Alfie Dorrington will be hoping that the start of a new month brings about a key change in his Aberdeen loan spell. Heading north of the border in the middle of January, the Tottenham defender has so far had to contend with limited minutes since making the move to Pittodrie.
To date, the 19-year-old has five Aberdeen appearances to his name, with his latest one coming on Tuesday evening as the Dons lost 5-1 away at Celtic. Dorrington did in fact start the game as a substitute before entering the fray with 28 minutes to go following an injury to fellow January arrival Kristers Tobers.
Dorrington partnered the Latvian at the heart of defence in Aberdeen’s 2-0 defeat at Hibs at the beginning of the month but that is unfortunately his only start for his new club so far. Even the following weekend in a home Scottish Cup tie against Scottish Championship strugglers Dunfermline, the talented centre-back was restricted to 22 minutes from the bench.
The issue for Dorrington since his solitary start at Easter Road is that Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin has opted for a centre-back pairing of Tobers and Mats Knoester and that has resulted in him watching on from the bench, with the side duly going on to win three games on the spin prior to their trip to Celtic Park on Tuesday night. Given Tobers’ exit midway through the second half due to injury, Dorrington could potentially come back into the team this weekend at home to Dundee United if his teammate is to miss out.
Aberdeen are at home six days later as league action takes a break in order for the quarter-finals of the Scottish Cup to be played. Queen’s Park, who caused a huge upset in the previous round after beating Rangers, are the Dons’ opponents and that could present Dorrington with an opportunity to start.
Dorrington and parent club Tottenham will have their fingers crossed that is indeed the case as the centre-back really needs a change in fortune in order to really get his Aberdeen loan up and running. While this season has been very successful for a number of Spurs loans with players such as Josh Keeley, Jamie Donley, Manor Solomon and George Abbott all going on to feature regularly and play pivotal roles for their respective clubs, others have struggled for regular minutes across the campaign.
Dane Scarlett was recalled after finding himself in and out of the Oxford United team, Alejo Veliz is in a similar position at Espanyol and the goals he requires are subsequently not flowing and Yang Min-hyeok has found starts hard to come by at the beginning of his QPR loan. As was the case with Dorrington’s good friend and Spurs teammate Donley, one’s luck can all of a sudden change for the better and Donley is now such a key cog in Richie Wellens’ promotion-chasing Leyton Orient team.
Dorrington’s loan spell may not have gone to plan so far but there is still plenty of time for it to come good and get the regular first-team minutes he requires under his belt before returning to Hotspur Way in the summer. Hopefully the start of a new month marks a new beginning for the player at Pittodrie.
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