That was the weekend that was: Missing... making it... and mistaken

Willie Boland

Coventry City

OPPORTUNITIES HAVE been rare for the 23-year-old Irishman since Gordon Strachan reshaped Coventry's midfield with an influx of foreign talent. Boland, who joined the Sky Blues as a 17-year-old, started six matches last season and was regularly used as a substitute, but cannot even make the bench this season. Even so, he rejected a pounds 200,000 move to Dundee United last week.

Lee Hodges

West Ham United

AN ATTACKING midfielder with exceptional passing ability, the 20-year-old former England schoolboy international figured in five West Ham matches last season but has made only one further appearance. He has his admirers, however, among them Ipswich manager George Burley, who has taken him on loan and says: "He is a player with a lot of potential."

KEEN TO emphasise how lean and fit he is, age-defying George Graham would take training sessions at Leeds wearing shorts. Now it appears he has gone a step further to prove his fitness, turning out for Wolves and claiming to be Spanish international Fernando Gomez.