Flying Kiwis – July 30
Matt Dibley-Dias - Northampton Town (English League One)
The time has come for Matt Dibley-Dias to spread his wings. He’s made it onto the bench a couple of times for Fulham in the Premier League. He captained the U21 side to the Premier League Cup title a few months ago. The year before that he won the Fulham Academy Player of the Year. He’s featured for the first team during preseason fixtures, he’s trained with the All Whites (although got injured and couldn’t make a debut). But competitive senior football has so far eluded him as he nears his 21st birthday... unless you count the EFL Trophy stuff with the U21s. Well, here we go. MDD’s going on a season-long loan to League One’s Northampton Town.
NTFC manager Jon Brady: “Matt is a player we are delighted to sign. He has already made an impact at Fulham, he has been in and around their first team squad and I know he is rated very highly. He has had a choice of clubs this summer, I know there were at least half a dozen in for him so we are very pleased he has chosen to come to Northampton Town and we are grateful to Fulham for believing we are the best place for him and for trusting us with another of their young players. I think the work we did with Kieron Bowie and our reputation for developing and improving players certainly counted in our favour. Matt is good on the ball and he has a good engine, he is an athletic player who is mobile and who can get about the pitch but can also handle the physical side of the game. We believe he can be a good fit for us and a good foil for the other midfielders here. We are very pleased to welcome him in to the group and we are looking forward to working with him.”
As hinted there by the coach hinted, Northampton previously had another Fulham player on loan: Scottish striker Kieron Bowie spent the last two seasons with the Cobblers. That dude made 81 league appearances for NTFC across League Two and League One. Bowie recommended Northampton Town highly to MDD when he spoke to him. By all reports, Dibs had plenty of clubs interested in his services but a combination of Northampton’s ambition, hospitality, and reputation for developing younger players got them the signature on the dotted line that they were after. Also, Northampton Town is relatively close to London so it’s less of a move. According to reports, other clubs that were interested include: Wrexham, Burton Albion and Port Vale.
MDD: “Last year I was playing for Fulham Under-21s and we had quite a good season. When the season was finished, and after my break, I had a few calls from my agent talking about possible clubs I could go to on loan to get some first team football. Northampton was one of them, and when I got told about that I was quite happy. We got the meetings done and then I spoke to the gaffer, and now we are here. I feel like right I am ready to take the next step and make the jump to first team football, so I am quite excited to see how it goes.”
It’s not only the Fulham loan connection either. Brighton loaned them midfielder Marc Leonard for two years and he was highly influential in the team getting promoted, then established in League One during. He’s since completed a permanent move to Birmingham... leaving an open spot in the midfield for Dibley-Dias to swoop in and claim.
But wait because we can’t ignore another hugely important aspect to this move: Northampton Town will team MDD up with Nik Tzanev, who joined the club to be their new backup goalkeeper just a few weeks prior. He’d have been united with a different kiwi keeper, Max Crocombe, had he chosen Burton Albion. Port Vale recently gave trials to Deklan Wynne and Matthew Warbrick though it appears that neither of them are still around. Wynne gave it a good nudge with a few friendly starts but he’s disappeared from recent fixtures, sadly. Or maybe he’s just injured.
Once again we’ve got a sweet list of EFL blokes developing, especially in League One where Matt Dibley-Dias and Nik Tzanev (Northampton) are joined by Max Crocombe (Burton Albion) and of course Tyler Bindon (Reading). Ben Waine (Plymouth Argyle) is up a tier in the Championship, as is Scott Morris (Stoke City). Adam Watson is at Stoke City too but he’s still on an academy contract – hopefully he locks in with the U21s this year, where Morris will also likely feature a bit (since there’s no age limit on goalies in those teams). Marley Leuluai is in a similar situation with Burnley. No doubt there are a few more academy fellas scattered around the place, not to mention a couple of the new Premier League lads who could potentially end up on loan in the Champ or League One (specifically Henry Gray at Ipswich and maybe Alex Paulsen at Bournemouth). There’s another month left in the transfer window so antics shall happen. Meanwhile, MDD has already made a friendly game debut in a 2-1 win over Brackley, getting thirty minutes off the bench.
