Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)

West Ham may have gotten the weekend off but that didn’t mean they were off to Ibiza for a few days. With their game against Manchester United postponed due to the latter’s involvement in the FA Cup semi-finals – which came at the expense of the Hammers – they were still able to squeeze in a midweek game against Watford a few days earlier.

The Hornets were also prepping for an FA Cup semi, one that they’d eventually lose 2-1 to Crystal Palace, so you can excuse them for being a little distracted but West Ham, mate, they pummelled them. They took a fly swat named Andy Carroll to those Hornets and left messy pieces of them all over the wall.

Carroll gave them the lead in the 11th minute, his sixth goal in six games. Pretty simple goal, Dimitri Payet with a cross and Carroll beat the offside trap to poke it in. It was 2-0 late in the first half when Jose Holebas jumped all over Diafra Sakho to concede a penalty, which Mark Noble duly slotted. Michail Antonio won another spotty soon into the second half when he was able to hold off Almen Abdi, then getting felled by a diving challenge and a handful of jersey. Noble up, 3-0.

Watford stuck around though. In the 64th it was 3-1 thanks to Sebastian Prodl’s impressive half-volley. They’d rested a few players but still managed a couple of teasing threats, which the Hammers repelled. But some tussling from a corner right at the onset of injury time did give Watford a small chance to salvage something. Had Troy Deeney scored from the spot then it was 3-2 with a couple minutes to fight for that levelled. As it was, Adrian stayed big to save it. Angelo Ogbonna was shocked at the whistle, it was one of those ones that could have gone either way. As for Winston Reid, he can be happy with three tackles, three interceptions, three clearances and zero fouls committed. He even had a shot chopped wide. Amrabat picked up a late red card, his second yellow coming for a foul on Winnie.

But he wasn’t happy with conceding a goal…

Winston Reid: “It is annoying. And Adrian had to make a penalty save right at the end and a goal then would have made it a bit more exciting than it had to be. It is just one of those things, it is annoying to me, but the main thing is we got a result.”

With four games left for them in their season, West Ham can still feasibly make the Champions League. At eight points back on Man City and Arsenal, it’s unlikely it’s still possible.

West Ham’s remaining games:

• West Brom (A)
• Swansea (H)
• Man Utd (H)
• Stoke (A)

But Winston is ready for it:

And now this… slightly eerie:

Up Next: WBA, 2.00am Sunday (NZT)

Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)

An historic week for this bloke, he played his 250th game for Ipswich. Quite the achievement, especially to do it at only 26 years old too.

It’d be quite the game for Smithy too, a big performance for a big occasion, though not the result they needed, not in the midweek game against Fulham where he played his 250th or in his 251st on the weekend away at Middlesbrough either. Two draws mean that with two games remaining in their season, it is now impossible for them to make the playoffs. So, no Premier League for Ipswich next campaign. We sorta knew this was coming.

Fulham first. The Potters were also a game away from officially avoiding relegation (which worked out for them) so while there were mathematics at work here, realistically it was a match with very little at stake.

So it seemed based on a performance where Ipswich couldn’t even wrangle a shot until there were less than 20 minute to play and the team was already 1-0 down to a relegation battler that had lost 5-0 in their previous game. Moussa Dembele (not that one) scored for Fulham, a really tidy finish from the edge of the box as Town were carved up on the break. They were able to salvage this one though, Jonas Knudsen fired in off the crossbar in stoppage time and the game ended 1-1. Ipswich still haven’t lost to Fulham since 1953 but this one felt close, it was terrible.

Mick McCarthy went as far as calling it a “horrible game” but at least Smith got stuff done. He did earn a yellow card but aside from that was solid at the back. Seven defensive clearances show that pretty well, he and Christophe Berra played one of their vintage games from last season – just a shame there was bugger all going forward here. This was a nice achievement on his 250th:

When you’ve been at one footy club for this long, you’ve seen a few teammates come and go and Smithy had this against Middlesbrough this week as he came up against a Boro strike-force that included not only Dave Nugent (who had scored 15 goals in 14 games against Ipswich for his various clubs) but also former teammate Jordan Rhodes.

Tommy Smith: “They’re both good players and both have good records against Ipswich so it will be up to us to change that. I speak to Jordan a fair bit and I’m going to his wedding this summer, so we’re friends, but once you cross that white line you’re not mates until the final whistle blows... It’s been the same when we have beaten teams he’s been in and I even broke his nose in a game a few years ago.

“I have come up against Chris Wood a few times, who is one of my best mates in football, and you try and give them a rough ride which maybe adds an extra edge to it.”

Boro are right up near the top of the table so this one was a completely different challenge. Even tougher when that Berra/Smith partnership was broken up by injury, Berra hurting his knee meaning Paul Digby got his first league start on loan from Barnsley. He and Smithy rode their luck at times but on the whole were mostly decent.

Following a slow start, Middlesbrough started to hit them hard. Stewart Downing and Albert Adomah in particular, really attacking the Ipswich fullbacks. And while the defence did hold out, it was in large part thanks to the efforts of their goalie Bart Bialkowski – ITFC Player of the Year. He made a few crucial saves while Town got also got away with Rhodes hitting the post late on. They had more ball in the second half but this one was more about trying to protect that 0-0 against a very good team. And that’s exactly what they did, clinging to a scoreless draw.

Mick McCarthy: “We defended well, the goalkeeper played well and all-round it was a workmanlike display. A great point.”

As for the rookie CB, Mick was also pretty chuffed. Digby has said he’s keen to sign on permanently with Town after this season.

MM: “He did what he needed to do. He had a great block in the first half and I’m really pleased with him. I would think so, his neck is probably sore because they’re on the move all the time,” he added. “I thought he handled it well. I thought Tommy Smith was a good positive influence alongside him.”

