Loan Round-Up: Besic Shines In Boro Win

Mo Besic came out on top in the battle of the Everton loanees as his in-form Middlesbrough side beat Joe Williams’ Barnsley 3-1 on Saturday.

The Bosnian impressed again for Tony Pulis’ men, with former Boro midfielder Neil Maddison describing his performance as “absolutely superb”.
 
Besic played for 66 minutes against the Tykes, while Williams was substituted with a quarter of an hour left.
 
Sixth-placed Boro have now won four of their past five Championship games and occupy the final play-off spot. Barnsley are in 21st, one place and two points away from the drop-zone.

Elsewhere in the Championship, centre-back Matthew Pennington played 90 minutes for Leeds as they drew 2-2 at Reading. The point leaves the Yorkshire side in 13th going into the final 11 matches.

Kieran Dowell came on for the final 12 minutes as his Nottingham Forest side fought out a 0-0 draw with rivals Derby County. Forest remain 15th in the table.

It was also goalless at Portman Road, where right-back Callum Connolly played an hour for 12th-placed Ipswich Town against play-off hopefuls Sheffield United.

Away from these shores, winger Kevin Mirallas scored a penalty in Olympiakos’ 4-0 win over Platanias in the Greek Superleague. The Belgian stepped up to take the spot-kick on 35 minutes with the score already 2-0 to the away side. He confidently converted the penalty as he notched his first goal for Olympiakos since joining the club in the January transfer window. The win keeps them hot on the heels of league leaders AEK Athens, who are just one point clear at the top.

It was a disappointing weekend for both Ademola Lookman and Sandro Ramirez.

Lookman was substituted after 46 minutes as his Red Bull Leipzig drew 0-0 at Stuttgart.
 
In Spain, Sandro played out the final nine minutes for Sevilla as they lost 2-0 at home to Valencia.