Flying Kiwis – November 24
Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)
The All Whites games are now a thing of the past and the lads are all back into the grind of weekly football. Well, Winston Reid never left, but he’s grinding away like Darling Nikki all season so he needed a break.
West Ham played Everton away and it was a bit of a boiler. The Hammers missed Alex Song, Enner Valencia, Diafra Sakho and Stewart Downing all through injury (good thing Winston stayed put over the break then) while Andy Carroll made his first start of the season since getting injured in New Zealand in pre-season.
Carroll set up the first chance of the game but Everton were the side to create the better chances, on the back of superior possession. Romelu Lukaku broke the deadlock with a fortunate chance after Ross Barkley’s shot deflected off both Winston Reid and James Collins and into his path. A guy of his calibre makes no mistake, though Fat Sam was furious that it stood, claiming offside.
He’s got a point.
After the break The Hammers looked a lot sharper, and they were level in the 56th when sub Mauro Zarate’s shot deflected off of Phil Jagielka and looped comically over Tim Howard.
But in the 73rd minute, Leon Osman capped off his 400th game for Everton with a winning goal. James Collins chopped down Romelu Lukaku on the counter attack thought the ball fell to Samuel Eto’o and the ref played advantage. Eto’o nursed a lovely ball to the far post and Osman did the rest. James Collins nearly equalised afterwards but Howard saved and 2-1 it remained.
It’s an end to West Ham’s 5 game unbeaten streak, though they’re still sitting pretty in sixth place. As for Mr Reid, he had a steady game, making just a couple tackles and not being called on for too many clearances. He did pick up a yellow for reacting angrily to a tackle on teammate Morgan Amalfitano.
Up Next: Hosting in-form Newcastle on Sunday morning at 4am (NZT)
Chris Wood – Leicester City (English Premier League)
Another game, another little cameo off the bench for Woody. That’s three games in a row that he’s come off the bench, and five in total this season. Unfortunately this latest effort wasn’t a Best Suppporting Actor role, it was more like a ‘Second Cop on the Right’ sorta role. He only got 2 minutes against Sunderland and made just 2 touches. This following his 19 minutes against Southampton and 9 against West Brom.
It wasn’t a game likely to win any awards either. Sunderland have been struggling to pick their season up after that 8-0 game in Southampton, but they’ve been battling away. Since then they lost at home to Arsenal, before beating 10-man Crystal Palace and drawing with Everton. Leicester City are in a much worse state. They haven’t won since beating Manchester United and although they had their chances in this game, finishing let them down. 0-0 it finished, which at least snaps a 4 game losing streak even if it doesn’t lift them out of the relegation zone. The Foxes haven’t scored a goal since October 4. Maybe Chris Wood needs to start.
Up Next: 4am Sunday, Crystal Palace away (NZT)
Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)
Right off the plane and on the road to Bournemouth. Smith remained in the Ipswich starting XI despite his Asian excursion, with the Trotters playing an important game away to the second placed team.
Smith wasn’t the only Ipswich guy playing on short rest. David McGoldrick, Daryl Murphy (both for Ireland) and Christophe Berra (Scotland) all getting international call-ups, though they all returned for the trip south uninjured.
Almost immediately the game got off to a terrible start. Two minutes in and the hosts led 1-0 thanks to a bit of a circus finish from Yann Kermorgant. An incredible bicycle kick. Bournemouth had the best of the first half but there were no more goals before half time. After the break, teenage prodigy Teddy Bishop levelled with a sidefooted finish to top off a slick passing move – highlighted by Tommy Smith’s glorious through ball to the winger!
Some slack defending gave the lead back to Bournemouth when the ball wasn’t cleared in the box and perhaps they were unlucky to avoid conceding a penalty when Luke Chambers nudged Tokelo Rantie over after he’d nutmegged Smithy. No call, and with 76 minutes played, Daryl Murphy popped up to beautifully header in from a free kick. Mick McCarthy demanded his lads keep pressing for a winner, though Bournemouth bossed things ‘til the finish. And that was a long time coming, there were 12 minutes of injury time.
“I’ve seen it again and it’s nowhere near a penalty. Not a chance was it a penalty. And besides, he was about 10 yards offside. You can all have a look at it and let me know if you think I’m a liar. I’m not rose-coloured specs at all.” – Mick McCarthy
Smith’s passing was a bit messy, as Ipswich gave the ball away pretty freely at times, but defensively he was everywhere. 3 tackles, 4 interceptions, 8 clearances and 3 blocked shots. Even if he weren’t already established in the side, he’d be guaranteed a spot next week, as left back Tyrone Mings picked up an injury and centre back Christophe Berra a suspension with his fifth yellow card.
Ipswich have only lost once in 14 games now, and this point keeps them well established in fourth on the table.
“I say it all the time, every point away from home is a good one – wherever you get it. I’ll take a point without getting on the bus, me. I think it’s a real tough, competitive league this. We’ve gone to Derby and got a point, Nottingham Forest and got a point, come here and got a point. They are all good away points, especially as we’re doing well at home.” – More Mick McCarthy
Up Next: An early game vs Charlton, 1.15am Sunday (NZT)
Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)
International duty did at least one player some good. Unfortunately Zwolle dropped points at home, falling 2-1 to FC Twente and an 80th minute winner. Don’t blame Ryan Thomas though. He had one of his best games for a while, scoring the opener (his second of the season) and playing an impressive 81 minutes. He had 3 shots, all on target, despite averaging less than one a game this season.
Twente were in the Champions League not that long ago, and they’re chasing Europe once more. Twente started the better team, too, drawing a couple nice saves from the Zwolle keeper, Warner Hahn, before Thomas slipped across and into the box to give the home team the lead with a nice finish.
11 minutes later Luc Castaignos beat a pair of tackles before equalising, and it was he who scored the winner with 10 to play. He almost had a hat-trick but Hahn made another nice save. Zwolle made them fight for it though. They had just as many shots on target in a game where possession was split down the middle and they looked dangerous on the counter attack. The result puts Twente up to third while Zwolle slip back to seventh with only 1 win in their last 6.
Up Next: A winnable game at Excelsior next Sunday, 2.30am (NZT)