It'd have to be some dramatic blossoming indeed to make us give a new contract to a nearly 22 year old on the back of how he played in the Welsh league. He'd need to score 15 or more from midfield I'd imagine. Pretty sure it's all been done for the player's benefit not so much ours.

Agreed, another strange one. Like you say, why extend for a year just to send him to a level we'll learn nothing from his performance at. He'll be 21 next month, sounded promising at times. I can only think we extended it to give him time to find a new club. Doesn't really benefit us though, other than in showing our young lads and prospective youth signings that we take care of our boys.

Feels like we won but lost.

LT says that one was top corner though, so presumably nothing much to be done about it?

I wasn't thinking of the Shrewsbury Tom Bloxham. It was a lineup thing I read earlier that had him down as a forward.

No? Fair enough, thought I'd read he was.

Surprised it's not Bloxham they've brought on for him, or Markanday. At this stage, with Pickering and Hyam brought on to shore up the defence too, you'd hope the game is won.

Clearly decided the defensive shambles needed shoring up. Sounds like Wharton would have been the one to take off though over Barnes.

Poor do that. Not even four times their borough's population.

And like I said in my post, I'm not saying he won't make it. So we both agree, he may or may not make it. I'm only saying it's not a good standard of loan. I don't think we've done well by the lad there. I suspect we've taken it because we've hoarded too many youth keepers and he wasn't going to get enough game time in the U21s with Hilton and Eastham around, plus the likely need to play whoever our backup keeper turns out to be there from time to time. I think we do a really poor job finding the right loans for our youngsters, on the whole, considering the standard of our academy. Carter, Wharton and Raya (that one a long time ago now) worked out well but other than that I can't think of any. Far more players have managed a pathway straight into our team. Anyway, this game.

Attendance: 6,173 (579). I momentarily read this as 6,173,579. Which would have been fairly impressive.

Wasn't this one 5 minutes after kick off?

Or perhaps he'll get released on a free after sitting behind several keepers who have experience at a far, far higher level. I'm not saying he won't make it. But Conference North or whatever they call it now is the absolute lowest I'd be sending any of our youngsters too, and he's been sent a level below that. I just don't think it's a worthwhile level to play at. He'll have to jump two more leagues to be playing where Raya was on his loan. That's the difference between being in League Two or playing for us. And then he'll still need to jump three more leagues to play for us. I'm not criticising the player or his potential, he came with a decent reputation from City, but I feel comfortable criticising the choice to send him to such a low level. It does also suggest he's very far back in the pecking order for now. Hopefully he does well, and is recalled in January to be loaned to a higher league.

Marine are two leagues below where Southport were though.

Great for Ennis to get off the mark nice and early into his time with us.

Why are we only capable of scoring when they piss us off by scoring tonight? 😂

Hilton at fault for this one too? I have to say I was shocked he was starting, now that we've got our new keeper in. I know Wahlstedt wasn't going to start, but we'd be safe to play Pears knowing we have another senior keeper if he got injured.

No, the LT reporter is just a stupid Dingle.

Sounds like we've finally applied some pressure after the equaliser.

If you're watching it in incognito/secret/private mode or whatever, I don't think it updates. I thought it wasn't updating either (since 6pm) but in a normal tab it works. If that's not fixed it, try a different browser.

Knowing where to be, when, is half the battle as a striker, and he seems to have that knack. I don't remember Gally having a game where he got himself in with as many really presentable chances as Leonard, and he's only just started playing games. Realistically, you're not gonna put every good chance away, but I'd have probably expected him to notch one of those two chances really. The second was trickier though. And his goal was very well taken, harder than the two misses. I hope the two misses didn't undo the confidence boost of the goal. If he has the right head on his shoulders and carries on in this vein, he'll be a very handy player for us this season.

What if we play with ten centre halves?

Thought the goals would hugely boost Leonard and Markanday's confidence. Then Markanday got subbed off and Leonard missed two good chances, so guess we'll see what their character is like going forward. Incidentally I'd have brought Dolan off instead of Markanday, and I'm a fan of Dolan. Guess Hedges only really plays on the right though.

Might not be too long before you are comparing them skill-wise...

Damn, again...that one was a bit harder though. Bound to effect his confidence now you'd think.