Grant’s race against time

DAVID CUFFLEY

City boss Peter Grant faces a race against the clock to find any fresh loan signings in time for a hectic spell of matches.

Goalkeeper Jamie Ashdown has returned to Portsmouth after a one-month loan at Carrow Road - a deal Grant had been hoping to extend.

But any further loan business must be conducted before 5pm on Thursday, or else City must wait for the January transfer window before they can bring in new faces.

With nine Coca-Cola Championship games coming up in just over five weeks - starting with Saturday's visit of Hull and ending at Crystal Palace on New Year's Day - Grant would love to add at least one new face to his squad before Thursday's cut-off point, Luke Chadwick's knee injury on his debut for the club further reducing his options over the next month.

He said: “It's still difficult. I'd love to get someone in but we have to do that by Thursday or that's it until Christmas and we'll have to go with what we have.

“Every manager is trying to do the same, but a lot of clubs have Champions League or other European games coming up and they don't want to let people go.

“But I don't want to get people in just for the sake of it. I want to try to get players who will make us better.”

Existing loan signings whose spells are about to run out must be re-registered by Thursday, after which loans between Thursday's deadline and the January transfer window will only be allowed if there are extenuating circumstances, such as a goalkeeping emergency.

Ashdown, 25, played just two matches during his brief stay - the 1-0 win over Cardiff and the 5-0 defeat at Stoke. He was sent off in the Stoke match and was back on the bench following his suspension, with Paul Gallacher regaining the number one spot.

With Ashdown back on the South Coast, Grant still has on-loan Derby 'keeper Lee Camp - although his three-month loan spell expires on December 9 - and teenager Joe Lewis as cover for Gallacher.