Flying Kiwis – January 10
Chris Wood - Nottingham Forest (English Premier League)
The first Flying Kiwis write-up of 2024 brings us another does of Chris Wood as headliner. Not quite as glowing as when he headlined a fortnight ago off the back of a hat-trick against Newcastle United, to be fair. It’s been slow of late. Slow enough that there wasn’t quite enough stuff to fill out a full edition last week so this one’s a double-yolker.
Two games for The Woodsman... and zero goals. But also zero losses. The first game was a special one with Nottingham Forest beating Manchester United 2-1 on New Year’s Eve. It’d have been a better story had Woodsy scored or assisted something but in truth he hardly touched the ball. It was an excellent, organised defensive shift from Forest who then pounced through Nicolas Dominguez on 64’, and after Marcus Rashford equalised on 78’ they responded straight away as Morgan Gibbs-White scored a spectacular winner in the 82nd minute.
Chris Wood played the full game but only had one shot, a left-footed effort that he scooped over the bar from outside the box early on. Bit of a heat check. He was isolated for large stretches and asked to do quite a bit of defending along the way. However his hold-up play was pretty fabulous and he won six out of nine aerial duels to enforce the point. Even in a game which didn’t go his way he still looked confident.
He did have a couple of slippery ones this past weekend against Blackpool in the FA Cup though. The whole team was dangerously close to tumbling over on a banana peel in that one. Early on, Wood brilliantly took down a long ball on the run with his knee but then slightly overran his touch and lifted his shot over the bar. Could have been an early goal for the big man. Instead his team had to dig their way out of a deficit after they fell 2-0 down midway through the first half, conceding twice in three minutes
That task began with another Dominguez goal, heading in on 39’ after Wood had held the ball up with strength on the edge of the area, sliding wide for Gonzalo Montiel whose cross met Dominguez to halve the deficit. Wood then almost levelled it prior to the break. Again running those angles into the area as Forest countered. Again leading himself onto his left foot. But, as MGW’s ball picked him out perfectly, Wood’s lefty shot fizzed just wide of the far post.
That was okay because Gibbs-White scored another banger ten minutes into the second half. Forest were unable to find a winner from there despite a few good chances. One of which was a low ball towards Wood at the far post, delivered by Callum Hudson-Odoi, which was slightly beyond reach. A 2-2 draw means they’ll have to do it all again in a replay next week.
Should they progress through that match then Forest will find themselves up against either West Ham or Bristol City in the fourth round. That pair also have to partake in a replay after an initial draw. We’ll have more on Ben Waine and Plymoputh Argyle in a second, they also had an FA Cup tie this week. Other than that, Fulham won 1-0 against Rotherham so maybe that’ll be Matt Dibley-Dias when he’s back from injury (MDD still hasn’t returned since that knock he suffered/aggravated on All Whites duty). AFC Wimbledon lost 3-1 to Ipswich with Nik Tzanev only on the bench. Max Mata got ten minutes off the bench for Shrewsbury Town but they lost 1-0 to Wrexham so they’re out. And that’s where we’re at with the FA Cup... though the women’s edition has a bumper round next week.
Should also mention that Nottm Forest will lose several players to African Cup of Nations duty over the next month or so. However one player who wasn’t selected was Taiwo Awoniyi, Wood’s main striker challenger, although that’s probably because of his ongoing recovery from surgery on a recurring groin strain. Awoniyi’s only just got back to running on grass so he’s still a few weeks away. And to be honest Wood might have usurped him over the past few weeks anyway.
