Is Danny Wilson dangling a carrot for soon-to-return Sylvan Ebanks-Blake?

There may be a chink of light at the end of the tunnel for Chesterfield’s forgotten man Sylvan Ebanks-Blake. The veteran striker, whose loan spell at Shrewsbury has amounted to just four starts, may yet have a part to play in his parent club’s season. Manager Danny Wilson has refused to rule out a contribution from the 30-year-old, or fellow loanee Charlie Raglan who is at Oxford United, when they return to the Proact in January. Dean Saunders signed the frontman in the summer of 2015 and predicted he would be an excellent addition for the Spireites. But 10 goals in 37 appearances last season was seen as a disappointing return by the majority of supporters. This season Ebanks-Blake has played just once for Town, scoring in a 2-1 EFL Trophy win over Wolves Under 23s. It is thought that appearance was a chance for the club to put the striker in the shop window for a potential summer transfer window move. A move did materialise, to New Meadow, but the spell hasn’t really worked out, the former Wolves and Plymouth man without a goal for the Shrews since arriving at the end of August.

Wilson, who has previously questioned the forward’s ‘application,’ suspects Ebanks-Blake’s loan spell will have been a disappointment for the player himself. “I’m not disappointed about it, no, I think Sylvan might be, he’s not played,” said the manager. “He was sent to go out there and get some games under his belt, he wanted to play but it’s not been the case.” But there’s a hint of a carrot dangling for the man who once hit 25 goals in consecutive seasons as a Championship player. He and defender Raglan, who has played 10 times for Oxford but only once since mid October, will be part of the club’s reckoning again come January. Wilson said: “When he (Sylvan) comes back, I’m sure he’ll come back in January and when he comes back we’ll discuss it again and see where we can go from there. “The same with Charlie, he went out to play games, he’s not played as many as he expected, although he has played more than Sylvan. “We’ll get them back in the squad and they might be very useful to us as we’re going along.”