Spurs loan watch: Tough day in League One | OneFootball

In League One, Tottenham Hotspur loanees Josh Keeley, Jamie Donley, and their Leyton Orient side were looking to put their recent poor form behind them, when they hosted lowly Northampton Town on Saturday afternoon.

As always, both Spurs youngsters were named in the starting XI by manager Richie Wellens. This was Keeley’s 26th League Two start of the season, and Donley’s 24th start (29th league game overall).

Another tough day for two of Spurs' youngsters in League One

After just 11 minutes of the game, Northampton would take the lead. Then, on the stroke of half time, they doubled their lead – taking a two goal advantage into the break.

It was a poor half from Orient, having three shots to their visitors nine, despite having 67% of the ball. Plenty of stale and pointless possession.

After the hour mark, striker Charlie Kelman got a goal back for the U’s. However, it would not be enough for them to get anything, and they were condemned to yet another defeat, with the visitors running out 2-1 winners in East London.

This defeat makes it five straight defeats in League One for Wellens’ side, whom have now completely fallen out of the promotion picture. They now sit in ninth place in the league, with 53 points from their 36 games, seven points off the play-off spots, having also played one more game.

As for the Spurs loanees themselves – Keeley made four saves during the game, so it could have been worse if not for him. Meanwhile, Donley played 77 minutes, struggling to make any sort of impact on the game. He has now not scored or assisted in five games, and has only done so in one of the last nine league games. A tough run for him, but he will be back – little doubt about that.

The 90 minutes for Keeley here has taken him up to 2340 in League One this season, meanwhile Donley’s 77 minutes takes him up to 2077 minutes. Even in the tough times collectively and individually, they are still getting a very good amount of game time for their development.

Next up for Orient is a game against Blackpool next Saturday, for a 15:00 GMT kick off. A must win if they are to keep their play-off hopes alive, you would have thought. Let’s see what happens.

Meanwhile, Matthew Craig again missed Mansfield Town's game, as they drew 1-1 away to Stevenage.