Up Next: Blackpool vs Nottm Forest at 8.45am on Wednesday 17 January (NZT)
Liberato Cacace – Empoli (Italian Serie A)
It’d be cool if there was more to say about a nil-all draw against Cagliari... but there really isn’t. Liberato Cacace got ninety minutes as Empoli kept their first clean sheet since the win over Napoli in November and he was solid at the back. But Empoli are just so inert going forward. The first half was decent. The second half saw Cagliari firmly take control and it was just lucky for Elia Caprile in goal who saved a penalty with ten minutes to go (and also got fouled which had led to VAR disallowing an earlier Cagliari goal). It was a typical Cacace game in which he made a few tackles, made a few clearances, passed the ball around nicely, but his crossing wasn’t quite there and most of his touches were in the defensive half. Also he did get a yellow card for persistent fouling (three fouls conceded in this one, so it goes).
Aaaand because of that yellow card he was suspended for the game against AC Milan that followed. Which was awkward because obviously Guiseppe Pezzella remains out long-ish term and the other dude who has played left-back this season is Simone Bastoni and he was injured too. Centre-back Sebastian Luperto had to slide out and do a job. It wasn’t a great job. AC Milan won 3-0. It has now been seven games without victory for Empoli who have slid back to second-to-last on the ladder. We’re exactly halfway through the fixture list now so the revival is going to need to happen sooner rather than later.
Up Next: Verona vs Empoli at 6am on Sunday (NZT)
Meikayla Moore – Glasgow City (Scottish Premier League)
When Meikayla Moore pulled up injured in Glasgow City’s loss to Rangers in late November it was reason for concern. Not only did it spoil her Football Ferns recall but it kept her out for the rest of the calendar year. Those non-contact injuries are always scary and with no specific updates to follow it was hard to tell if that was good news or bad news.
Probably good news since anything long-term would surely get a mention. Smile and exhale. Glasgow City played Rossvale in the Scottish Cup last weekend in their first match of 2024 and Meikayla Moore was able to use that as her return to the footy pitch. She was subbed on somewhere between the 60-70 minute mark in a coasting 10-0 win against their lower-tier opponents. It was 7-0 at half-time. A cruise of a return – she probably could have played it while still injured. Now we see how quickly she can ramp back up into the starting team to pick up where she left off.
Up Next: Back to the SWPL stuff, away to Spartans on Monday at 2am (NZT)
Vic Esson - Rangers FC (Scottish Premier League)
The Scottish Cup also gave Vic Esson a chance to strap the gloves on... although she never got a chance to get them dirty. Rangers were even more emphatic than Glasgow City by beating Inverness 12-0 to march on into the next round. Even still, good to see VE back amongst it. She’s only played 3/16 league games and they were all in September. Since then it’s just been one lone League Cup match in which Esson kept an automatic clean sheet in a 7-0 win vs Boroughmuir Thistle. Rangers are still in the League Cup as well and will soon face Celtic in the semi-final.
Up Next: Monday at 5am is Rangers vs Dundee in the SWPL (NZT)
Alex Greive - Dundee United (Scottish Championship)
We’ve got a transfer! An unexpected one too, with Alex Greive dropping down a division on loan in order to get more game time. There’s a fair bit of sense in that because while he has played 18 times in the Scottish Premiership this season for St Mirren, only two of those appearances have been starts. Last season he made 12 starts. Season before he got nine. He might not have necessarily been angling for a move... but if a good one came along he was in a position where he had to consider it.
Dundee United is a pretty good move. It does mean dropping a division but with Dundee United currently sitting second and pushing for promotion that’s not such a sacrifice. Six months in a weaker division playing for a winning team should give him a chance to pad his goals tally. Coincidentally, Dundee United happens to be the team that he made his St Mirren debut against – though the most notable aspect of that game is that his St Mirren manager that day, the man who signed him in the first place, was Jim Goodwin who is now in charge of Dundee United. The old gaffer coming back to grab him for a second time as he tries to give an extra boost to his promotion quest. He’s not the only ex-Buddies fella there either. For starters he’ll be reunited with one of his old striker mates Tony Watt.
Dundee Utd manager Jim Goodwin: “Alex is a very intelligent player with good movement and an infectious workrate. He keeps a cool head in front of goal and will enjoy playing in our team given the number of chances we create on a consistent basis, complimenting the strikers we already have at the club. I'm looking forward to working closely with him again, and I am confident he will play a key role in helping us achieve our objectives for the season.”
