Both of our loanee Academy goalkeepers kept clean sheets in their Enterprise National League games at the weekend, with Finlay Herrick’s Boreham Wood claiming a big 3-0 away win at Yeovil Town and Mason Terry’s five saves at home against Sutton United enough to earn his Braintree Town side a goalless draw.
For Herrick, this was his fourth shutout in just six games, five of which have been wins. The young stopper was called into action just twice as goals from Abdul Abdulmalik, talisman Matt Rush and Femi Ilesanmi capped a dominant display for the Wood, who extended their unbeaten run to 14 games to move within two points of leaders Rochdale.
At the other end of the table, Terry and Regan Clayton’s Braintree Town were unable to make their dominance count against fellow relegation strugglers Sutton. Despite registering 23 attempts at goal, the Iron had to settle for a point in Essex. Braintree perhaps missed an opportunity to climb out of the relegation zone, with Altrincham, Aldershot Town, Woking and Solihull Moors all failing to register wins over the weekend.
In EFL League One, Michael Forbes helped Northampton Town to yet another clean sheet as they played out a goalless draw away at Port Vale. The Cobblers haven't conceded with Forbes on the pitch since their 1-0 defeat against Lincoln City back in August. In other words, over 400 minutes of football. Kevin Nolan’s side's latest clean sheet, their sixth in seven games in all competitions, now sees them hold the best defensive record in the division.
Staying in the third tier, after making a big impact in Luton Town’s 2-2 draw at Blackpool in midweek, where he won and converted a last-minute penalty, Gideon Kodua was reintroduced to the starting XI, but the Hatters were defeated 2-0 by Stevenage. Lewis Orford’s Stevenage have made their best-ever start to a league season, with eight wins in their first ten games, and now sit top of the League One table. Orford, however, is yet to make his competitive debut for The Boro.
In the EFL Championship, two late goals from Leicester City condemned Swansea City to just their second defeat in eleven games in all competitions. Kaelan Casey, who has started all of Swansea’s games in their Carabao Cup run to the round of 16, featured on the bench for their 3-1 home loss to the Foxes.
In the Scottish Premiership, Junior Robinson was also on the bench as Livingston were pegged back for a 1-1 draw at Dundee United.
Over in Türkiye, Edson Álvarez started and completed 63 minutes of Fenerbahçe's 0-0 draw at Samsunspor in the Süper Lig. His side are currently fourth in the table after eight games.
