Kesler-Hayden helps North End retain Championship status

Kaine Kesler-Hayden helped Preston North End secure their Championship survival over the weekend, with a 2-2 draw on the road at Bristol City.

Aston Villa’s loan players featured for their clubs up and down the country on the final day of the regular EFL season, with many of their teams’ fates already sealed.

But North End still had work to do at the bottom of the second tier to ensure they could play Championship football again next season, and their job was made easier when Emil Riis and Milutin Osmajić put them 2-0 up at Ashton Gate. 

Ross McCrorie’s double salvaged a point for the hosts to ensure they made the play-offs, but results elsewhere meant a draw secured Preston’s Championship status for another season.

Kesler-Hayden – who claimed three trophies at the club’s end of season awards – played 90 minutes, completing what has been a standout season for the right-back in Lancashire.

Saturday’s Championship action also saw Samuel Iling-Jr feature again for Middlesbrough, being deployed in a more familiar attacking role as Boro missed out on the play-offs with a 2-0 defeat at Coventry City.

In League One, Joe Gauci made his final appearance between the sticks for Barnsley who won 4-2 at Reading to deny the Royals a play-off spot.

Sil Swinkels and Lino Sousa both featured for already-relegated Bristol Rovers who lost 4-1 at Blackpool, the Dutch centre-back starting and completing 71 minutes while the full-back came on after 57 minutes.

And Josh Feeney’s final outing for Shrewsbury Town proved one to forget, as the young defender conceded a penalty and was shown a red card after 49 minutes, as the Shrews fell 2-1 at home to Crawley Town, whose relegation had also already been sealed.

League Two saw four more Villans in action for their loan clubs for the final time. Filip Marschall played 90 minutes in goal for Crewe Alexandra who lost 1-0 at home to Walsall.

At Swindon Town, MK Dons played out a goalless draw. Tommi O’Reilly and Travis Patterson both started on the bench, with the former coming on at half-time, and the latter playing the final 13 minutes.

Rico Richards played the final 33 minutes off the bench for already-promoted Port Vale who fell 1-0 at home to Gillingham, while Kobei Moore was an unused substitute for Fleetwood Town who lost 1-0 at Bradford City, a 96th-minute goal dramatically sealing the Yorkshire side’s promotion to League One.

On Thursday night in Belgium, Leander Dendoncker and Kadan Young faced off against one another as Anderlecht triumphed 3-1 at Royal Antwerp. The midfielder started and completed 90 minutes for the away side, while Young came off the bench and made an instant impact.

Just one minute after entering the action, in the 88th minute, the winger provided an assist for Michel-Ange Balikwisha, though his goal proved to be nothing more than a consolation, with Anderlecht already three goals to the good. 

Dendoncker was back in action on Sunday, completing 90 minutes as the Brussels outfit lost 2-1 to Club Brugge in the Belgian Cup final.

Bundesliga action saw Kosta Nedeljković start and play 86 minutes for RB Leipzig who drew 3-3 at home to would-be champions Bayern Munich, Yussuf Poulsen’s stoppage-time strike securing a point for Die Rotten Bullen.

Emi Buendía also started for Bayer Leverkusen, playing 58 minutes as his side could only play out a 2-2 draw with Freiburg, ensuring they would miss out on the league title.

In Spain, James Wright kept a clean sheet at Real Unión took another step towards safety with a 1-0 win over Tarazona, while in Brazil on Thursday, Philippe Coutinho started and played 73 minutes for Vasco da Gama in a 1-1 draw away at Operario.