Flying Kiwis – February 18
Chris Wood - Nottingham Forest (English Premier League)
Nottingham Forest would have expected to breeze past League One’s Exeter City in their FA Cup fourth round tie. If they’re smart they might have even spoken to new recruit Tyler Bindon beforehand, he could have given them a few tips after he beat these guys 2-1 with Reading back in October (they play again in a few weeks so that scouting material can be reciprocal). But after seeing Plymouth Argyle knock Liverpool out of the cup a few days earlier they couldn’t afford to be complacent (that result left Forest as the highest-ranked club still in contention, by the way). Complacent, no. But Nuno Espirito Santo still made ten changes to his team from the 7-0 win over Brighton with Chris Wood among those rested on the bench.
Plan A probably involved not using The Woodsman at all. At half-time that plan was well on course, with goals from Ramon Sosa and Taiwo Awoniyi having overcome an early mistake from backup keeper Carlos Miguel which had allowed Josh Magennis to give the home side an unexpected early lead. But then Magennis equalised in the second half and even a red card for Ed Turns late in the regulation ninety didn’t break the spirit of those pesky Exeter City folks. What did get broken, disturbingly, was Awoniyi’s nose in a stoppage time collision with the Exeter goalkeeper. He also suffered a concussion and there was a stoppage of more than ten minutes as the medical staff tended to him. Fortunately he wasn’t too badly hurt and could be available within another week or two once he clears the protocols. Of course, that meant Woodsy had to strip off his jacket and get into the action for the rest of stoppage time... and then extra time beyond that.
An extra time winner would have been pretty cool. That didn’t happen. Woodsy went close with a header from a corner but the keeper made a superb point-blank save and that was that. Forest mostly dominated against the ten men but there was no way through. Outstanding effort from Exeter City. Alas, their reward was a poisoned chalice because by earning a penalty shootout they had to face up against the best penalty taker on the planet: Chris Wood. He went first for Forest after Magennis had scored for Exeter. No sweat whatsoever for The Woodsman as he thumped that thing into the net before the keeper had barely reacted. The penalty streak has been extended. Exeter City then missed their next two attempts. Nottingham Forest did not. 2-2 after extra time, 4-2 to Nottingham Forest on penalties. They’ll face Ipswich Town in the next round.
Chris Wood has been involved in nine penalty shootouts in his professional career. Most of those were in the English League Cup though there was also the Olympics with NZ as well as this FA Cup tie (there’ll be a lot more FA Cup shootouts now that they’ve gotten rid of replays). He missed one for Leeds against Doncaster Rovers back in 2015, six months shy of ten years ago. He went fourth on that occasion. Every other shootout he’s been involved in, he’s taken his team’s first attempt and he’s scored it. His teams are 6-2 in those shootouts. Plus of course he’s also scored 23 penalties in a row within games, a streak that spans Leeds United, New Zealand, Burnley, New Zealand U23s, Newcastle United, and Nottingham Forest. He hasn’t missed a penalty of any capacity since April 2016, converting a combined 31 in a row in the proceeding nine years. If anyone can find a longer active streak then you win a chocolate fish. Doubt you’ll be able to, though.
Four days later, Nottingham Forest had a Premier League fixture against Fulham down in London and Chris Wood went and did this...
18 and counting. He’s only two away from hitting the 20-goal mark that he set for himself at the beginning of the season. Back then nobody would have thought it possible... yet he could get there next week. This was a majestically taken goal too. First touch was probably accidental, off his heel from the Morgan Gibbs-White long ball, but he immediately took it in his stride (so to speak) and shrugged off his marker as he shimmied back onto his left foot. Slight deflection on the shot and the bottom corner was there waiting for it. Voila.
Despite that goal, Nottingham Forest were beaten 2-1 by Fulham. They were very fortunate to be level at the break, with Woodsy’s goal defying the way that they were getting picked apart on the wings and struggling to maintain any control in the midfield. Forest scored with their only major chance whereas Fulham were denied several times by the goalkeeping of Mats Sels. But the same pattern continued in the second half and eventually Calvin Bassey scored (62’) to go along with Emile Smith-Rowe’s earlier strike (15’) and Fulham walked away with the points.
