Flying Kiwis – October 6
Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)
The lad Winnie was a pretty big injury doubt this week for the trip to Sunderland. A hip injury sustained in training saw him skip a couple days of practice, though in the end he was good to start.
Sunderland are one of only two teams not to win yet this season (the other being rivals Newcastle) but they took the lead in the 10th minute. Carl Jenkinson called for a lazy push in the back in the right corner of the field and Sunderland executing a sweet training ground set piece, cutting it low across the goal into the path of Steven Fletcher’s run, and Fletch stabbed it in. After 22 mins it was 2-0 Sunderland. Dimitri Payet played a very risky pass back to Winston in defence, selling him short by a couple metres. Reid slid in to try win it but Jeremain Lens came away with the ball and he scored with a sumptuous chip over Adrian in goal, the ball dropping in off the bottom of the crossbar. It was enough to bring Sunders managers Dick Advocaat to tears on the bench, it’s later become clear that he’d already made his mind up to resign the post by then, saying his farewells to the players in the dressing room immediately after the game. Best of luck to him.
But in first half stoppage time, Carl Jenkinson pulled one back with a sharp first time shot after some clever build up work by Victor Moses. Sunderland didn’t collapse, though. They continued to battle, at least until Lens went from hero to villain in the 57th minute, a two footed lunge on Winston Reid earning him a second yellow and an early shower and giving West Ham the upper hand. Winston had done well to win the ball back after a scramble, poking it away from Lens and maybe Lens didn’t realise where his marker was, maybe it was just clumsy. But it was definitely at least a yellow. Winnie seemed to get up unscathed, having played his part in the turning point.
Things were level only a couple minutes later as Manuel Lanzini blasted a swerving shot from 30 yards that Costel Pantilimon only parried… right in the path of the onrushing Payet, who side-footed it home. 2-2. Still, there was no winner to come in the last half hour. Sunderland held firm and West Ham’s three game away win streak is over – though they’ll still be pretty chuffed at four unbeaten on the road.
Winnie came off in the 66th minute, replaced by James Collins, probably a precaution with that niggling hip injury. There doesn’t seem to be much to it though, and he’ll have a couple weeks to get right now with no game ‘til the 18th. He also picked up a yellow for a first half foul on Steven Fletcher. Surprisingly that was his first booking of the season, and his 21st in 103 Premier League games. With 3 goals to go with them. Another fine effort from Reid, even if he wasn’t asked to do a huge amount here.
Hey and since there’s nothing else to do for a couple of weeks, what with the international break coming up now, let’s play a lil game:
Up Next: Away to Crystal Palace on the 18th, 3am (NZT)
Chris Wood – Leeds United (English Championship)
The good news is that Leeds welcomed back their kiwi striker for the game against Birmingham (after he passed a fitness test). The bad news is that they lost 2-0 and now haven’t won at home at Elland Road for 10 games. That’s seven months without a home win and the pressure is beginning to mount now on manager Uwe Rosler as Leeds sit only three points above the Championship relegation zone.
Wood was one of a few changes from the team that was well beaten by Middlesbrough last week. Leeds naming something close to a full strength team. Yet the early chances fell the way of the visitors and the first goal was a strange blend of slick counter attack and slapstick defending. Whatever it was, Demarai Gray made it count and Brum led after 32 mins. Leeds had found a couple of chances before then, Wood had taken one down on his chest with sublimity only to cannon his shot way wide. He also had a shot deflected for a corner. But it was Birmingham’s ability on the break that was threatening to bust the game open. Gray was a nightmare anytime he found the room to run at the Leeds back four.
Leeds came agonisingly close to levelling when Stuart Dallas snuck in and had his shot fantastically tipped wide by keeper Tomasz Kuszczak (used to play for Man United, if you recognise the name). The Whites were better after the break, growing with the game and taking confidence from the one-goal deficit but they just couldn’t find the equaliser. With players hanging forward as they pressed for that elusive goal, Jacques Maghoma nicked off with a loose pass at the back in injury time and ran through to kill the game off with an emphatic finish. 2-0 probably a fair result.
Woody had 4 shots in the game, all of them off target, as he played the full 90 minutes. For the most part he struggled to link up with teammates, his passing down at 64.7%, though plenty of that can be put down to a lack of ambition/direction behind him. 2 wins from 10, there’s work to be done.
Up Next: Leeds vs first-placed Brighton & Hove Albion, 3am Sunday October 18 (NZT)
Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)
There’s just a little bit of panic creeping in at Portman Road. Playing away at Blackburn, where Ipswich haven’t won since 1991, they did themselves no favours after a fairly bright start when Larsen Toure bundled over Hope Akpan in the box and former-Tractor Boy Jordan Rhodes (now one of the best strikers in the Championship) stepped up to make it 1-0 after 12 minutes.
