Mikel San Jose – The young defender started against Almeria at the weekend as Athletic Bilbao cemented their sixth position in the league with a resounding 4-1 win at home. San Jose again was solid at the back and prevented Almeria from having any goal scoring opportunities until an hour into the match. By this time Bilbao were already 4-0 up with goals from Javi Martinez (2), Gabilondo and Llorente. The Almeria boss sent Piatti and Soriano on for Vargas and Guilherme and the changes seemed to work as the team managed a mini revival. Straight after coming on, Soriano had a chance with a header and Piatti had a one on one with Bilbao keeper Iraizoz, but both opportunities were spurned. On 71 minutes, Piatti did score after a scramble in the box, making the score 4-1 going into the final twenty minutes. Both Goitom and Soriano did have chances after that but San Jose and the Bilbao defence held firm to make sure the final score was an impressive 4-1 victory.
Krisztian Nemeth – The Hungarian striker started against Levadiakos at the weekend but couldn’t prevent AEK Athens dropping two points after a 0-0 draw, leaving the team fourth, 17 points behind leaders Panathinaikos. Nemeth was involved heavily in the play and had chances to score. On 40 minutes, he shot from a tight angle but he couldn’t direct his effort on target; he then get involved just before half-time with the build up play of an attacking move, and combined well with Djebbour to send his team-mate away on goal but he failed to convert the one-on-one opportunity and Vallejo in the Levadiakos goal saved the best chance of the half for AEK. Just after half-time, Nemeth was in the thick of the action once again, and headed a shot on goal which was superbly saved by Vallejo. 3 minutes later he had another excellent opportunity to score in the penalty area but his shot went narrowly wide of the post. Young left winger Panagiotis Lagos came on for Nemeth an hour into the match but the Hungarian should be happy with his display.
Jay Spearing – The midfielder started once again in Leicester’s 2-1 victory over Peterborough at the weekend. The result means they are now four points ahead of seventh place Blackpool and are within a win of sealing a playoff place. It was Spearing’s third start since his loan move from the Reds and the midfielder took time out to talk about what he hopes he can get out of the loan spell:
“I knew straight away I wouldn’t just walk in and take someone’s place; I knew I’d have to work hard for it. But I’ve been putting the effort in, in training and thankfully I’ve had a few starts recently. I wasn’t getting much football at Liverpool, so to come here and play games and hopefully top of the year with a Wembley visit would be fantastic.”
Stephen Darby – The young right back started once again last night but couldn’t prevent the team drawing 1-1 at home to struggling Exeter City. James Dunne put the away side into the lead after good build up led to the Exeter player calmly controlling the ball and finishing expertly from a tight angle. The Robins needed a 93rd minute own goal to salvage a point and it keeps Darby and his team in contention for automatic promotion, 1 point behind second place but having played a game more.
Robbie Threlfall – Bradford continued their struggles under manager Peter Taylor. Still plagued by injuries, Bradford were battered by Burton Albion in the first half on Saturday but a good goalkeeping performance from Jon McLaughlin kept the away side in it at half-time. Most of Burton’s good attacking came from the right hand side and left back Robbie Threlfall struggled to contain Cleveland Taylor on the right wing. Luckily for the Liverpool loanee, Taylor’s crossing was not at all decent and Bradford survived the first half to go in 0-0 at the interval. Somehow Bradford took the lead through Luke Oliver in the second half but a goal from Shaun Harrad ensured the game finished 1-1.
Related article: Nathan Eccleston Match Report v Brentford
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That’s an excellent article – glad Jay is doing well. Cheers.