Flying Kiwis – April 13
Annalie Longo & Claudia Bunge – Melbourne Victory (Australian W-League)
And so it came to this. The 2021 W-League Grand Final. Seven kiwis got minutes throughout the season and two were still standing as Melbourne Victory took on Sydney FC for all the glory. Two who’d still be standing (metaphorically) at the end of 120 minutes of pressure-cooker football.
Sydney had beaten the Victory fairly well in the last game of the regular season, a game which decided the minor premiership, so even with a mounting injury toll for the Sky Blues there was reason to think they’d be solid favourites. Home field advantage and all that entails too. But actually it was the Melbourne side that had all the early running, working the ball around in the SFC half. Annalie Longo was certainly enjoying that as she was able to drift between the lines and try link up. That early dominance culminated in Kyra Cooney-Cross slicing in from the left and curling a shot off the crossbar.
For all their endeavour, there wasn’t a lot else of note for Melbourne Victory though. The Sydney defence held firm and midway through the spell it was still scoreless in a much more evenly matched contest all of a sudden. A mistake from Bunge led to a runaway for Clare Wheeler but Bunge was able to stay with her just enough that the shot was straight at Gabby Garton in goal. That was a rare misstep by Bunge, by the way. Aside from that moment she was a recurring image of timely tackles and important clearances. But the Victory weathered that period of danger and were able to finish the half the way they started it as a KCC cross was headed onto the bar by Lisa De Vanna.
The Annalie Longo influence grew in the second half. She tends to play deeper than the other creatives so often her work is buried in the play but she did have a decent look with a left-footed volley in the first half that she only half-connected with and relatively early in the second stanza there was a shot from distance that was saved. Then she popped up in a great spot with about an hour gone only to fire over the top when she probably should have at least gotten it on target. It was impressive footy from the Victory, all that was missing was a goal. Only drama was that they did leave themselves vulnerable on the break a few times but that’s a necessary risk when you’re trying to win a championship.
Yet still it remained 0-0 and as we entered the final twenty minutes the weight of the occasion – and the lure of the possible reward – meant the game got pretty stretched with long balls into the channel and attacks in transition. Sydney may not have had the big chances that MVC had managed but that didn’t matter, it was anyone’s game now. Substitute Allira Toby had a crack for Sydney in the 81st which was only just deflected over the top, her team’s best chance yet. Then it was Victory’s turn again as Cooney-Cross had a header at the back post which looked for sure like a goal until Jada Whyman got across to save it. KCC recovered the loose ball from close range but again Whyman denied her. A mad sequence of events. Five minutes remaining.
It got even madder in the three minutes of stoppage time when Whyman nearly went from hero to zero by dropping a corner kick (admittedly after a nudge from an attacker, fifty-fifty as to whether it should have been called a foul). The ball fell suddenly about a yard off the line right where Claudia Bunge was lurking... but she had an air-swing at it. Massive moment to win it for her team and it got away. Bugger. Thus it was off to extra time.
Victory hadn’t actually made a sub to this point and when they finally did, four mins into extras, it was only because Catherine Zimmerman was injured. Which was cool for Longo who had only played 90 minutes once this season previously – although her injury was a factor in that. It caught up with her on 99 mins as she went down with a bout of cramp about two minutes after she’d almost scored a blinder with a long range shot that Whyman had to dive to keep out. Longo was able to carry on after a quick stretch and some physio attention which meant that she was right where she needed to be running onto a loose ball in the 104th, taking a touch before volleying it high towards goal... but Whyman was also where she needed to be to tip it away. Bunge put a dangerous header back across from the resulting corner to no avail. Cooney-Cross also smacked one on target from a cutback but Tash Prior blocked it wide from a few yards out. Incredible that MVC hadn’t scored. 0-0 after 105 minutes of football.
