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Rookie Aston Villa striker Mikey Drennan is wanted by Portsmouth for a second loan spell after the League Two club watched him in action.

Pompey boss Andy Awford made a personal check on Drennan as Villa under-21s lost 3-2 to Derby County at the Rams' training ground on Monday.

Awford was impressed with what he witnessed as the 20-year-old from Kilkenny scored both Villa's goals with two stunning free-kicks.

Drennan, who came over from Ireland in 2010, experienced his first taste of first-team football during spells on loan at Carlisle and Portsmouth last season.

In his previous spell at Fratton Park towards the back end of last term Drennan scored three times in 10 appearances.

So far this season Lambert has allowed a host of players to leave on loan to help further their careers.

Chris Herd is on the verge of joining Championship club Bolton for a month.

Jed Steer is performing well for Doncaster while Daniel Johnson (Chesterfield), Callum Robinson (Preston) and Janoi Donacien (Tranmere) are all hoping to make an impact during their temporary moves.

Joe Bennett and Gary Gardner are both playing for Brighton with the aim of forcing their way into Lambert’s future plans, but the likes of Nicklas Helenius, Antonio Luna, Yacouba Sylla and Aleksandar Tonev all appear to have made their last appearances for the club.

Meanwhile, Bodymoor Heath was sparsely populated yesterday as the first team were given the day off to help get a sickness bug out of their system.

A number of players have been suffering from the virus that has swept through the club and Lambert made the decision to keep the training ground quiet when staff started picking up the illness, too.