Flying Kiwis – December 21
Chris Wood - Newcastle United (English Premier League)
It’s been a long time since Newcastle beat Chelsea 1-0 in their most recent competitive fixture. Joe Willock scored the winner in the 67th minute that day as the Magpies won their fifth Premier League game in a row to ensure they sat third on the ladder heading into the World Cup break. November 13 was the date when that all happened. More than a month later Newcastle were finally back in action as they hosted Bournemouth in the EFL Cup round of sixteen.
Prior to that, however, there was one last cheeky friendly game to get through after returning from their Saudi Arabian training camp. It was a 2-1 win over Rayo Vallecano and despite going off with a precautionary back complaint in their previous practice game, Chris Wood not only started this one but he also thumped in a penalty for the second goal...
It’s a friendly so this doesn’t count towards the tally but keep in mind that The Woodsman is one of the best penalty takers on the planet. He last missed a professional spottie all the way back in April 2016 whilst still at Leeds. The man has scored every one of his last 25 penalties for both club and country (18 during games, 7 in shootouts).
Wood had a free run for the striker’s gig in that match with Alexander Isak still injured and Callum Wilson only just returning from the World Cup (although Keiran Trippier and Nick Pope both played against Rayo Vallecano). Sean Longstaff gave Newcastle an early lead in the fourth minute. Wood also had a goal disallowed for offside at a similar time... although for a lot of this game Newcastle did look like a team that had gathered some rust. Wood linked up nicely with his bro Trippier a few times but didn’t often have the connections he needed with the other lads. Missed a couple half-chances in there too.
But Joe Willock won that penalty to allow Woodsy to smash home in the 68th minute. He was then subbed for academy grad Dylan Stephenson for the final quarter of an hour remaining, straight after a Matt Targett own goal had let their Spanish opponents back into the contest. Luckily it’s a friendly so the result meant nothing and anyway Newcastle held on to win.
That took us into the Bournemouth game. Wood had started the previous two EFL Cup fixtures including scoring against Tranmere Rovers in the first of those. He was also successful from the spot against Crystal Palace in the last round as that game went to penalties after 120 minutes of 0-0 drawdom. Wood was expected to start against Bournemouth given Isak’s injury and Wilson’s World Cup excursion.
NUFC manager Eddie Howe: “[Wood] is hugely important. I think you saw in the Chelsea game. He came in, and he was excellent that day. His tactical understanding was of the highest level. I thought his performance [against Vallecano], especially in the first half, was very, very good. He took his penalty well. I think Chris is probably playing with a lot of confidence at the moment.”
Yet that didn’t happen. Instead Callum Wilson was boosted into the starting team and Wood had to be content with a fifteen minute cameo off the bench.\
By that stage Newcastle were 1-0 up. They’d dominated the first half but struggled for clear-cut opportunities against their Premier League rivals (and Eddie Howe’s old club) granted Wilson did have a goal curiously disallowed before Miguel Almiron missed a sitter late in the first half. The Cherries weren’t really offering much in attack themselves so the game simply carried on until Newcastle finally scored one. Bit of a fluke as Adam Smith flipped an own goal off his shoulder as his own teammate clattered into him but all goods.
Wood joined the fun at the point when Bournemouth had nothing left to lose and were starting to pump direct stuff towards the NUFC penalty area. Meant that the Woodsman was a spectator for stretches as Nick Pope made a couple sharp saves to preserve his side’s lead (though they’d have backed themselves had it gone to extra time). There was one big moment as Allan Saint-Maximin burst through a challenge and squared for Wood about 14 yards out and he ballooned it over the crossbar... albeit the whistle had already gone for a handball by ASM. There was also a decent shout for handball against a Bournemouth player which would have surely given Woodsy the chance to add to his penalty streak except the ref didn’t think it was enough of an infringement.
All of which meant that Newcastle advanced to the quarter-finals with a 1-0 victory. Not pretty but still deserved. Incredibly they’ve only lost once all season and that was because of Liverpool’s 98th minute winner in a 2-1 result back in August. 12 games unbeaten in all comps since then.
There’s a busy run of four games in twelve days coming up, beginning with a Boxing Day league meeting away to Leicester City so even with Wilson looking fit and sharp we should still get some decent Wood yarns over that time (unless Isak surges back to fitness quicker than expected). Don’t worry about The Woodsman either way, he’s happy where he is and reaffirmed that fact to local media ahead of the January transfer window...
