Flying Kiwis – February 18
Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)
There may be something of a recurring theme this week. The physio’s table. Winston started the FA Cup clash with Liverpool last week, playing the first 65 minutes but then he joined the growing list of crook kiwis. A bung hamstring by the looks of it, he pulled up sore and was subbed off pretty quickly. We spoke about it briefly last week, he had a scan on it but the club is yet to announce the damage.
Anyway, without him they went on to win a dramatic replay with Liverpool, Angelo Ogbonna bagging the winner late, late, bloody late into extra time. Last gasp before penalties, pretty much. Crazy stuff, they’ll play away to Blackburn this weekend in the fifth round.
The fear is that Winnie will miss a month, so there’s no real chance he plays that one. In between he also missed a 2-2 draw with Norwich, Ogbonna and James Collins playing CB instead. With Reid and James Tomkins out for a few more weeks yet, they were forced to chuck a couple kids on the bench as defensive cover.
Up Next: Blackburn vs WHU, 3am Monday morning (NZT)
Chris Wood – Leeds United (English Championship)
A 0-0 draw with a suddenly slumping Middlesbrough was a decent enough result for Leeds last weekend. Just their second clean sheet in their last seven games, solid stuff. Hey and this weekend they hit up Watford in the FA Cup with the chance for a little good news…
YEP: Chris Wood will be given until tomorrow to prove his fitness for Leeds United’s FA Cup tie at Watford with head coach Steve Evans anxious to re-involve the club’s “main man”.
Apparently he’s 50/50 to return from the injury he picked up against Brentford a few weeks back, in what was only his second game of 2016. It’s been a bugger but hopefully he’ll be back sooner rather than later.
Steve Evans:
“I’ve never sat here and said we’re punished by missing Chris Wood but I don’t see another team in the Championship missing their main man for as long as we’ve missed Chris. Chris is a big player. I see David Nugent coming off (Middlesbrough’s) bench and Jordan Rhodes there too. I look at the options they’ve got - they’re all fit, all playing. It’s the same at Burnley and Hull and Chris could play for any of those teams. This club spent a lot of money on Chris and we’ve been unfortunate.”
Here are the highlights of the ‘Boro game:
Also there’s this:
Yeah so embattled owner Massimo Cellino’s time with the Whites has taken another blow.
Up Next: Watford vs Leeds, 4am Sunday (NZT)
Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)
Smithy’s one of the few lads who never seems to get injured, the tough fella, he got all 90 for Ipswich this week, although it wasn’t a great one. A second straight loss and Town are down to eighth on the table.
Away to Bristol City, they may have been up against lesser opposition but a pair of eerily similar goals from Adam Flint made Brett Pitman’s late goal only a consolation in a 2-1 loss. It wasn’t exactly an open game, though if it weren’t for a superb save from Town keeper Dean Gerken then they’d have been behind bright and early. But the goal came anyway, 20 minutes in with Flint nodding home from the near post from a corner. Good sharp run and a strong header. 15 minutes later he did it all again. Christophe Berra was the unlucky bloke tasked with marking the energetic Flint, he couldn’t stick with him.
The second half saw Ipswich really fight for that equaliser, after Brett Pitman pulled one back with half an hour to play. They were close…
ITFC.com: “Tommy Smith almost gave Blues a point with a header in added on time but the ball drifted just wide of the post and with it when Town’s chance of grabbing something from the game.”
A pretty strong game by Smith despite the result. He made this one great block on a Jonathan Kodjia shot, as well as a trio of tackles and a few convincing clearances. Three shots for him too, all off target but that was a show of his occasional danger on the end of the odd set piece.
Up Next: Nothing on the weekend, they play Hull at home at 8.45am Wednesday (NZT)
Marco Rojas – FC Thun (Swiss Super League)
Working his way back from injury is Marco. He got a few runs in friendlies over the break and came on at half time of their first game back, a 2-1 win over St Gallen. This week he was rewarded with the start as Thun met Lugano.
In a game constantly affected by some terrible weather, pouring rain, a waterlogged pitch and a general freeze in the air, Thun took the lead 24 minutes into the clash. It came from the spot as Simone Rapp has rugby tackled in the box on the end of a long free kick, Roman Buess made no mistake from 12 yards. Rojas had an early chance after the Lugano keeper had spilled one but he couldn’t quite get at it, later on he almost got lucky with a free kick that drifted in the swirling wind and needed a decent save to tip it over. His best chance came soon into the second half, where he was able to run at the defence from the middle, space opening before him for the shot only his effort from the edge of the box was hit right at the goalie.
Rojas was subbed off in the 65th and Lugano equalised in the 82nd from a big deflection. However into stoppage time and Ridge Munsy was able to get a foot on Gonzalo Zarate’s square ball for a second consecutive 2-1 win out of the winter break. Enough to rise the Thuners to fifth on the table.
Up Next: Sunday 8am, Young Boys vs Thun (NZT)
Bill Tuiloma – RC Strasbourg Alsace (French Championnat National)
Cool to see Tui getting another game for RCS. Nothing much, but he came on as an 88th minute sub in a 2-0 win over CS Sedan that keeps his boys on top. Interesting that he came on in midfield too, rather than at the back where he’s been preferred when he’s played with the reserves. He replaced Jeremy Grimm who was subbed off after scoring the second goal, probably to give the crowd the chance for a healthy ovation. Another one for the appearance tally at least (his seventh). Here’s the stuff that made the TV edit:
Up Next: away to Frejus St-Raphael at 8am on Saturday (NZT)
Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)
Nothing really to add on Thommo, he only had knee surgery the other day and shouldn’t be back for at least six weeks.
But it was pretty cool to see former Auckland City keeper Tamati Williams moving to Holland on a contract at RKC Waalwijk. Great stuff for the 32 year old, he’ll play the rest of this season and is under ink for the next one too. Unfortunately RKCW are dead last in the Dutch second division so, like, a few clean sheets may come in handy. Williams has a dual Dutch/NZ passport so that certainly helped things out here. The deal comes after a successful trial.
From rkcwaalwijk.nl, try see past the sloppy google translation: "We got Tamati put forward by a tip from our network. The positive impression we got more than what he has made ver the past week from the stories about him on our training. With his experience and winning mentality he really adds something to our young group. We hope to cooperate with Tamati still make some nice steps in the remainder of the competition." - Remco Oversier (club director).
As long as we’re on the topic, may as well point out that Dan Keat’s found himself a new club in Sweden, he’s right into pre-season at the mo’, what with the chilly weather in Scandinavia putting them outta synch with the rest of the European footy calendar.
Additionally, while we don’t try keep up with all the many NZers plying their trade around the football world, we do like to broaden the net a little now and then. U23 All White Kip Colvey has been getting a few minutes in pre-season with the San Jose Earthquakes in the MLS, having been drafted in the third round a month back. The kiwi defender’s still technically on trial for the EQs but he’s doing alright so far. Here’s hoping he joins Jake Gleeson in the Major League ranks this season. Here are a few clips: