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.

Chris Wood – Leicester City (English Championship)

So, do you want the good news or the bad first? The good? Right. Well Chris Wood had himself quite the game midweek as Leicester City bullied Carlisle out of the League Cup. Wood scored a hat trick (including one from the penalty spot) in a 5-2 win to put the Foxes into the third round where they will host fellow championship side Derby, to be played sometime in the week commencing September 23. The league game at Charlton on the weekend wasn’t quite so fruitful though. Wood came on as a 67th minute sub, by which time Leicester were 2-1 down (which is how it finished) and playing with 10 men following Matty James’ red card. Painfully, the crucial goal was scored by Yann Kermorgant, a former Leicester player who was dumped by the team following his decisive shoot out miss in the playoff semis in 2010. Jamie Vardy got the start next to David Nugent upfront, with Wood unlucky to find himself on the bench, though his midweek exploits will have done his case no harm. The loss drops City to 5th in the championship.

Up Next: Wood joins up with the All Whites squad for two games in Saudi Arabia over the international break next weekend. Leicester City’s next game is on Sunday 15th Sept, at 2am home to Wigan (NZT).

Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)

Mick McCarthy made 5 changes to his Ipswich lineup for the game at Birmingham, but Tommy Smith was not one of them. Smithy continued his record of having played every minute so far this campaign. Unfortunately the Tractor Boys blew a late lead, with Birmingham nabbing a 76th minute equaliser for a 1-1 draw. Ipswich would have been good value for the win having controlled the game for the most part after Christophe Berra’s header put them in the lead on the half hour mark. But a series of top saves from the Birmingham keeper kept it competitive and Chris Burke’s heavily deflected shot stole a point for Brum.

Up Next: Smith heads to Saudi Arabia with the All Whites; Ipswich play next at home to Middlesbrough, 2am Sunday 15th September (NZT)

Marco Rojas – VfB Stuttgart (Bundesliga)

Rojas is still injured, so he had no impact, but it was a big week for Stuttgart. First, they sacked their manager Bruno Labbadia pretty soon after the last Flying Kiwis edition was published. The chairman was obviously reading. Labbadia was replaced by ex-played Thomas Schneider who has spent the past 2 years coaching the Stuttgart under 17s. No word as to how this appointment will affect Rojas, but it has certainly done the team some good. They pummelled Hoffenheim 6-2 for their first points of the German season, lifting them out of the relegation zone. Rojas’ broken foot was initially expected to keep him out of training for 4-6 weeks. It has been six weeks now, so hopefully he’s back and competing for a spot in two weeks after the international window.

Up Next: Stuttgart don’t play again until the morning of the 14th, away to Hertha Berlin (6.30am NZT)

Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)

A rough weekend for all of our Flying Kiwis. West Ham lost 1-0 at home to Stoke City thanks to an 82nd minute free kick from Jermaine Pennant. The Hammers were kept scoreless for the second consecutive game, not even managing a shot on target in this one. They’ll be desperate to see Andy Carroll return up front, and could be making a few moves to bolster their striking corps before the transfer deadline. Reid himself came close with a volley with 20 mins remaining. Despite their creative issues though, the defence has been the strength for West Ham this season, as with last, and Winston Reid has been an important part of that.

Up Next: Winnie captains his country a couple of times, then returns to help the Hammers as they travel to Southampton (3am Monday 16th Sept, NZT)