The energy was crazy. Even after the crampage, Annalie Longo still made a 50 metre sprint in transition to run around Lisa De Vanna and onto LDV’s backheel but Nat Tobin closed her down in the nick of time. De Vanna missed a great chance of her own soon after, sending her shot flying off target from just inside the area. Longo was subbed straight after that following 110 minutes of tireless quality – both the kiwis were outstanding in this game even if neither was quite able to grasp the golden moments. Then Whyman was back on her buzz closing down Melina Ayres when the ball snuck through to her on the left.
But finally – FINALLY – the Victory made the decisive breakthrough. Corner kick right at the end and it made its way to Claudia Bunge on the second phase. She lined up the shot... but it was blocked out for another corner. However from that corner Kyra Cooney-Cross curled it right into a perfect area where Whyman could only get fingertips to it and amazingly that was the championship goal directly from the corner kick. 120th minute of the contest. Absolutely deserved but jeez it was a brutal ride to get there.
Notice Bungey whacking that ball into the net on the rebound just in case it hadn’t crossed the line. Gotta take care of the little things. There was hardly any time left after that so no further dramas to follow. The end result was a 1-0 win to Melbourne Victory and we’ve got two more W-League champions from Aotearoa. A first title for Claudia Bunge (in her first season) to make her the fifth kiwi champ, a second title (eight years apart) for Annalie Longo. She actually won her first one with Sydney FC, coincidentally. This only four months after Longo won the NZ Women’s Premiership with Canterbury Pride.
Extremely fitting that the grand final saw one more clean sheet for that immense Victory defence. Claudia Bunge played every single minute this season and she wasn’t alone – Bunge’s CB partner Kayla Morrison, fullback Angie Beard, and keeper Gabriela Garton were all in the same boat. No wonder they were so good. Incredibly neither Bunge nor Morrison (an American who had been playing in Sweden after finishing up college) had ever played in the W-League before but the rookie combo proved to be the best in the comp. Morrison with more of the plaudits overall, she definitely took on more of the ball-playing duties, but Bunge certainly not getting left behind.
And let’s not forget Aotearoa’s Gareth Turnbull who is assistant coach for the Victory – as well as being Football Development Manager and Academy Coach. He’s a champion too.
Up Next: Probs wanna bask in this one for at least a little while longer
Sarpreet Singh - Bayern Munich II (German Liga 3)
Haven’t heard much from Sarpreet Singh since he returned to Bayern. He’s had a couple niggling injury things to work through as well as trying to re-adapt to the squad having not been there for the first half of the season. It was a similar story for most of the game against Ingolstadt with Singh named on the bench as he was been for four of his nine games back (not including those he missed entirely). Singh was subbed on alongside Lasse Günther with half an hour to go in what was a scoreless game to that point. It would not be a scoreless game for too much longer though.
Caniggia Elva whacked in a beauty in the 75th minute to get Ingolstadt in front, a wicked little goal which had BM2 facing defeat for about ten minutes until a cross by Daniel Ontužāns caught an arm and a penalty was awarded. One hundred percent a call that, in a higher division with VAR, would have been overturned as the dude had his arm tucked in and was turning away from the ball as it struck him. A lucky break for Bayern II. But the penalty stood and that gave Sarpreet Singh the chance to do this...
Nothing to worry about there. 85th minute equalising spottie and he thumps it into the top corner.
BM2 then bollocksed up a pair of great chances to take the lead on the break and that turned out to be a killer for them as Ingolstadt came back the other way and Fatih Kaya slipped through and scored in the 89th min. Bit stink... yet there was still time for another twist. Sarpreet Singh looking to get on the ball outside the area in stoppage time, he swung in a cross that was flicked on by Armindo Sieb and then Jamie Lawrence dashed in at the far post to score. And also to injure himself in the process.
Secondary assist for Singh to go with his penalty goal – his first goal since returning to the club – and hence we had a 2-2 derby day draw. Ends a run of four defeats in a row and buys Bayern II a valuable point given that they’ve kinda sunk towards the relegation zone, only one point clear with seven games to go. Need a few more Sarpreet goals and a few more wins the rest of the way.