Forest have only lost six games this Premier League season and two of them have been against Fulham. The good news is that Chelsea and Newcastle also both lost so Forest remain in third, three points clear of Manchester City in fourth and four clear of Bournemouth in fifth. It’s Nottm Forest away to Newcastle next week and then they’re home against Arsenal and Man City in their subsequent to Prem games, with an FA Cup fifth-rounder vs Ipswich in between. This could be the defining month in their season.
These two performances were pretty subpar by Nottingham Forest’s recent standards. It was only a couple of games before this that they lost 5-0 to Bournemouth as well. Of course, there was a 7-0 win against Brighton in between all that with Chris Wood scoring a hat-trick so it’s not all bad... but they have dipped away from their previous consistency of late. The team has, that is. Chris Wood has not. His tendency to convert the one big chance he gets per game seems unaffected by whatever else goes on around him. To have scored 18 goals from 43 total shots must be some sort of witchcraft. The Woodsman is an inevitability.
Up Next: Newcastle United vs Nottingham Forest on Monday at 3am (NZT)
Oskar Van Hattum - Sligo Rovers (League of Ireland Premier Division)
Few foreign clubs can claim to be as keen on New Zealand footballers as Sligo Rovers. Between Ryan De Vries, Nando Pijnaker, Max Mata, and now Oskar Van Hattum, they’re into their sixth consecutive season with a kiwi in the ranks and it didn’t take OVH long to remind them why they do this. It was tough sledding for Van Hattum trying to get minutes at the Wellington Phoenix this season. Kinda got overtaken by a few younger academy grads. The time was right for a move elsewhere and he found a tried and tested destination where not only did he walk straight into the starting team for week one but check this out...
Mad finish from Jad Hakiki... and it was Oskar Van Hattum serving it up for him, slipping that ball into the penalty area leading to an assist on debut. Unfortunately not enough to salvage a result as Sligo went down 3-2 against Waterford. They found themselves trailing 2-0 at half-time, the first goal (12’) coming after a giveaway outside their own penalty area and the second (36’) from a softly defended set piece. Some great dribbling from Will Fitzerald forged a comeback, setting up Owen Elding for a 50th min goal then winning a penalty five mins later... only for Cian Kavanagh’s effort to be saved. Within 120 seconds, they’d conceded again on the break. Hakiki’s goal got Sligo back in range with ten to play but it was all they got (despite Fitzgerald hitting the crossbar and Elding having a follow-up blocked on the line in the last seconds of the match).
Van Hattum trained in various wide right positions all throughout preseason. Very similar to how he was used by the Welly Nix. Here they used him as a right wing-back so lots of running up the edge but not a lot of getting into the penalty area. However, his crossing was on point. He got that one assist and could have had a couple more – he’s credited with five key passes by the statsfolk. Won three free kicks as well. Definitely more of a facilitating role but he did it very well. Bodes well for the year to come.
OVH, pre-game: “I’m feeling pretty confident. We haven’t had the best results in pre-season but on the whole, performances have been pretty promising across the board and we’ll have a good week of training this week. From my point of view, I haven’t been playing too much at home so it was good to get a run of games... I played two weeks before I came over in the A League so I wasn’t completely unfit (for pre-season), but it was nice to get a start and get on the ball quite a bit and start to build those relationships... But, I’m buzzing now. I’m really looking forward to it, I can’t wait to see the Showgrounds full and start the season off right with a good couple of wins.”
That wasn’t all. Elsewhere in the fine nation of Ireland, Moses Dyer also made his LOI debut. He was up front for Galway United in their 2-2 draw away to Cork City in which Vincent Borden scored an 81st minute leveller for Galway. Solid debut for Dyer, who was subbed soon after the second goal. He looked confident in a two-man strike team alongside Stephen Walsh and had one major chance to score just before the hour when the ball fell his way eight yards out from a corner... except his swivelling shot was blocked by a defender on the line. This while they were still 2-1 down. He also had a couple others where he was lurking for a rebound or a deflection and it didn’t go his way but those are good habits to be keeping. Highlights here.
The other NZer in Ireland is Norman Garbett, who re-signed with Dundalk despite their relegation. Una Foyle was also with Cork City in the women’s comp last year but its unclear if she’s re-signed with the club after they changed managers in between campaigns. Still a few weeks to go there, so we’ll track if anything happens. But Norman’s sticking around and hoping for a much more involved season than he experienced last year. Annoyingly, he was injured for game one. Dundalk won 1-0 against Athlone Town but Garbs is still nursing a long-term hamstring issue that he suffered late last year. He’s only just gotten back into full time training so this game was perhaps a step too soon. Maybe next week.
