BROWNE ON THE BALL: With more loans than Wonga, don't expect things to change at Boston United

Indeed, the man who brought the sheepskin coat back out of the wardrobe for Saturday’s 3-1 victory over Hednesford Town, has struck enough deals to make Arthur Daley feel like a work-shy slacker.

And that’s not a bad thing.

You won’t have to traipse far through the Boston Standard’s archives to find this column’s praise for those youngsters who have cut their teeth in the men’s game at the Jakemans Stadium, those talents from Sunderland and Notts County playing big parts in recent successes.

The loan system, when used properly, should be mutually beneficial. A double back scratcher.

It gives the parent club the chance to blood in a promising kid or offers much-needed minutes to an out-of-favour player or an old favourite looking for game time after a long injury lay-off.

For the welcoming club, there’s the chance of adding to the ranks without having to lock their targets into long and expensive contracts.

When done properly, teams like Boston get talents like Liam Agnew to help their play-off pushes. Sunderland can finally see the potential of their young trainee. The lad himself gets his pro deal.

It seems like a perfect symbiotic relationship.

But this weekend the Pilgrims found themselves caught out by the loan system.

Notts County recalled Jordan Richards from his season-long loan before farming him out to Sligo Rovers, while Dylan McEvoy remained sidelined by the calf injury he picked up training with the Black Cats, his parent club looking after their investment and not wishing to rush him back.

And with Pilgrims Kyle Dixon, Nicky Walker, Harry Limb and Ryan Robbins involved with other clubs, Boston, also with Zak Mills out injured, found themselves short on first teamers to the point that untested youth clubbers Jack Dykes, Harry Vince, Kofi Ross and Harry Payne were all named on the bench.

It was a freakish chain of events which caught the club out, but Dennis Greene has assembled a strong and adaptable squad which can cope with late changes to the point they stretched their winning run to seven in eight matches.

Occasionally, the loan system can catch you out.

But the good has outweighed the bad in Boston for quite some time.

Don’t expect Greene to put his dealings on hold any time soon.