News

Loan report: Orient within touching distance of promotion

The O's could be promoted by the end of this week.

By Charlie Hanson • 17 April 2023

By Simon O'Connor
Ed Turns joined Leyton Orient on loan in January.

Ed Turns moved one step closer to a career first promotion on Saturday as Leyton Orient won 2-0 at Sutton United in League Two.

The victory moved the O’s ten points clear of second place Northampton, for whom Marc Leonard could only help draw 0-0 with another promotion rival Carlisle.

Fighting to retain their League One status, Morecambe secured a vital 1-0 win over Wycombe thanks to Cole Stockton’s 89th minute winner. That puts the striker on five goals for the season – four behind the Shrimps’ top scorer for the campaign, Jensen Weir.

Having beaten the League One leaders Plymouth Argyle the week before, Lincoln City continued their good end of season run with a 3-2 victory over Port Vale, despite Carl Rushworth’s early red card.

The goalkeeper mis-controlled a back pass and in his attempts to win it back was deemed to have dragged down Vale striker Matty Taylor when through on goal.

A midtable finish is on the cards now for the Imps, but Haydon Roberts’s Derby County could still finish in the play-off spots. They didn’t take the chance to move into the top six on Saturday though, as they drew 1-1 with Bristol City.

Reda Khadra and Taylor Richards didn’t have much luck in the Championship either, as Birmingham City were beaten 2-1 by ten-man Sunderland, while QPR’s woes at the bottom of the second tier continued with a 3-0 defeat to Coventry.

In Scotland, James Furlong’s Motherwell’s relegation worries have been eased with a good run of form recently, but a 2-1 defeat to Dundee United brought an end to a two-game winning streak.

On the continent, Angers’ relegation in Ligue 1 moved a step closer to being confirmed as they slipped to a 2-1 defeat to Clermont Foot. Abdallah Sima came off the bench in the defeat, with Angers now marooned at the bottom, 17 points from safety with seven games to go.

Simon Adingra had more luck over the border in Belgium with Royale Union Saint-Gilloise, as he fired in their opening goal in a 2-1 win over against Seraing, as they stayed just two points behind league leaders Genk.

Standard Liege’s 3-1 win over Charleroi means they could still finish in the top four of the Belgian league – where Steven Alzate continues to be a regular starter.

Michal Karbownik’s hopes of promotion to the Bundesliga with Fortuna Dusseldorf are still alive after they beat league leaders Darmstadt 1-0, leaving them six points off the play-off spots with six to play.

Basel’s season will go down as one to forget for the 20-time Swiss champions, who are now hovering in mid-table. However, they did secure a point against top of the table Young Boys Bern, in which Andi Zeqiri got 45 minutes under his belt.

In the Dutch Eredivisie, Vitesse Arnhem secured a vital win as they saw off NEC Nijmegen, with Kacper Kozlowski scoring in the 4-1 win, while Kjell Scherpen kept NEC out at the other end.