Ben Sheaf and Tyreece John-Jules won’t play again for their loan clubs this season, but James Olayinka has a playoff semi-final to prepare for.

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James Olayinka on his loan debut for Northampton Town (Photo via ntfc.co.uk)

This week, the EFL announced their decision to cut the League One and League Two seasons short, which affects a few Arsenal loanees.

John-Jules was on loan with League One Lincoln City, Sheaf was with Doncaster Rovers, whilst Olayinka joined League Two Northampton Town in January.

For John-Jules and Sheaf, this means the end of the season. Their teams were 16th and 9th respectively, neither in the relegation zone nor in contention for promotion.

It’s a different story for Olayinka, whose team sit in seventh place. In League Two, that’s a playoff place, and the playoffs will go ahead as usual despite the early end to the regular season.

As a result, Northampton will play in the semi-finals, with the details as follows (times in BST):

  • Thursday 18th June (7:45pm): Northampton Town vs Cheltenham Town
  • Monday 22nd June (8:00pm): Cheltenham Town vs Northampton Town

If they win, Northampton will play in the final at Wembley Stadium on Monday 29th June at 7:30pm against the winner of Exeter City vs Colchester United.

Hopefully, Olayinka will feature in the matches, avoiding the bizarre scenario of finishing his loan spell after just one appearance and one Man-of-the-Match award.

It’s very possible the Northampton boss will opt for a starting lineup with more experience for such a big set of games, though, so we’ll see.