Up Next: The first League One game is away to Bristol Rovers on Sunday 11 August at 4.30am (NZT)
Ben Old - AS Saint-Étienne (French Ligue 1)
Prior to our New Zealand’s second fixture in the men’s Olympic tournament, NZ Football finally confirmed what Saint-Étienne had been telling us for the previous week: that Ben Old was injured and would not be joining up with the OlyWhites. Initially NZF had only ruled him out of the first game, hoping he might recover for later fixtures – even as French-based media told everyone that wasn’t going to happen. It’s a shame since ASSE had initially agreed to let him compete. The timelines don’t quite add up here regarding when the squad was named, when the injury was detected, and when he was ruled out... hence there’s some intrigue to the matter. Would have been much simpler if they simply didn’t release him at all like with Marko Stamenic at Olympiakos. Marko was due to start for the Greek side in their opening preseason friendly against Ajax a fortnight ago but was a late scratch due to injury and ended up missing all four games of their Dutch training camp. In case you’ve been wondering what’s going on with him.
There’s no FIFA window here so the clubs have all the power in making these decisions. In ASSE’s case, they’ve got a new recruit who needs to get acclimatised and who has been dealing with a sore ankle. It’s his first time playing professionally outside his home nation. Forgetting how the journey unfolded, the actual outcome is completely understandable. Or, it was until he suddenly he appeared in the starting line-up of a preseason game against Villareal on the very same day of that second OlyWhites game.
They’ve pulled a fast one there, the cheeky buggers. Oh well. The OlyWhites lost 4-1 to the USA and were kinda rubbish so Old probably got the better of the exchange, getting to line-up against a strong Villareal side featuring the likes of Alexander Sørloth, Juan Foyth, and Eric Bailly. Three of ASSE’s new signings were in the eleven with Augustine Boakye and Yunis Adbelhamid also out there. Old lined up on the left of a midfield three very similar to how he operated for the Wellington Phoenix. He played the first 45 minutes and didn’t do a whole lot besides show off his pace and energy but right now it’s all about settling in. The whole game had very unserious vibes – one of the ASSE dudes subbed himself off after like two minutes – so this isn’t exactly equivalent to a high-intensity international tournament game. You can watch the thing here if you fancy...
Up Next: Still got three more weeks until the real stuff begins
James McGarry - Aberdeen (Scottish Premiership)
Or should that be Jimmy McGarry...
Nice to see him being embraced by the locals, aye? This goal came in Aberdeen’s final League Cup group stage game. They played twice this week so after a couple of prior wins there had been an inkling that perhaps Jimmy Mac might get rotated into the starting line-up for one or both. That didn’t happen. In fact, he didn’t play at all during the 2-1 win against Aidrieonians, in which the Dons had to rally back from being a goal down at half-time.
Jack MacKenzie has been getting all the left-back starts under new manager Jimmy Thelin – a Swedish coach who was Coach of the Year in his home country in 2023 after taking Elfsborg to second place in the Allsvenskan, only missing out on the title by two goal difference points. MacKenzie’s been playing awesome, there’s even talk of a national team call-up, so no shame there on McGarry’s part. MacKenzie also scored his first goal for the club in the 6-0 win against Dumbarton. His was the opener right after half-time, turning the tide after a slow first forty-five from Aberdeen. MacKenzie also set up the third goal. McGarry replaced him after 66 minutes and you know what? He also got a goal and an assist. Clearly Dumbarton weren’t up to much on the right side of their defence. The goal is linked above. The assist, for the fourth goal, was a smart infield pass to Peter Ambrose which you can see below (3:51)...
And here’s another angle of the goal...
Nicely done, nicely done. That result means that Aberdeen won all four of their League Cup games to advance to the knockouts, where they’ll face Queen’s Park in the next round (last sixteen). This is a competition they made the final of last year, losing 1-0 to Rangers. McGarry played 24 minutes off the bench on that occasion. That looks to be where he’s at heading into the new Premiership season: not the starting left-back, but a solid attacking option off the bench who should still get regular opportunities... and the more goals and assists he can find, the more opportunities he’ll get.
As for the other couple of kiwi lads, George Stanger got full games in a 4-1 comeback win for Ayr United against Stenhousemuir during the midweek and a frisky 3-2 win against Buckie Thistle backing up on the weekend. Stanger played every minute of the four group games but sadly Ayr’s nine points weren’t enough to crack the knockouts. They needed to win by three goals against Buckie to advance. They were 2-0 up at one stage... but it slipped away. Meanwhile, Will Gillingham’s Cove Rangers never really had a chance of progressing (they’re a third tier club), though they did win their last match 2-1 away to Dunfermline Athletic. Gillingham got the full ninety at centre-back. He started three or four League Cup matches this year.
