Chris Wood – Leeds United (English Championship)

Two games this week for Woody and one huge highlight moment… but this was a bad seven days for Leeds. A draw with Newcastle was a better result than they had reason to expect however when coupled with a 1-0 defeat at home to Wolverhampton, it’s enough to see them slide out of the playoff places for the first time in ages, albeit only on goal difference. Still three more games to play to fix all that (might have to go into more detail on that later in the week).

Newcastle are stacked. They’ve got several players who deserve to be playing Premier League at this very moment and Rafa Benitez is out there making sure they get to do exactly that next season. In fact Newcastle even managed to sign players from the Premier League – Woody’s golden boot contender Dwight Gayle the most famous. But while Brighton & Hove guaranteed their promotion on Tuesday morning, Newcastle still have work to do for theirs.

Oh, they turned up to work though. In front of 50,000+ fans at St James Park, the home side dominated from the opening and left Leeds pegged back in defence almost all day. Possession was fairly evenly spread with the Toon taking 56% of it but with 22 shots to 4 and 19 corners to 0 (yes, you read those right), Leeds were left clinging to the heroic efforts of Pontus Jansson, Kyle Bartley and Rob Green in keeping things equal.

However it could only last so long and Jamaal Lascelles finally made all the pressure count. 67 minutes in, he was the man on hand to bundle in the ball after a hectic spell following one of those 19 corners. Rob Green then had to make a few more of those important saves he’s specialised in just to keep it at 1-0 and a good thing he did because deep into injury time… something happened.

OH YES, SON! GET IN THERE!

Yorkshire Evening Post: “With the clock ticking down on a Newcastle onslaught, Wood timed his run to meet Kemar Roofe’s cross and stab a volley into the corner of the net as the game ran into the fifth minute of stoppage time. It was a piece of quality which Monk had been crying out for from the start of the second half.”

Beautiful. It was a game where Wood was largely only a spectator, occasionally launching himself at a long ball for a header and every now and then dragged back to defend a set piece. He had one shot in the game and that was it: the goal. His opposite number, Aleksandar Mitrovic, had 57 touches of the ball while Woody had only 28.

YEP Player Ratings: “Chris Wood - The man of the moment yet again. It was all or nothing at that stage and he made a difficult chance look extremely simple. A top-class finish. 7/10”

Rob Green: “He (Wood) looked exposed at times and a bit lonely up there, but we can play badly and when Chris gets a chance and he tucks it away. He made it look a simple finish, but everyone in football knows that was a quality, quality finish. That is the standard of a top striker. You get some quality on the ball and there is an even-money chance he will stick it away.”

Then they went and lost to Wolves and painted it all in an ugly hue. Yuck. Don’t wanna use the word ‘choke’ here but… the local fishrag already did:

YEP: “They have stuttered in patches since turning over champions-in-waiting Brighton on March 18 but yesterday was the first time when Garry Monk might have wondered if his squad were starting to choke. Defeat to Wolverhampton Wanderers would have been a problem in any form. The way in which Leeds invited it left an unavoidable feeling of concern.”

Pretty much. They let Wolves in early when Domenico Berardi and Pontus Jansson completely lost track of each other and let Andreas Weimann through on goal. Lucky for Rob Green making a fine save there. Lucky for him again when he saved a volley at goal from Dave Edwards before Kyle Bartley subbed in for Greenie with a crucial block to save a goal. Plus Leeds’ captain, Liam Bridcutt, had already been booked for a hack. Then Bartley was booked. Then Nouha Dicko sent a shot about a hair’s width past the post. This was all about half an hour into the game, so you get the picture. Leeds were awful.

Eventually they got what they deserved when Dicko got on the end of a pass from Ben Marshall and scored it with a simple finish. Woody had his chance to respond with a similar (slightly tougher) ball in behind the defence but he didn’t do much with it. Add in a shot blocked from a tight angle and that was him for the first half.

Nearly won a penalty after the break though. Woody whipped in a cross which seemed to take Richard Stearman on the arm only the ref waved it off. Some attacking subs later and Leeds kept pushing with the intensity they should’ve shown from the start. It wasn’t enough. A few headers over the bar, the odd save from the oppo keeper and then in the fourth minute of injury time history could have repeated itself as Wood got on the end of a cross from Pablo Hernandez only to send it atop the crossbar to nowhere. Guts, bro. Leeds are still in a great place to finish in the top six even after this with their run in of fixtures but it won’t happen without a rise in performance. That’s one win in the last five now.

