Loan report: Scherpen's Sturm Graz go top

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There was plenty of action for our players out on loan over the weekend.

Charlie Hanson

2023-10-10T06:00:00Z

Kjell Scherpen is on a season-long loan with Sturm Graz in Austria.

Kjell Scherpen's Sturm Graz defeated Wolfsberger at the weekend to go top of the Austrian Bundesliga, while a host of our other loanees were also in action across the EFL and Europe.

EFL

Carl Rushworth endured a tough start to life with Swansea City as Michael Duff’s team failed to win any of their opening seven league games. They’ve turned their form on its head though, winning their last four consecutive games. That run was continued on Saturday as they defeated Plymouth 3-1 in Devon.

Yasin Ayari played the full 90 minutes of Coventry’s 1-1 draw with Norwich as the Sky Blues maintained their place in mid-table, while Blackburn dragged themselves away from danger with a thumping 4-0 away win at QPR. Andrew Moran came on for the final 30 minutes for Rovers.

James Beadle’s fine spell at Oxford United continued on Saturday as they made it five consecutive League One victories, as they beat Bristol Rovers 2-1 at the Kassam Stadium.

Having enjoyed important back-to-back wins over Exeter City and Reading, Marc Leonard’s Northampton Town suffered a frustrating 1-0 away loss at Shrewsbury.

Ed Turns returned to Leyton Orient’s starting XI on Saturday as they beat Reading 2-1 at Brisbane Road, while Jensen Weir was an unused substitute in Blackpool’s 2-2 draw with Charlton.

INTERNATIONAL

Sturm Graz went top of the Austrian Bundesliga, as they came from a goal down to beat Wolfsberger on Sunday. Kjell Scherpen has kept five clean sheets in a ten-match unbeaten start to their league campaign.

Abdallah Sima netted in back-to-back Scottish Premiership games for the first time as he scored in Rangers’ 3-0 victory over St Mirren. The forward now has seven goals in all competitions for the Gers, having also scored in both of their Europa League group stage matches. Also in Scotland, Odel Offiah came on for the second half of Hearts' 2-2 draw with Hibernian in the Edinburgh derby.

Kacper Kozlowski played for an hour in Vitesse Arnhem’s goalless draw with Excelsior, while Deniz Undav came on for the final 30 minutes of Stuttgart’s 3-1 win over Wolfsburg. The victory for Stuttgart sees them maintain their second-place spot in the Bundesliga.

**Steven Alzate’**s late loan move to Standard Liege has proved to be a good piece of business for the Belgian side. While the Colombian was sent off late on in his first game this season, he has now enjoyed three straight victories in the games he has started. That continued on Sunday with a 2-1 win over Brugge, in which Liege grabbed a 90th minute winner to move up to eighth in the Jupiler Pro League.

NON-LEAGUE

Bailey Smith played 77 minutes for Worthing in their 2-2 draw with Truro City, although the scoreline doesn’t do justice to the drama of the afternoon at Woodside Road. Having gone 1-0 down after four minutes, Adam Hinshelwood’s team had Aarran Racine go off injured and a goal ruled out in the first half, but equalised shortly after the break - only to suffer another setback when Luca Woodhouse was sent off on the hour mark.

Despite being outnumbered, the Rebels took the lead 15 minutes from time, but were reduced to nine-men when Joe Felix was shown a straight red card and failed to hold on for victory as Truro equalised in the 95th minute.