Up Next: The Scottish Premiership begins with St Johnstone vs Aberdeen at 7am on Tuesday (NZT)
Dalton Wilkins - Sønderjyske (Danish Superliga)
It was a bummer last week when the Danish Superliga served up a Silkeborg vs Sønderjyske week one fixture and both Callum McCowatt and Dalton Wilkins were out injured. McCowatt has continued to be injured, missing not only a 2-1 loss against Aalborg but also their Europa League qualifying first leg against Molde of Norway (which Molde won 3-1). Not ideal. Those continental fixtures don’t come around too often so you want to be available when they do... Silkeborg could still turn around that deficit at home on Friday NZT. Alternatively, if they don’t then they’ll drop into the Conference League qualifiers for a second chance at progression.
Dalton Wilkins, on the other hand, is back. He recovered from whatever was ailing him to make the starting eleven for Sønderjyske’s 1-1 draw against Lyngby, lining up at right-back as Sonders claimed their first point since being promoted back into the top flight...
Wilkins wasn’t directly involved with either goal, both of them scored in the first half. He did track back hard for the one they conceded in order to keep his man out of the action but the Lyngby dude with the ball simply chopped back in the other direction and scored himself. There were a couple of sketchy defensive moments down his side (including a yellow card) but DW mostly held his own, plus he also got into some great attacking positions before being replaced after an hour - he’s coming back from injury... but he also didn’t often last ninety minutes last season either. Blame it on the physical exertion required in his position. Overall, this was a solid Superliga debut for Wilkins. One more kiwi footballer in a European top division. The fact that he earned this start on the right edge rather than his favoured left side ought to be enough to sneak him right back into All Whites contention for their next endeavours too.
Up Next: Away to AGF on Saturday at 5am (NZT)
Elijah Just - AC Horsens (Danish Division 1)
Down a division, AC Horsens had a dramatic 3-2 win over Hillerød. They rallied from being a goal down soon after half-time to take a 2-1 lead, then conceded a 90th minute equaliser, only to score again themselves in the fifth minute of add-ons. Eli Just wasn’t subbed on until the 76th minute but oh look at this...
Good on Sebastian Pingel for doing the honours there with the goal. That’s a win and a loss to begin the new campaign, with Eli Just used as a substitute in both matches. Seems like he’s probably staying at ACH now with no new transfer buzz having emerged for a long time, so it’s a matter of keeping doing things like this and breaking back into the starting line-up. Assisting a very late winning goal should do plenty for his cause.
Up Next: Esbjerg vs Horsens on Sun/Mon at midnight (NZT)
Abby Erceg – Racing Louisville (American National Women’s Soccer League)
A 1-1 draw against North Carolina Courage. Erceg against her old team. It was also Carson Pickett against her old team and Pickett, sure enough, scored the goal that put RL into a 66th minute lead. Up until then Louisville had looked good but after that goal it was NCC who finally started to take control as they searched for an equaliser... which they’d ultimately find in stoppage time via a very nice hit from Jackson Riley. North Carolina then won a penalty shootout 5-4 to claim a bonus point. Lou remains top of their table after two matches. It’s only the Leagues Cup and nobody really cares that much but at least they’re getting some okay results.
Up Next: Orlando Pride vs Racing Louisville on Friday at 11am (NZT)
Nando Pijnaker – Sligo Rovers (League of Ireland Premier Division)
Nothing fancy, just a 2-0 win over Galway United which means that Sligo Rovers have won all five games (four in the league, one in the cup) since Nando Pijnaker returned from injury, keeping four clean sheets in the process. They’ve kept seven cleanies in his 12 LOI appearances. Tell ya what, time to update the stats...
Sligo Rovers with Nando Pijnaker in 2024:
12 GM | 7 W | 3 D | 2 L | 19 GF | 8 GA | +11 GD | 7 CS | 24 PTS
Sligo Rovers without Nando Pijnaker in 2024:
13 GM | 3 W | 4 D | 8 L | 10 GF | 20 GA | -10 GD | 3 CS | 13 PTS
And that’s not including their 3-0 win over Cobh Ramblers in the FAI Cup last week either. Sligo Rovers will face UCD in the next round, another very winnable fixture. This surge in form has also coincided with a few of the teams above them dropping a few points and that’s sent them skyrocketing up to fourth on the ladder, only goal difference away from third place. A title race is unlikely, with Shelbourne and Derry City too far ahead... but on current form Sligo Rovers are going to give third a good nudge and that would earn them a UEFA Conference League qualifying spot, should it come to pass.
