- Gab Sutton is a football expert who specialises in the Sky Bet EFL.
After every weekend of action, he builds an EFL Team of the Week and picks out a Sporting Life Star performer.
Goalkeeper
Carl Rushworth (Swansea): Rushworth’s talents have been evident from his days at Brighton’s Under-21s, and on loan at Worthing, and he then went from strength to strength with excellent stints at Walsall and Lincoln in League Two and League One respectively.
The 22-year-old has continued his linear trajectory at Swansea, where his fine shot-stopping helped the South Wales outfit to a 1-0 victory over play-off contenders West Brom, extending their gap to the drop zone to 10 points.
Defenders
Connor O’Brien (Accrington Stanley): Injuries have plagued Accrington Stanley this season, so John Coleman has had to turn to his academy, with eight homegrown youngsters making the match-day squad for New Years’ Day’s 3-0 victory over Salford.
O’Brien was among that octet, and the trio of which that started, producing a solid performance against the Ammies to keep Conor McAleny in his pocket.
The 19-year-old, who won both Goal and Young Player of the Season on loan at Radcliffe in the Northern Premier League last year, has stepped up three leagues in impressive fashion.
Oli Casey (Blackpool): Since making just one five-minute cameo appearance in his entire senior Leeds career, Casey has had to be patient at Blackpool, too, and had to go on loan to doomed Forest Green last season for regular game-time.
Patience is a Matty Virtue at Bloomfield Road, though, and the 23-year-old has played himself into form for Neil Critchley’s side, starring in the middle of a back-three in a 2-0 victory over Lincoln, whom they restricted to just one shot on target.
Owen Bailey (Doncaster): MK Dons boss Mike Williamson was reminded of the quality of Owen Bailey he benefited from when managing Gateshead in the National League, when the utility man produced a man-of-the-match performance against his side in a 3-0 victory for Doncaster.
The 24-year-old can play in midfield, but Donny’s defensive issues meant their back-line needed his presence most, and his assured performance brought the best out of the athletic Joseph Olowu.
Bailey has been one of Rovers’ most consistent players in a tough, injury-hit campaign for the South Yorkshire outfit, but the vast majority of the fanbase have rallied behind their ambitious manager, Grant McCann.
Junior Firpo (Leeds): Left-back has been a problem position for Leeds for a few seasons, so it’s refreshing to see one be among their top performers in New Years’ Day’s 3-0 victory over Birmingham.
Junior Firpo produced a clever run to tee up Dan James for the second goal, before showing similar intelligence in the second half to square for Crysencio Summerville to add a third.
Breaking down deep-blocks had been a problem for the Whites this season, but on Monday’s evidence, Firpo can be part of the solution, when advanced space is initially hard to come by for Georginio Rutter, Joel Piroe, James, and Summerville.
Midfielders
George Evans (Wrexham): Steven Fletcher could easily have been our Wrexham representative from Monday’s action with the Scottish target man bagging a hat-trick in a 4-1 victory over Barrow, but we’ve given it to George Evans.
When the 29-year-old starts, the Red Dragons have won nine in 13, compared with four of the other 12, which highlights his importance.
Evans brings excellent defensive qualities to Phil Parkinson’s side, including advanced positional awareness for the level, and keeps play ticking over nicely.
Dan Neil (Sunderland): Perhaps the most impressive thing about Dan Neil is how quickly the 22-year-old has matured.
The former England Under-20s international should have been spending his first three years of regular senior football learning alongside a more experienced midfielder, but Sunderland haven’t been prepared to compromise on an inch of their youth-oriented recruitment policy.
As such, Neil has instead taken on senior responsibility long before it would’ve been organic for him to do so, and for him to do that so well whilst still bringing the magic in midfield is hugely impressive.
The South Shields-born number eight was outstanding in the 2-0 victory over Preston North End: consistently on-point with his passing, as well as getting through lots of defensive work.
Georginio Rutter (Leeds): Georginio Rutter has enjoyed a far better season than many Leeds fans were anticipating.
The young Frenchman has operated as a false nine at times, but in New Years’ Day’s 3-0 win over Birmingham, he played as a number 10 behind Patrick Bamford, who came in for Joel Piroe.
Rutter’s energetic pressing, sharp movement and cutting edge creativity makes him a real fulcrum of the Whites attack, in either role, especially with the pace, ball-carrying qualities and goalscoring instincts of those around him.
Forwards
🌟 Rob Apter (Tranmere): Since Nigel Adkins was given the permanent job on 2nd November, Tranmere have taken the most points (23) and scored the most goals (24) in League Two, from 10 games, and Rob Apter is one of the big reasons why.
The Blackpool loanee has been in sparkling form for Rovers, with four goals in that period, one assist, and a series of man-of-the-match showings, including New Years’ Day’s 4-2 win over Notts County, which prompted visiting boss Luke Williams to rate his showing as one of the best he’s ever seen.
Skilful, agile and with an eye for goal, Apter would be quite the capture if Tranmere can sign him permanently this month.
Tom Cannon (Leicester): Who says Leicester don’t need all four of their top quality centre-forwards?
Former Premier League winner Jamie Vardy, Nigeria star Kelechi Iheanacho, and Austian Bundesliga golden boot recipient Patson Daka were all unavailable on New Years’ Day, the first two through injury, the latter, through international duty with Zambia.
Despite this, the Foxes still thrashed Huddersfield 4-1 as arguably their fourth-choice striker, Tom Cannon, hitting two superbly-taken goals to potentially elevate himself a place or two up Enzo Maresca’s ranking, as the five-year contract handed his way in the summer suggests belief in his potential.
Paddy Lane (Portsmouth): Portsmouth invested big on high-potential players in their early 20s in the summer, and Sporting Director Richard Hughes is seeing the rewards of his recruitment strategy, with what’s now a valuable squad sitting top of the table.
One of Pompey’s top signings has been Paddy Lane, who has brought the energy and exuberance to complement technical left-back Jack Sparkes, but he’s also delivered the big numbers with seven goals and four assists.
After grabbing one of each in Monday’s 2-1 victory over high-flying Stevenage, Lane could play a key part in John Mousinho’s side’s bid for the Championship.
Manager
Nigel Adkins (Tranmere): We get these goons who questioned November’s permanent appointment of Nigel Adkins on a deal until the end of next season (guilty!), but what a turnaround it’s been.
Tranmere have shot up from 23rd to 15th over the last two months, as the gap to the Play-Offs that was initially 16 points and, more pertinently, not even being looked at, has been cut to six after a return of 23 points from 10 games, including a run of four straight wins and counting.
The only dropped points have come at Sutton and Walsall, where they had the chances to win rather than draw and lose respectively, and a 2-2 draw at Mansfield, arguably the best team in the league.
It looked a bleak season prospectively for the Wirralians at the end of Autumn, but Adkins’ beaming force of positivity has kept them going.
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