Isn't there a lot of sport in April? Only a couple of weeks ago, during the international break, we were so bored in the Loan Watch office that we spent most of one day throwing darts at a picture of Ed Wood. Now we can't keep up with it all; the Belgian play-offs, the National, the Masters, Davis Cup, cricket's County Championship, Premier League etc etc. Champions League back this week, snooker World Championships too, the list goes on. I got so confused last week I ended up betting on Phil Mickelson to ride the winner in the National, Idriss Saadi to win the Masters and Glamorgan to beat Northants (I'm joking about the last one, I'm not that daft). We can't be far away from the time when April will have to be extended to thirty-five, maybe even forty, days so that all the sport can be fitted in. Days could easily be taken away from some of the more boring months, June and July for example. Not February though, that's short enough already.
Let's mix it up this week and start with a former player. Tom James finally made his first league start for Yeovil yesterday. It was a tough baptism for him in a struggling side as Portsmouth ran out comfortable 3-1 winners but Tom impressed manager Darren Way and hopefully he'll be able to establish himself in the starting line-up during the run-in. A first appearance for Tommy O'Sullivan at Colchester as he came on as a late sub in a 4-0 win against Stevenage. Tommy has been struggling with a knee injury since his move there but will now be looking to play a part as Colchester push for the play-offs.
Of our loan players, Stuart O'Keefe (pictured) has had another good week. A goal in the midweek win over Charlton was nearly followed by another yesterday as MK Dons were unlucky to only draw 1-1 at Swindon. He played well in both games and while players like Matty Kennedy and Emyr Huws have struggled to maintain early levels of fitness and quality, understandable due to the lack of games earlier in the season, Stuart seems to be going from strength to strength and is playing a big part in a good run for his team.
A win and a loss for Bolton this week but automatic promotion looks almost assured now as they are still seven points clear of third place with four games to go. No goal for Adam le Fondre but he's making his presence felt by turning in energetic performances on a consistent basis. A good point for Deji Oshilaja's Gillingham as they drew 1-1 with Neil Harris's Millwall yesterday. Gillingham are only one point clear of the relegation zone now and desperately need to find a win from somewhere, I'm sure Deji will be up for the battle ahead.
A win and a loss too for Emyr Huws at Ipswich as they beat Wigan in the week but then got bamboozled by Fulham's passing game yesterday. Emyr was moved to the top of a midfield diamond to try and get them back into the game at Fulham but to limited effect and he was subbed midway through the second period. Matty Kennedy struggled to make an impact for Plymouth at Crawley and was also subbed but Plymouth went on to win 2-1 and are now twelve points clear of fourth place with five games left. The Belgian Europa League play-offs are starting to hot up nicely as Idriss Saadi's Kortrijk played out a 0-0 draw with Lokeren. No pitch time for either Tom Adeyemi or Ben Wilson this week.
In the non-leagues, Isaac Kelly played twice for Cinderford as they finally had to accept a relegation that's been inevitable for some time now. Lloyd Humphries and Theo Wharton both started for Weston-Super-Mare as they beat Bishops Stortford 5-0. Darren Purse was so keen for another mention in this series of Loan Watch that he moved from Chesham, in Cinderford's league, to Bishops Stortford. He got a goal earlier in the season to get his first mention but yesterday he went back to doing what he does best and got himself sent off instead. Purse has now been relegated three seasons in a row from that division.
Back to our former players to finish and there were goals this weekend for Cameron Jerome, Stephen MacLean, Scott Malone, Kenny Miller and Guido Burgstaller, whose two goals for Schalke in the Bundesliga take his tally to eight for them and 22 in 36 appearances in total for the season. Very impressive.
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