Chris Wood to ChronicleLive: “100% - especially with the way the clubs is going, I'd love to be here long-term. Or even longer than I will be [on his current contract which runs until July 2024]. I still believe I have a big part to play here. I have not shown my best football here yet but hopefully I can do that given the chance. If not I am here to support the club and push them in the right direction. I am committed here and want to be here. I have played in every game expect one. Whatever capacity it is, I want to be here and help the manager. Whichever sees fit, if it's five minutes and seeing a game out, I am here to do it, work hard and press. If it's starting the game, scoring goals and working hard, I'm here to do that. My future is definitely here.”
Up Next: Tuesday at 4am away to Leicester City in the Premier League (NZT)
Katie Rood - Heart of Midlothian (Scottish Premier League)
They’re a hearty lot north of the English-Scottish border but even the Scottish Women’s Premier League was littered with cancellations this week. A frozen pitch befell Glasgow City’s game and thus Meikayla Moore was out of action. Then the same fate followed for Vic Esson and Rangers. Liv Chance and Celtic did at least make it to the day of the game before a pitch inspection in the morning led to that game getting postponed. But they must have gotten the hairdryers out at Partick Thistle because they managed to host Hearts in the last week of fixtures for 2022.
And say would you look at this...
It may be freezing in Scotland but Katie Rood is on a hot streak. She scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Hamilton Accies a few weeks back. Got a double in a 5-0 win over the same opposition two games later. Now she’s scored in a 2-1 win over Partick Thistle. Goals are a-flowing.
Her strike here was the second of the arvo after her team had taken a tenth minute lead as Georgia Timms turned in a clever free kick routine. Rood went close to scoring soon after with a left-footed crack running through from the left as Hearts turned the ball over with their press. That one was kicked wide by the keeper. Timms then had a shot cleared off the line from the resulting corner. Hearts did also have a couple sketchy moments in defence but nothing that had them looking like conceding.
Then some sharp work from Rood to secure possession on halfway led to an overload in the 35th minute. It was Rood who slipped the ball wide to Timms rushing past down the right wing, then some subtle movement allowed her to drift unmarked towards the near post to flip that thing in from close range when Timms’ low cross fizzed into her path.
Nicely done... and she almost had another before the break but the cross from the left this time was slightly beyond her. Plus a superb foot-save by the Thistle keeper was all that prevented Timms adding a second on the end of a rapid passing move which would have given Rood an assist for her first touch lay-off. Also she survived getting slugged in the face by the ball soon after her goal – never a nice one.
After an excellent first half, the second spell wasn’t nearly as action-packed although Cailin Michie did hit the crossbar for Hearts with a long-ranger. However despite having limited their hosts to pretty much nothing from open play there were a few set piece worries along the way and if Thistle were gonna spark something then a free kick was the best bet. Sure enough with half an hour left Cheryl McCulloch guided a looping header over the keeper to get back within range. The rest of the match was pretty much a slug-fest as PT played as direct as they could... but Hearts held on for the win. Roodie played the full game.
All things considered that’s a decent way to finish the year off.
Up Next: No more games until January 9 when they travel to face Dundee United in the Scottish Cup fourth round (NZT)
Olivia Chance - Celtic FC (Scottish Premier League)
Up Next: Away to Falkirk on 9 Jan in the Scottish Cup (NZT)
Ashleigh Ward - Southampton (English Championship)
The frozen pitches weren’t only a problem in Scotland, annoyingly. They also wreaked havoc for pretty much all the kiwi women playing in the English WSL. Take CJ Bott’s team for example. Poor old Leicester City’s Conti Cup tie against Manchester City got the can due to the cold weather which made it three games in a row that the Foxes had been unable to play...
These were the last games until next year too, so as Rebekah Stott’s Brighton suffered the same fate it means that her potential comeback will have to wait until 2023 (it may have done anyway but we weren’t to know). Also Aston Villa/Anna Leat had already played their last game of the year with a bye in this round of the Conti Cup, the last fixtures of the group stage with Villa having already qualified for the knockouts.
At least Tottenham were able to play... though Ria Percival is obviously still a ways away from returning to the pitch having only just gotten back running in recent days as she recovers from her ACL tear. Still, it was good news as Spurs beat Southampton 1-0 to finish top of their Conti Cup group. Nikola Karczewska scored the only goal in the first half as Spurs got the dub despite six changes to their line-up.
