Ben Waine – Plymouth Argyle (English Championship)

The bad news for Ben Waine is that he was back on the bench this week for the visit to Leeds. Midfielder Luke Cundle was used as a false nine instead, Waineo having struggled to assert himself in his start against Middlesbrough last week. The good news is that he still got a decent run off the bench and was able to do this...

That’s his first goal in this division, having also scored one in League One last year. Plus several in various cup competitions since signing with the Pilgrims. You have to go all the way back to Chris Wood’s time at Leeds for the last kiwi bloke to score in the EFL Championship. Wood, of course, won the Championship golden boot in the 2016-17 season with Leeds... and coincidentally Waine’s first goal came against Leeds. Might just add that in that long interim there have been ten goals scored by kiwi women in the equivalent division (6 by Katie Rood and 2 each for Meikayla Moore and Grace Neville).

Leeds were 2-0 up after half an hour with Plymouth having trouble even just holding onto possession. They were in a 3-4-3 formation and nothing much was clicking. So in the 57th minute they made a couple of subs, one of which was Waineo, and switched to a 4-3-3. That meant Waine as the number nine. It also meant the bro Cundle dropped into his usual midfield role and it was actually Cundle who set up the goal for BW in the 84th minute. It only proved a consolation goal in an eventual 2-1 defeat – though Waine did put a header wide from a corner soon afterwards - but it was still a huge milestone for the Wellington Phoenix Academy graduate which should give him a timely confidence boost.

PAFC manager Steven Schumacher: “We spoke with Waineo in the week about some of his runs [in the Boro start]. He didn't get loads of touches of the ball because of his positioning. When I pulled him and said I was going to change the shape a little bit [vs Leeds] I told him it wasn't because he played poorly, because I didn't think he played poorly. I thought he did okay. Today when he came on he gave us that focal point. He was in a great position for his goal and hopefully it gives him confidence because I still believe he's a really good player. The more he plays and the more he settles into the division the better he will be.”

That’s the trick. He can handle himself physically and technically at this level but he hasn’t been able to get himself involved enough in his opportunities so far. That largely comes down to movement and positioning, stuff that’ll come with experience. Argyle sit 19th out of 24 teams in the Champo after 16 matches. 4 wins, 4 draws, 8 defeats. They’ll have one of the lowest budgets in the division and are freshly promoted so anything other than relegation will be deemed a success.

Up Next: International break... and then they host Sunderland at 4am on Sunday 26 Nov (NZT)

Callum McCowatt - Silkeborg IF (Danish Superliga)

It definitely was not a straightforward game when Silkeborg took on Randers. Despite this being a fixture they’d have planned on taking three points from, SIF found themselves 1-0 down after 21 minutes and for the life of them could not seem to find a response. Didn’t help that Callum McCowatt had been left on the bench, nor that they wasted their time all the way until the 78th minute to finally get him out there. Then when they did, he scored. In fact Silkeborg later won a penalty that should’ve given them those three points they craved except that Soren Tengstedt missed it. Should have let McCowatt take it instead.

The game ended in a 1-1 draw so at least they got something out of it. McCowatt’s smooth header marks his third Superliga goal plus he scored a couple in the cup last week too. This is that goal-scoring form that he’s carried on from the end of his time with Helsingør. He’s only started one of the last five Superliga games and he was subbed off at half-time of it so this bench thing wasn’t out of the blue. Hopefully this goal gives him a nudge back towards starting after the international break. Without a win in their last three, Silkeborg have dipped down to fourth on the ladder... though a win next up would raise them back at least one spot.

Up Next: Tuesday 28 November at 7am at home against FC Midtjylland (NZT)

Ally Green - AGF (Danish Kvindeliga)

Go on, get in. It looked like Greeny was trying to cross and slipped but a goal is a goal and this was her first since leaving the A-League. Never really played much for Valerenga in Norway. Joined AGF for the second half of last season and has been starting most games and occasionally popping up with an assist. Now here was one with her name on it and her name only. Against one of the title contenders no less.

