Loan report: Beadle helps keep Owls in play-off hunt

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Matthew Bishop

2025-01-06T16:15+00:00

James Beadle spent last season on loan with Sheffield Wednesday. 📷 by Jez Tighe.

James Beadle and Sheffield Wednesday have started 2025 as they mean to go on with a win and a draw in their first Championship matches this year.

The 20-year-old was between the sticks as the Owls won a 4-2 thriller against Derby County at Hillsborough on New Year’s Day and drew 2-2 against Millwall on home soil three days later to move within three points of the play-offs.

Josh Windass stole the headlines against the Rams by scoring from inside his own half, but Beadle played a vital role by denying Kane Wilson and Nat Phillips, and he then saved a point for Wednesday against Millwall by tipping Ryan Wintle’s stoppage-time shot wide.

There was also New Year’s Day success for another member of Albion’s goalkeeper union, as Tom McGill helped MK Dons win 2-1 at Chesterfield in League Two.

The Dons scored both of their goals in the first half and then had to withstand a spirited Spireites side in the second half with McGill denying Dilan Markanday and Bailey Hobson, although he could do little to stop Darren Oldaker’s stunning late free-kick.

The final member of Albion’s shot-stoppers out on loan – Carl Rushworth – sat out Hull City’s 1-0 defeat to Middlesbrough and 3-3 draw with Leeds United due to injury, but elsewhere in the Championship our trio of exciting midfielders did play.

Andrew Moran played the full 90 for Stoke against Plymouth and Burnley, with Jeremy Sarmiento on the opposing side for an hour, with both games ending 0-0 in Mark Robins’ first matches as Potters boss.

Sarmiento also played 77 minutes for the Clarets against Amario Cozier-Duberry’s Blackburn, as Scott Parker’s side secured bragging rights in East Lancashire with a 1-0 derby win.

Cozier-Duberry played the first 75 minutes of that clash at Ewood Park and was Blackburn’s best attacking outlet, going close twice during the first half, but Rovers are still waiting for their first victory over Burnley in 15 years.

There was success for John Eustace’s side three days prior however, with Cozier-Duberry brought on with 12 minutes to go as Blackburn’s Danny Batth scored in the 90th minute to draw 1-1 with Championship leaders Leeds.

Amario Cozier-Duberry impressed for Blackburn in their derby against Burnley. 📷 by Craig Galloway.

Mark O’Mahony is also out on loan in the second tier but he remains injured so missed Portsmouth’s win against Swansea and defeat at Sunderland, while in Scotland’s Championship, Casper Nilsson was ruled out of Partick Thistle’s defeats to Greenock Morton and Dunfermline Athletic and Ben Jackson was an unused substitute as Livingston lost at Queen’s Park.

Back in England, our League One contingent ended their busy festive periods with a mixture of results.

Samy Chouchane played an hour for Northampton over the weekend as they moved six points clear of the relegation places with a 1-0 victory at Burton, and three days earlier he was on the pitch for the full 90 as the Cobblers drew 0-0 with Stevenage at home.

Odel Offiah’s Blackpool didn’t taste victory but two 1-1 draws for the Tangerines – against Shrewsbury and Wycombe – kept Steve Bruce’s side well above the drop zone, with Offiah playing 90 minutes against the Shrews and 61 against the Chairboys.

Kamari Doyle and Exeter also played Wycombe, but the Grecians endured a not so happy new year as they lost 2-1 at Adams Park on New Year’s Day with our loanee playing the final 15 minutes, before he was an unused sub during their 2-1 defeat to Bolton on Saturday.

In League Two, there were also no new year fireworks in Grimsby as Luca Barrington’s side lost 3-2 at Accrington on the first day of 2025, with the former Manchester City man playing the last 17 minutes, and 3-1 at Bradford three days later where Barrington played 67 minutes.

Port Vale did taste victory in the EFL’s third tier as they beat Doncaster Rovers 2-1 on Saturday, but Benicio Baker-Boaitey missed that game through injury and also had to sit out the 0-0 draw with Cheltenham on New Year’s Day.

Our final foray into the achievements of Albion loanees takes us to the top-flight here in England, across the Channel to France and then south to Spain.

Facundo Buonanotte was our player in Premier League action, but he was only handed a ten-minute cameo as Leicester’s battling performance at Aston Villa went unrewarded with a 2-1 defeat.

In France, Abdallah Sima returned to Angers, the club we loaned him to in 2022, with Stade Brest but the Senegalese striker couldn’t prevent his current team from losing 2-0 as he played 63 minutes with no reward.