On-Loan City Midfielder Dewsbury-Hall Fires Luton To Victory
- Seven on-loan City players featured for their adopted clubs over the festive period
- Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall recorded another goal and two assists in two fixtures for Luton
- Matty James (Barnsley) and Josh Knight (Wycombe) have both tasted victory since Christmas
- Filip Benkovic, Darnell Johnson, Rachid Ghezzal and Kamal Sowah were also in action for their respective loan teams
The 22-year-old continues to impress at Luton, who sit 14th in the second tier table with a game in hand after the postponement of their clash with Queens Park Rangers last weekend.
A Boxing Day defeat away to Reading, during which Dewsbury-Hall came off the bench at half-time and assisted Kazenga Lua-Lua's late consolation, was followed by an impressive home win three days later.
The Hatters faced Bristol City at Kenilworth Road, another side in the top half of the table, and took a first half lead via Glen Rea's strike, once again assisted by the on-loan Leicester midfielder.
Sonny Bradley's own goal levelled the scores before Dewsbury-Hall produced the winner, picking up possession in midfield and firing his low effort past the outstretched arm of Robins stopper Dan Bentley.
Staying in the Championship, Matty James helped Barnsley to record back-to-back league wins to finish 2020 in style, before a 1-0 defeat to leaders Norwich City.
The central midfielder played 73 minutes of the Boxing Day encounter with Huddersfield Town, as the Tykes came from behind to take three points, thanks to Michal Helik's brace, including a 94th-minute winner.
Another 2-1 victory was secured three days later, away to Rotherham United. James started the fixture at New York Stadium, playing another 74 minutes as Cauley Woodrow and Alex Mowatt did the damage inside the opening quarter.
Romal Palmer replaced the Leicester loanee after 63 minutes of the 1-0 defeat at Carrow Road, which leaves Barnsley ninth in the second tier standings, three points off the play-offs.
Centre-back Josh Knight played the full game as Wycombe Wanderers beat Cardiff City 2-1 on 29 December, a result which came either side of two league defeats.
Goals from Ryan Tafazolli and David Wheeler wrapped up the points at Adams Park, though an injury-time strike from Junior Hoilett denied the Chairboys a clean sheet.
Fellow defender Filip Benkovic came off the bench in the 20th minute, replacing Sean Morrison for the Bluebirds, who are 15th in the table after 22 games.
Knight also played 90 minutes in Wycombe's 2-1 away defeat to Bristol City on Boxing Day and the 3-1 reverse at home to Middlesbrough last time out.
In League 1, Darnell Johnson was involved in a seven-goal thriller at Pirelli Stadium which saw Wigan Athletic triumph 4-3 thanks to a hat-trick from Will Joseph and Will Keane's late winner.
Johnson played 90 minutes of the fixture between two clubs currently occupying spots in the bottom four, with the Latics coming out on top despite going behind early on.
Wigan are 22nd in the third tier and now just two points from safety after drawing 1-1 with Shrewsbury Town on Boxing Day. Johnson also featured throughout that clash at DW Stadium during which Keane's penalty had the home side in front before Shaun Whalley's equaliser.
Algerian winger Rachid Ghezzal is in good form for Beşiktaş, notching up six assists so far this season, including five in his last six games. Setting up Güven Yalçin for the opener in a 3-0 home victory over Sivasspor, Ghezzal played the full game at Vodafone Arena as the Black Eagles moved to the top of the Süper Lig table.
In the Belgian Pro League, meanwhile, Kamal Sowah started OH Leuven's Boxing Day defeat to Oostende, being substituted 88 minutes into the 2-1 reverse at King Power Stadion at Den Dreef. Leuven are now sixth in the top flight, with 29 points from 19 games.