George Earthy celebrates with his Bristol City teammates
Academy

Loan Watch | Earthy named Man of the Match as Bristol City move into play-off places

Seven of West Ham United’s loanees were involved in a busy weekend of action throughout the English football pyramid and abroad...

In the EFL Championship, George Earthy impressed once again for Bristol City, playing the full 90 minutes and earning the club’s Man of the Match award in a 2-1 win over Watford. The result lifted the Robins into the play-off places for the first time since August.

 

 

Earthy's tireless performance and work-rate off the ball made him the fans’ pick as the most valuable player. Bristol City struck twice in five first-half minutes through Ross McCrorie and Nakhi Wells, before Mamadou Doumbia pulled one back late on for the visitors.

In the final minutes, Earthy’s chase down, block and tackle was celebrated like a goal by the home support, helping secure a vital three points as rivals Coventry City and West Bromwich Albion both dropped points.

 

 

Fellow Academy graduate Freddie Potts also completed 90 minutes in the second tier, though his Portsmouth side fell to a 2-1 defeat to Millwall, their third in four matches. After Andre Dozzell cancelled out Mihailo Ivanović’s opener, the Serbia U21 international struck again late on to deny Pompey a point. Despite the setback, Portsmouth remain four points clear of the relegation zone with four teams between them and the drop.

In League One, Callum Marshall made a half-an-hour appearance from the bench in Huddersfield Town’s 2-1 home victory over Mansfield Town. Replacing Wolverhampton Wanderers loanee Tawanda Chirewa, the Northern Ireland forward helped see out a result sealed by goals from Ruben Roosken and Ben Wiles. However, the win did little to close the gap to the final play-off spot, with both Bolton Wanderers and Reading also picking up three points.

Gideon Kodua featured off the bench for Wycombe Wanderers, coming on for Garath McCleary in the final 20 minutes of a narrow 1-0 defeat at Reading. A late penalty from Harvey Knibbs proved decisive, with the loss denting Wycombe’s hopes of automatic promotion. They now sit six points behind second-placed Wrexham with a game in hand.

In League Two, Patrick Kelly returned to the starting line-up for Doncaster Rovers, playing in an attacking midfield role as they secured a late 2-0 win at Cheltenham Town. Despite playing against ten men for much of the second half, it took until the 89th minute for Jamie Sterry to open the scoring, before Robert Street sealed the result for Rovers in stoppage time. With promotion rivals Walsall dropping points, Doncaster now sit just two points off the automatic promotion places with a game in hand. Just eight points separate the top seven with five games remaining.

In the Vanarama National League, Regan Clayton was an unused substitute as Dagenham & Redbridge fell to a 2-1 defeat away to Gateshead. The Daggers are now only outside the relegation places on goal difference, level on points with Boston United.

One tier below, in the National League South, Mason Terry recorded his 12th clean sheet of the campaign as Hornchurch played out a goalless draw at Welling United. The Urchins now have 14 wins, 14 draws and 14 defeats in their debut season at this level, with four games left to play.

Overseas, in France's Ligue 2, Mohamadou Kanté played the final ten minutes as Paris FC saw out a 2-0 win over ten-man Clermont Foot. The victory moves Paris back into the automatic promotion places as they target a return to the top flight for the first time since 1979.

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