A new wall mural in the office has really brightened the place up this week. It shows some of the high spots of the Loan Watch years; Rhys Healey scoring in the Scottish Premier League, Javi Guerra in La Liga, Matty Kennedy's goal at Hartlepool, David Tutonda's winning debut for Newport at Wycombe, some of Velikonja's goals for Lierse (they couldn't all fit on), some Filip Kiss yellow card offences (they certainly couldn't all fit on), Deji Oshilaja getting the Young Player of the Year award from AFC Wimbledon etc. Very impressive, moving too. I've caught a couple of staff wiping a tear from their eye already. Not Joe from accounts though, that guy has got issues. He's not happy with it but there's no pleasing some people. I told him he'd probably have been moping around the Sistine Chapel when Michelangelo turned up, asking if the ceiling really needed painting. Philistine.
No goal for Adam le Fondre this week but a 0-0 draw for Bolton (in front of a 23,376 crowd) now takes them seven points clear of third place as they close in on promotion. It's been a successful loan spell so far and Adam has spoken of his desire for a permanent move there. Deji Oshilaja's spell at Gillingham, however, is going from bad to worse. Slightly at fault for the first goal at MK Dons when he was tackled on the halfway line and that soon became 2-0 but he redeemed himself somewhat with a superb covering tackle in the second half as Gillingham fought their way back into the game. A 90th minute equaliser looked to have saved a point but Deji then got outjumped to a cross in injury time. He'd put enough pressure on Dean Lewington to make the header nothing more than a tame effort towards goal but the Gillingham keeper had already come on a kamikaze mission and the ball looped into the net for a 3-2 defeat which leaves Gillingham just above the relegation zone. A different perspective on that game for Stuart O'Keefe, who wasn't at his best for MK Dons but buzzed around the midfield making a nuisance of himself, as ever.
With Ben Wilson on the bench, Emyr Huws injured, Tom Adeyemi missing out for Rotherham and Matty Kennedy being subbed in a flat Plymouth home defeat, that's pretty much it for league action. Good luck to Semi Ajayi, who made his loan move to Rotherham permanent this week. He was impressive again in yet another defeat, one that sees Rotherham relegated. In the non-leagues, Lloyd Humphries has led a double life this week. Turning out for our under-23s on Thursday and then Weston-Super-Mare on Saturday, both ended in 1-1 draws. I'm not sure if this is common or not, the only previous occurrence I can find was when Dave Grohl was playing up front for the Foo Fighters while doubling up at the back for Queens of the Stone Age on loan in the early 2000s. Two defeats for Jarrad Welch and Isaac Kelly at Cinderford this week.
The wait is over, the Belgian First Division A; Europa League play-offs: Group B is under way. Idriss Saadi missed a couple of chances for Kortrijk but they came from behind to beat Royal Excel Mouscron 2-1. Lokeren (who lost 4-0 yesterday) are next up for Kortrijk. In response to the high demand, we're going to show all of Kortrijk's play-off games live on Loan Watch Player. I'll see if the technical boys can sort out a free-to-air highlights package for those of you without a subscription.
Among our former players; a hat-trick in the week for Conor McAleny, more goals for Jon Parkin, a goal and an assist for Wilfried Zaha in Palace's stunning win at Chelsea and a goal for Javi Guerra. Two red cards though. Josh Yorwerth was sent off after an off the ball incident for Crawley at Newport while Solomon Taiwo was given his marching orders from Masterchef after a two-footed lunge at Greg Wallace. Or was it for a bland chicken and pasta dish? I can't remember now.
http://www.ccmb.co.uk/showthread.php?423998-Loan-Watch-(2-4)