Up Next: BM2 vs Hansa, Saturday at 5am (NZT)
Liberato Cacace – Sint-Truiden (Belgian Pro League)
Highlights there of last week’s win over KV Mechelen, that excellent 2-1 result which put STVV on the brink of avoiding relegation. A few days after that they took on Waasland-Beveren, the bottom team on the ladder, with the opportunity to make that top flight survival a near-definite thing if they could repeat the dose. And they did exactly that.
A Michael Frey goal in the second minute had STVV trailing. Only 75 seconds on the clock as that guy peeled off in celebration after a shanked shot by a teammate had bobbled into his path with a defender standing there watching the ball go past him not realising there was an attacker in range. So that sucked. But the game took a huge swing in the other direction when Aleksandar Vukotic was a very silly boy and threw a flailing arm out at an STVV player. Initially given a yellow, that was soon upgraded to a red card by VAR and he was off. 25 minutes played. Waasland-Beveren immediately dropped into a low block to try and preserve what they had but it wasn’t long before STVV were level.
Libby Cacace went extremely close when he drove infield from his left flank to slam a low cross which was blocked back in his direction and his second attempt was a shot deflected off the defender lying on the ground from the first block and onto the crossbar. That then ended up as a corner kick after a cross came back in from the other wing and that corner ended up with Yuma Suzuki finishing off from close range. Follow all that? 32 minutes gone and it was 1-1.
STVV’s second came five minutes into the next half thanks to Ilombe Mboyo. Again Cacace was heavily involved as it was his low cross that was nudged back into the centre for Mboyo to shoot. Mboyo’s effort took a huge deflection but it got where it needed to go. Just in case things weren’t already stacked for Sint-Truiden, their opposition were down to nine men for the last twenty after Dries Wuytens got a second yellow. Mboyo very quickly made it 3-1 after that and although Louis Verstraete did pull one back for WB with a near-post header on 78mins... Suzuki completed his brace in the 84th to clinch a 4-2 win. WB hit the post with a minute of stoppage time remaining but it would’ve been too little too late anyway. Fantastic result to all but guarantee top flight status for another season.
In fact you can scratch that ‘all but’ bit out now because that top flight status has since been confirmed for certain as Antwerp beat Royal Excel Mouscron 3-2 on Tuesday morning. Meanwhile STVV got smoked 4-0 by Genk two days earlier so perhaps taking their eyes off the ball after the relief of that midweek result. Full game for Cacace who had a tricky day up against Colombian Daniel Muñoz. One more game remains in Liberato Cacace’s first season of European football. It’s been a long, dramatic, disrupted one – and it was revealed recently that Cacace himself even caught coronavirus when the club had an outbreak recently (he was mostly asymptomatic, thankfully). Straight in at the deep end, aye?
Up Next: STVV vs Anderlecht, Monday at 4am (NZT)
Ali Riley - Orlando Pride (American National Women’s Soccer League)
The NWSL is back, amigos. The Challenge Cup has already begun, splitting the league into East/West conferences for a group stage with a final on the way once every team has played their four group games – first versus first of each side of the draw, no quarters or semis this time. Games and stats do not count towards the actual regular season which begins a week after the Challenge Cup ends. (The MLS starts next week btw).
So treat this like a glorified preseason tournament... which is a relief given that only one kiwi actually played. Rosie White’s OL Reign had the bye first up. Katie Bowen was an unused sub for Kansas City as they lost 2-1 to Portland Thorns in a feisty game. Then Abby Erceg was rested for North Carolina as she nursed a back injury, with the Courage getting off to a winning start beating Washington Spirit 3-2 (big story there being that teenaged debutant Trinity Rodman scored for the Spirit, youngest ever NWSL draft pick and also the daughter of NBA Hall of Famer Dennis Rodman).
But Ali Riley did get the start at left back for Orlando Pride to make her debut for the club only fourteen months after first signing with them. Been a very odd time for a lot of pro footy players. Ali Riley’s time being one of the oddest... but here we finally were.
Orlando Pride: “Ali Riley made her first Club appearance stateside since 2011, when she helped the Western New York Flash to a WPS title with current Pride teammates Ashlyn Harris, Alex Morgan and Marta.”