Even without Percival, there could still have been another Aotearoa export in that Spurs game... alas Ashleigh Ward was an unused sub for the Saints. Second cup game in a row in which she’s watched the duration from the bench and her team lost both (also going out of the FA Cup losing 2-0 to Bristol City recently).
Southampton have had a pretty great time of it in the Championship since getting promoted – they currently sit fourth only two points off the top although a few too many draws and some poor form in the cups has taken some of the shine off. Regardless, they’ll get back into it in 2023 feeling like they can challenge for promotion. Ward hasn’t really been much of a factor for the Saints yet, starting three games early on in the season but an injury followed by international duty means she’s only played in six games overall, with the most recent being a 3-0 Conti Cup defeat against Reading in late November. Long way to go in this season.
Up Next: There’s an FA Cup round for all the WSL teams in the second weekend of January... until then it’s all chilled for the holidays
Alex Greive - St Mirren (Scottish Premiership)
It’s been ages since St Mirren last played, a 1-1 draw against Rangers on 13 November to be specific. But after five long weeks of waiting they were finally able to... wait a little longer because “extensive stadium damage and flooding due to recent cold weather” meant that their trip to face Motherwell was called off. So they’re back but they’re not back.
In the meantime here’s a clip of Greivesy predicting Argentina to win the World Cup final...
Up Next: St Mirren vs Aberdeen at 1.30am on Sunday – chuck the replay on for Christmas morning and you’ll be sweet (NZT)
Stefan Marinovic - Hapoel Tel Aviv (Israeli Premier League)
Here’s someone from outside the British Isles who not only had a game scheduled this past week but even got to play it too. And it was a wee bit of a thriller from Big Stef and the team, Hapoel Tel Aviv coming from two goals down in the last fifteen minutes to draw 3-3 against Hapoel Haifa.
A corner kick set them trailing in the 12th minute. Didn’t win the first contact then nobody picked up the man wide open at the back post who swept in the seconds. HTA settled things down after that but didn’t create anything close to an equaliser... and then in first half stoppage time a fella left a leg dangling out and conceded a penalty. Marinovic dove the wrong way and it was 2-0 at HT.
A better start to the second stanza saw HTA nearly get one back as a cross from the left was turned onto the post (then also wasn’t converted at close range by another fella off the rebound), however two minutes later a similar move from the opposite side was saved and then tapped in from a couple yards out and it was back to 2-1. So naturally they conceded again with twenty to play. Marinovic leapt for a looping ball and failed to reach it to punch away and it was buried at the far post. This was shortly after H.Haifa had been given a red card that was scratched off by the VAR.
But that only set up the cracking finish as a powerful header from an open play cross on 78’ and then a deflected shot from outside the area on 84’ somehow hauled HTA back on even terms. In fact they nearly won it as a fella smashed one off the crossbar in the 86th. Marinovic also made a sneaky low save later on followed by a tougher one parrying over from a hard shot from close and best of all was the one he made rushing out as his defence randomly left a gaping hole for a through ball but Stef took care of that one in the ninth minute of time added on. Could have won it... then almost lost it but for a few goalkeeping highlights at the end there.
That’ll go down well after a pair of cup exits since the Isreali league resumed. Last week they went out of the Israel State Cup with a 1-0 defeat to Hapoel Afula, missing out on a place in the round of sixteen. Marinovic didn’t play that game as the reserve keeper got a rare chance instead. Nor did he play in the Toto Cup Ligat Al semi-final against Hapoel Beer-Sheva the week prior. Also a 3-3 draw with HTA conceding the equaliser in the 96th minute and then having two blokes sent off in the aftermath before losing on penalties.
Up Next: Bnei Sakhnin vs HTA at 7.15am on Monday (NZT)
The League Two Lads
Yeah... it was that sort of week unfortunately. Theme of this FKs edition. Luckily there are plenty of fixtures coming up over the next few weeks, starting with AFC Wimbledon trying to book a place in the EFL Trophy quarter-finals. Nik Tzanev’s lot are away to Plymputh Argyle there. Then the full trio (Tommy Smith at Colchester and Max Crocombe at Grimsby being the others - for those who don’t follow this column closely enough) are all in action on Boxing Day UK time.
Up Next: Plymouth Argyle vs Wimbledon, EFL Trophy, 8am on Thursday (NZT)
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