp and his former Portsmouth chairman Milan Mandaric will appear at Southwark Crown Court for two weeks from January 23, with Mandaric accused of making two payments totally £183,000 to Redknapp for his work at Fratton Park without paying tax.

- West Brom say they will sit down with manager Roy Hodgson to discuss a new contract in the New Year. Hodgson has been a revelation since arriving at The Hawthorns a year ago, saving The Baggies from relegation and now consolidating them in the top flight. His current deal ends at the end of this season.

- Wigan’s Paraguay international Antolin Alcarez has apologised for spitting on Wolves’ Richard Stearman after receiving a three match ban. Alcarez, who was caught by Sky TV cameras, said: “I apologise to anyone connected to our football club for the offence and upset my actions have caused. I reacted wrongly after being provoked but I never meant to spit on an opposing player."

- Man Utd reserve goalkeeper Tomasz Kuszczak has denied quotes attributed to him in the Polish press where he accused the club of treating him like a slave after refusing him permission to join Leeds on loan. Kuszczak said: “At no point during the interview did I use the word 'slave', or imply that the club was treating me like a 'slave'. It is important to clear this misinformation up because I have the utmost respect for the club and have not described my relationship with the club in this way because it is simply not the case."

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Photo: Action Images

eastside_r added 21:51 - Nov 12 Doncaster Rovers eh! What a bunch of idiots letting an agent be in charge of their transfer policy.
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N12Hoop added 22:46 - Nov 12 Do you think Harry will get day release to manage his team?
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NorwayRanger16 added 22:46 - Nov 13 Does this mean we have to refund Martin Rowlands loan fee and wages to Wycombe? Was it not Rowlands and Cook Warnock guaranteed for?
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