Four minutes later, Rhodes doubled the lead with a leaping header from a corner, a fantastic effort running back to head it forward but the marking from Berra was weak and Ipswich found themselves in a 2-0 deficit once again.
The offside flag saved them from further embarrassment, and as the half went on it’s fair to say Ipswich got better. Daryl Murphy came closest with a shot from distance that was pushed wide by the Blackburn goalie.
Town pushed hard to get back into the game in the second half, but even still the best chances fell to Blackburn – in particular to Jordan Rhodes. Rhodes was so unlucky to see a lovely touch and shot from outside the box come flying back off the post, while keeper Gerken needed to pull off a top save to deny him later on. Shout out to Smith for a strong block on a Corry Evans shot too. 2-0 was the final score. Ipswich slip to 12th.
With Town on a bit of a slide, the whispers are starting to get louder. Midfielder Cole Skuse admits the team isn’t hitting their targets, while Mick McCarthy is rueing the team’s defensive issues.
“It’s not just one thing. I can put my finger on a lot of things that are wrong, but I can’t just give you one answer as to why we are defending the way we are. We tried to try and put that right this week (in training) and we just didn’t start well”. - Mick
Smithy seems to be playing well enough to avoid the swinging axe, though captain Luke Chambers and last year’s best defender Christophe Berra aren’t exactly there on their form. McCarthy’s not one to ring too many changes, it’ll interesting to see what he does after the break. One player really impressing in short opportunities is Aussie signing Tommy Oar. He’s gotta be on the brink of a bigger role.
Ooh, and this is just outstanding:
Up Next: Ipswich vs Huddersfield, 3am Sunday 18 (NZT)
BILL TUILOMA – RC STRASBOURG (FRENCH CHAMPIONNAT NATIONAL)
Tui’s still working his way into this RCS team, making his third appearance for them this week. All have been off the bench. This time he came on in the 76th minute with his team 1-0 up over Chambly in a game that they’d pretty much dominated from the start – though they were very lucky to escape a couple close ones at the other end. 15 minutes isn’t a huge length of time to make an impact but, hey, since Tui’s RCS debut the team has a 100% record, three wins from three and that’s shot them up to third in the division. They added a second goal in injury time to make it 2-0.
While we’re at it, check out Strasbourg’s new anthem. Much better than Reading’s new one. Bet Tui’s got the guitar tabs down to this one already.
And he’s also found the time to update his twitter profile, which a few Strassy fans were on him about for a while there.
Up Next: Home to Boulogne after the international break, 7am Saturday 17th (NZT)
Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)
After Zwolle’s unbeaten start to the league season was ended by Feyenoord (who also knocked them out of the cup), the PECers needed a win to get back on track. Away to Willem II, a team with 1 win in 11 games, they had a great chance.
They made it hard on themselves though, missing a few golden chances to open the scoring and then add to it on top of that. But they did eventually get the lead, right before the break when Ouasim Bouy’s long range free kick deflected off the wall and looped into the goal.
Ryan Thomas had a great chance to add to that score himself, running at the right back before slamming a shot towards the far post that drew a fine save out of the keeper. Thommo was eventually subbed off in the 74th, after a very involved game which saw some mixed results. His passing was a bit off and his crossing not fantastic, but he was aggressive in the final third and that’s always good to see.
Up Next: Vitesse drop by to play, 3.45am Monday 19th (NZT)
Marco Rojas – FC Thun (Swiss Super League)
A 1-1 draw away to FC Vaduz isn’t quite what Thun fan will have been hoping for but it’s enough to keep them from slipping to last as the international break arrives. With 2 wins in 11 games, Thun are tied with two other teams on 8 points, though their goal difference is a fair bit better than Lugano’s.
Marco Rojas logged 64 minutes before being removed. The home side had the better of the early stages, their finishing letting them down initially. Thun struggled to create very many clear chances in that first half but after the break they found their mojo. And in the 48th minute they found the lead, Fulvio Sulmoni heading in a corner.
But the lead only lasted 8 minutes before a Vaduz counter attack ended up in the goal off the shins of Thun defender Thomas Reinmann. So unlucky, the ball was parried clear by the keeper stretching out low for a cross but right into Reinmann’s shins and Zarate’s goal-line clearance wasn’t soon enough. That wasn’t the end of the action but it was the end of the scoring.
The draw makes it a 10 game unbeaten streak for Thun against Vaduz, though three points would have tasted better than just the one.
Up Next: No official game ‘til the 19th, but Marco can reasonably expect to get some minutes in a friendly with Aarau on Thursday (NZT)