Brady- bumping into old pals at Hull
Oldham Athletic have extended Reece Brown’s loan spell from Manchester United until the end of the season. The 20-year-old has been registered in time for Tuesday night’s League One match with Brentford.
Brown completed his initial one-month spell at Boundary Park after Saturday’s 1-0 defeat by Notts County. He began his stint at Oldham in midfield, but made his last three appearances at centre-back in partnership with John-Yves Mvoto.
The England Under-20 international has made 10 appearances on loan this season – eight at Oldham and two in a previous spell with Doncaster. Brown needed some good news after suffering consecutive away losses to Notts County and Brentford respectively. He played the entirety of both games but wasn’t his usual self as he was caught napping when Brentford’s Marcus Bean gave the home side the lead after 68 seconds with a close-range shot from Clayton Donaldson’s throw. Brown will need to be at his best on the weekend as league leaders Charlton are the visitors at Boundary Park.
It was a United reunion at the KC Stadium when Hull met Coventry as Craig Norwood bumped into pals Robbie Brady and Joshua King in an entertaining encounter. It was clear Coventry needed the points and it showed as they ran out 2-0 winners and climbed out of the relegation zone for the first time since October with their first Championship away win of the season. Norwood was the busiest of the three loanees as his side had the majority of possession despite being the away side. The 20-year-old started a number of counter attacks and had three shots on target which were well saved by on-loan Arsenal ‘keeper Vito Mannone. But Norwood’s telling contribution was a delightful assist for Cody McDonald’s goal to seal the points. He provided a Scholes-esque pass from the centre circle to find McDonald who slotted home confidently. Brady started for Hull and was linking up well with Matt Fryatt and Aaron McClean with one particular move being reminiscent of Barcelona, (no exaggeration) but Fryatt couldn’t beat Joe Murphy. Brady made way for King after 55 minutes and it was the Norweigan’s time to shine as Hull seeked an equaliser. King did all he could to find the goal with a number of efforts saved by Murphy and one shot from just inside the penalty box cleared the bar. He eventually tired after being forced wide by boss Nick Barmby but showed enough here to warrant a start next time out.
Tomasz Kuszczak continues to excel for Watford in their late surge for a play-off place as they overcame Leeds at Elland Road thanks to two goals from Chris Iwelumo. Both goalkeepers were called upon frequently in the match, Lonergan twice denied Deeney as the half progressed while Tomasz Kuszczak reacted sharply to keep out Robert Snodgrass at the other end.
Kuszczak was in the action again early in the second-half, pulling off a superb double save to first block Alex Bruce’s header then deny Snodgrass on the rebound.
Despite his long-awaited return, Bebe was not involved in Besiktas grudge match with Trabzonspor as coach Carlos Carvalhal opted to stick with his tried and trusted Portuguese winger in Ricardo Quaresma. However, despite taking the lead through Hugo Almeida, Besiktas let the lead slip and lost 2-1 much to the disappointment of the home crowd. Let’s hope that result will get Bebe some game time.
John Cofie overcame his episode last week to play the full 90 in Antwerp’s 2-2 draw with White Star Woluwe. He didn’t find the net this time but asissted strike partner Freddy Mombongo’s second after 70 minutes, squaring the ball to the Congolese forward who tapped into an empty net. Cofie looked strong as he played the majority of the game with his back to goal as a target man, a role which he hasn’t been used to and flicked on countless headers as his side looked for the home win they desperately crave.
Radoslaw Majewski’s second-half hat-trick moved Nottingham Forest six points clear of the Championship relegation zone as they defeated Crystal Palace 3-0 at Selhurst Park. Scott Wootton only made a brief appearance from the bench to keep a clean sheet for Forest and still managed to get himself booked for an unnecessary challenge on Chris Martin.