So two more games for Town to see off the term. Not exactly where they’d hoped to be but the building blocks are there.

As for Smithy next season: “The club have taken up their one-year option on me and they’ve said talks over a new deal will continue in the summer. I’ve always said I would like to stay at Ipswich. I’ve settled here and my fiancée is from the area so there’s no reason to want to move on.

Up Next: Home to MK Dons, 2.00am Sunday (NZT)

Chris Wood – Leeds United (English Championship)

Two games this week and a bit to get through. Woody featured prominently in both. First was a game against Wolves, check out the highlights below as the big kiwi fella came close and closer with a few first half strikes. Usually he’s on the end of free kicks but this one he struck well, just a little wide.

Yorkshire Evening Post: “But Wood was looking dangerous and lively for the hosts with the striker putting a 30 yard free-kick just wide before seeing his close range effort saved by Carl Ikeme after Lewis Cook’s cross. Wood then so nearly produced a superb individual opener when turning the Wolves defence and running to the edge of the area before putting a curling effort just over the bar.”

It was Sol Bamba that opened the scoring though. Wood played a part in getting up for a tough header but Bamba’s strike was absolutely rocking. Top effort. Wood’s physicality also helped in the build-up for the second goal. Sort of. He won a tackle that led to an overlap for Toumani Diagouraga’s goal, so that’s something. Wolves pulled one back with 13 minutes left but Leeds held on. In fact they almost made it 3-1 and what a goal this would have been. That jinking, jiving run was made by 19 year old Lewis Cook, Football League Young Player of the Year and a lad that the club is gonna have trouble keeping hold off after this season.

Three wins in a row. Right on. But after that came a really tough one away at Hull, who are one of the three teams way up above the rest of them vying for two automatic promotion spots. Really difficult tie… and yet after coming close for no cigar last game Chris Wood finally got his goal 15 minutes into this one. Get some, son!

Unmarked after that lovely bit of vision with the pass down the left flank. That is some quality stuff.

Problem is that Hull are a step above most of this division and they struck back twice to take the lead. Abel Hernandez was first, tapping in near the end of the half and then Tom Huddlestone struck from distance in stoppage time to make it 2-1 at the break. Crash bang. After things resumed, a speedy move down the byline from Charlie Taylor earned a penalty. Up stepped Chris Wood with the chance to tie it. He braced himself, he ran in…

Nope. Decent save, to be fair. Arguably a great one. Even his manager wasn’t blaming Wood for missing it.

Woody had a few more chances. In particular one header that was well saved. But they did find an equaliser before the end. 87 minutes played and Stuart Dallas was able to get it done for a really commendable 2-2 draw.

Leeds might still finish as high as eighth after cracking the top half with these four points, in fact they could even end up ahead of Ipswich yet. There’s something to work with there.

Up Next: Home to Charlton, 2.00am Sunday (NZT)

Jake Gleeson – Portland Timbers (American Major League Soccer)

Most top sports teams have a ‘Next Man Up’ philosophy. One guy gets injured and another takes their place and does their job as best they can. When Adam Kwarasey got his finger jarred against the turf last week, in came Jake Gleeson to take his place. We covered that back then but now Kwarasey has been ruled out for potentially a full month and that’ll mean a few back to back MLS opportunities for Gleeson – a keeper who’s made three starts in five years since joining the club. For the most part he’s had his success with the T2 team but he did make one memorable playoff appearance last season, keeping a clean sheet against the Vancouver Whitecaps.

Your turn, Jake:

Unfortunately they didn’t play a game this week, they were on a bye. There is a match on Thursday but you can wait for that one next week. Looks like he’s raring to go.

He also has a chat here to the Timbers website:

Plus he also found the time to do a bit of chipping in for the community by cleaning up bikes at a local centre. It’s about as Portlandian as it gets, cool to see:

Up Next: New England vs Portland, 11.30am Thursday (NZT)

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

It was Cup week for SSU, the lads taking on Mpumalanga Black Aces in the Nedbanks Cup quarter-finals. Remember last round saw Brockie score once and then seal the tie in the penalty shoot out. This one was similarly tough.

In fact SuperSport were down 1-0 after only five minutes. Judas Moseamedi scoring on the end of a corner. Yet SSU fought back. They could have easily been level by half time but instead they had to wait until midway through the second half when our boy Jezza went and equalised, skipping his marker to header in at the far post. Having come on at half-time, Brockie had already come close when he struck the wall from a free kick. The next one was never going to miss.

It looked like they were heading for a bonus thirty minutes but then our other boy Michael Boxall won possession, sending it to Thuso Phala. He shot. That shot was blocked. But it was blocked by teammate Bradley Grobler and deflected into the net for an 89th minute winner. Was he offside? Probably, but there was no flag and SuperSport were through to the semis.

SSU got a sweet draw in the semis too, getting lower division oppo Baroka FC at home while Free State Stars host Orlando Pirates. This may be a winnable tournament, you know. The dates for the semis are yet to be confirmed.

It sounds like that new manager is going down well. Stuart Baxter replaced Gordon Igesund in January and while that hasn’t meant a salvaging of their league position (they’re seventh but way off the top few spots), at least they’re strolling along in the cup.

Jeremy Brockie: "We have had a disappointing season from the league point of view. But since coach Stuart Baxter came in, we have been enjoying ourselves. We are now looking forward to the Nedbank Cup as the only trophy up for grabs now. It’s nice that we have qualified for the next round.”

Also this. CONTRACT GOSSIP!

Up Next: Saturday at 6.00am vs Maritzburg United (NZT)