Martinez Off The Mark In Segunda Division As Snodgrass Helps Villa Secure Fourth Spot In The Championship
It’s that time of the week once again, time to check in with West Ham United’s various loan stars to see how they’ve been getting on over the last week at their various different clubs, both at home in England and on the continent as Robert Snodgrass helped Aston Villa secure the Sky Bet Championship fourth spot and Antonio Martinez got off the mark in his homeland.
Robert Snodgrass (Aston Villa)
We start with the second tier of English football and the Scottish winger, who has spent the season at Villa Park with Steve Bruce and his promotion chasing-Villans.
Villa were only in action once since our last Loan Report, on the Championship’s penultimate weekend, hosting promotion rivals Derby County, the side they could well face in the play-offs and played out a 1-1 draw, Snodgrass returned to the starting Xl and playing the full 90 minutes and impressing, they will look to take winning form into the play-offs this weekend against Millwall away from home.
Martin Samuelsen (Burton Albion)
At the opposite end of the second division standings, the Norwegian winger, who hooked up with Nigel Clough’s Brewers until the end of the season in January, has returned to matchday squads of late from an injury lay-off.
On Saturday afternoon, Albion welcomed Reece Burke’s Bolton Wanderers outfit to the Pirelli Stadium and claimed a vital victory, taking them up to 22nd and level on points with Barnsley in the final safety spot, but Samuelsen was forced to watch from the substitutes’ bench for the entirety, he will be hoping to feature in next Sunday’s all or nothing trip to play-off hopefuls Preston North End.
Reece Burke (Bolton Wanderers)
Also in that very relegation rut is the Academy of Football graduate and Phil Parkinson’s Trotters, travelling to Burton at the weekend in the aforementioned crucial six-pointer.
Unfortunately, Burke was dropped from the matchday squad as his teammates fell to a costly defeat, one that saw them fall into the bottom three for the first time in several months, ahead of the final weekend, they sit 23rd and will have to beat Nottingham Forest and hope other results go their way in order to stay in the league.
Reece Oxford (Borussia Monchengladbach)
In the distant land of Germany and in the German Top-Flight or Bundesliga, Oxford and his Gladbach side under Dieter Hecking have been looking to end what has been a disappointing season on a positive note or two.
Their only fixture within the last week came on Saturday in the form of a tricky trip to the Veltins-Arena to face Schalke, leaving with a respectable point, but once again, the young defender missed it through injury as he battles to return to fitness before the end of the campaign, Die Fohlen’s first of two remaining matches sees them host Freiburg next up after they remained ninth.
Antonio Martinez (Real Valladolid)
And last but not least, in the much sunnier climes of Spain, Martinez would enjoy a special day back in the second tier of his homeland, the Segunda Division with Luis Cesar Sampedro’s Valladolid.
The La Liga promotion chasers hosted Cadiz on Saturday afternoon and the striker grabbed his maiden goal for the club in only his second start, netting in the 57th-minute what looked to be the match-winner only for his side to be denied a pivotal win in added-time, the match ending 1-1, meaning that Real are now five points and three places below the play-offs with five outings left, the first of which is Saturday’s trip to CD Numancia.
So, that you’ve been given the full lowdown on how the Claret & Blue loanees fared over the last seven days with their temporary teams, how will they got on over the next week as domestic leagues draw to a close in Europe? Join us once again early next week to find out.
