Words John Edwards

Phil Parkinson has made a double breakthrough in the loan market to bolster Altrincham's squad for the final weeks of the Robins' quest for a place in the Vanarama National League promotion play-offs.

With a tough run of fixtures throughout April and into May, the Alty boss is delighted to have secured the services of Fleetwood Town midfielder Callum Dolan and Blackburn Rovers full-back Brandon Powell for the remainder of the campaign.

In a further boost to our prospects of reaching the play-offs for a second successive time, there has also been an encouraging update on Alty's injury list, with Olly Crankshaw, Jake Bickerstaff, Rob Lainton and James Jones all likely to be back in action at some point in April.

Both 19-year old Brandon (pictured below), a ready-made replacement for recalled Preston North End left-back Kacper Pasiek, and dynamic midfielder Callum, who had a brief spell at The J.Davidson Stadium prior to earning a professional contract at Oldham Athletic, have signed in time for tomorrow's trip to Ebbsfleet United.

It's a significant double loan swoop, and Phil is backing both players to make a positive impact in the closing weeks of a season that could run until Sunday June 1st, should we qualify for the play-offs and make it all the way to the final at Wembley.

"Callum is a really exciting player who will flourish in Alty colours," he said. "He is a player who will get our fans on the edge of their seats - he's a real goalscoring, attacking, powerful, energetic, skilful threat.

"He's someone we have worked with previously. He has gone on to have a League career, but we now have a fantastic opportunity to bring him back to the football club, and I'm hoping he will give us that extra bit of quality and strength in depth we need to get to the play-offs.

"With Kacper having been recalled, we feel we have a like-for-like replacement in Brandon. He's not as powerful as Kacper, but he is extremely pacey and has great technique. He is a really hungry player, one I feel will suit the way we play, and along with Matt Penney, we feel we have great strength in depth in that area now."

Manchester-born Callum, 24, made four appearances for the Robins in 2019 before signing a professional contract at Boundary Park.

A remarkable spell with Warrington Rylands, where he underlined his goal threat as an attacking midfielder by scoring 21 times in 50 appearances, brought him a move to League One Fleetwood on a two-and-a-half year deal for an undisclosed fee in January 2023.

In between clocking up 17 appearances for Fleetwood, he had a highly-successful temporary stay with Torquay United last season and spent the first half of the current campaign on loan at Oldham.

Brandon hails from Huddersfield and played the full 90 minutes alongside fellow-Rovers loanee Charlie Olson for Blackburn under-21s in their National League Cup tie with Alty at The J.Davidson Stadium last October.

He had a couple of months on loan at Chorley at the end of last year, with Magpies manager Andy Preece praising his contribution by saying: "He has done fantastic for us, a great lad with a great future ahead of him."

On the injury front, striker Joe Nuttall has, unfortunately, been ruled out for the remainder of the season with a knee problem, but Olly (knee), James (back), Jake and Rob (both shoulder) should all return to the fray during the course of April.

We look forward to seeing them all back in action, and, in addition, we would like to wish Callum and Brandon every success in their time with us at The J.Davidson Stadium.