Six of West Ham United’s loanees were involved in a busy weekend of action at home and abroad...
Callum Marshall delivered a man of the match performance as Huddersfield Town extended their unbeaten run in League One to eleven games with a 4-0 away win at Cambridge United.
Huddersfield opened the scoring early, with David Kasumu poking home from a corner in the 11th minute. Marshall then set up Huddersfield’s second with an excellent cross glanced in by Northern Ireland compatriot Brodie Spencer. Minutes later, Marshall was on hand to add a third, reacting quickest after Ben Wiles’ deflected header struck the bar.
The 20-year-old forward capped his impressive display with a second goal in the 72nd minute. Dropping into midfield, Marshall initiated the move with a clever lob over the Cambridge defence to Josh Koroma. After Koroma’s effort was parried, Marshall surged into the box to fire home through the goalkeeper’s legs. Though he narrowly missed a hat-trick opportunity with a late effort drifting wide, his contributions secured Huddersfield’s third consecutive away win, leaving them just three points off the automatic promotion spots.
Academy teammate Patrick Kelly was also on the scoresheet, marking his return to the Doncaster Rovers starting lineup with a landmark first League Two goal in their 3-1 victory over Tranmere Rovers.
In a very physical contest against Tranmere Rovers, Kelly delivered arguably his most complete performance in red and white, earning a standing ovation from the home fans when he was replaced ten minutes from time. His goal, a composed lift over the goalkeeper, followed a bizarre sequence in which Tranmere defender Jordan Turnbull lost his shorts in a tussle for possession. Kelly seized the opportunity, breaking one-on-one with the goalkeeper to double Doncaster’s lead.
In the Championship, Freddie Potts also enjoyed a successful weekend, playing a key role as Portsmouth moved away from the relegation places with a 4-1 win over Frank Lampard’s Coventry City.
Despite conceding within three minutes, Pompey responded with four goals from Callum Lang. Potts provided setting up two, a long ball from the halfway line for Lang’s second goal and a perfectly delivered corner that completed Lang’s hat-trick shortly after half-time. Lang added a fourth minutes later, capping an emphatic win in Portsmouth’s final home match of the calendar year.
Elsewhere in the Championship, George Earthy played the final 20 minutes, replacing Scott Twine as Bristol City fell to a 2-0 defeat away to West Bromwich Albion, with two goals from Michael Johnston sealing the points for the home side on Sunday afternoon.
Back in League One, Michael Forbes was handed his second successive start for Bristol Rovers in a 1-1 draw against promotion chasing Wrexham. Although he made a number of good blocks, his afternoon was unfortunately cut short, as he was replaced on 22 minutes with a hamstring issue.
In League Two, Levi Laing remained on the bench as Cheltenham Town extended their unbeaten League Two run to five games with a 2-2 draw against Gillingham, moving them twelve points clear of the bottom two relegation spots.
In the National League South, Mason Terry continued to impress with some remarkable saves for Hornchurch, despite their 2-1 defeat to Chippenham, their first loss in seven games. The young goalkeeper made a total of ten saves to keep his side in contention, before a late goal from Aaron Amadi-Holloway secured all three points for the away side.
Yesterday’s MOTM, as chosen by Garry Hayes & Family was Mason Terry. Well played Mase 👏🏼 #COYU pic.twitter.com/n0DOS6iN0v
— Hornchurch FC (@HornchurchFC) December 22, 2024
In La Liga, Nayef Aguerd was rested for the first time in La Liga since arriving at Real Sociedad. The Txuri-Urdin, who had previously kept five consecutive clean sheets with Aguerd in defence, were defeated 2-0 away to Celta Vigo.
In the Premier League, James Ward-Prowse was an unused substitute as Nottingham Forest became the first team to win away at Brentford this season, moving them up to fourth place.
In the Scottish Premiership, Krisztián Hegyi was an unused substitute as Motherwell were held to a 1-1 draw at home to Kilmarnock.