Winston Reid got to witness City's title confirmation first hand.

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.

Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)

Maybe it’s not the way he’d hoped to finish his season, but Winston Reid was given a front row seat for the Manchester City coronation at the Etihad. After a long and gruelling season, it all came down to game 38. City needed to win or draw to take the title. If they lost to Reid and West Ham, then Liverpool could have snuck the EPL from under their noses with a win against Newcastle. Well, City showed none of the signs that had them in trouble on the final weekend of their first EPL title run. That game ended with a very late Sergio Aguero goal, in perhaps the most memorable moment in the history of this thrilling competition. Two years later they clearly knew how to do things a little more comfortably. They were buoyed midway through the first half by news of Liverpool falling behind, and soon after David Silva gave them a 1-0 lead.

City were all over them. They had 68% of possession and unleashed a barrage of shots. Winston Reid managed to block three different shots himself, plus a handful of effective clearances, though when your opposition attempts 28 shots and your team just 3 (all off target), the writing is on the wall. Despite their best efforts, Reid and co. were never in it. City were too good and even with Liverpool overturning that deficit for a 2-1 win, the Sky Blues were never in danger. Vincent Kompany deservedly added a second goal before things cruised to the finish line. Reid will have been in quite a hurry to get off the pitch as the game finished with a flood of elated City fans busting the dams and invading the field. Incredible scenes.

City fans storming the pitch in celebration (Martin Rickett/PA)

Winston Reid could be a transfer target for a bunch of teams. Despite declining to come back to Auckland for the All Whites game against South Africa, he has reiterated his devotion to the Hammers cause, and says that as things stand, he’ll definitely be back in God’s Own for the preseason games with Newcastle, Sydney and the Wellington Phoenix.

Chris Wood – Leicester City (English Championship)

It’s a tough gig, being a pro footy player. Don’t doubt it. I know players wouldn’t trade it for any other job, but there’s plenty of hard work that goes into it. Long hours at the training ground. Video sessions. Gym sessions. Tough, physical games in horrible weather. And then there’s the media aspect. Unflattering headlines, brutal match recaps, back page paparazzi. So when you find yourself in the rare position of glory and success, you’ve gotta live it up. Some players will never experience anything like it in their careers. Even if they do they know how fleeting it is.

Party on, Woody. Party on.

That was from the parade through Leicester this week after the Foxes Championship title. Here’s Woody with Danny Drinkwater and Marcin Wasilewski going snorkelling in Phuket, which is where they are now. Lucky buggers.