Loan Watch: This weekend's round-up

It was another successful outing for James Garner at Nottingham Forest as he set up Scott McKenna for the second goal of the Tricky Trees' 2-0 victory at home to Birmingham City. 21-year-old Garner was also on the scoresheet himself at the City Ground in a 2-0 midweek triumph over Coventry City, in the prior match, with a run of five league wins lifting Forest up to third in the Championship.

Sadly for Tahith Chong and Teden Mengi, who are both on loan at Birmingham City, they missed out on the chance to face off against Garner due to injury. 

Across the other side of the world, Andreas lined up for Flamengo as the Brazilian Serie A season got under way. The 26-year-old played 82 minutes as his side were held 1-1 away to Atlético Goianiense in their curtain raiser.

There was a Dundee derby to contend with for young midfielder Dylan Levitt. Turning out for Dundee United at Tannadice, he played all 90 minutes in the UK’s geographically closest derby, which ended a 2-2 draw with rivals Dundee, who are rooted to the bottom of Scotland’s top division. Meanwhile the result guaranteed top-six football for Levitt and United, as the table now splits in two for the rest of the season.

Elsewhere north of the border, Amad was brought on just after the hour mark for Rangers in their 4-0 win at St Mirren on Sunday.

On Friday night, Anthony Martial played in Sevilla's topsy-turvy 4-2 win over Granada in Spain’s La Liga. The Frenchman clocked up 68 minutes before being substituted, with his side having come from behind to lead 2-1 at the time. In the 88th minute, it looked as if the spoils might end up being shared when the away side levelled, but two stoppage-time goals for Sevilla secured the points, which keeps them in second position in the league table, ahead of Barcelona in third.

Also in the Spanish top flight, United youngster Facundo Pellistri came off the bench after half-time for Deportivo Alaves earlier today, but his team would taste a 1-0 defeat late on to Osasuna following a 92nd-minute winner from Ante Budimir. In the Premier League, Brandon Williams helped Norwich City to see out an important 2-0 triumph over Burnley as a second-half introduction for the home side at Carrow Road, later in the afternoon.

It was a good weekend for young goalkeepers Nathan Bishop and Matej Kovar, who both kept clean sheets for Mansfield Town and Burton Albion, respectively. Bishop denied Scunthorpe United in a 4-0 win as he kept his 13th clean sheet of the campaign, while Kovar shut out Plymouth Argyle in a 0-0 draw.

There was success too for Ethan Galbraith’s Doncaster Rovers, who beat Crewe 2-0. The young midfielder was introduced as an 84th-minute substitute in what was an important match at the bottom of League One. Meanwhile, in League Two, defender Reece Devine was unfortunately on the wrong end of Walsall’s 1-0 defeat at Rochdale.

Elsewhere, Di’Shon Bernard was an unused substitute for Hull City as the Tigers won 1-0 away to Middlesbrough on Saturday, while Ethan Laird did not feature for Bournemouth as the Cherries drew 0-0 at Sheffield United. Axel Tuanzebe also watched from the sideline as his Napoli side lost an action-packed 3-2 clash at home to Fiorentina in Italy's Serie A.

Donny van de Beek wasn’t in action this weekend for Everton. The Dutchman is still recovering from a thigh injury that has kept him out of his loan side's last three matches, although he wouldn't have been able to play in the latter of those, against United in Saturday's early kick-off, anyway, as he was ineligible to face his parent club.