Matty Virtue – Notts County
Academy player Matty Virtue was thrown straight into the action for his new side, as he was named as a starter for Notts County’s trip away to Lincoln City. This was to be his first professional appearance and he certainly rose to the occasion. He was constantly working hard in midfield, looking for areas to contribute and assisted in the opening goal. After a lucky miskick, Virtue composed himself to keep the ball alive in the box and laid it back for a teammate to whip in a cross which was headed home. He was subbed off around the hour mark, but a very promising start to life in League Two and he’ll be hoping for more of the same.
Corey Whelan – Yeovil Town
Corey Whelan played his first 90 minutes in a Yeovil shirt during midweek and put in an assured performance against Forest Green in the EFL Trophy. Whelan looked comfortable throughout and would’ve been happy to leave the field with a clean sheet following the 2-0 victory. On Saturday he made his first ever Football League appearance as a stoppage-time substitute against Port Vale. Whelan was deployed to add solidity to the back line and helped his side see out the final minutes as they held on to a 1-1 draw.
Divock Origi – Wolfsburg
The Bundesliga was back in action after the winter break and Wolfsburg had a tough opening tie. They ground out a 0-0 draw against Borussia Dortmund, in what turned out to be a fairly even tie. Unsurprisingly, due to the result, Divock Origi, who played as a lone striker, had a very underwhelming runout. The ball spent most of the time in midfield and lack of service meant that Origi had just two shots on goal, neither of which he could make the most of. The single point leaves Wolfsburg in 12th position, with an incredible 11 draws to their name.
Ryan Kent – Bristol City
Ryan Kent signed with Bristol City on Friday and was named among the substitutes for their clash with Norwich on Saturday. Kent was brought on with just over 20 minutes to go and couldn’t find a way to rescue a point for his new side, and they eventually fell to a 1-0 defeat. He’ll be expecting more game time now he is back in England and will be looking forward to putting his sorry spell with Freiburg behind him.
Sheyi Ojo – Fulham
Sheyi Ojo had another quiet afternoon as he made it a run of five games now without a goal or assist. Despite being a regular name in the starting eleven, the youngster hasn’t managed to stamp his name on many matches and, as a result, hasn’t played a full ninety minutes in his last six appearances. Although he didn’t too much wrong against Middlesbrough on Saturday, he was pulled off just 52 minutes into proceedings, with the score still reading 0-0. The main drama came at the end of the encounter, with Fulham snatching all three points in the fourth minute of stoppage time.
Allan Rodrigues – Apollon Limassol
Apollon continued their unbeaten start to the season with their seventh draw of the campaign on Sunday. A 1-1 scoreline meant that the points were shared with Anorthosis and that it was now 18 matches without a loss for the Cypriot side. Allan played the full 90 minutes but failed to set the world alight again, with another solid performance in the centre of midfield.
Taiwo Awoniyi (Royal Excel Mouscron), Connor Randall (Hearts) and Pedro Chirivella (Willem II) were all out of action as their respective leagues are still in a mid-season break.
