Reading FC Loan Round-Up: December 14th

Jonathan Bond – Peterborough United (League One) Appearances: 22 Clean Sheets: 4

Bond initially lost his place in the Peterborough starting line-up this month, sitting out against Tranmere, Blackpool, Portsmouth and Rochdale before regaining the job in a 2-2 draw against Charlton. He has since featured in a further five games, and kept a clean in a 2-0 win over Southend three weeks ago.

I was actually at the Peterborough-Tranmere game, hoping to see Bond in action, but he was rested for the FA Cup victory.

Regardless, here’s a picture:

Luke Southwood – Bath City (National League South) Appearances: 27 Clean Sheets: 10

Southwood has kept four clean sheets in his last six games this month, taking his overall record to less than a clean sheet every three games.

He also played 90 minutes in every game, with the clean sheets coming in a 4-0 win over East Thurrock and 0-0 draws with Margate, Hemel Hempstead and Bognor Regis.

In the FA Trophy replay against Margate, Southwood saved two penalties in the victory:

Lewis Ward – Aldershot Town (National League) Appearances: 6 Clean Sheets: 4

It’s been an amazing start to life at Aldershot for goalkeeper Lewis Ward, who was recalled from a loan spell at Hungerford to make the step up at Aldershot.

And Ward seems more than good enough to play at this level, helping the side keep four clean sheets in just six games since joining the club on November 10th. Those shutouts came in 2-0 wins over Hartlepool, Wrexham and Bromley and a 0-0 draw with Torquay.

Ward’s performances haven’t exactly gone unnoticed amongst the internet media either:

Rob Dickie – Lincoln City (League Two) Appearances: 19 Clean Sheets: 5

Rob Dickie has been reduced to a bit-part role at Lincoln, making just three starts this month, while appearing as an unused substitute on three other occasions.

In the games he did start, he completed 90 minutes (against Crewe, Coventry and Colchester), although he was booked in consecutive matches against the latter two. Dickie also came off the bench with nine minutes remaining in a 3-2 victory over Accrington Stanley.

Yakou Meite – FC Sochaux (Ligue 2) Appearances: 14 Goals: 1

The ‘impact sub’ tag couldn’t more accurately describe a player as it does to define Yakou Meite’s continued role at FCSM. He played the full 90 minutes just once this month, in a 2-1 win against Villefranche, but appeared off the bench in all but one of the other five fixtures.

Meite played just nine minutes against Nimes, seven against Valenciennes, 19 against Lorient and 26 against Brest, before missing the penalty shoot-out win over Saint-Louis Neuweg.

Deniss Rakels – Lech Poznan (Ekstraklasa) Appearances: 9

Deniss Rakels has finally found a consistent role at Lech Poznan after making just five total appearances since joining in the summer. Through November and early December he has totalled a further four.

Admittedly, all four were off the bench (ten minutes against Sandecja Nowy Sacz and Cracovia and 19 minutes against Wisla Plock and Piast Gliwice), but it’s still a positive to see Rakels finally getting much needed minutes, however fleeting they prove to be.

For any Polish speakers among you, here’s an interview Rakels did with the official site, talking of his ambitions for a more prominent role in the side:

Andrija Novakovich – SC Telstar (Eerste Divisie) Appearances: 16 Goals: 8

It’s been a much slower month for Novakovich after starting off his career at Telstar with eight goals in 12 appearances.

He failed to bag in November and early December in four appearances, and was withdrawn around the hour mark in a defeat to RKC Waalwijk and draw with Emmen, in a game in which he also missed a first-half penalty.

Sandro Wieser – KSV Roeselare (Belgian First Division B) Appearances: 5

Sandro Wieser almost doubled his season total for appearances on the year this month after coming off the bench against Beerschot-Wilrijk and Cercle Brugge to take his year-round appearances to five.

Axel Andresson – Torquay United (National League) Appearances: 2

Andresson joined the club on December 6th and made his debut the following game, a 3-0 defeat to Tranmere in which he came off the bench in the 17th minute.

He started his first match for United a week later, completing 79 minutes in a 1-1 draw with Gateshead.

Torquay boss was full of praise for Andresson upon signing him, which we summarised in the match preview over at Tranmere Talk for the Torquay game.

LOAN PLAYER OF THE MONTH:

Lewis Ward’s amazing start to life at Aldershot has presented him with four clean sheets in his first six games, and earns him the award this month.