It’s also worth considering that Greive is entering the last six months of his contract with St Mirren. He signed a two-year extension in 2022 which is fast running down and a limited role at the Buddies could make things tricky for him. It also opens the door for a permanent stay at Dundee Utd if things go well (supposing they get promotion). Plus St Mirren seem to need to clear some cash from the salary books in order to be able to bring in more players for their own European push.
St Mirren manager Stephen Robinson: “This opportunity arose for Alex to go and get more game time which was something we felt we couldn’t guarantee him at this moment in time. It’s a good chance for him to go and get more playing time and frees up some money for us to potentially add to the squad during the window. We wish Alex the best of luck during his time at Dundee United.”
Not sure that says much good about his future prospects at St Mirren, where he’s played 61 times in the SPL adding up to eight goals and one assist (remember he’s been a late sub in a large chunk of those games). We’ll see how that might change down a division... where he could run into one other kiwi international (although only at age grade level in this case): George Stanger.
Stanger, the fella who was Nando Pijnaker’s CB partner at the U20 World Cup when they shut down Erling Haaland, had played in each of Scotland’s top four divisions by the time he was 22. He’s currently at Ayr United having moved there for this season. Ayr are down the other end of the table compared to Dundee United but Stanger is a regular starter in the backline. In fact those two clubs play each other in a couple of weeks.
Alex Greive: “I’m very excited to join a football club the size of Dundee United. The team have made a great start to the season - this was part of the attraction. Hopefully, I can aid the efforts to build on that by contributing at the top end of the pitch. I’m looking forward to working with the manager again and helping the club get back to the top flight where they belong.”
Up Next: Potential debut away to Inverness on Saturday at 8.45am (NZT)
Ben Waine – Plymouth Argyle (English Championship)
The last Flying Kiwis round-up featured Ben Waine making great use of the absence of a couple of other Argyle forwards with a goal and an assist during his short spell as a starter. Since then the injuries have cleared up and sent him back to his usual spot on the bench. That began with a 2-1 loss against Southampton in which Waine did start but was pretty anonymous as his team struggled to clear their lines, let alone keep possession and progress things up the field for their striker to get involved. Despite the pressure they did manage to keep it scoreless into the break... at which point Waine was replaced by the fit-again Ryan Hardie. Southampton soon put a couple away to reflect their dominance though Hardie did get a consolation in stoppage time.
Waine then missed the New Year’s Day draw against Watford entirely due to illness. There’d been a bug spreading through the squad which caused Callum Wright to also miss this match while Jordan Houghton only lasted an hour as he made his return from the same sickness. Ryan Hardie was all good to start instead of Waine, which would have happened anyway most likely, and scored the third goal in a solid performance. However it was 17yo Freddie Issaka who replaced him for the last ten minutes – just his fifth appearance for the first team with a couple of the others being similar late appearances in place of Ben Waine while Waine was starting with the other strikers injured.
Following that was an FA Cup third round match. Waine was back healthy and got about quarter of an hour off the bench in place of Hardie as Plymouth won 3-1 against Sutton United – who are currently last in League Two. Did what they needed to do. Scored a lovely counter-attacking goal through Luke Cundle after 18 mins, a move that involved Hardie and also young fella Issaka getting a start on the wing. Bit of a scare when they conceded an equaliser early in the second half but then Hardie restored things from the penalty spot on 68’. Then Morgan Whittaker, who’d won the penalty, sealed the deal in injury time cutting in from the right and shooting. Waine had a tidy lay-off earlier in the move. Argyle made tough work of it but advance to the next round all the same.