Up Next: Drogheda vs Sligo Rovers at 8.45am on Saturday (NZT)
CJ Bott - Leicester City (English Super League)
Don’t often get the celebratory posts at Leicester City these days. Both the men’s and women’s teams are flirting dangerously with relegation... but the ladies did give the fanbase something to cheer about this week. A team that had only scored six goals in 13 previous WSL games, and which had kept just two clean sheets in those matches, managed to score three without reply to beat Aston Villa. As a result they leap above them in the standings – and even more importantly they move six points clear of last-placed Crystal Palace.
This wasn’t a very eventful CJ Bott game. She only had one tackle and one interception. There was at least a yellow card, only her second booking of the season, but even that wasn’t for anything fancy. Bott thought she’d won a throw-in which she rushed to take but the flag went the other way so she threw the ball away and got snapped for it. Slightly harsh considering that the Villa player had another ball in her hands within three seconds thanks to a well-placed ball kid but s’pose it’s the principle of the thing.
Anyway, Aston Villa started quickly with a couple of good chances that they wasted. One came from a CJB turnover trying to push a pass up the line. LCFC soon got on top and took the lead on 29’ when Janice Cayman snuck in behind the defensive line, then two goals in two minutes early in the second half really stamped things down. Cayman again on 49’ and then Julie Thibaud on 50’. Cayman’s second was a stupendous volley from the edge of the area. 3-0 final score. Fantastic win for the Foxes.
Indi Riley made her return last week from what we’re assuming was a slight injury, getting half a game in the FA Cup win over Newcastle. With that in the bag, she was into the starting line-up for her first WSL appearance in two months (admittedly, one of those two months was the holiday break). She lasted longer than half a game this time, giving it 77 minutes at right-back against Manchester United.
Palace conceded early but Mille Gejl’s 38th minute goal did have things level at the interval. They were in it for a good while... until Elizabeth Terland got her second of the day on 64’ after beating the offside trap. A tantalising cross from Riley caused some confusion for MUFC and nearly allowed the Eagles to equalise again, a defensive block six yards out was all that denied them. Then United scored again through Grace Clinton after IPR had been subbed. 3-1 was the score in this game.
Palace continue headlong towards relegation but they have looked better since the new year and hopefully having Indi Riley back in action will take them further. By the way, Indi Riley also got booked this week. She cleaned out Jayde Riviere in a tackle. Half-cleared corner kick, about thirty metres out, and Riley wanted nothing more than to swing her foot through a long range shot... only for Riviere to get there first and bear the brunt to her shinguards instead. IPR was apologetic afterwards – still checking on Riviere way after everyone else had disappeared to try and restart the game. Simply a bit of missed timing, nothing more.
Up Next: Manchester United vs Leicester City on Monday 3 March at 1.30am (NZT)
Jay Herdman - Cavalry FC (Canadian Premier League)
Right, so you remember last week when Jay Herdman set up the winning goal as Cavalry FC beat Pumas 2-1 in the first leg of their Champions Cup first round tie? The first time that a Canadian Premier League team had ever won a match in CONCACAF’s top continental competition? It was wonderful. It was glorious. It was also only the home leg of a very tricky match-up and despite the celebrations and the history it was still pretty likely that they’d get dorked once they had to face again Pumas back in Mexico.
That’s not exactly how it was tracking late into the first half at Estadio Olímpico Universitario though. It wouldn’t be a lie to say that Cavalry were very much on the defensive... but they were holding on. Even if they did get a bit of fortune after 15 minutes when a direct red card to Charlie Trafford was overruled by a video intervention. They lessened it to a yellow in light of how both players were sliding towards the same loose ball and Trafford had gotten there first before catching the bloke with his sprigs.
Coincidentally, that incident was a lot like what happened later on with Cavalry defending a corner kick trying to keep it at nil-all with the half-time break looming. That was when Jay Herdman slid after a loose ball in the penalty area. He did get a toe on it but then he also followed through into the shins of his opponent. No foul was given on the field but the VAR didn’t like what they saw. Penalty and a red card. Jay Herdman was one of the heroes last week. This time it all went awry. Brutal.
