Flying Kiwis – April 13
Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)
The fate of Winston Reid is under no question, but the fate of his manager is far from settled after West Ham conceded a 95th minute equaliser to Stoke in a game in which the visitors had two thirds of the possession at Upton Park.
Aaron Cresswell’s early free kick was a beauty to take the lead, however the Hammers were unable to add to it. Stoke, on the other hand, certainly did threaten. Victor Moses’ header came back across the goal via the inside of the post, and two minutes into injury time Marko Arnautović was denied only by the linesman’s flag, his second disallowed goal of the game. But he made no mistake with his next chance, holding off the onrushing challenge of Winston Reid to slam his shot across the goal and into the far post. Both sides are log-jammed into mid-table obscurity and cruising to the end of the season.
An average game from Reid, he did make 14 clearances but will be kicking himself after his side shipped another late goal.
Up Next: Manchester City vs West Ham, 12.30pm Monday (NZT)
Tommy Smith & Chris Wood – Ipswich Town (English Championship)
It’s crazy what a tight competition the Championship is in England. A single loss and you plummet down the table, a single win and you soar back up. That was the story of Ipswich’s past few days.
First off they met Huddersfield midweek. Winless in seven and with just one win in eleven, Huddersfield seemed ripe for the picking. However an early mistake by Zeki Fryers paved the way for an opening goal against the run of play. As yet another sloppy error cost them, Ipswich heads dropped.
An audacious overhead kick nearly doubled the Huddersfield lead courtesy of James Vaughan, and he made no mistake on the half hour mark when Jacob Butterfield picked him out with a fine cross. Tommy Smith was booked for a cynical foul right before half time. The Town defence was looking all kinds of skakey, so Mick McCarthy made a double switch at the break to try solve things, Chris Wood one of the unlucky sacrifices following his third start for the team (not an especially great one, albeit).
Well, the subs worked, Ipswich hit back within three minutes of HT thanks to Luke Varney. Still, there was no equaliser coming. A few close calls but nothing to really fall back on. A disappointing performance, a deserved loss and a massive blow to promotion.
Or at least it should have been, until a few other results went their way. Brentford needed a late, late equaliser to salvage a point against Nottingham Forest, before getting a dose of that themselves as Derby stole a draw in injury time against them in the early game. Bournemouth, Norwich and Watford keep winning, with Middlesbrough keeping pace themselves, those top four places are probably out of reach for Ipswich, but they’re one of four teams fighting for fifth and sixth, and all four of them dropped points this double gameweek.
Ipswich went in to the game against cellar-dwelling Blackpool (already relegated) with the news that Luke Hyam and David McGoldrick will play no further part this season thanks to injury. McGoldrick especially is a huge loss, his striking partnership with Daryl Murphy has been huge, though this opens up a spot for Chris Wood, Luke Varney and Freddie Sears to fight over.
Sears got the gig against Blackpool, and made good use of it. Despite falling behind fresh and early, Ipswich hit back strongly. Sears scored two goals in five minutes (one clean and emphatic, the other not quite so much) to have the home side up 2-1 after 28. Blackpool hadn’t really done much to threaten for most of the game, yet they found a tying goal in the 63rd minutes catching Ipswich napping with a quick restart from a free kick. Frustration began to grow, exacerbated by a Tommy Smith long ball that went straight out of play, until Christophe Berra stepped up with a powerful headed winner with seven minutes remaining. 3-2, final.
Suddenly Town are back into sixth, with a single point separating fifth from eighth. Smithy, a couple moments of clumsiness aside, was pretty solid over both games, while Woody was rusty in his 45 minutes against Huddersfield and an unused sub against Blackpool.
Up Next: At home to Cardiff, 6.45am Wednesday (NZT)
Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)
With four games to play in the Eredivisie, PSV are running away with the title. Zwolle are sitting seventh in the final Europa League playoff spot, with no chance of finishing in automatic Europa League qualification and only a slight chance of dropping any lower (they’re six points clear of FC Twente). That’s not to say they don’t have much to play for.
That’s because the PECers are back in the KNVB Cup final for the second year running, and will face off with Groningen in four weeks with the hopes of defending their only ever trophy. And this is a club founded way way back in 1910.
The semi-final was a thriller too, going all the way down to the wire against Twente. And although Twente looked confident to start, it was Zwolle that had the cutting edge, able to surge forward with numbers and catching their opponents out down the right a couple times. A teasing deflection just before the half hour finally gave Zwolle something to worry about, and a few minutes later there was a half-decent penalty shout declined. FCT were forced to sub off their keeper with injury in the first half, unable to run off a knock sustained in an earlier challenge. It was 0-0 after 45, but barely. Mustafa Saymak coming agonisingly close for Zwolle deep into injury time.
The second half became a real battle, an arm wrestle between two sides eager to win yet frightened to lose. There was controversy when one Twente player was kicked in the head, but there weren’t too many chances.
Until Wout Brama stepped up to score a glorious volley for Zwolle in the 83rd. Stepping up to the edge of the box for a knocked-down header, he waited just long enough for the ball to sit up and drove it sumptuously into the net. It felt like a winner yet two minutes later scores were level as Twente striker Youness Mokhtar converted a desperate scramble.
After Zwolle survived one more late chance, the game went to extra time, where Ryan Thomas was subbed off. It was his first start since the injury that ruled him out of the All Whites and he had a good outing. Thirty minutes later, extra time had settled nothing and penalties were required. Thomas Necid slotted the decisive kick with a gutsy panenka and Zwolle were through to the final.
That game was followed by a 3-1 loss to PSV, the impending champs. They made a few changes, including giving Ryan Thomas a rest off the bench, and although they levelled the score by half time, they couldn’t hold out the country’s best team – despite the best efforts and a brilliant performance from GK Walter Hahn, who made 14 saves! If Thomas Lam’s crossbar rattler had gone in with ten to play then it would’ve been 2-2 and game on, instead an injury time PSV goal ran out the line. Thomas got 22 minutes in a busy little cameo.
Up Next: Heracles vs PEC Zwolle, 12.30am Monday (NZT)
Marco Rojas – FC Thun (Swiss Super League)
A quiet game for Rojas, after looking threating last week. He played 65 minutes against Lucerne in an entertaining game full of chances. The away side had the better of the first half but Thun dominated the second, a fine volley from Alex Gonzalez sealing the points in a 1-0 victory that keeps Thun in third place.
Up Next: Away to second-placed Young Boys on Sunday at 11.45pm (NZT)
Jeremy Brockie – SuperSport United (South African Premier Soccer League)
SuperSport met Golden Arrows in the quarter finals of the Needbank Cup this weekend. Brockie almost gave them the perfect start with a wonderful free kick that had the keeper in no-man’s land, but it flew back off the crossbar. They then had to withstand a bit of pressure from their opponent, though survived ‘til half time. Some good saves kept it level, until Bradley Grober gave SuperSport the decisive lead in the 71st minute, finishing comfortably on the end of a through ball. They closed it out from there, Brockie almost adding to the lead in injury time but his effort was kept out by the keeper. 1-0 final, SSU advance to the semi-finals. It’s a competition they’ve had good success in recently too, winning it three seasons ago and making the final two ago.
Up Next: 5.30am Thursday, Platinum Stars vs SuperSport United (NZT)