Roker Roundup: Sunderland legend Defoe pondering future & Academy youngsters star out on loan

Defoe ponders move

Former Sunderland striker Jermain Defoe has admitted that he may have to leave Bournemouth due to his lack of playing time with the Premier League club.

Speaking to the Mirror, Defoe said:

We’ll see what happens. At the end of the day I’m a footballer and I like playing football. I’m not playing football at the minute so we’ll see what happens.

Stewart Donald had admitted that he made a ‘cheeky’ enquiry for Defoe in the summer and said he may try again in the future, but the 36-year-old is interesting Sheffield United boss Chris Wilder as he looks for his team to make a promotion push in the second half of the season.

Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images

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Loan roundup

Elliot Embleton scored his fourth goal of the season for Grimsby Town as they lost to a last minute penalty at Cheltenham Town.

Ryan Broom had given the hosts the lead just before the half-hour mark but Embleton equalised half-an-hour later after the Sunderland youngster was on hand to tuck away the rebound after Wes Thomas’ shot was saved by Scott Flinders.

Embleton almost set up a winner for Grimsby but Flinders saved Ben Pringle’s effort, and there was to be late drama when Harry Davis gave away a foul in the box in stoppage and Conor Thomas stepped up to earn a 2-1 win for Cheltenham.

You can watch Embleton’s goal via the Sky Sports website HERE.

Luke Molyneux put in a man of the match performance as Gateshead beat Bromley 2-0.

The Sunderland loanee set up both goals for the Heed with well taken corners, as Luke Armstrong and Fraser Kerr scored for Gateshead. After the match, their manager Steve Watson praised Molyneux’s recent performances and his excellent set pieces:

Luke Molyneux’s really come into his own in the last month, he was good against today but a little wasteful with the ball right near the end - as were a lot of the lads - but on the whole he put pace and accuracy on both the corners that went in.

Williams Kokolo only signed for Darlington on a work experience loan on Thursday but the 18-year-old was thrust straight into the line-up for their 2-1 home defeat by Nuneaton Borough.

Despite defeat, the Quakers manager Tommy Wright had nothing but praise for the young debutant:

I thought he was outstanding. He trained really well on Thursday, so we’re delighted to have him in the building. He was exciting, showed some great touches but my only disappointment is that he was on the losing side today because of his performance... he deserved to be on the winning side today.

Max Stryjek started once again for Eastleigh but they suffered a 2-0 defeat at Wrexham in the National League. The Polish goalkeeper couldn’t do anything about either goal and wasn’t quite as gung-ho as he has been in recent games:

Connor Shields came on with 16 minutes to go as Alloa Athletic were losing 2-1 at Falkirk, and within three minutes of his introduction the visitors were level after Alan Trouten found a finish after a goalmouth scramble.

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McMenemy on needing more time

Southampton appointed former RB Leipzig coach Ralph Hasenhuttl as manager this week, as the Austrian replaced Mark Hughes who was sacked earlier in the week.

Speaking in his weekly column in the Daily Echo, former Sunderland and Southampton manager Lawrie McMenemy says Hasenhuttl needs to be shown faith, something he feels neither Hughes, nor himself at Sunderland were shown:

He needs the sort of faith that was shown in me. My first season wasn’t a huge success but the board stood by me and in the long term they were repaid.

I arrived at the Dell having having won four league titles at different clubs - one as coach and three as manager.

If I’d been given more time at Sunderland, where I left two years into a three-year contract, I like to think I could have made the necessary improvements there as well.

Mark may well be saying the same thing. That he needed more time.

McMenemy presided over a campaign which ended with Sunderland’s first ever relegation to the third tier.

Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images