If you slow it down and check the freeze-frames it looks nasty as Herdman’s boot catches the hombre flush and nudges his knee back. But there’s also a feeling that the contact wasn’t actually that forceful – much like what saved Libby Cacace from a red for Empoli last week – and that the Pumas lad simply stayed down injured to buy time for the VAR to have a geeze. There’s no doubt at all that Herdman got the ball first. And, in keeping with the lack of force idea, his momentum had mostly stopped by the time he touched the dude. Most of all, it just didn’t seem different enough from the Trafford tackle for such contrasting outcomes. Afterwards, his coach made it clear that Herdman was not the one he’d be blaming...
Cavalry coach Tommy Wheedon: “He’s played the ball first. I don’t know about the referee but I think he was desperate to give a red card because he had one overturned prior, so it was always going to be tough against that official.”
Cavalry did still keep it goalless into half-time because Marco Carducci saved the penalty. Brilliant stop to ensure that CFC were still 2-1 up on aggregate with 45 minutes remaining. But surviving with ten men in that situation was still unlikely. A second-half brace for Mexican international striker Guillermo Martinez (53’ & 73’) sent Pumas into the second round with a 2-0 win on the day and 3-2 on aggregate. Even at 1-0 they’d have advanced on away goals. Cavalry defended excellently but they only had 27% of the ball and struggled to find any attacking outlets. They were outclassed. Probably would have been even without the red card. Regardless, they’ve done something no CPL side has ever achieved before and in two months they get to carry that into their domestic championship defence.
Up Next: Forge vs Cavalry opens the CPL campaign on 8 April at 8.30am (NZT)
Vic Esson - Rangers FC (Scottish Premier League)
She doesn’t often have to earn her clean sheets with saves like that but this time Vic Esson did. One-handed reactions to tip that shot around the post. Breaking up the counter. Super reactions to keep the game scoreless while the forwards on her team messed around up the other end. It took until the 28th minute for Mia McAulay to finally bury a chance for RFC (by their standards, that’s pretty sluggish). Then two more in the shadows of half-time sent them on their way to what ended up being a 6-0 win against Partick Thistle. The last three goals all came in the final ten minutes, probably giving an unfair impression of how the game went. Not that Rangers will be complaining.
For Esson, this was her sixth start in seven games, including each of the last five SWPL games. In 11 SWPL starts this season, Esson has kept eight clean sheets and only allowed six goals in total. More clean sheets than goals conceded. She has a current streak of four cleanies in a row in league action. Nobody’s getting past her these days. She’s locked back into the starting role and it’s been almost flawless.
As for the team, well, this was a very good weekend for Rangers Football Club. Not only did they win 6-0 against a mid-table team themselves, but Glasgow City and Celtic scrapped away to a 2-2 draw which means they both dropped points and thus Rangers pounced from third up to first... on goal difference. Hibernian also won which put the Scottish Women’s Premier League in the incredible situation of having four teams tied on 51 points atop the standings.
Rangers missed out on the league title last season because of goal difference and they clearly vowed not to let that happen again, hence also the huge ruthless scorelines. This thing is going down to the wire once again. There’s one more round of the regular league and then the championship rounds begin where the top six will face each other home and away. Plenty more games for those four teams (plus poor ol’ Hearts and Motherwell) to duke things out from here.
Up Next: Rangers vs Hearts at 3am on Monday 3 March (NZT)
Kees Sims - GAIS (Swedish Allsvenskan)
He signed a new contract last month, now Kees Sims has had the honour of walking out as the first eleven keeper as GAIS got their new season underway. Okay, fine, it was only a League Cup group stage game and a bit of squad rotation is common in those things – don’t go thinking this means he’ll be starting all the league games too - but it was a nice reward after he recommitted to the club. Sims then dutifully took care of business in a 4-1 win against Örebro.
The result was helped by Örebro playing the last quarter of the match with ten men, the oppo keeper seeing red for rushing out and taking down a striker as the last man. GAIS were already a couple goals ahead by then and Örebro’s reserve goalie later gave away a penalty so safe to say that Sims was the best performing gloveman on the day. The one he conceded was totally out of his control, nobody marking a dude six yards out for an easy finish. Some of GAIS’s goals were genuine bangers too. Really nice showing from GAIS first up, putting them in prime position to challenge for the knockout rounds.
