In the final full game week before the international break, here are the eleven players from across the Championship, League One and League Two that stood out.
GK – Ivor Pandur – Hull City
Starting this week’s Team of the Week with Hull City’s Croatian keeper Ivor Pandur, he pulled out all the stops to retain his clean sheet against bottom of the table Sheffield United, returning to his usual ways after an error the week prior against Preston North End. Additionally, he racked up the highest match rating of any goalkeeper in the EFL this game week with an 8.8.
His heroics came late, in the 88th minute, after John Egan fouled Danny Ings in the penalty area, leading to Harrison Burrows stepping up to take a penalty that could have changed the course of The Blades’ season, but Pandur guessed correctly, comfortably saving his underwhelming penalty in the bottom left corner. Pandur is more than deserving of a place in our team of the week.
LB – Jeremy Ngakia – Watford FC
Although not normally a left-back, he’s played here before and certainly deserved a space on this list for his brace against Oxford United, as Paulo Pezzolano’s men find themselves three games unbeaten after a rocky start in the league. His first goals since January earned him a massive 9.1 Fotmob match rating.
Goal one for the full-back came in the 45th minute, after a cross was launched into the box which found a Watford head in the box, before a classic scramble on the goal line eventually found Ngakia after Jamie Cumming couldn’t parry his save out of the danger area, for him to simply head home. Just four minutes later however, his total for the game was doubled, in quite interesting fashion, as his corner kick evaded the entire box, and barely scraped over the goal line for Watford to take the lead for the first time all game.
CB – Adam Senior – Barnet FC
Barnet are enjoying life back in League Two after their eight-season hiatus, and picked up yet another win on Saturday over a struggling Accrington Stanley side to make it four unbeaten in the league, and they have Adam Senior to thank for his efforts, contributing the assist for their second goal and putting in an impressive shift to keep hold of a clean sheet, in which he collected an 8.4 Fotmob match rating.
Defensively, his stats were decent, with four blocks, two clearances and tackles and two recoveries, keeping the Accrington attack well and truly at bay, but his assist for Ryan Glover to double their advantage was the key moment, as in the 78th minute, his pass into the centre of the box found Glover unmarked to calmly slot past the Accrington keeper.
CB – Lewis Freestone – Stevenage FC
Stevenage are stunning League One, currently finding themselves sat at the top of the League One table, one point clear of Bradford with one game in hand, extending their fine run of form with a two-nil victory over local rivals Luton Town, with Freestone being an absolute rock at the back during the first league meeting between these two sides since February 2018.
Freestone won sixteen, yes SIXTEEN duels throughout the ninety minutes, the most of any player on the pitch by a country mile, additionally chipping in four tackles and eight clearances, hardly letting Luton strikers Lasse Nordas and Joseph Gbode have a sniff at goal! Sixteen duels, we couldn’t leave Freestone out of our team of the week with those stats.
RB – Cameron Norman – Tranmere Rovers
Tranmere haven’t quite gotten off to the start they would have quite desired, failing to get three points yet again with a three-all draw with Bromley, but one massive positive from Saturday’s game was undoubtedly Cameron Norman returning to his past form with a goal and assist, accelerating his match rating to an 8.6.
Norman’s assist was the key to opening the scoring for Tranmere, with his cross into the box found centre-back Nathan Smith in the mixer, who pulled a bicycle-kick out of his locker to double his goal total for the season. Thirty-five minutes later, Norman went one better, scoring their third goal, after a header slammed off the crossbar directly in his path to open his goal account for the season. Norman deserves his spot in our team of the week.
CM – Jordan James – Leicester City
Leicester finally got three points after four consecutive Championship draws, and Jordan James deserves a large chunk of the credit, scoring his second goal for The Foxes following his return to EFL action after a spell in France with Rennes, and assisting Abdul Fatawu’s 77th minute goal, as well as creating four chances, which accumulated up to a stunning 8.8 Fotmob match rating.
Goal one of the game was an absolute thunderbolt, as James dribbled past his defender, before firing into the top right corner from just outside the penalty area, and the goals got even higher in quality and finesse, as James’ simple forward pass to Fatawu led to arguably the goal of the weekend, as he saw the back of numerous defenders before firing past Lawrence Vigoroux in the Swansea net. James is the anchor in that midfield and deserves his spot in our team of the week.
