Chief scout Steve McCall watched a young West Ham reserve side lose 2-1 to a similarly youthful Aston Villa second string at Bishop's Stortford's Woodside Park on Wednesday evening.

If McCall was keeping tabs on Town's prospective loan central defensive signing, the most likely candidate on show was Villa's Stephen O'Halloran.

The 21-year-old is a player highly rated by Martin O'Neill and won his first two Republic of Ireland senior caps during their summer tour of the USA. O'Halloran spent time on loan at Wycombe Wanderers last season.

Another possible candidate involved at Woodside Park was West Ham's John Pantsil. The Ghanaian international was the most senior outfield player on either side but, although he has been known to play at centre-half, he is generally recognised as a right-back.

If McCall was looking at a loan solution to Town's left-sided problem while Gavin Williams is out injured, he may well have been keeping an eye on 19-year-old West Ham youngster Kyel Reid.

An England U19 colleague of Danny Haynes, Reid was on loan at Barnsley last season and played against Town twice.

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