Up Next: Saturday at 6.30am away to Karlberg in matchday two of the Svenska Cupen (NZT)
Callum McCowatt - Silkeborg IF (Danish Superliga)
First game after the winter break and there was a little bit of surprise around Silkeborg circles that Callum McCowatt was in the starting eleven. Not because of any annoyances, just because he’d only made two Superliga starts this season due mostly to his injury setbacks. He’s still been getting at least twenty minutes off the bench in almost every other game he was available for but the starts have been rare.
Then came the winter break which served up two months of mid-season training and preparation and at the end of it Callum McCowatt had clearly made his mark. He’d last 80 minutes against Vejle before being subbed, the longest he’s played all season outside of reserves games (he played a couple of those while getting his fitness up). We’ll see if he can keep this prominence going into next week... because they did then lose 1-0 to the bottom team in the division.
They shouldn’t have. It was a 50th minute goal from German Onugkha, turning in a smart finish from a low cross, that broke the game open. From that point onwards it was near dominance from Silkeborg, who ended up with 70% of possession but weren’t really able to make much from it. McCowatt had one shot from a free kick. Not on target. He also set up a very good chance for Alexander Simmelhack, similar to Vejle’s goal actually, running into the area then squaring the ball only for the shot to get saved up close.
Not a happy afternoon. Silkeborg are sixth at 18 games and could drop out of the top half if Nordsjælland win their game in hand. Elsewhere, Sønderjyske were pretty rubbish in losing 4-1 at home against AGF. Dalton Wilkins didn’t play. He’d been getting friendly minutes during the break, including in a 2-0 win over Kees Sims and GAIS, so hopefully just a minor injury. That lot are in a relegation battle so they need the help.
Up Next: Viborg vs Silkeborg at 7am on Tuesday (NZT)
Michaela Foster – Durham FC (English Championship)
Not sure where all the goals were this weekend, we’ve only really got that Chris Wood effort (although Joe Bell did score in a preseason friendly for Viking FK). The English Women’s Championship usually proves to be a good source of those but that was not the case this week. We did get plenty of action though.
Durham can lead the way because they played out an incredible game at home against Blackburn Rovers. Michaela Foster was in the side, swinging in lefty corners (almost getting an assist with one that was headed over the top late first half), while Hannah Blake was left on the bench. Durham conceded just before the break, equalised straight after it, then conceded again after 55 mins. Foster was at left-back for this match (first time she’s played there in ages) and her appeals for offside went unheard as Rovers headed that one in on her side. Might have to cop a little blame for that... however she made swift amends with a trademark inswinging corner kick to set up Durham’s second equaliser after 62 mins...
Then, for good measure, and also because Durham are trying to stay in the championship race, they went and scored a winner in the seventh minute of stoppage time. Beth Hepple with a great strike, earning a 3-2 victory for Durham. Had to come from behind twice and they still got the job done. Only issue is that while they pressed for that winner they only used one substitution so there was no Hannah Blake sighting at all. At least that’ll keep her fresh for her Footy Ferns recall.
London City Lionesses remain in second place after winning their fourth league match in a row. They also have a game in hand that could send them ahead of Birmingham and into top spot. Durham are third, three points off the summit. The Lionesses won 2-0 at home against Sunderland thanks to a pair of first half goals with Katie Kitching playing a full game for Sunderland while Grace Neville was left on the bench by London City. Sunderland were formerly in the title race too but consecutive losses have left them eight points adrift in sixth.
Sheffield United also lost this week, going down 1-0 to leaders Birmingham. Decent effort, not quite enough. Olivia Page and Jacqui Hand both started and you can probably imagine that Page was a lot busier than Hand, since this was first versus second-to-last, although it was striker Hand who was closest to Shannon Cooke when she launched what proved to be the winning goal from like 40 metres out. Unreal hit. That was all Birmingham were able to sneak past an improving Blades defence, granted they did hit the post and there was a wicked goal-line clearance by Liv Page at around 1:30 in the highlights.
Up Next: International break
Kate Taylor - Dijon FCO (French Première Ligue)
Another win for Dijon, even if they did need a 90th minute winner from Klaudia Jedlinska to make it happen... scoring on the rebound after Lea Declercq had hit the post from a penalty. Phew. But once again they found a way to beat one of the teams below them in the standings – in this case it was a 2-1 victory against Reims. They’re looking good for a spot in the top four. And Kate Taylor, as she tends to do, put in another full game performance in the centre of defence. Even got herself a yellow card to remember it by (one of four bookings in the game, all for Dijon players).