And they got a decent draw in that next round: Leeds United away. A fellow Championship club... whom Waineo scored against earlier in the season. That’s useful. Mustapha Bundu was also on the bench for that one though didn’t end up playing. He was the other forward out injured for Waine’s latest starter’s stint. Bundu got a cameo in the Southampton game and has been an unused sub twice since. This was always gonna happen though. The key thing is that BW was able to take advantage of his window of opportunity with a few goal contributions.
Meanwhile he’s also got a new coach. Ian Foster is the new manager of Plymouth Argyle, hired after Steven Schumacher was poached away by Stoke City. Foster is of no relation to Football Ferns fullback Michaela Foster... but he is mates with Steven Gerrard. His most recent gig was as Stevie G’s second-in-charge at Al-Ettifaq in Saudi Arabia. The 47yo previously coached England’s U19s to the 2022 European Championships title and their U20s at the most recent World Cup. Seems like a good get. Fozzy was a striker in his playing days too which should suit Ben Waine.
Up Next: Away to Huddersfield on Sunday at 4am (NZT)
Max Crocombe - Burton Albion (English League One)
They don’t have to be pretty, just gotta get the job done. Burton Albion didn’t quite do that in drawing 1-1 with Wycombe Wanderers but one point is more than they’d have gotten without him. Three more saves from the All Whites keeper plus a few high claims. His distribution was a little better too, his long passing having been the one main complaint about his form this season. Bez Lubala (BA 57’) and Sam Vokes (WW 67’) split a pair of excellent goals in an otherwise pretty drab game. At least until Wanderers made a late surge towards victory... but they were thwarted by the fingertips of Max Crocombe. Two utterly superb reaching saves from Crocs. In fact, let’s clip em...
2023 really was a spectacular year for Max Crocombe. He’d already been going great with Grimsby Town but nothing that topped his/their run all the way to the FA Cup quarter-finals. After that he transferred to Burton Albion where he was initially seen as the backup but very quickly flipped that around with some undeniable performances. In amongst that he also started two games for the All Whites. One of those (against Qatar) was abandoned so just the one cap added to his tally... but that was his first international cap since 2018.
You definitely can’t accuse him of being inactive. Across all English football last year there were only three men who played more EFL games than Max Crocombe. That’s Premier League all the way down to League Two... Crocombe was one of four blokes who played 54 games. Akil Wright on Stockport County played 56 games - but old mate Wright didn’t also play international football like Crocs did.
To be fair, it’s a bit silly to compare calendar year stats in a competition that means you’re spanning half-seasons of two different campaigns like this. Especially since Crocombe was transferred in the middle. But we’ll take what we get with the stats gold and here’s another one in Crocombe’s favour...
Up Next: Thursday at 8am away to Blackpool in the EFL Trophy third round (NZT)
Nik Tzanev – AFC Wimbledon (English League Two)
He may have had to watch his team get knocked out of the FA Cup from the sideline... but Nik Tzanev did get a game a couple of days later in the EFL Trophy knockouts. His first appearance since the last round of this competition just prior to Christmas – in fact all his games this year have come in this competition with the exception of one early League Cup round.
That’s slim pickings for minutes... though he’s making the most of what he gets. Tzanev has been largely superb in this competition and it was no different as he made several good stops on the way to a 2-0 victory against Oxford United, knocking Des Buckingham’s lads out of the draw. AFC Wimbledon will find out who they play in the quarter finals later in the week, with the second half of the third round fixtures taking place on Thursday (including Max Crocombe’s Burton Albion).
Up Next: Away to Wrexham at 4am on Sunday but Tans won’t be playing that one (NZT)
Nando Pijnaker – Sligo Rovers (League of Ireland Premier Division)
There aren’t so many kiwi players who feel poised for transfers this January window, with most of the current All Whites and Football Ferns settled where they are (many on the back of recent moves within the last couple windows anyway). Nando Pijnaker was one who seemed like he might be ready for that next step. Having seen Max Mata leave for League One in England, and having been limited in minutes towards the end of the 2023 campaign at Sligo Rovers, it could have been time to make treks.