Expansion side Racing Louisville were the opposition in their first ever competitive game as a franchise. And it was a pretty memorable game as both teams went close within five minutes of kickoff. Sydney Leroux firing just over for Orlando before OP keeper Ashlyn Harris scraped one off the line from Yūki Nagasato after a deep low cross. But Cece Kizer would soon give Racing fans what they were there to see in the 12th minute when she ran through the middle of the defence to score.
Which left the Pride chasing things and their best stuff came from right wing crosses, Leroux unable to get on one before Taylor Kornieck headed in off the post from another just a couple mins before the half. Boom. All even again, leading to a competitive second half without a huge amount of chances to speak of... until right at the end when Abigail Kim lobbed in from a slick Orlando move in the 88th minute. Dramatic stuff for what was surely the winning goal... nope. Third minute of stoppage time and a free kick sent into the mixer was nodded back across goal and whipped in by Brooke Hendrix for 2-2. Amazing for the home fans but one the Pride let slip away being unable to cover that set piece.
On the positive side, both goals were scored by younger players in the line-up, a couple of ‘rookies’ as they say in the States. Several debutants including Ali Riley also played important roles within the game plan. Plus they did this without they services of Alex Morgan and this team was more disrupted than any other by the happenings of 2020 – unable to even take part in the Challenge Cup last time.
Ali Riley didn’t have a huge amount of attacking to do in this game although there was more than enough evidence to think she’ll be a key player for this team with plenty of assists on the way. Just the one cross attempted here but she was way more involved earlier in things, completing more passes than any other Pride player and mixing it up with the variety of those passes. Long balls down the line or short passes to a midfielder. Progressive or consolidating passes. Little bit of everything... plus she had plenty of work to do at the back.
However the most moment from her Orlando Pride debut came in the 83rd minute as she went down injured for a few minutes following a Jorian Baucom tackle, scraping over her leg in a dangerous way that honestly should have been a red card. But it wasn’t, it was merely a yellow. Ali not too chuffed with the ref claiming it was a step on the foot while her knee was bleeding. This one looked like it probably stung...
Ali Riley: “Yeah I mean it was really scary. I think as a defender, like those moments when you’re really vulnerable, when you clear a ball and someone comes up studs up straight into your leg — that can end your career. So obviously I was really scared. I’ll be tweeting pictures of my leg later, don’t worry. But I just wish the refs would take responsibility. At least say ‘I didn’t see it,’ or something, like, I know she got the card but don’t say that she stepped on my foot, and then not look at my leg where I have a full cleat on my shin. So that’s just frustrating. Everyone makes mistakes and refs get it wrong, but at least acknowledge that you didn’t see what happened and I don’t really know how because it was right by the sideline. I hope they’ll look at it again so in future games no-one gets hurt like that. It’s really scary. But it was so cool the team had my back and we scored soon after that.”
There was heaps more chat where that came from, Ali Riley serving up ten minutes of post-game interview presence, praising the Louisville fans (despite the pouring rain), taking positives from the performance despite the late disappointment, playing her first club game in the USA since 2011, and the promise of a few of the youngsters in the squad. In fact it was another great week for Ali Riley media appearances in general, especially with the new Off The Ball show gonna be a regular thing...
Up Next: Thursday at 11am vs Sky Blue (NZT)
Chris Wood - Burnley FC (English Premier League)
Newcastle at home, with an in-form Wood/Vydra strike duo, meant that Burnley had a great chance this week to pretty much remove themselves from the relegation conversation altogether with a win. And in the 18th minute we saw a lovely expression of that as Chris Wood somehow managed to pretend he was a winger, shaping up on a defender and skinning him down the left towards the byline before cutting it back beautifully to Vydra who finished it off. Wood assist, Vydra goal. Burnley were well on top playing some typically Burnley-ish football and things were looking swell in the quest for those three points. Then Allan Saint-Maximim came on early in the second half, set up one goal and scored another, and Burnley ended up falling to a 2-1 defeat.
