A number of our players out on loan moved to within touching distance of the top of their respective divisions, while others saw their grip loosen over the weekend.
EFL
Carl Rushworth kept his third clean sheet of the season as Swansea shot up to 13th place in the Championship, courtesy of a 1-0 win at Blackburn, with Andrew Moran coming on for the second half for Rovers.
James Beadle played the full 90 minutes as a 2-2 draw with Wycombe maintained Oxford’s United’s spot in second in League One.
Access Denied ⛔️
— Oxford United FC (@OUFCOfficial) October 29, 2023
A superb stop from @James_Beadle61 early in yesterday's affair 👊
🟡🔵 #OUFC | #COYY pic.twitter.com/JQx1uAcNIx
Northampton slipped to just a place above the third tier drop zone. Marc Leonard played the full 90 minutes in the Cobblers’ 2-1 away defeat at Bristol Rovers.
Cam Peupion (Cheltenham Town), Ed Turns (Leyton Orient) and Jensen Weir (Blackpool) were all not involved for their teams.
Yasin Ayari and Jeremy Sarmiento – the latter of which has been out for a month with a quadricep injury – could face each other on Monday night as West Brom play Coventry.
INTERNATIONAL
Abdallah Sima’s impressive run of form came to an end on Sunday, as Rangers secured a 2-1 win over Hearts. Sima had scored four goals in three Scottish Premiership appearances prior to the weekend. Odel Offiah went off with a first-half injury for Hearts.
Steven Alzate also saw his fine sequence come to an end. Having been on a four-game winning run since rejoining Standard Liege on loan, his team slipped to a 3-1 defeat to KAA Gent on Sunday.
DENIZ!!! Erneuter Anschlusstreffer 💪💪
— VfB Stuttgart (@VfB) October 28, 2023
Ab in eine heiße Schlussphase, Jungs! 🚀 #VfB | #VfBTSG (73‘) pic.twitter.com/6UtonX6lG7
Deniz Undav couldn’t have done much more as he scored and assisted for Stuttgart against Hoffenheim, but the early surprise package in the Bundesliga fell to a 3-2 home defeat to their local rivals.
Kjell Scherpen’s Sturm Graz still sit top of the Austrian Bundesliga despite suffering their first defeat of their league season, as they were beaten 1-0 at home by Austria Vienna. They sit a point above RB Salzburg who have suffered two defeats in their last five, with RB looking to extend their domination of Austrian football into an 11th campaign, having won the title for the past ten consecutive seasons.
Vitesse picked up a much-needed point in a 1-1 draw with PEC Zwolle to move out of the Eredivisie relegation zone, as Kacper Kozlowski played for 80 minutes.
NON-LEAGUE
Bailey Smith came on for the final 25 minutes of Worthing’s 2-0 win over fellow promotion hopefuls Bath City in National League South.