That no longer seems to be the case after he was pictured training with the team in preseason prior to it being confirmed that he’s sticking around for the 2024 campaign. Bit of confusion as the club posted about it with the implication that he’d signed a new one-year deal to remain at the Showgrounds, while other sources seemed to suggest he was already under contract. Could be a case of the club triggering an option on his deal, which would split the difference between the two? In which case we still can’t rule out the possibility of him being sold for a fee. But yeah nah looks like Nando’s staying with the Bit’o’Red for now.
Elsewhere in Ireland, Corban Piper (ex-Birkenhead) spent 2023 with second-tier Wexford, starting most games in the midfield for them. He’s now expected to leave the club with the rumour mill suggesting a sideways switch to Kerry FC. See how that goes, never know whether to believe these things or not. But he did just drop a highlights vid through one of those scouting third parties so that’s usually a clue. Likewise his old Birkenhead teammate Curtis Hughes is currently on trial with Kilmarnock and this sure looks a lot like him getting busy in a friendly for their academy side. Lots of hectic pressing from the right wing. Get in.
Up Next: New League of Ireland season kicks off in mid-February
Indiah-Paige Riley - PSV Eindhoven (Dutch Eredivisie)
Bit of winter friendly action here with Indi Riley playing the first half of a game against Manchester United. Both teams putting out strong line-ups to begin with (before rotating heavily in the second stanza). IPR played on the left wing. It was 1-1 when she was replaced. It was 2-1 to Man Utd when it finished.
Up Next: One more week before the Eredivisie resumes, with Telstar vs PSV at 2.30am on Monday 22 Jan (NZT)
Sarpreet Singh - Hansa Rostock (German Bundesliga 2)
Look, we’re not talking about the Champions League here or anything. Just a cheeky mid-season friendly during the winter break... but given how little opportunity Sarpreet got during the first half of the term it’s still relevant stuff.
Singh wasn’t part of the first eleven for this friendly against Borussia Dortmund but as Hansa made ten changes at half-time (subbing off all their outfielders) he was part of the second unit who scored all the goals. Positive developments. Remember that Rostock have changed managers since they last played. Singh’s old boss at Jahn Regensburg, Mersad Selimbegović, is the man in charge now. The switch to the 4-4-2 system that Singh was used to at Regensburg ought to help his case as well. Fingers crossed.
Up Next: Back at it in the Bundesliga 2 on Sunday 21 January at 1am, away to FC Nurnberg... one of Singh’s former clubs (NZT)
Jacqui Hand - Lewes (English Championship)
Them Champ clubs ain’t gonna know what hit them. Those streets will never be the same.
There are FA Cup fixtures next week for the ladies in England (after the fellas had their FA Cup round this week) but Lewes are already out having lost 3-0 to Ipswich in the previous round. So they’ll have to wait another week to return from their holidays but there are some big fixtures for a few of the others, with some of those fringe starters likely to get minutes in the cup stuff:
Aston Villa (Anna Leat) vs Everton on Sunday at 1.30am
Sunderland (Katie Kitching) vs Southampton on Monday at 2am
Tottenham (Ria Percival) vs Sheffield United (Olivia Page) on Monday t 3am
Derby County vs Leicester City (CJ Bott) on Monday at 4am
London City (Paige Satchell & Grace Neville) vs Moneyfields on Monday at 4am
Up Next: Poor old Lewes gotta wait another week until they face Durham at 1am on Monday 22 Jan (NZT)
Henry Gray – Chelmsford City (English National League South)
Can’t argue with the numbers. Three clean sheets in his first three National League South games. The first two were covered in the last edition, since then Chelmsford City have added a 3-0 win against Braintree Town (the second time they’ve played BT during Gray’s three games).