Burnley were already without goalie Nick Pope who was out with an annoying injury. With Jay Rodriguez and Ashley Barnes also both missing it was always likely to be a ninety minute game for Chris Wood... no dramas with that much at least. Especially not in those first twenty-odd mins. Yet Newcastle began to swing things back towards the end of the half. Dwight Gayle put the ball in the net ten mins before the break and even though everyone had given up with the offside flag seemingly inevitable, they had to check the VAR anyway and it turned out Dwight McNeil was lagging on the left wing and very nearly played Gayle onside despite nobody in the vicinity having any idea. Only inches in it... but same result. Debutant keeper Bailey Peacock-Farrell made a sharp stop off Gayle soon after and there were claims for a penalty against James Tarkowski’s high-booted clearance that were turned down. Bit of a worry there as the Clarets failed to extend their lead while the getting was good.
Chris Wood went close to scoring after the break. Held off Ciaran Clark but sliced his effort from close range on the angle. He’d also been standing there poised late first half when Paul Dummett got in front of him and almost hacked into his own net. But then Jacob Murphy whipped in the equaliser in the 59th minute after Saint-Maximim had danced his way to the byline. Then five minutes later ASM pretty much just ran a forty metre straight line into the box before slicing inside Tarkowski to score a wonderful goal. Allan Saint-Maximim with more goals involvements in six minutes than Burnley have gotten from their bench all season and that ASM fella has burned them before too – he scored against them in October too. Not ideal.
Burnley blew a 2-0 lead to lose last week now they were 2-1 down having been leading at the break. They still had chances to get something from this game. Chris Wood nearly set up Vydra late on but the shot went over the top. A frustrating game which the Clarets let slip away from them. Wood was in the midst of a lot but it felt like no cross quite met him, there was always a defender or a goalie getting in the way at the last moment. Four shots all off target from him. Nothing wide open. A disappointing one in the end.
Up Next: Man Utd vs Burnley, Monday at 3am (NZT)
Callum McCowatt & Elijah Just - FC Helsingør (Danish Division 1)
It’s taken a long time for Callum McCowatt to get that first FCH goal. Nearly a thousand minutes of football, this was his sixteenth game for the club (although he has scored in friendlies at least). Neither he nor Eli Just started against HB Køge but both came on in the second half with McCowatt putting the icing on the cake with an 88th minute goal that clinched a 3-1 win. Get. In. There.
FCH had been the dominant team throughout and didn’t often look like they were in danger of conceding again after Oliver Sonne had pulled one back for the visitors five minutes before the half following a blinder from Carl Lange (14’) which was added to by David Boysen (32’). Helsingør getting out in front early and largely controlling it from there.
McCowatt was brought on in the 61st minute, Just in the 73rd, and those two quickly combined with a CMC cross to EJ headed towards goal but hacked away by a defender at the post. Then they swapped roles a couple mins after with Just playing McCowatt in but the shot was off target. However McCowatt would get his long-overdue moment eventually. Great ball in from Oliver Kjærgaard and although CMC couldn’t score at the initial attempt, he recovered the ball to curl in a beauty low past the keeper and his teammates loved it.
A 3-1 win keeps FCH on pace to finish fourth in the first division playoff round. Unlikely they finish any higher than that because the gap to make up is just too far but they’re still winning games after the league split which is already impressive enough for a promoted team. This was their second game of this round after losing to Silkeborg 2-0 last week. McCowatt and Just both started that one.
Up Next: FC Fredericia vs FCH, Monday at midnight (NZT)
Ryan Thomas – PSV Eindhoven (Dutch Eredivisie)
Get well soon, lad. In the meantime PSV are keeping up the pace with a 2-0 win over VVV, Cody Gakpo and Donyell Malen scoring the goals – one in each half. Keeps them ahead of AZ Alkmaar for second place (and Champions League qualifying) by virtue of +6 goal difference. Both teams have five games remaining.