Taylor’s previous yellow was a joke of a decision. This one wasn’t quite so bad but it was still a very harsh one... KT got caught on the ball against a pressing opponent and tried to get rid of the ball in a hurry, stepping into a lunge position as she did. The opponent then ran straight into her whilst blocking the clearance. It’s probably telling that the other player, Hawa Sangaré, initially thought that the free kick had gone against her. See it at around 41:24 in this video.
Up Next: After the international break, it’s Dijon vs Paris Saint-Germain at 1.30am on Sunday 2 March (NZT)
Liberato Cacace – Empoli FC (Italian Serie A)
Not gonna dwell too much on this because it was a terrible game for Empoli. They lost 3-0 away to Udinese, stretching their current downfall to two points from their past ten fixtures. Goals for Jurgen Ekkelenkamp (19’ & 65’) plus a late one for Florian Thauvin (90’) did the damage. Empoli did actually have some decent moments on attack, especially in the first half. One of those came from a charging run by Cacace when he stepped out of trouble near his own area then carryied the ball up most of the pitch before slipping a pass through for Liam Henderson on the left... only for Christian Kouamé to stab wide on the end a great low cross. Bummer.
Also a bummer was that the first goal was scored within the vicinity of Cacace – in fact at first glance it looked like an own goal. Luckily (but not really because they still conceded) it was actually Ekkelenkamp sticking a leg out in front of him to divert it goalwards. Cacace appealed for an offside but of course there was a dude behind him standing two metres too deep, having fallen over and therefore been unable to step with the rest of the unit. Libby got tripped up by the keeper as the second goal went in too. At least he’d been subbed by the time of the third one.
So, yes, terrible outcome for Empoli who are now just one point above the relegation zone. The only reason we mention it at all is to say that Libby Cacace played as a left-sided centre-back in Empoli’s trio. He can play wing-back. He can play wing. He can play CB. He’s done each of those roles on multiple occasions. They always find a way to fit him in.
Up Next: Empoli vs Atalanta at 6am on Monday (NZT)
James McGarry - Athens Kallithea (Greek Super League)
James McGarry moved to Greece and immediately started getting games. He was subbed on for half an hour on debut against Aris Saloniki, then did a full game against Atromitos a week later, and most recently he started in the match against Panetolikos. He’d only gotten one full game all season with Aberdeen prior to his loan.
This season has been tough for him, getting stuck on the bench as a back-up with the Dons. Last season was pretty tough too, with a couple of injuries slowing him down. For that reason, it’s a bummer to have to say that McGarry didn’t make it to half-time of his third game in the Greek Super League. He got replaced after 40 minutes... it’s not yet clear if that was anything serious or just a precaution. He had been playing a few games for Aberdeen prior to leaving so it’s not like he was going from zero to a hundred but it can be tricky ramping up like this. Hopefully it’s nothing to worry about. Kallithea lost 2-0 in that Panetolikos game and if you watch the highlights, you’ll see a great counter attack that McGarry instigated which led to one of the worst open goal misses of the season.
Up Next: Kallithea vs OFI at 4am on Sunday (NZT)
Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)
Subbed on for the last 21 minutes of a 1-1 draw against SV Heerenveen. That’s consecutive appearances with at least twenty minutes of action for Ryan Thomas, first time he’s done that this season. In fact, he’s gotten on the pitch in five of Zwolle’s last seven matches. These are encouraging things. He’s beginning to get a bit of forward momentum going. Wasn’t able to help his team find a winner against Heerenveen, he didn’t actually do a whole lot at all apart from concede a couple of fouls, but they’re all good minutes... more minutes than Matt Garbett’s getting. Garbs was nowhere to be seen again as NAC Breda got an impressive 0-0 draw against Feyenoord. Every day more transfer windows close, with only a handful still available to him and no sign of any movement. Who knows what’s going on there.
Up Next: Monday at 2.30am, Heracles vs PEC Zwolle (NZT)
Emma Pijnenburg – Feyenoord (Dutch Eredivisie)
Feyenoord were 2-0 down away at Excelsior in the KNVB Cup round of sixteen when they decided to sub on Emma Pijnenburg. It’s been mentioned in recent weeks how EP seems now to be growing into a bigger role at Feyenoord and right before she links up with the Football Ferns in Costa Rica, seeking a senior international debut, we saw it again.