Gray did have a sketchy moment early in that one where he tried to shield a ball out for a goal kick then was seemingly dragged down by the challenging attacker, with the referee surprisingly allowing play to continue. The CCFC defenders got back to snuff that out though. Gray made a sharp point-blank save later on while things were still at 1-0. A red card to Dave Winfield after 33 minutes caused some drama but then Chelmsford scored again just before the break and sealed things ten minutes into the second spell, from the penalty spot, despite the ten men. Couple other nice saves from HG in there too. Highlights here. Good footy.
The clean sheet streak then ended as he conceded a couple against Worthing... but CC still won 3-2, scoring in the first minute of the match and then leading the entire rest of the way. With this win they go ahead of Worthing on the ladder and up to third place. Yeovil Town won’t be caught but two teams get promoted and Chelmsford City are putting themselves in a good spot for those playoffs. Couple of nice saves in the highlights from Gray... and the goals that beat him were a glancing header that went in off the post and a direct free kick in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time.
Up Next: FA Trophy fourth round against Wealdstone on Sunday at 4am (NZT)
Marley Leuluai - Burnley (English Premier League)
Just a reminder that Marley Leuluai (captain of NZ at the U17 World Cup last year) continues to nudge his way forwards within the Burnley Academy. He got an hour in the midfield as the U18s team got back underway after the new year with a 3-1 win over Wigan. He’s already played a small amount for their U21s team despite only being 17 years old. These are good things.
Up Next: U18s are in action again on Thursday NZT away to Blackburn Rovers (NZT)
Logan Rogerson & Ollie Whyte - FC Haka (Finnish Veikkausliiga)
Not a lot of happenings this past fortnight so we’ll serve up some more gossip. This was already mentioned in our Substack email newsletter last Friday so deffo subscribe to that bad boy if you want the ongoing transfer yarns as we find them. Usually Flying Kiwis is just for the more substantial efforts, confirmed transfers and on-field performances and what not. But we’re short this week so here we go with a couple of kiwi pros who may or may not be on the move very soon.
Neither Logan Rogerson nor Ollie Whyte have contracts with FC Haka in Finland for the upcoming season. Haka had a stinker of a year and are moving onto a new coach (former Northern Irish international Andy Smith). The club have talked about making big changes to the playing staff, with 15 players under contract as things stand. Whyte has still been training with the club despite not having a current deal. No mention of Rogerson, although guess who’s also got a fresh highlights package on the interwebs...
Up Next: Yeah... dunno
Tyler Boyd - Nashville SC (American Major League Soccer)
A trade for ex-All White Tyler Boyd... didn’t see that coming. He’d had a pretty solid year with the Galaxy scoring 7 goals with 4 assists in 28 MLS appearances – playing in every single league game. The club had offered him a deal to stick around but then nothing happened for a few weeks and then came this revelation. Safe to assume that those negotiations didn’t find common ground. In fact Boyd himself ahas addressed that on Instagram.
Tyler Boyd: “I promise you I never took a single moment for granted while wearing this shirt. I played through a broken hand and a torn quad because I love this club and I have since I was a kid. A big thank you to the coaching staff, my teammates and every worker at the club for everything you did for me. To the fans, I can’t thank you enough for making my time here special and for making a dream come true, you guys always supported me through thick and thin. I want to make it very clear that I didn’t ask for the world, just to be valued and respected and I’m excited for the next chapter where that will be the case. God bless. Once a G always a G.”
Read between the lines there and it sounds like the Galaxy tried to lowball him and he didn’t bite. So they’ve ended up trading him for a pair of international roster spots (one in 2024, one in 2025) and $150k in general allocation money – though that could rise to $775k if Boyd hits enough “performance metrics”. That GAM stuff is a weird thing that only the Americans do, it’s about how they use the salary cap rather than being a transfer fee. It’s not important. But just for context, when Bill Tuiloma was traded a year ago it was for a guaranteed $800k GAM, possibly rising to $900k with bonuses.
Bottom line is that Tyler Boyd will be a Nashville player next year.
Up Next: MLS gets back underway in the last week of February
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