Granted, Brøndby did fight back from that deficit to win 2-1 which doesn’t do the other kiwis in the Kvindeliga any favours given BIF are now on a three-game winning streak. Those others all played against each other as HB Køge beat Nordsjælland 1-0. A crucial result that sends HBK back up into first place having ceded it to FCN a week ago. Alyssa Walker scored the only goal after six minutes. Still no Claudia Bunge in that team however there was a return for Daisy Cleverley getting the last dozen minutes off the bench in place of the goal-scorer. Malia Steinmetz started for Nordsjælland, as per the norm. She stung a shot on target inside of two minute which a teammate followed up but struck into the post. Pretty even and competitive game overall but HBK had that one decisive moment and FCB did not.

The top four teams in Denmark are separated by one point, though HBK and Brondby have a game in hand against each other (originally postponed due to European commitments). We’re only 9-10 games into the season. Long way left in this race. As for AGF, they’re just trying to avoid the promotion/relegation playoffs this time. So far they’re sixth out of eight teams and that’ll do it if things hold steady.

Up Next: AGF vs Thisted at 1am on Sunday (NZT)

Liberato Cacace – Empoli (Italian Serie A)

It must be a surreal thing for a professional footballer to find themselves playing against their boyhood club. Playing for them, sure, that’s the dream for the tiny few who get to live that reality. But against them... suddenly you’re in a position where you want them to lose for the first time in your life.

Libby Cacace grew up in a family of Napoli fans but he’d already beaten them once, playing 30 minutes off the bench in a 3-2 win in his first season in Italy. He didn’t get to face them last season and there was a worry he might not this time either with Simone Bastoni having gotten the left back start ahead of him last week in the 2-1 loss against Frosinone. But ‘twas not to worry. Not only did he return at LB for the trip to the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona... he delivered an impressive ninety minutes as Empoli pulled off a shock 1-0 win thanks to a stoppage time goal from Viktor Kovalenko.

Cacace made three tackles and three interceptions amidst a surprisingly great team defensive performance. Napoli threatened a bit early on but none of their shots were very high-percentage and you could see Empoli growing in belief as the game went on... culminating in that dramatic late winner. Lovely curling strike that went in off the post and then pretty much the entire bench ran over to join the celebrations.

Here are some highlights. This was the Azzurri’s third win of the season, and second in the last four games, and it finally lifted them out of the relegation zone... for now.

Up Next: Empoli vs Sassuolo after the international break – Monday 27 Nov at 3am (NZT)

Anna Leat – Aston Villa (English Super League)

Two things about Aston Villa’s start to the season:

1) They’ve been losing a lot of games and conceding a lot of goals in the process. They were the best of the rest last season (behind the to Manchester clubs plus Arsenal and champions Chelsea) but began this WSL with five consecutive defeats including a 6-0 hiding against Chelsea.

2) Anna Leat did not play in any of those games. England backup Hannah Hampton left the club to sit on the bench for Chelsea but they signed an even better goalie to replace her in Dutch number one Daphne van Domselaar, keeping Leat as the backup. DVD’s the one who’s been leaking all those goals... including a few disappointing ones that you’d have expected her to do better with.

That’s the job of a backup goalie though, Leat’s just had to wait and watch. Finally this week the Conti Cup swung around – Villa had a bye in the first gameweek – to give her something to do. First appearance of the season... and yeah it was basically perfect. Within ten minutes Rachel Daly had already scored twice against Sheffield United. That’d become 4-0 by half-time and 5-0 by the time an hour was up.

That meant Villa could afford to sub off a few of their best players which gave the second-tier club some room to do a few things late on. Things that included giving young kiwi Olivia Page the last six minutes off the bench. Things that also included Olivia Page winning a penalty when she was bumped over on an attacking. But in case you’ve forgotten, Anna Leat’s first ever game for Aston Villa was a Conti Cup match in which she saved four penalties in a shootout against Man United. She’s a bit of a specialist from the spot (heck, she even scored a spot kick at the U17 World Cup)... and she saved this one too. Jodie Hutton, thanks but no thanks. Clean sheet protected. Not too shabby as far as season debuts go.

