Ellery Balcombe played for the first time since August, helping Crawley Town to a Sky Bet League Two point away at Bradford City on Saturday.

The goalkeeper, who has missed more than two months with injury, returned to the Red Devils starting XI for the trip to the University of Bradford Stadium, having been a substitute for Crawley’s 2-2 draw with Colchester United in midweek.

Dion Pereira gave Balcombe no chance with Bradford’s 55th-minute opened but Crawley levelled six minutes later through James Tilley. Balcombe was kept busy during the afternoon and made a fine late save to deny Scott Banks and preserve Crawley’s point.

It's Emirates FA Cup action for Crawley this weekend, as they host Accrington Stanley.

Sky Bet Championship

Halil Dervişoğlu came off the bench twice to help Burnley to a pair of important wins at the top of the Sky Bet Championship this week.

The attacker played the final 17 minutes on Tuesday night as a late Jay Rodriguez penalty saw off Norwich City at Turf Moor. It was a similar story on Saturday, Anass Zaroury’s injury-time winner against Reading coming five minutes after Halil’s introduction.

Burnley now sit two points clear at the head of the second tier with a home game against Rotherham and a trip to Sheffield United up this week.

Elsewhere in the Championship, Fin Stevens wasn’t in the squad for Swansea City’s 1-1 draw at Bristol City, a result which leaves them sixth, while Tariqe Fosu played 75 minutes of Stoke City’s 3-1 defeat at Norwich City.

19th-placed Stoke travel to Wigan Athletic on Wednesday before hosting Birmingham City at the weekend, while Swansea’s action this week comes in the form of a trip to Preston North End and a home game against Wigan.

Sky Bet League One

Daniel Oyegoke wasn’t involved in either squad as MK Dons took four points on the road this week. They followed up a 2-0 win at Charlton on Tuesday with a goalless draw at Cheltenham Town to cut the gap to safety down to just two points.

Those points moved MK above Myles Peart-Harris and Forest Green Rovers who drew 1-1 at Fleetwood Town in midweek before losing 2-0 at Barnsley on Saturday. Myles played 75 minutes against Fleetwood and then an hour at Oakwell for the side now 22nd in the third tier.

Sky Bet League Two

Lachlan Brook and Paris Maghoma shared the points on Tuesday when Crewe Alexandra travelled to AFC Wimbledon. Nathan Young-Coombes remains out through injury while Paris played the full 90 minutes at Plough Lane, Lachlan coming on for the final 20, as Crewe’s Rio Adebisi cancelled out Ayoub Assal’s strike for the hosts.

Then at the weekend, Lachlan wasn’t involved in Crewe’s 3-0 defeat at Barrow while Paris played 67 minutes of The Dons’ dramatic 3-2 victory over Harrogate Town – former Bee Courtney Senior scoring an 84th-minute equalizer before Josh Davison’s late winner.

Emirates FA Cup action takes centre stage this weekend as MK Dons host Taunton Town, Forest Green visit South Shields, Crewe welcome Leyton Orient, and AFC Wimbledon head to Weymouth. Before that, Crewe and Wimbledon complete their EFL Trophy campaigns with games against Leeds United’s Under-21s and Portsmouth respectively.

On the continent

Mads Bech was an unused substitute for OGC Nice’s important Europa Conference League victory over Partizan on Thursday night, a result which moved them to the top of their group D with one matchday remaining. He then wasn’t involved on Sunday for OGC’s 2-1 Ligue 1 victory at Lorient.

OGC finish their Europa Conference League campaign at Koln on Thursday before hosting Brest in the French top-flight on Sunday.

Joel Valencia was substituted in second-half injury time on Friday night, but by then De Graafschap had wrapped up a 2-0 win over TOP Oss in the Dutch second tier. Danzell Gravenberch and Hicham Acheffay scored the goals in either half as the Super Farmers climbed to 14th ahead of a Friday night trip to Den Bosch.

Mads Bidstrup earned another Man of the Match award for his performance during FC Nordsjaelland’s 2-0 victory over Horsens. Mads played 90 minutes as goals from Mohammed Diomande and Andreas Schjelderup kept FCN two points clear at the top of the Danish Superliga. A trip to FC Midtjylland is up a week today.