West Ham United’s on-loan players enjoyed a successful weekend in the main, with important wins in the EFL, the Netherlands and France.
Flynn Downes and Southampton maintained their promotion push from the EFL Championship with a thrilling 4-2 home win over Sunderland.
The Saints were two goals up before half-time, only for two in nine minutes from the Black Cats to level the scores with 19 minutes to play. Southampton would not be denied, however, as Joe Rothwell netted a quickfire double to secure a victory that keeps Russell Martin’s side fourth in the table, six points behind Leeds United in the second automatic promotion place with a game in-hand.
Freddie Potts, who is preparing for the EFL Trophy final at Wembley, set up Wycombe Wanderers’ opening goal in their 2-1 victory at Reading in EFL League One.
The midfielder’s cross was headed down by Beryly Lubala and Nigel Lonwijk acrobatically converted on 16 minutes. Potts went close to making it 2-0 when his shot flashed narrowly wide.
Sam Smith levelled for the Royals on 74, but Lubala converted a penalty with two minutes to play to secure a win that kept Wycombe 15th in the table. Gideon Kodua was an unused substitute for the Chairboys.
Dan Chesters started at right-back for Salford City in League Two, but was unable to prevent his side falling to a 3-1 defeat at MK Dons.
Salford went into an early lead through centre-forward Matt Smith’s goal, but were behind by half-time and could not recover after the break, with defeat leaving them 20th in the table, albeit ten points above the relegation places.
It was a good weekend for Krisztián Hegyi in the Netherlands, where he helped FC Den Bosch score a 2-1 win away at TOP Oss in the Eerste Division.
In what was a huge relegation six-pointer, Den Bosch’s victory lifted them above their opponents and Jong FC Utrecht and off the bottom. With only the bottom team going into a relegation play-off, Hegyi’s side boosted their chances of staying up with nine rounds of matches to be played.
In France, Saïd Benrahma started Lyon’s 2-0 win at Lorient. Lyon, who won just one of their opening 14 matches and sat bottom of the table at the start of December, have now won five of their previous six Ligue 1 matches to rise to tenth.
Thilo Kehrer was also on the winning side as AS Monaco held off Strasbourg to secure a 1-0 away victory that keeps his team third in the table and on course to qualify for the UEFA Champions League.
In Denmark, Nathan Trott and Vejle BK were beaten 1-0 at home by OB.
Having gone into the game unbeaten in four Superliga matches since the return from the mid-season break, including a win over West Ham’s UEFA Europa Conference League opponents Silkeborg, hopes were high of extending that run to five.
However, a 12th-minute goal from OB forward Max Johannes Whitta Fenger put paid to those hopes and left Vejle eleventh in the 12-team Superliga table, with one round of matches to play before the end of the regular season. After that, Vejle will take their points and goals forward and play the five other teams in the bottom six home and away in the relegation round, with the bottom two finishers relegated to the 1st Division.
In non-league, Keenan Forson started and played the first 79 minutes of Dagenham & Redbridge’s 1-1 draw with local rivals Southend United in the National League, while goalkeeper Mason Terry and Concord Rangers were beaten 2-1 at Chatham Town in the Isthmian League Premier Division.