That game seemed to give the team a boost of confidence because they then won 2-0 against Bristol City in their following WSL match. The weakest team they’ve faced so far, sure, but a tidy clean sheet win all the same. Leat was back to being the substitute keeper for that one. At some point she’ll add to her 11 WSL appearances, just gotta be patient.

As for Olivia Page, she’s in a similar boat. Six unused sub apps for Sheffield United in the Championship without yet getting on the park... but she has now gotten two games in the Conti Cup. She started their previous one, a 3-2 loss to Sunderland, then this one where she came on as a holding midfielder. Good progress from the 18 year old Eastern Suburbs prospect.

Up Next: There’s another League Cup game next Thursday at 8am against Blackburn Rovers (NZT)

CJ Bott - Leicester City (English Super League)

Believe it or not, at half time of Leicester City’s game against Arsenal they were 2-0 up and everything was fantastic. CJ Bott was having a great game up against Aussie winger Caitlin Foord. The Foxes had defended stoutly. They’d been lucky at times but they’d also limited the chances for the Gunners, then scored twice in quick succession later on. A sneaky upset was on the cards... then it all fell to pieces.

The Foxes had never even scored against Arsenal in the WSL before, let alone beaten them. They’ve now got a couple of goals against them but the win will have to wait for another day. Arsenal scored within five minutes of the restart and then went nuts from there on to the eventual tune of a 6-2 comeback win. Bott was subbed at 5-2. Did lose track of Foord for one of those goals but to be honest defensive errors were across the board for LCFC in that second half. It wasn’t good. All their shots came in the first half, second half they were stuck under pressure the whole time. Ah well. Maybe next time.

Up Next: Monday at 4am, Leicester City vs Tottenham Hotspur (NZT)

Chris Wood - Nottingham Forest (English Premier League)

See that? Despite his manager saying two weeks ago that he didn’t expect Wood back from his hamstring niggle until after the international break, the brother was back in action in time to face West Ham. He returned to training in the days leading up to the match then was able to partake in 14 minutes off the bench.

Not a great afternoon for Forest. They conceded inside of three minutes via a great finish from Lucas Paqueta from twenty yards... but it happened after a ridiculous giveaway when one NFFC midfielder passed the ball into teammate who was trying to get out of the way for the switch. That was a shambles, although they were unlucky not to draw level soon-ish after when Taiwo Awoniyi had a header spectacularly saved. And Awoniyi was not to be denied on the brink of half-time tapping in after a Morgan Gibbs-White shot was parried.

Awoniyi and Anthony Elanga nearly combined for a magical goal early in the second spell so things were going swell at that stage. Fifteen minutes later Elanga scored one for real and Forest were up 2-1 away from home... but then Jarrod Bowen equalised pretty much straight away with a header from a corner. A poor defensive touch almost cost Forest again but this time Tomas Soucek hit the crossbar. It was in that context that Wood was brought on, as a defensive reinforcement as much as anything, but even the Woodsman could not withstand those James Ward-Prowse set piece deliveries and in the 88th minute Soucek nodded home a corner kick for a 3-2 West Ham win. A Wood lay-off did nearly lead to a late leveller as Divock Origi’s shot was pushed over the bar. Wasn’t to be.

Still, good to have the main man back on the pitch. That injury scare turned out to be less of a panic than it could’ve been – just in time to play a nice hefty role for the All Whites this weekend. Guess what else? He was an unused substitute but Sarpreet Singh did return to the matchday squad for Hansa Rostock as well. Looks like both of them will be ready to go (in some capacity) for the Greece and Ireland games.

Up Next: Sunday 26 November at 4am, Nottm Forest vs Brighton (NZT)

Vic Esson - Rangers FC (Scottish Premier League)

A 7-0 win in a cup quarter-final? Yeah, can’t complain, can’t complain. Particularly as Vic Esson was the keeper who got that clean sheet in her first start for the club since the last international window. She did have a run of starts in September but nothing since. So it goes. This game was a routine win against a lower-level opponent, Boroughmuir Thistle, and now they’re into the semis. Not much for Esson to do within that... at least she got a game.

