On a weekend mostly dominated by the international schedule, two of West Ham United’s young loanees were involved on the domestic scene.
For the second weekend in a row, Patrick Kelly’s Doncaster Rovers came from behind to earn a point against Salford City, extending their unbeaten run to five fixtures. Kelly played 84 minutes as Rovers picked up a 1-1 draw at the Eco-Power Stadium, with veteran Billy Sharp cancelling out Kylian Kouassi’s goal early in the second half to ensure a share of the spoils. Saturday’s result keeps the South Yorkshire side in the EFL League Two automatic promotion places a third of the way through the season, although fourth-placed Walsall have two games in hand.
In League One action, Michael Forbes watched on from the bench as his Bristol Rovers side played out a goalless draw at home to relegation strugglers Crawley Town.
Mason Terry’s Hornchurch bowed out of the FA Trophy in the second round as they fell to fellow National League South side Enfield Town on penalties. Saturday afternoon’s defeat marks the fourth consecutive season in which Hornchurch have been eliminated by a penalty shootout since winning the competition at Wembley in the 2020/21 season.
Despite Hornchurch dominating most of the game and taking the lead early on, National League South’s bottom side Enfield equalised in the second half to make it 1-1 and force a penalty shootout. Although Terry saved Enfield’s second penalty to give his team the advantage, Hornchurch failed to capitalise, missing the target on two spot kicks of their own as Enfield emerged 8-7 winners.
