Lavery Returns To Owls

Last updated : 14 January 2016 By Jim Bonner

Caolan Lavery has returned to Sheffield Wednesday after his loan period at Portsmouth expired.

His loan was expected to be extended until the end of the season but for some reason that hasn't happened. There are suggestions that the deal may still be pushed through but given the finality of the Northern Irishman's tweet earlier today, it looks like he isn't coming back.

It's a blow for Pompey as he has certainly been a quality addition to the squad but this now gives Conor Chaplin an opportunity to nail down a regular starting position in the first team and perhaps Matt Tubbs may come back into the fold too?

In other transfer news James Dunne has sealed a permanent move to Cambridge United after ending his loan spell at Dagenham & Redbridge.

It's a shame that Paul Cook never gave him a chance after he refused to move from Bromley but in truth he hasn't been missed that much due to the form of Michael Doyle and whoever else partners him in defensive midfield.

Speaking of defensive midfielders, Danny Hollands is going to be missing for a while after fracturing his leg whilst Nigel Atangana has been told he has no future at Portsmouth.

That's a slightly baffling decision given how well he performed at the start of the season but the writing was on the wall the moment he was hauled off at half-time at Oxford and he has struggled to get back into the team since.

It's a good thing that Cook still has Ben Close and Adam Barton at his disposal to play in that position, but he'll need to perform some minor surgery on his squad this month if it's going to sustain a push for promotion.