Sean Raggett enjoyed an excellent weekend of football for Portsmouth, while five other Norwich City loanees also tasted the winning feeling over the past week.
The centre-back opened the scoring for Pompey away to Tranmere Rovers in their 2-0 win on Saturday, heading in from Ronan Curtis’ free-kick in the 13th minute and keeping a third clean sheet in a row.
✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅✅
— Portsmouth FC (@Pompey) February 9, 2020
🤪 @SeanRaggett's first goal for the club set #Pompey on their way to a record ninth consecutive win
Kenny Jackett’s side are on terrific form, better than any other team in England’s top four tiers in fact, with nine consecutive wins in all competitions – a record Portsmouth hadn’t achieved since 1920.
That feelgood factor at Fratton Park is in no small part due to the club’s position in League One; fifth in the play-off places and six points behind leaders Rotherham United but with two games in hand.
For his part in Saturday’s victory, Raggett was named in both the EFL Team of the Week and the Football League Paper Team of the Day!
👏👏👏#EFL | #TOTW pic.twitter.com/TOPBFzwcW5
— EFL (@EFL) February 10, 2020
Contesting for the play-off spots with Raggett is fellow City loanee Sam McCallum at Coventry City, who skipped past Bolton Wanderers with a 2-1 win at Birmingham City’s stadium (where Coventry currently play) on Saturday.
Coventry are one point above Pompey and also have two games in hand on League One leaders Rotherham.
Wealdstone FC continue to reside at the top of the National League South, and there was a clean sheet to go along with the three points on Saturday for Aston Oxborough, as his side cruised past Billericay Town 3-0 to remain seven points clear of Slough Town.
While Oxborough’s fellow City loanee in the National League South wasn’t on the winning side on the weekend, Billy Johnson was voted Man of the Match by the fans for his string of impressive saves in Braintree Town’s 1-0 defeat away to Maidstone United. Braintree are now 18th, ten points off the bottom.
Tough result at the weekend but we come back stronger next weekend at home💪🏼@braintreetownfc 🔸🔹
— Billy Johnson (@BillyJohnsxn) February 10, 2020
Travelling fans were great🙌🏼#COYI pic.twitter.com/0oJ5zOvQze
One tier up from the National League South, Timi Odusina was part of the Hartlepool United side to claim a 2-0 victory at the expense of Aldershot Town in the National League. The Pools are up to tenth, three points adrift of Notts County in the playoffs.
Nick Hayes played twice over the last seven days, firstly watching his Hertford Town teammates salvage a 1-1 draw in the Isthmian League South at Chalfont St. Peter with a 95th minute equaliser, before keeping a clean sheet in the following 0-0 draw at home to Marlow. Hertford sit 16th, six points above the foot of the table.
He wasn’t the only City loanee to play 180 minutes, however, with Akin Famewo also taking part in two draws for St. Mirren. Their 1-1 draw at home to Hamilton Academical sees them sit precariously tenth in the Scottish Premiership, only safe by three points, while Saturday’s 1-1 Scottish Cup fourth round draw against Motherwell forced a replay away from home.
In League One, Carlton Morris and Louis Thompson featured in Milton Keynes Dons’ 1-1 draw at Shrewsbury Town. The latter was unlucky not to open his tally for Russell Martin’s side as he struck the post against the club he was previously loaned to. MK Dons are now 19th and ten points above the relegation zone.
Another draw occurred for Diallang Jaiyesimi at Swindon Town in League Two, as they were held to a 1-1 scoreline at Carlisle United. The Robins remain at the top of the tree by two points, but second-placed Crewe Alexandra and third-placed Exeter City (behind by three points) each have a game in hand.
There were wins for Melvin Sitti and Philip Heise, albeit the City loanees were only briefly involved. Sitti only played the opening 17 minutes of FC Sochaux’s 1-0 home win against Le Mans in Ligue 2, while Heise came on in the 89th minute for 1. FC Nürnberg 1-0 win at Vfl Osnabruck in the 2. Bundesliga on Saturday. Both sides are in and around mid-table.
Unfortunately, there was nothing to celebrate for Charlie Gilmour at SC Telstar, who lost 7-1 in the Eerste Divisie to NEC Nijmegen on Saturday. Telstar are still tenth in the league with 36 points from 25 games.
Players who were unused substitutes: Mason Bloomfield (Crawley Town)
Players who weren’t involved in matchday squads: Savvas Mourgos (FC Dordrecht), Rocky Bushiri (St. Truidense VV), Daniel Barden (Bury Town)
Players whose teams didn’t play: Louis Lomas (Tampa Bay Rowdies), Alfie Payne/Simon Power (King’s Lynn Town)
Image credit: Milton Keynes Dons FC, Daniel Chesterton (Portsmouth FC), Mark Fletcher/Shutter Press (Hartlepool United FC), Swindon Town FC