Oscar Thorn’s five assists and Zach Jeacock’s performances between the posts have provided plenty of encouragement as we assess the season so far for our four League Two loanees.
There has also been regular football for Oisin Gallagher at Barnet, while Zane Okoro’s promising start at Tranmere Rovers has been interrupted by injury.
Between them, the four have accumulated 4,402 minutes across the matches covered here, with contributions that go beyond the goals and assists columns.
Zach Jeacock
Jeacock has accumulated the most minutes of the four, playing 1,455 across 15 appearances for Northampton Town in all competitions. He has kept four clean sheets, made 36 saves and conceded 13 goals, stopping 73.5% of the 49 efforts on target he has faced. He’s fifth in League Two for prevented goals, a decent return.
His strongest individual display arguably remains the 1-1 draw with Crawley Town on September 1. Jeacock made five saves, all classified as reflex saves, in a game where the expected goals conceded figure was 2.68. Conceding only once against that level of threat suggests he made a significant contribution to Northampton taking a point.
There have also been important performances in victories. He made two saves in the 1-0 win against Newport County on September 5, before keeping out all three efforts on target in each of the 2-0 wins against Grimsby Town and Colchester United in October. Alongside the goalless draw with Swindon Town, those results account for his four clean sheets and ten Northampton points.
The Colchester game also brought him up against another of our loan players, with Thorn on the opposite side. Jeacock emerged with the clean sheet, although the figures show he had work to do to secure it.
Even defeats have included useful contributions, with four saves against both Crewe Alexandra and Rotherham United in separate 1-0 losses. Across the full sample, his expected goals conceded total is 15.66 against 13 actually conceded, another encouraging indication of his shot-stopping.
His short distribution has been dependable too, with 129 of 131 attempted short passes completed. For us, the combination of regular football, clean sheets and performances that have helped Northampton collect points makes this a productive opening to his loan.
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