CM – Oliver Norwood – Stockport County
This is now Oliver Norwood’s second feature on the Lower Tiers’ Team of the Week so far this season, as he’s been the key to their success in League One with four goals and three assists already. His heroics against Huddersfield Town saw him earn an 8.8 match rating on Fotmob, largely due to his penalty conversion just before half-time, and his creative spark going forward, creating five chances.
His opportunity in front of goal came after Brad Hills was fouled in the area by Joe Low from a freekick situation, with the EFL veteran Norwood, calmly sending Huddersfield goalkeeper Lee Nicholls the wrong way to break the deadlock in a game between two sides with promotion ambitions.
LW – Isaac Hutchinson – Cheltenham Town
In Steve Cotterill’s first game in charge of Cheltenham Town since 2002, The Robins finally got back to winning ways against Fleetwood Town, bouncing back from their seven-one thumping away at Grimsby, and Hutchinson was the man of the moment as he bagged the opener of the game, as well as setting up Josh Martin just three minutes later, boosting his overall Fotmob match rating to an 8.9.
There was finally the necessary matchday buzz back at Cheltenham after a lengthy period of doom and gloom, and Hutchinson’s 66th minute strike boosted the mood, following a recovery after being dispossessed, he fired past Jay Lynch in the Fleetwood net, leaving him motionless, and things got even better three minutes later, as Hutchinson read the defence like a book, hitting forward a perfectly timed ball for Martin to double the advantage.
CAM – Jack Payne – Colchester United
Colchester stunned the EFL (especially me), as well as costing a few supporters their matchday accumulators, with their 6-2 battering of promotion chasing Chesterfield, which saw Jack Payne score his first professional hattrick, after 493 EFL appearances. All three goals came in the first half, propelling his Fotmob match rating to a whopping 9.7!
For once, I can provide some fairly niche statistics to this article, as I had the pleasure to witness this crazy game, and I was told at half time by a lovely old bloke that sits near me that this was Colchester United’s first hattrick completed in the first half since the 6th of March 1997, the first hattrick in general since the 10th November 2020 against Southend United, and the first in front of supporters since the 7th January 2017, scored by Kurtis Guthrie. Not a bad day at the office for the lad and hes deservedly included in our team of the week!
RW – Mason Burstow – Bolton Wanderers
Bolton Wanderers’ striker Mason Burstow has finally found some form in front of goal, after a couple of unsuccessful spells in the Championship, scoring goal number six and seven for the season against bottom of the table Peterborough United, causing Wanderers to rise in the League One table to ninth place, with his Fotmob match rating likewise raising, reaching an 8.8.
Goal one of this fixture came in just the sixth minute, when Cyrus Christie’s fast-paced cross into the box reached Burstow in front of his defender, to knock it past the diving Alex Bass in the Peterborough net, and just a quarter of an hour later, Burstow’s total was doubled, as he latched onto Cozier-Duberry’s forward pass, dribbled magnificently past George Nevett, and fired home to complete a great day at the office for the twenty-two-year-old.
ST – Brandon Thomas-Asante – Coventry City
Coventry’s scoring antics continued against relegation threatened Sheffield Wednesday, bagging a whopping five goals for the third time this season already! Thomas-Asante’s the final man in this week’s team of the week, following his prowess in front of goal, which continued for another week, adding two goals to his account for the season, taking his to five, and the Sky Blues to twenty-seven, twelve more than the next highest scorers Bristol City.
The opener came in just the third minute of the game, when Matt Grimes’ corner reached a Coventry head, resulting in Max Lowe’s goal line clearance taking a wicked deflection off Thomas-Asante, opening the scoring without him having much to do! In contrast, his second required plenty of effort, picking up a loose ball after Ephron Maso-Clark’s well-timed tackle on the defender attempting to play out from the back, leading to a mazy dribble to evade the attempted tackles, before firing past Ethan Horvath in the Wednesday net. BTA is on fire this season and probably will be in more of our team of the week’s.
