Flying Kiwis – April 6
Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)
After a month on the sidelines, Winston Reid was conveniently fit for West Ham’s first game following the international break. According to manager Sam Allardyce, Winnie had been back in full training for the last week before playing against Leicester (his first game since March 4 vs Chelsea). Doing the math, that suggests he started training right about the time he was pulled out of the All Whites game. Ah well, so it goes.
The game was a bit of a stinker, bottom club Leicester sneaking a 2-1 win over the stalling Hammers. West Ham were wasteful and seemed to take the Foxes a little too lightly. Even with both team having their struggles scoring though, this game had plenty of chances.
Esteban Cambiasso started things for Leicester, slamming home a fine volley on the edge of the box. Then Carl Jenkinson gave up a silly penalty and it should have been 2-0 within 15 minutes… but Dave Nugent’s spot kick was well saved by Adrian. West Ham were then level in the 32nd minute when Alex Song’s teasing ball was finished comfortably by Kouyate, the Hammers recovering from their early stumbles and good value for their goal.
Both sides pushed for a winner in the second half, with Kouyate hitting the post and Kramaric having an effort cleared off the line (that he should have scored). However with less than five to play, Andy King popped up with the decisive goal. Winston Reid clashed heads with Wes Morgan, both going down in a heap as play continued in the box. Vardy’s shot was turned goalwards by King, standing unmarked as Reid tried to get back up. Keeper Adrian unable to keep it out.
Other news now, there were social media whispers this week that perhaps Winston and Fat Sam had some sort of falling out earlier in the season, or at least some creative differences of sorts. While it’s never clever to put too much faith in the twittersphere for news and fact (take note NZ media), that would put the contract debacle with Reid into clearer context. That whole thing is still very, very weird. And while Reid’s no longer staring at an expiring contract, Allardyce is. The word is that QPR are looking hard at him (a perfect marriage!) as West Ham have little to no interest of keeping him. Which might have been the deciding factor in Reid’s own negotiations? Just spitballing here, don’t source us.
Up Next: Home to Stoke, 2am Sunday (NZT)
Tommy Smith & Chris Wood – Ipswich Town (English Championship)
Ipswich rose back into the playoff places last week with desperately needed wins over Bolton and Watford. This weekend they faced their toughest remaining game, with leaders Bournemouth visiting.
Despite a couple early attempts at goal from the away side, it was Ipswich that took the early lead. Freddie Sears came in to start for Chris Wood (international duty and all) and he made no mistake turning in Daryl Murphy’s pass. Ipswich are a team with a reputation for boring, old-fashioned football, while Bournemouth are credited for their free-flowing approach. Yet both are criticised for being one-dimensional. So this game played out exactly to expectations. Bournemouth attacked with vigour and Ipswich played it all with a straight bat.
The hosts still had their chances, but they were clearly playing for that clean sheet. It looked like they’d get it too, but as a final roll of the dice, Bournemouth gaffer Eddie Howe threw on journeyman Kenwyne Jones… who scored with his first touch. 1-1 the final. Tommy Smith playing all 90, Chris Wood getting 12 off the bench.
That result means Ipswich fall back to seventh and out of the playoffs, but even despite how close they came to victory, it was a positive result. A fair one too by Mick McCarthy’s saying so. In their final six games, Ipswich will play only one team still in playoff contention and that’s Nottingham Forest who are in eighth behind the Tractor Boys. Other than that it’s all midtable mediocrity and relegation bound Blackpool. Every remaining game is winnable, and Ipswich are still only 7 points off top. It’s all in their hands yet.
Up Next: Huddersfield (A) midweek; Blackpool (H) on the weekend (NZT)
Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)
Lil Thommo missed the All Whites narrow loss to South Korea after picking up what seemed like a serious injury half an hour into Zwolle’s last game. But - sigh of relief - it seems that it wasn’t so bad after all. The diagnosis had been expected to be somewhere between a couple of weeks, all the way up to a couple of months. Thankfully it’s fallen much closer to the former.
With that reassuring news, Ryan Thomas still missed Zwolle’s 1-0 win over Willem II (Bram van Polen with a 75th minute winner), though he remains in the picture to feature midweek when his boys tackle the first leg of the KNVB Cup semi-finals against FC Twente. It’s the third year in a row that they’ve made the semis; they won the cup last season for the club’s first ever trophy.
The win on the weekend was a big one too, however. With five games to play in the Eredivisie, it shoots Zwolle up to sixth and only four points off fourth.
Up Next: FC Twente vs PEC Zwolle, 6am Wednesday (NZT)
Marco Rojas – FC Thun (Swiss Super League)
No rest for Marco, like the others he was right back in the starting XI for Thun after also starting for the All Whites earlier in the week. And it was a fine game too, Thun blasting past St Gallen for a 4-1 win.
The damage was done nice and early with the Rojas and co. up 2-0 inside 10 mins. The first came from a long ball deep in their own half that caught out a high line, Gianluca Frontino running in behind to score one on one with the keeper. Just a few minutes later a well worked give and go on the edge of the area led to a second.
Marco Rojas had his chance midway through the first half, a ghosting run to the far post getting him free, but the keeper closed him down. Ten minutes later he had another great chance, playing around his defender and sprinting through into the box from the left flank, his finish went straight at the goalie and his follow up effort over the bar.
It took Thun less than 20 seconds to add a third after the second half kick off, and although they then conceded one, they also padded it out with one last, late rustling of the net. Marco was subbed off after 71 minutes, a game where he was quite involved and could easily have had more reward. Promising stuff, Thun are sitting pretty in fourth and a shot at European qualification (though it’s unlikely the on loan Rojas will be there next season).
Up Next: Luzern come to visit, 3.45am Sunday (NZT)
Jeremy Brockie – SuperSport United (South African Premier Soccer League)
The Jeremy Brockie Show continued with a fourth goal in his seventh league game. Not only that, but his first half strike ended up as the winner, SSU downing Maritzburg Utd on the road 1-0. It was a nice, simple finish for Brockie, slipping his marker to get on the end of Kingston Nkhatha’s ball.
SuperSport climb to seventh, Brockie earning plenty of fans.
Up Next: 5.30 next Thursday morning, SuperSport Utd away to Platinum Stars (NZT)