When this series of Loan Watch started there were only four players out on loan to league clubs across Europe, now it's thirteen. That's an increase of nearly ten. None of them finished on the winning side this weekend though which makes me wonder if they're taking it seriously enough. Maybe just appearing in Loan Watch is an end in itself for some of these guys? Come on lads, this is Loan Watch not the ice-bucket challenge, show us what you're made of.
To be fair to Kadeem Harris he did come up with a win earlier in the week as Barnsley won at Bradford in the Johnstone's Paints Trophy. A defeat at Southend on Saturday though as his first goal with Barnsley still eludes him. His form seems good so the lack of end product is disappointing as he has always had an eye for goal. It'll come soon, I'm sure.
An appearance for Joe Lewis this week as a sub for Andy Lonergan, who tweaked a hamstring in Fulham's 0-0 draw at Middlesbrough. Tom Adeyemi played the 90 minutes as Leeds lost at home to Brighton. David Tutonda didn't make it off the bench for York and Deji Oshilaja remains injured at table-topping Gillingham. Filip Kiss got a yellow card in Haugesund's 2-0 defeat in Norway. Semi Ajayi picked up a nose injury at Oxford last week but that was the least of his worries on Saturday as he suffered a tough afternoon in AFC Wimbledon's 5-2 home defeat to Morecambe.
Sam O'Sullivan made 152 appearances for Newport before leaving the club in 2008. Saturday it was the turn of his younger brother Tommy to make his debut for the club. A promising start for him in a 1-0 loss to Portsmouth although he faded a bit in the second half. It seems that he was overshadowed by an excellent performance from fellow loanee Jazzi Barnum-Bobb. The 3-5-2 system Newport employed is ideal for Jazzi, he got up and down all afternoon and impressed at both ends of the pitch.
A decent week for our loaned strikers. Rhys Healey made his first start for Dundee and gave a lively performance which only lacked a goal. It's a big only though as Dundee's other strikers are scoring and he'll surely need to do the same to make an impression there. Dundee were still 1-0 up when Rhys went off in the 81st minute but ended up drawing 1-1 at Hamilton.
Fellow strikers scoring goals is not a problem Eoin Doyle faces as no Preston striker has scored in the league this season. Although Eoin had to miss Saturday's game with us, he scored a hat-trick at Blackburn in a friendly during the international break so his confidence should be high when he plays next. A nice finish for Adam le Fondre at Derby yesterday but Etien Velikonja didn't score for Lierse. Only kidding, of course he did. A 64th minute equaliser in a 2-2 home draw means it's 7 in 7 for him this season, in a struggling side too. Very impressive.
A quick mention for three of our former strikers as Jo Inge Berget and Josh Magennis both scored for their clubs and Javi Guerra (pictured) stepped out at the Nou Camp for Rayo Vallecano in front of a crowd of 75,472. A slight contrast to his last competitive appearance for us - a DVP Cup game against Gillingham just under a year ago. He's now got four in his six games this season in La Liga, including the opening goal on Saturday. Words fail me, finally.
GOAL RAYO! Javi Guerra knocks home Bebe's drilled cross and they lead at the Nou Camp
— Ed Malyon (@eaamalyon) October 17, 2015