Two Rangers loanees faced off this afternoon in EFL League One.
Jake Hastie’s Rotherham travelled to Bloomfield Road, to face high flying Blackpool who had Jak Alnwick between the sticks.
20-year-old Hastie only joined the Gers in the summer but was shipped out on loan in order to get regular playing time at a crucial stage for his development.
Alnwick is very much at the other end of his Ibrox career.
At 26, he’s still young in goalkeeper terms, but he is currently in the final throes of the three-and-a-half-year deal he signed after arriving from Port Vale in 2017.
Given that this is his second consecutive season away on loan, it can be assumed that his contract won’t be extended. Therefore, he’ll likely be one of several keepers leaving the club in the summer.
Both players started the game for their respective adopted sides and after a tight first half, it was 0-0 at the interval.
Hastie had three goals in six appearances for the Millers before today [Soccerbase], but he couldn’t find a way past his fellow Ger. Instead, Michael Smith put the away side ahead after 51 minutes.
The Gers loan star was substituted shortly afterwards and watched on from the bench as Clark Robertson’s fine finish gave Rotherham a two-goal cushion.
Armand Gnanduillet scored deep into injury time to make things interesting, but there wasn’t sufficient time remaining for the Tangerines to grab an equaliser.
Former Rangers striker Ryan Hardie came on for Blackpool towards the end of the game, but he’s still without a league goal since his summer switch.
Victory for Hastie in this battle of the loanees then, and a disappointing day for Alnwick, whose clean sheet tally for the season remains at four [Soccerbase].
The result sees Blackpool slip to sixth in the table, while Rotherham climb to tenth.
