It’s that time of the week once again, time to check in with West Ham United’s two remaining loan stars to see how they’ve been getting on at their various clubs, both at home and on the continent over the last week, as Robert Snodgrass and Aston Villa booked a Wembley date and Toni Martinez and Real Valladolid boosted their La Liga dreams.
Robert Snodgrass (Aston Villa)
We start in the second tier of English football, the Sky Bet Championship, where the Scottish winger Snodgrass is enjoying the final few weeks of his loan spell with Steve Bruce’s Villa, having been at the club since the very start of the season.
Finishing fourth in the final standings, the Midlands side defeated Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium, in the first leg of their play-off semi-final with the North East team thanks to a Mile Jedinak header.
On last Wednesday evening, Villans welcomed Boro to Villa Park for the second leg holding the one-goal advantage and hopeful of an uneventful 90 minutes to see them through to the play-off final at Wembley Stadium, this they would get, in the form of a goalless draw.
Snodgrass started on the wing and played for the full 90 minutes as his team held out to make the final and a chance to end a two-year exile from the Premier League, they will face off with the team that finished directly above them in third place in the table, Fulham in West London on Saturday afternoon.
Antonio Martinez (Real Valladolid)
And we finish in the much sunnier climes of Spain, where young striker Martinez is also enjoying the final stages of his loan stint in his homeland, under Luis Cesar Sampedro at Valladolid.
They too are chasing promotion from the Second (Segunda) Division of their country’s football pyramid, looking to secure a position in the play-off places with a place in La Liga at stake, over the close of the campaign.
Fresh from a slim home victory over Albacete, they had the perfect opportunity to gain some sought-after ground when they journeyed to relegation strugglers Lorca on Saturday afternoon and did so in style with a 1-5 romp, Borja Fernandez, hat-trick hero Jaime Mata and Miguel Alfonso Herrero Javaloyas cancelling out an early opener from Carlos Pomares.
For the first time in two games, Martinez saw some action too, being introduced as a late substitute and impressing in the thrashing, a crucial three points took the club up to fourth, they must stay between sixth and second for the play-offs, with two tests remaining, the first being away at promotion rivals Real Zaragoza, next Sunday evening.
So, now that you’ve been given the lowdown on how the Claret & Blue loan stars performed over the last week, how will they fare in the next seven days? Will there be play-off glory for Snodgrass, and will Martinez’s Valladolid take a huge step towards the Segunda play-offs? Join us once again, early next week, to find out.