Up Next: St Patrick’s Athletic vs Sligo Rovers, Monday at 6am (NZT)
Alex Greive - Bohemian FC (League of Ireland Premier Division)
We were supposed to get an Alex Greive versus Norman Garbett duel here (fresh after Greive made his debut for Bohs against Nando Pijnaker). But that didn’t happen because Garbs only seems to play every second game. He’s played twice so far and been absent from the squad for the match immediately afterwards on both occasions. Last time they said it was a minor injury, now it’s beginning to seem more like a plan to ease him into the team after not having played proper footy for quite a while.
So Garbs was absent from the Dundalk side... but Bohemians picked Alex Greive up front to do his darndest. AG was a little rusty with his touch, also getting back into playing regularly himself, but he heavily involved as Bohs dominated the early stages leading up to a sweetly taken strike from Ross Tierney on 19’. But they didn’t kick on. Daryl Horgan equalised for Dundalk soon afterwards and it was a much tamer game from then on. Some excitement did return in the last twenty minutes, however Greive had been substituted by then. 1-1 draw, final score.
Bohs had 73% of possession but didn’t do enough with it. Dundalk didn’t create much (missing the speedy influence of Garbett, of course) but they did defend strongly. The draw doesn’t really do either of them any favours, though neither could afford to lose so they’ll grudgingly accept it. Dundalk are the lowest-scoring team in the LOI and Bohs are third-lowest so everyone’s banking on their mid-season kiwi additions to help them out of their pickles.
Up Next: Drogheda vs Bohs on Saturday at 6.45am (NZT)
Joe Bell – Viking FK (Norwegian Eliteserien)
Huge win from Viking FK. Massive. Regardless of Joe Bell being away at the Olympics (and Patrick Yazbek now a Nashville SC player - the Aussie midfielder swapping Bellinho for Tyler Boyd, although Boyd’s now out injured with a torn ACL), they were able to squeeze past Molde thanks to a 1-0 win courtesy of Sondre Bjørshol’s 47th minute goal. Molde probably shaded the chances in a close game yet only VFK could make anything count, striking 65 seconds into the second half. It probably helped that Molde had played that Europa League qualifier against a Callum McCowatt-less Silkeborg a few days earlier. Also helped when Molde had a goal disallowed by VAR with fifteen to go after a foul on the keeper.
19-year-old Kasper Sætherbø took Bell’s spot in the midfield, a lad who’d only played three minutes of Eliteserien action prior to this (he was subbed at half-time against Molde so he’s up to 48 now). Again, massive victory. Bodø/Glimt only drew 1-1 away to KFUM while Fredrikstad drew 2-2 with Rosenborg and Brann didn’t play. That means that Viking leap two places into second on the ladder, six points behind B/G but with a game in hand. We’re only a little over halfway so can’t get carried away. But Viking FK will be in another title race as long as they don’t capitulate like they did last season. Bell should return for the trip to face HaKam next week unless the OlyWhites do something funky and qualify for the next round.
Up Next: HamKam vs Viking on Monday at 3am (NZT)
Finn Linder - Vancouver Whitecaps II (American MLS Next Pro)
Whitecaps FC: “Vancouver Whitecaps FC announced on Friday that the club has signed six Whitecaps FC 2 (WFC2) players to MLS short-term agreements for Saturday's match against Wrexham AFC at BC Place... Defenders Mihail Gherasimencov, Finn Linder, and Buster Sjöberg, as well as midfielders Eliot Goldthorp, Liam Mackenzie, and Malcolm Simmons will all be available for selection on Saturday. In addition, Gherasimencov, Linder, and Goldthorp will be eligible for selection for Vancouver's Leagues Cup matchup at Los Angeles FC on Tuesday.”
Jay Herdman’s already had three short-term agreements to join the MLS side... he’s only allowed one more this season unless they sign him to a full contract. But he’s away with the Olympic squad right now, clearing the path for a few other academy prospects to get a chance and Finn Linder was among them. Dual-nat who represented NZ during Olympic qualifying (though didn’t make the final squad). What’s more, he was even given a start in what ended up being a 4-1 win for Wrexham. It’s exhibition stuff yet this is still a milestone for Linder in his young career – let’s see if he gets a run in that Leagues Cup game for a competitive debut.
Up Next: LAFC vs Vancouver, Leagues Cup, Wednesday at 2.30pm (NZT)
Chris Wood - Nottingham Forest (English Premier League)
Another Chris Wood preseason goal in there. 16th minute in a 2-1 win against Millwall. Nothing dramatic, simply The Woodsman being The Woodsman.
Up Next: First game of the EPL is Nottm Forest vs Bournemouth at 2am on August 18... though there’s a friendly against Olympiakos before which could be funky if Marko Stamenic plays (NZT)
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