As did Meikayla Moore – although that’s the expectation these days. Alas, her Glasgow City team just weren’t all there against Celtic in their League Cup quarter... going down 3-0. One of those days. Doubt we’ll get an Esson start as part of the festivities but these two teams do play against each other next so there is Flying Kiwis derby potential. As well as the important context of two title rivals going head to head.

Up Next: Glasgow City vs Rangers on Monday at 3.10am (NZT)

Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)

They lost 4-0... but still a nice moment to see Ryan Thomas walking out to play at the Philips Stadion. This time he was on the away team rather than in the red and white stripes of PSV but considering the injuries he’s had to suffer through since he blew his knee out in his first week of training at PSV it’s always worth celebrating these milestones. He made his first start of the season last week and had to leave with cramps after 52 minutes. This week he added another ten to that before taking a seat. Still on that steady rebuild. That’s what we wanna see.

Ryan Thomas to BD.nl: “I'm a bit done with all those problems. I may have the quality to play higher, but my body doesn't cooperate. If I had other knees, I would have had a completely different career. It's the way it is, I can't change it.”

Thommo also added in that interview that he was taking painkillers for his knee during the latter stages of last season, which he accepts was risky but Zwolle did achieve promotion so it was worth it in some ways. Then despite hoping to be able to pick things back up smoothly in preseason he found he was battling through the pain again and in the top division the pace of the game is just too hectic to be going in at 70-80%. So he went to Belgium to have some shockwave treatment on his knee tendon which seems to have done the trick. Fingers crossed anyway.

Up Next: Not ready for All Whites stuff again yet so it’s a week off before the visit from Waalwijk on Sunday 26 Nov at 9am (NZT)

Matthew Garbett - NAC Breda (Dutch Eerste Divisie)

There has been some criticism about Garbett’s performances amongst the Breda faithful lately. Mostly that just feels like lashing out amidst the wider team’s struggles, however it’s still fair to say he hasn’t been as influential this season as he was in the last one and he did find himself dropped to the bench for the game against Jong Ajax. But then he came on and set up the equalising goal so that’s a decent response. Also got a yellow card. Only a 1-1 draw, in which their left back was sent off at the very end... though that was better than the defeat they were on course for before Garbs got involved.

Up Next: Won’t see him against MVV on Monday... Garbett will be doing All Whites activities instead (NZT)

Grace Neville & Paige Satchell - London City Lionesses (England Championship)

Haven’t been able to fit too many London City updates in here lately because it’s all been subtle stuff. Other than a Grace Neville banger goal in a cup game, there hasn’t been the big highlights that usually determine which players make the cut in these write-ups. No goals or assists for Paige Satchell yet... but she’s getting close. And she is now getting regular starts alongside her Ferns teammate – Neville at right back and Satchell at right wing.

Despite a 1-0 loss against Birmingham most recently, Satchell got the club’s player of the day nod for a typically industrious effort that included her closest goal-scoring opportunity yet: a burst of pace to get in behind the defence onto a through ball, where she hesitated to shoot in a 1v1 situation and tried to go around the goalie instead which gave the defence time to recover. The Lionesses were going alright in that match, early concession aside, until a red card in the second half. Birmingham later missed a penalty over the top. It didn’t happen for Satchell or Nevill or LCL on this occasion but it’s only a matter of time.

Up Next: Away to Lewis on Monday at 3am (NZT)

Katie Bowen - Inter Milan (Italian Serie A)

Back to winning ways with a 2-1 win against Pomigliano. Katie Bowen was excellent with 5 clearances, 6 interceptions, 2 tackles, and 89% pass accuracy. Held it down as Inter overcame an early penalty miss and then a sloppy concession to still hit the sheds with the half-time lead and then they managed it from there. Internazionale sit fourth after seven rounds with 13 points.

Up Next: Juventus vs Inter, 3am on Monday (NZT)

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