Tommy Smith & Chris Wood – Ipswich Town (English Championship)

Kicking off early against Middlesbrough, Ipswich had the chance to bounce back and put some real pressure on their promotion rivals. Chris Wood on the bench, Smithy in the heart of the defence. Except that the sloppy goals that they’ve had a penchant for conceding came back to bite them in a morale crushing 4-1 loss.

Boro took the lead very early from a short corner poorly dealt with. David Murphy was able to level with a close range rebounded tap-in, his 23rd goal of the season, but Boro were back in front from another short corner move before half an hour was played. Then in the second half, two beautiful bits of skill and pace from Patrick Bamford hammered nails into the coffin. Tommy Smith getting skinned by a dummy on the second. Bamford could easily have had a hat-trick too had he been able to keep an 85th minute effort under the crossbar.

Chris Wood came on at 3-1, constituting a formation change, but didn’t manage a shot.

It’s worrying stuff for Town, they’re now 8 points off top and Mick McCarthy has admitted he thinks their automatic promotion chances have slipped beyond them. But Brentford lost to 10-man Cardiff at home, so the path back into the playoff spots is only a positive result away. With two games in the next seven days, well… something something squeaky bum time.

Up Next: Bolton (H) 8.45 Wed & Watford (A) 4am Sun (NZT)

Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)

Ah injury. The natural predator of professional athletes. Winston knows it all too well, he missed West Ham’s all-too-easy loss to Arsenal on the weekend with his knock from last week. It’s not a serious thing, but he’ll be touch and go for next week as well. He’s expected to start training again early this week.

“I shouldn’t be too far off, but I sort of take it day by day. Let the physio decide my fate.” - WR

It just so happens that James Tomkins dislocated his shoulder and missed the Arsenal game too, while Carl Jenkinson was ineligible to play against his parent club. (Not as bad as Enner Valencia, who gashed his foot on a broken tea cup). So the Hammers went to the Emirates with a makeshift defence and only one fit striker. Probably lucky to only lose 3-0.

The problem was actually more in their midfield’s inability to old the ball that the defence’s problems. They didn’t conceded until right on the brink of half time and the other two goals came late in the piece. Kouyate and Collins were commendable, but Reid and Tomkins, both of whom have signed big contract extensions recently, are the future at CB for this team.

We also had a humble retracting from Fat Sam over his public speculation a few months back that Winnie probably already had a deal in place for a new club at the end of the season. Since he’s re-signed with WHU, that’s clearly not true, and Allardyce accepted as much.

“I was wrong, so I admit that.”

Takes a strong man…

Up Next: After 7 winless games now, WHU host stumbling Sunderland, 6.30am Sunday (NZT)

Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)

Opponents FC Twente have not been in a good place recently. Six straight losses and three points deducted for financial reasons. But two late goals (77th & 82nd minutes) gave them a valuable win and Zwolle their fifth loss in six matches. PECZ keeper Walter Hahn did his best to keep the scores level as long as he could, but he was eventually beaten from a corner and then again on the counter attack. 90 minutes for Ryan Thomas, but not with the kind of impact he’d have hoped.

Zwolle are still well in the hunt for a spot in Europe though, holding on to sixth place. These two teams play each other again in three weeks in the semi-finals of the KNVB Cup (which Zwolle won last season).

Up Next: Hosting Excelsior next Monday morning (NZT)

Marco Rojas – FC Thun (Swiss Super League)

Marco sat this one out as Thun couldn’t quite finish of FC Zurich, having to settle for a 2-2 in which they were the better team and led for 90% of the game. 1-0 up inside 10 minutes, they doubled the lead just after the break with some gorgeous football but Zurich were able to fight back. With half an hour to play they scored from a driven cross to get within range. Nelson Ferreira missed a golden chance to kill the game off for Thun, putting his follow up effort wide, before Zurich nicked a points in injury time. A long ball wasn’t quite dealt with, a volley blocked and then a second effort slammed home to silence the crowd. Not sure where Rojas was, maybe an injury or maybe just rest. Not like he’s had a heavy workload for a while. He wasn’t listed as injured on the club website before the game.

Anyway, here’s an interview he did with the club for the German speakers among you. He talks about settling in Switzerland, what he misses from home, the language and the club. Apparently.

Up Next: Sion vs Thun, 1.45am Monday

Jeremy Brockie – SuperSport United (South African Premier Soccer League)

Mixed bag for Brocks this week, won one lost one. He didn’t score in either, and was subbed off late in both, as SuperSport lost 1-0 to Bloemfontein Celtic midweek but bounced back with a 2-0 win at home to University of Pretoria. Bradley Grobler scored twice in the final 15 minutes for the win. Brockie also picked up a yellow in the first game. It’s all par for the course for a mid-table team as they are.

Up Next: Maritzburg United, away, 2am Sunday (NZT)