Flying Kiwis will keep you up to date on the endeavours of New Zealand sports folk overseas. Not the battlers, mind you, but the genuine overlooked and underappreciated superstars that for some ridiculous reason don’t get a look in on local media.

Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)

Carrying the Ipswich boys on his back. I'm guessing Ben Sigmund was too heavy...

Tommy gets promoted to open the column this week because he deserves it. He’s been great all season for Ipswich, and has shrugged off the smudge of the Mexico series by settling straight back into where he left off. Smith scored the only goal this weekend in a 1-0 win away to Charlton for a Man of the Match performance. His goal (see below), a header from an Aaron Cresswell corner, came after just 5 minutes, but was enough to seal the points after a competitive if sloppy game. In fact he almost scored even earlier, volleying a lose ball high and wide after a corner. Charlton dominated possession all game, but have struggled recently in turning good opportunities into quality chances and this game was no different. Only 4 of their 11 shots were on target. Tommy Smith was typically profligate when bringing the ball forward from the back, but aside from that, he defended very well. He blocked one shot, and along with CB partnered Christophe Berra, they were able to clear basically everything that was sent into the box. The win boosts Ipswich up into 11th place, just 4 points out of a playoff spot.

Up Next: It’s a double gameweek, with Blackburn coming to town 8.45 Wednesday morning, before hosting Huddersfield 4am on Sunday (NZT)

Chris Wood – Leicester City (English Championship)

Wood started the season competing for the second striker’s role on this team, but emerged as the third option early on. Dave Nugent is a former England international, and Jamie Vardy has simply been too hot to leave out. The latter continued his great year with a brace at home to Millwall. Lloyd Dyer had opened the scoring early on, and it finished 3-0, which was already the score when Wood came on as a 61st minute sub. The damage was done, but Wood got himself involved nonetheless. He went looking for the ball, and managed 3 shots in his spell, plus he created a couple chances too, throwing himself around and playing physical. Clearly Wood is still husting and contributing, and even though he hasn’t been able to lockdown a starting spot, he’s been first sub in line most weeks. He may well get a 90 min run around this week, with two games in 5 days coming up. This win was crucial, as Burnley were taken down by Huddersfield (stunning opening goal – catch the highlights) and QPR fell to Doncaster, so the Foxes are 3 points clear at the top after 17 (of 42) games.

Up Next: Away to Sheffield Wednesday (8am Wed), and then away to Brighton (4am Sun)