Up Next: Another long bout of recovery, unfortunately
Michael Woud – Almere City (Dutch Eerste Divisie)
So you know that snowed-off game against Roda JC? They came back and finished it on Friday night in the Netherlands. Picked up where they left off in the 67th minute with the scores tied at nil-all... but 23 minutes is not a lot of football and Almere City never really figured out how they were gonna break their opponents down. It ended the way it ended on Easter Monday with a scoreless draw that doesn’t do their automatic promotion hopes a whole lot of help.
Nor did a 1-1 draw against Telstar although their 95th minute equaliser could yet prove massive as it keeps them three points behind De Graafschap who currently occupy that second spot on the ladder and those two teams play each other in a couple weeks. AC had trailed Telstar from the 14th minute after Glynor Plet scored for the visitors with one of only two shots that they’d have all game. Almere then battered them the rest of the way but only actually scored in the fifth minute of stoppage time thanks to Radinio Balker. Still two dropped points though, especially with the chances that they had along the way.
Up Next: Away to Go Ahead Eagles, Sunday at 6am (NZT)
Meikayla Moore – Liverpool (English Championship)
America and Australia aren’t very good at recognising these things, as we well know, which has worked out fine in getting us a W-League grand final and some NWSL to chat about this week, but other than that it was an international window for women’s football. Easy to lose track of these things when the Football Ferns (and All Whites) never play. So since there’s no WSL or Bundesliga and with a lot of the Scandinavian leagues having their start dates postponed for another month due to covid worries... here at least is footage of Meikayla Moore’s goal from last week. A tricky header expertly guided goalwards. Nicely done.
Up Next: Monday 19 April at 1am, away to Leicester City in the FA Cup fourth round (NZT)
Winston Reid - Brentford FC (English Championship)
Didn’t actually get any Winston Reid sightings this week. He was an unused sub on two occasions. First off was a frustrating 0-0 draw against Birmingham which continued their recent struggles to win games that they ought to be winning... but second, mate, second was a triumphant return to form as Ivan Toney inspired a 5-0 win against Preston North End. Five different goalscorers for the Bees, an outstanding performance as they kept themselves in the mix for automatic promotion – although with Norwich and Watford both winning that still looks unlikely, even if Brentford win their game in hand they’ll still be six points behind Watford with only five games remaining – and at the very least keeping themselves in the box season for a home playoff semi-final.
Bit interesting how the central defenders have been rotated by Thomas Frank. He seems to be keen to give different combinations a run of games together rather than chopping and changing and right now that means Winston is on the outside looking in. Pontus Jansson’s return to fitness has made things more complicated and he and Ethan Pinnock have started the last three games in a row, although annoyingly they played as a back three against Preston in order to match their opponents’ shape and it was Christian Nørgaard who slipped into the trio (who would otherwise have started at right back in a four-man defence). Reid has played 10 times for Brentford since he signed on loan.
Up Next: Brentford vs Millwall, Sunday at 2am (NZT)
Nik Tzanev – AFC Wimbledon (English League One)
The trip to Accrington Stanley started with a wonderful Nik Tzanev save from Matt Butcher’s driven effort. It was very quickly followed up by an early goal conceded as from the resulting corner kick with Michael Nottingham diverting a Cameron Burgess header with another header that left the Dons defence (Tzanev especially) spinning with no chance of keeping it out. 1-0 down already, only five minutes played. Exactly the kind of stuff that gets you relegated.
Then came the other 85 minutes. Ollie Palmer got the Dons level in the 21st min after a corner kick was poorly punched in his direction. Then a few minutes before the break Palmer had a second getting in the right place for Jack Rudoni’s nod-across... and that man Parker set up a third with a cross for Ayoub Assal to score. Joe Pigott scored a lovely free kick in the 57th. And in the 64th George Dobson set up Assal for number five.
Ben Heneghan did get a stoppage time red card for a second bookable offence but that didn’t take the shine off a 5-1 victory, AFC Wimbledon finding some sudden and stunning goal scoring form, which lifts them out of the relegation zone as things stand. Seven more games to keep it that way. Tzanev did have a couple other saves to make along the way but after experiencing both highs and lows in the individual spotlight lately he was probably chuffed to see the forwards hog the limelight this week.
