Loan round-up: Trusty scores spectacular strike

Auston Trusty continues to impress on loan at Birmingham City as he scored in their 2-0 win over high-flying Queens Park Rangers.

The American defender was named man of the match for his efforts on Friday night as he netted an improvised strike just four minutes into the encounter at St Andrews, which was his third goal in his last five games to help the Blues into 12th in the Championship.

Having netted his fourth goal in his last six games during Nice’s 2-1 Europa Conference League win over Partizan in midweek, Nicolas Pepe played all but the final seconds of their 2-1 win at Lorient, helping his team to 10th in Ligue 1.

That’s three places ahead of Reims for whom Folarin Balogun featured in a goalless draw against Stade Brest, but Marseille’s poor form continues as they squandered a two-goal lead to draw 2-2 with Strasbourg, with Nuno Tavares introduced at the interval. 

After being ineligible for our meeting with Southampton last week, Ainsley Maitland-Niles was introduced at the break of their Premier League trip to Crystal Palace but couldn’t prevent the Saints from losing 1-0.

Back in the Championship, Charlie Patino helped Blackpool to back-to-back wins as they beat Coventry City 2-1, Harry Clarke made his 10th appearance for Stoke City but they lost 3-1 at Norwich City to condemn the Potters to three defeats on the spin, and Brooke Norton-Cuffy’s Rotherham United were beaten 1-0 by Cardiff City with the defender playing the final 30 minutes. 

Tyreece John-Jules was involved in an incredible encounter as his Ipswich Town side conceded twice in stoppage-time to draw 4-4 at Charlton Athletic, missing out on the opportunity to leapfrog Plymouth Argyle into League One’s top spot. The attacker netted his third goal for the club in the second half, but they would twice squander two-goal cushions to end up with just a point.

In League Two, Mazeed Ogungbo made his first appearance in a month as he started Crawley Town’s 1-1 draw against Bradford City but came off after 81 minutes with an injury, while Arthur Okonkwo was beaten three times as Barrow ran out 3-0 victors over Crewe Alexandra,  

There were contrasting emotions for our goalkeepers in non-league, with Tom Smith seeing his Bromley side lose 1-0 to Maidenhead in the National League, but Ovie Ejeheri kept a clean sheet in Chelmsford City’s 5-0 drubbing of Eastbourne Borough a step further down the pyramid.

Alex Kirk helped Ayr United move to the top of the Scottish Championship as he played the full game and beat Arbroath 2-0, while Ryan Alebiosu featured for the final 15 minutes of Kilmarnock’s 1-0 defeat at St Johnstone - their first loss in five games. 

Having been introduced as a 63rd-minute sub, Marcelo Flores grabbed himself an assist during Real Oviedo’s 2-1 Segunda loss at Alaves, Alex Runarsson kept the first clean sheet of his time at Alanyaspor as they beat Gazisehir 2-0 in Turkey, while Nikolaj Moller played the full 90 as Den Bosch beat NAC Breda in the second tier of Dutch football.