Flying Kiwis – April 27
Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)
He’d played a couple games in a row, so obviously Winston Reid was due another injury. He missed West Ham’s 0-0 draw with Queens Park Rangers with a hamstring knock, his place taken by 18 year old debutant Reece Burke.
It was a strange game, because although West Ham clearly had more talent (even without Reid or Alex Song), they also had nothing to play for while QPR were out to avoid relegation. So the game became this frustratingly repetitive cycle of the R’s trying to break down the Hammers’ defence over and over again. West Ham ended up making 76 defensive clearances, the second most in any game by any team this season. Fresh from a hilarious own goal last week, James Collins copped a handball in the box which gave QPR their best chance, only for Charlie Adam to blast his spot kick straight at Adrian. Rangers did think they had a goal with 16 minutes left but it was called back for a foul on the keeper, and Matt Phillips’ furious stoppage time volley was well saved too – Adrian clearly the Hammers’ best player on the day.
Meanwhile Winnie’s kept up his scribing with his Fanbookz column, this week he revealed the five toughest opponents he’s played against in the Premier League. Wayne Rooney was a narrow sixth apparently.
- Luis Suarez
- Robin Van Persie
- Gareth Bale
- Sergio Aguero
- Jermaine Defoe
Plus, here's Winston slugging it out with a few other Hammers at a spell of darts.
Up Next: Sunday 2am, at home to Burnley (NZT)
Chris Wood – Leicester City (English Premier League)
Woody’s back in his own section, why could that be? Well, the lad’s back at Leicester City, the Foxes recalling him from loan in time to throw him straight on the bench for the game against Burnley. With Dave Nugent unable to overcome a calf injury in time and Jamie Vardy needing an injection in his knee just to take the field, Nigel Pearson presumably decided he needed a little more striker cover. Woody didn’t make it onto the park as LCFC beat Burnley 1-0 away for their fourth consecutive win – which launches them out of the relegation zone for the first time in months. Talk about timing the run. Wood had been expected to stay at Ipswich through the playoffs if needed, instead he’ll be available for Leicester the rest of the Premier League season. He played 8 games for Ipswich, 3 of them starts, without a goal. Not a great spell, but chances were limited.
Now, if you wanna play the Reading Between the Lines game, then perhaps it’s telling that Wood tweeted a three-part farewell/good luck to Ipswich without a mention of Leicester City…
Up Next: A potential title-decider at home to Chelsea, 6.45am Thursday (NZT)
Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)
A point will be enough in the final game for a spot in the playoffs for Tommy & Co. Three points and they’re guaranteed fifth. Which could mean a playoff semi against Bournemouth, Middlesbrough, or Norwich depending on how things shake up in the final few days. Watford are the first team promoted to the Premier League, following their win at Brighton and dropped points by both Norwich and Boro. Here they are getting the news on the team bus:
A draw would have been enough to hold onto sixth spot for Ipswich, even with both Brentford and Wolves winning. And it looked like a draw was what they were getting against Nottingham Forest. A conservative start was blown away by a fine goal by Daryl Murphy, his 25th of the season (equalling Ray Crawford’s club record from 1962-63), as he whipped his low volley past the keeper after some clever linking with Freddie Sears. That was about all that happened in the first half.
After the break, Tommy Smith nearly won a penalty when he was held back trying to leap for a ball, but it was declined. Ipswich seemed to be on the verge of a second, only for a mini-disaster to strike. Following a fine save from the Town keeper Bialkowski, a second effort was crossed into the box and Christophe Berra got his feet all tangled up as he somehow managed to turn the ball into his own net. That dropped morale and suddenly they were holding on for a draw. Luke Varney went close a couple times off the bench, though it didn’t seem like Ipswich had a winner in them right up until that winner did come. Freddie Sears, who kept Chris Wood out of the team for most of his spell, found some space on the end of a long ball and his driven shot took a huge deflection to loop into the net. Take ‘em as they come, he sprinted off in jubilation as the crowd erupted.
Smithy had a fine game too. He’s been very good the last few outings, and this was the kind of game he thrives on – where he doesn’t have to do much passing, just get himself in the right position and keep picking off crosses and through balls. Only 17 passes, but a team-high 7 won headers and a game-high 16 clearances.
Up Next: Last game of the regular season, away to Blackburn, 11.15pm Saturday
Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)
Thommo had to make do with a place on the bench when Zwolle hosted second-placed Ajax. The side was far from intimidated by their opponents, really taking the game to them in the first half and they could well have taken the lead but for some top keeping from Jasper Cillesen (remember him from the World Cup?) and a few near misses.
On came Thomas at half time, Maikel van der Werff also coming in as part of a double substitution, and he had a near immediate impact. ‘Near’ immediate, because Ajax almost scored within 90 seconds of the kickoff, but soon after it was Ryan Thomas bringing the ball down smartly on his chest from a throw in and lobbing a lovely ball over the defence for Jesper Drost who slammed it home across the goal. Zwolle were good value for the lead too, though Ajax still threatened.
There was drama with a couple minutes to play, as Mike van der Hoorn appeared to head wide from an Ajax corner, only for the ref to award the visitors another go from the flag. Naturally, they scored the winner from the second corner. Fair to say Zwolle’s manager Ron Jans was far from happy with that, he was also pretty incensed about a foul not called on Ryan Thomas, though was overall happy with the team’s performance. It’s all positive stuff ahead of the Cup Final next week.
Up Next: KNVB Cup Final time! Zwolle look to defend their title, Monday vs Groningen, 4am (NZT)
Marco Rojas – FC Thun (Swiss Super League)
Third place looks good for Thun after a 2-1 win against Sion coupled with FC Zurich drawing 0-0 at bottom-of-the-table Aarau. 8 games without a win have seen them tumble and with 4 wins from 5 and 7 games to play, Thun hold a three point buffer. Third place in Switzerland means a place in the third round of Europa League qualifying, a tournament that Thun has competed in once before, last season.
Oh, but that Sion game was a crazy one. Marco Rojas started in his preferred spot as a central attacking midfielder, and responded by setting up an early goal for Alexander Gonzalez in the second minute of the game. A long ball headed down into his path, Rojas volleyed the ball in behind the warped defensive line first time for Gonzo to run clear onto. The right winger took it from there.
15 minutes later Sion had a perfect chance to hit back. Some rough marking from a set-piece was called up by the ref, who pointed to the spot, however the keeper Guillaume Faivre made a fine save. Marco had a goal disallowed (rightly) for offside a little after that, and then it was 2-0 as Nelson Ferreira (the guy who conceded the penalty) showed some gorgeous skill to beat his man in the box and hammered home from a tough angle.
In the second half, a great turn and volley gave Sion a way back into the game. Then it got really weird. Faivre came out and claimed a high corner, then, as the players flowed out of the box, he dropped the ball at his feet thinking that he’d heard a whistle. Moussa Konaté, Sion striker, stepped in and booted the ball into the net as Faivre wandered back to take the ‘free kick’. Everyone was pretty confused as to what happened, the whistle apparently coming from the crowd, and the ref disallowed the goal amidst plenty of controversy.
And there was more controversy to come. Deep into injury time, Konaté beat his man on the turn and was basically rugby tackled to the ground. Penalty. After Carlitos’ earlier miss, Konaté took this one himself… and sent it over the crossbar. Thun won, Rojas got 63 minutes and an assist. Good stuff all round.
Up Next: Grasshoppers vs Thun on Thursday 5.45am