Up Next: Ipswich at home on Weds at 5.30am and Swindon Town at home on Sun at 2am (NZT)
Tommy Smith – Colchester United (English League Two)
Set pieces were the problem against Oldham. First a penalty conceded for a needless sliding tackle by Tom Eastman, Smithy’s CB partner (Smith turned his back and walked the other way when the spottie was awarded, not a happy chappy). Conor McAleny converted that in the 37th minute then soon after Alfie McCalmont doubled that lead directly from a free kick. Oldham did this sneaky thing where most of their dudes stood offside as the McCalmont lined up his kick then they all rushed back onside at once to confuse the Colchester defenders. Turned out they didn’t need to bother – McCalmont curled it in off the post anyway. And in the 56th Carl Piergianni made it three after a corner kick wasn’t cleared.
There was almost a comeback as Frank Nouble scored a slick one in the 64th minute running through, then Tom Eastman made up for that earlier penalty by trying his luck after stepping up and it snuck in under the keeper. 3-2 with ten minutes remaining. But Davis Keillor-Dunn scored twice for Oldham in the final stages and 5-2 was the final score. Full game for Smithy but another defeat and the U’s are mostly just hoping that the four-point gap they have between themselves and the drop zone lasts for five more games.
Up Next: 2am on Sunday against Walsall (NZT)
Ryan De Vries – Sligo Rovers (League of Ireland Premier Division)
Slow start to the new season for RDV, given the obvious reasons. De Vries hung back in Auckland and began his preseason with Auckland City after being given leave by Sligo Rovers to stay with his wife for the imminent arrival of their second child. Then once he got to Ireland there were isolation protocols or whatever to deal with (on top of a 38 hour trip) and thus he’s only played off the bench so far. An unused sub in the opening week 1-1 draw, before getting 35 combined minutes in close wins over Waterford and Longford Town. After which he scored in that international break friendly from the tweet above and this latest week he was brought on at half-time for his longest appearance yet – in a 1-1 draw against defending champs Shamrock Rovers.
It was almost an incredible result. A tightly fought game between two undefeated sides was busted open with eight minutes remaining when a pretty weak shot from Walter Figueira somehow snuck under the Shamrock Rovers keeper to give Sligo the lead yet on the verge of a big upset they couldn’t hold on. Shamrock came at them hard in the closing stages. Good goalkeeping and desperate defending preserved the lead into stoppage time but then John Mahon turned one into his own net from Rory Gaffney’s low drive. RDV had earlier had a chance to score but had the ball nicked away from just in time him at the near post. 1-1 still a decent result, to be fair.
Up Next: Sligo Rovers vs Finn Harp, 5am on Sunday (NZT)
Matt Garbett – Falkenbergs FF (Swedish Superettan)
The new Superettan season has begun and thus Falkenbergs’ attempts to get back up into the top flight of Swedish football have begun as well. Albeit not as well as they could have, going down 1-0 at home to GAIS thanks to a 49th minute goal from Daniel Sterner. Scored from a free kick the sneak bugger. FFF had started better but failed to take their chances, then a passionate last twenty-odd minutes included hitting the crossbar but no goals to speak of and it was a first-up defeat. Matt Garbett was named on the bench and came on in the 87th minute as they chased that unattainable equaliser.
Meanwhile on the very same day there was a clash between two promoted teams. Landskrona and Värnamo. The latter, of course, being the club of Francis De Vries and Joel Stevens. There had been some doubt as to whether Stevens would come back for another season but nah sure enough he was there, as was FDV... although both played off the bench in a 2-0 defeat. Conceded in the 23rd and 56th minutes. Steven was thus summoned with about 25 mins remaining as they also chased a way back into the game same as FFF, while FDV got on for the last couple minutes himself. Stevens did have one shot on target but no dice there either. Bit of a stink way for the Superettan x Flying Kiwis thing to begin.
Up Next: Brage vs FFF on Sunday at 1am, IFKV vs Sundsvall on Monday at 1am (NZT)
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