63 minutes gone. Feyenoord trailing 2-0. On comes Pijnenburg as part of a double substitution and within two minutes Feyenoord had gotten a goal back through Mao Itamura. Then an Ella Van Kerkhoven goal on 75’ tied things up and sent everybody to a very frantic extra time period where both teams had great chances but it was Feyenoord who capitalised. Itamura (109’) and Kristen van de Westeringh (120+1’) scored for a 4-2 victory. Itamura’s second was a magnificent bit of skill, showing off a sudden turn and then curling finish...
Ah but did you notice who passed the ball to her? Yes, that’s a solid gold Emma Pijnenburg assist for the lead in extra time. Seems like most sources have misattributed the assist to Zera Hulswit but those people are wrong. It was very clearly the #8 for the red and white team, which you can see more clearly in the main highlights. That was the only goal which Pijnenburg (playing at right-back) was involved in but all four that they scored came with her on the pitch, whereas both goals that they conceded happened while she was on the sidelines. The evidence is unquestionable, your honour. Feyenoord have drawn Heerenveen away in the quarter-finals of the Dutch Cup.
Up Next: A potential Football Ferns debut in Costa Rica
Tyler Bindon - Reading (English League One)
Now that he’s got the Nottingham Forest buzz, we’re getting spotlights like this every week about Tyler Bindon. The name is out there and he’s living up to the hype with no perceptive change in the quality of his performances since the move. He withstood an aerial barrage in a 2-1 win for Reading against Rotherham United this week. No dramas there.
Reading’s post-transfer window squad only had 11 senior players, with the rest of them all under-21s (goalkeepers don’t count either)... and yet they keep grinding out these impressive results. They’re ninth on the ladder after 31 games, only one point off the playoff places when many would have expected them to be struggling against relegation. Even after manager Ruben Selles left they’ve kept up the good work under Noel Hunt. And amidst all that, Tyler Bindon might even be their player of the season.
The rest of the League One stuff sucked though. Burton Albion were beaten 3-1 away to Bristol Rovers. They made it 1-1 in the 82nd minute then still managed to concede twice and lose. First time since November that Max Crocombe’s conceded more than twice despite Burton’s obvious struggles. Mansfield Town threw away a 3-1 lead in the last twenty minutes to draw 3-3 and they didn’t think to sub Ben Waine on until the final five. Also, Northampton Town lost 2-0 against Wrexham with Nik Tzanev conceding twice within 22 mins. Luckily there are some midweek games for most of them to get the taste out of the mouth.
Up Next: Reading vs Birmingham at 1.30am on Sunday (NZT)
George Stanger – Ayr United (Scottish Championship)
Massive game, top of the table clash... and one that got away from Ayr United. It may have been a little against the run of play but they were 2-0 up late in the first stanza away to Falkirk. Jay Henderson from the penalty spot on 14’ and then George Oakley on 38’. Had the buggers exactly where they wanted them... only to concede just before the break and then again after an hour to be forced to settle for a 2-2 draw. George Stanger got his usual full game at the heart of the defence (right centre-back in a trio).
The draw means that Falkirk remain two points ahead of Ayr Utd on the ladder. It also might have opened the door for Livingston to catch them up but fortunately those fellas only drew so nothing changed there (it’s Ayr vs Livingston next week in another crucial clash). Mixed feelings after that match. They’re no worse off than they were this time a week ago but they did miss the chance to make a serious statement of intent in the title race/promotion quest. We’re only two-thirds through the season so they’ll get more chances to make their mark.
Up Next: Ayr vs Livingston at 4am on Sunday (NZT)
Michael Fitzgerald – Albirex Niigata (Japanese J-League)
New season but same old Fitzy. He was there hanging out at the back for Albirex Niigata in a 1-1 draw away against Yokohama Marinos like nothing has changed. MF is 36 years old now but the 32 appearances that he made in the J1-League last year were the most he’s ever managed in a single season of Japanese top flight footy. Aging like a fine wine, that’s why they re-signed him. His next game will be his 150th in J1 footy (to go with 117 in the second tier and plenty more in cup and lower-league competitions around that). Stoked to see him picking up where he left off as the main man at the back for Alby Niigata.
Up Next: Away to Shimizu S-Pulse at 6pm on Saturday (NZT)
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