Loan report: Odel impressing with Blackpool

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Matt Bishop

2025-01-28T06:00+00:00

Odel Offiah helped Blackpool maintain their unbeaten start to 2025 with a 3-1 victory over Exeter City. 📷 NewsImages.

It wasn’t a week to remember for many of Albion’s loanees across the country but Odel Offiah’s fantastic season with Blackpool continued as the Seasiders sit safely in League One’s mid-table.

The 22-year-old right-back has been a vital member of Steve Bruce’s squad this term, making 27 appearances in total so far, and he was once again in from the start on Saturday as the Lancashire side won 3-1 at Exeter City.

Kamari Doyle wasn’t involved at St James’ Park but Offiah enjoyed his trip to Devon, playing the full 90 as Blackpool climbed to 14th and continued their unbeaten start to 2025.

Doyle did play an hour earlier in the week for the Grecians as they drew 1-1 with Peterborough, but he will now look to help Crawley escape the League One relegation zone after his loan move to Broadfield Stadium was announced on Monday.

Elsewhere in the third tier, Samy Chouchane had to watch on from the bench as Northampton earned a hard-fought point at high-flying Wycombe but in the league above, Jeremy Sarmiento and James Beadle tasted Championship victory.

Sarmiento’s Burnley ran riot at Plymouth, pillaging the Pilgrims by scoring five first-half goals in a 5-0 thumping, while Beadle kept a clean sheet against QPR as the Owls won 2-0 in West London. Our on-loan goalkeeper also played 90 minutes three days prior in a 2-2 draw against Bristol City.

Andrew Moran also started and finished Stoke’s 0-0 draw against Oxford on Saturday, after playing an hour of their 3-1 defeat to Portsmouth the previous Wednesday – but Mark O’Mahony missed that match for Pompey due to injury, as well as their 5-1 defeat to West Bromwich Albion on Saturday.

Two defeats for our south coast counterparts was matched by Amario Cozier-Duberry’s Blackburn, as their play-off push continues to falter. Rovers have now suffered three losses in a row after being beaten 2-0 by Coventry on Tuesday and 2-1 at Bristol City on Saturday, with our on-loan winger coming off the bench to play five and 23 minutes respectively.

Staying in the EFL, Tom McGill wasn’t involved for MK Dons in League Two as they lost to Fleetwood and then drew 0-0 with arch-rivals Wimbledon, while Luca Barrington also missed Grimsby’s 3-0 defeat to Barrow.

Dropping further down the pyramid, Louis Flower missed Gateshead’s National League Cup defeat to Newcastle, but he led from the front for the entirety of their 1-1 draw with Oldham.

Our loanees in some of Europe’s top competitions also suffered a mixture of results, with the return of the Champions League subjecting Kjell Scherpen and Malick Yalcouye to a chastening defeat against Atalanta.

Their Sturm Graz side, who are top of the Austrian Bundesliga which is currently paused due to the winter break, lost 5-0 against their Serie A opponents, with Scherpen in goal for the full 90 and Yalcouye in the heart of midfield for 69 minutes.

It was a tough night for Kjell Scherpen as Sturm Graz were beaten 5-0 by Atalanta in the Champions League. 📷 by Sturm Graz.

Ibrahim Osman was also involved in Champions League action but didn’t come off the bench for Feyenoord – who Jakub Moder joined permanently 24 hours earlier – as they claimed a famous 3-0 win against Bayern Munich.

Unlike Osman, Abdallah Sima did get a taste of Champions League action, but his Stade Brestois side lost 2-0 at home to Shakhtar Donetsk, with our striker playing the last half an hour. Sima had more success on Sunday as he started Les Pirates’ 1-0 win against Le Havre in Ligue 1.

Back on these shores, Facundo Buonanotte and Leicester also returned to winning ways as they claimed a hard-fought Premier League victory against struggling Spurs. Buonanotte came on for the final 14 minutes to help the Foxes successfully hold on to their 2-1 lead.

There was less good fortune for Buonanotte's South American counterpart Julio Enciso, as Ipswich lost 4-1 against Liverpool with our Paraguayan making his debut for the Tractor Boys in the 79th minute.

In the Women’s Championship, our duo of loanees at Portsmouth nearly helped Jay Sadler’s side secure a vital point against Newcastle, but Lily Dent and Hannah Poulter were on the losing team as the Toon Army won 3-2.

There was success for Libby Bance and Bristol City at the other end of the division however, as the Robins secured a big 3-1 win against league leaders Birmingham City at St Andrew’s. Bance played the full 90 to help her side go level on points at the top with the Blues.