Manchester United's attempts to qualify for next season's Champions League suffered another blow this weekend.
As well as wins for top four rivals Tottenham and West Ham, United themselves dropped points in their frustrating 1-1 draw with Leicester. That did little to boost the optimism of the Old Trafford support, whose side are now seventh.
Away from United it was a mixed bag of a weekend for their clutch of players out on loan in the Football League. Over the summer, United sent a batch of players out on loan. Here, we look at how they got on during what was a busy weekend across the Championship and Leagues One and Two.
Tahith Chong
Midfielder Chong suffered another potentially worrying injury concern in Birmingham's 1-0 win over rivals West Brom on Sunday. Chong had only just recently got back into the swing of things at City following his four-month lay-off following a groin injury that needed surgery.
He started today's match at St Andrew's and after a poor first half he pulled off a superb cross-field pass to pick out a Birmingham teammate. But almost instantly the United man felt his hamstring and was replaced on 56 minutes.
Manager Lee Bowyer said afterwards that Chong had a bit of tightness which will come as a relief but the true extent will likely be discovered in the coming days. On the eve of the match it was revealed that Birmingham are looking at the possibility of loaning Chong in again for next season. His parent club recently triggered an extension in Chong's contract, tying him down to Old Trafford for an extra year.
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James Garner
Another week, another impressive performance from James Garner. The midfielder played his part in Nottingham Forest's thumping 4-1 Championship victory over Blackpool on Saturday lunchtime.
Despite not managing to register a goal or assist, his other stats backed up another fine performance. He had a 79 per cent pass accuracy, with three of his four crosses coming off successfully. He also showed his defensive nous with five interceptions made whilst three key passes was the highest tally of any Forest player on the day.
Garner has been in stellar form since the turn of the year and will be hoping for a grandstand finish to the campaign by helping aid Forest's play-off push.
Ethan Laird
Laird once again missed out on Bournemouth's 18-man squad as the Cherries beat Bristol City 3-2 on Saturday. That was the fourth game out of the last five he has sat out, with the other seeing him as an unused substitute. He has appeared just twice, both off the bench, in what is proving to be a frustrating move for the 20-year-old.
Di'Shon Bernard
For the sixth consecutive game, defender Bernard was an unused substitute for faltering Hull City. The Tigers were beaten 1-0 by Yorkshire rivals Huddersfield Town on Friday night as they suffered a sixth straight defeat at the MKM Stadium. Bernard was a regular in the side under Grant McCann but since Shota Arveladze was brought in as manager, the 21-year-old has more often than not been demoted to the bench.
Ethan Galbraith
Galbraith had just five minutes off the bench to show what he could do, as Doncaster lost 2-0 at Wycombe to move a step closer to League One relegation. The Northern Ireland international touched the ball only seven times during his brief cameo, registering a 100 per cent pass success rate but in truth the game was done and dusted by the time he was brought on.
Nathan Bishop
Goalkeeper Bishop kept a clean sheet as Mansfield moved up to sixth in League Two with a slender 1-0 win over promotion rivals Northampton.
The 22-year-old wasn't overly tested by the Cobblers but can be content with an 11th shut-out of the season. Not for the first time this season Bishop posted a 100 per cent save percentage from all three shots on target he faced.
