- Four Hammers were in loan action in the Football League over the weekend
- Two others were options on the bench for their respective loan sides
- Josh Cullen was named Man of the Match again for Bradford City in his 21st 90 minutes of the season
There were a number of West Ham United players in loan action over the weekend, and we start with those who played 90 minutes for their respective temporary sides.
First, Josh Cullen completed the full match for the 21st time this season on loan at Bradford City as they took on Shrewsbury Town away from home in League One.
Despite the 1-0 defeat for the Bantams, Cullen was named Man of the Match by City fans for the second week running, adding the personal achievement to the long list of those he has collected this campaign.
The midfielder, who has been in impressive form since he returned to Valley Parade for the second time, was also named the club’s December Player of the Month.
Freddie Ladapo scored the only goal for the hosts in this weekend’s contest though, tapping in on his home debut – the striker is on loan from the Hammers’ Saturday opponents Crystal Palace.
The other Irons man to play the full match this weekend was Alex Pike, making his debut for Cheltenham Town having joined the Robins during last week.
The defender, who has consistently been a key player in the Hammers’ Premier League 2 side this year, helped his new teammates to a 3-0 victory over Accrington Stanley in League Two.
The hosts were made to wait until the first half to take the lead however, with skipper Danny Wright giving Cheltenham the lead ten minutes after the restart.
With a quarter of an hour remaining on the clock, Diego De Girolamo drilled home to put the result beyond doubt before Billy Waters put the icing on the cake with 12 minutes left.
Accrington’s Scott Brown, sent off midway through the second half, did not help matters for the struggling visitors.
Back in the third tier, Martin Samuelsen played for the third time in his second loan spell at Peterborough United, though Posh were thrashed 5-1 at Bury.
Samuelsen, who was previously on loan at Blackburn Rovers before Christmas, was introduced at half time after a disastrous first period for Peterborough, who found themselves 4-1 down before the half hour stage.
Tom Nichols had given the visitors a dream start after just four minutes, but James Vaughan levelled three minutes later before bagging another three himself to make it 4-1 before Peterborough could work out what had gone wrong.
Vaughan’s four-goal salvo left Samuelsen’s side with little chance in the second half, and George Miller grabbed a fifth to add to the misery for Posh.
Things were brighter elsewhere in the division for George Dobson though, who played 16 minutes at the end of his Walsall side’s terrific 4-1 thrashing of Sheffield United.
The Saddlers – who began the contest much the second favourites as they took on the league leaders – got off to the dream start when Amadou Bakayoko fired home with just five minutes played.
Jack O’Connell equalised from the spot on the ten-minute mark but a fantastic second half performance from the hosts gave the Yorkshiremen no chance at the Bescot Stadium.
Jason McCarthy, Joe Edwards and Erhun Otzumer all got on the scoresheet and Dobson entered the field to shore up the midfield during the final minutes to help see out the win.
Finally, Reece Burke and Enner Valencia were unused substitutes for their respective sides at the weekend. Burke’s Wigan Athletic were 2-0 winners at Burton Albion while Valencia’s Everton thrashed Manchester City 4-0 at Goodison Park on Sunday.