YEP Player Ratings: “Chris Wood - High ball after high ball asked a lot of him but he would have hoped to have finished his last-gasp chance. A second salvage job in four days was a bit much to expect, though. 5/10”

Garry Monk: “Of course it’s a penalty. His hands are above his head, he stops the cross going in. You see them given every time. But there are no excuses. It wasn’t good enough from us and there’ll be no excuses in the next three games.”

In other news: “Striker Chris Wood is leading from the front with 28 goals, two short of becoming only the sixth player in United’s history to hit 30 in a single season.

Up Next: Away to Burton at 2.00am Sunday (NZT)

Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)

There are growing murmurs that Mick McCarthy might not stay at Ipswich after this season. It’s been a hard slog of a season and he’s a hard slog of a manager who maybe isn’t best suited to sticking around long term. His relationship with the fans has taken a turn or two as well. But if he does leave then that’s bound to be a bit of a kick in the teeth for Smithy, who has always been a bit of a fave of Micko’s. He doesn’t wanna leave though, at least he says he doesn’t, so no dramas forthcoming yet.

And Town are pretty much guaranteed their Championship safety too after a helpful 2-1 win against Burton Albion. Hardly a clinical performance but Ipswich did take a fair enough lead soon after half-time as Luke Varney, who played for Ipswich last season, came off the bench to score a fluke of an own goal, unlucky bro. Freddie Sears made it 2-0 with eleven minutes left but then the otherwise superb young fullback Myles Kenlock went and gave away a penalty with Lucas Aitkens scored from just to make things sweaty. A deflected Burton shot in stoppage time hit the crossbar and Ipswich held on, narrowly.

Lining up in a 4-2-3-1, there was no room for Smith in that XI. McCarthy went back to a three man defence before half time but Smith wouldn’t get his introduction off the bench until injury time. Helped seal that result though… sort of. He was there at least.

Then absolutely inexplicably they went and beat Newcastle in the midweek! Again Smith was only used as a late sub with his team already winning but this was a huge result. First time they’ve won back to back all season and it guarantees Championship survival – officially now. Won’t go into great detail because there wasn’t much of a NZ connection here, so just watch the highlights instead.

Up Next: Away to Rotherham at 2.00am Sunday (NZT)

Jeremy Brockie & Michael Boxall – SuperSport United (South African Premier Soccer League)

That you with the match ball there, Jezza? You know what that means…

Yeah boy, Jeremy Brockie with the hat-trick as SuperSport United get themselves into the Confederation Cup group stage. He might not make the NZ side for the Confederations Cup, but drop an S and he’s still got that much. Having drawn the first leg away to Barrack Young Controllers in Liberia, a clean sheet would be enough to put them through into the next round regardless but SSU weren’t about to take any chances. Thabo Mnyamane took one touch and fired in for the opener after barely two minutes and having spurned a few looks at a second goal, once they finally did get it the tie was pretty much all garbage time from there on.

Not to take anything away from Jeremy Brockie, that is. He got his first goal in minute 32 and then scored two in twenty minutes after the HT resumption… before being subbed off pretty much immediately after scoring the penalty that made it 4-0. Fagrie Lakay added a fifth and that was how it ended. 5-0 on the night and a 6-1 aggregate win to ensure SuperSport joined Platinum Stars in the next round, two South African representatives in the final 16.

Here’s how Kickoff.com described the goals:

“Shortly after the half-hour mark SuperSport got their second, Mnyamane turning provider, powering his way through the defence before picking out an unmarked Jeremy Brockie, who duly tapped into an empty net.

It didn’t take Stuart Baxter’s men long to get their third of the night as Brockie grabbed his brace with 53 minutes gone, Mnyamane with another assist after playing a smart one-two with his team-mate, who smartly placed the ball past the hapless Tanda goalkeeper.

The Tshwane giants started running rampant and soon went 4-0 up at Lucas Moripe Stadium after Modiba won his side a penalty, which Brockie stepped up to fire home to claim his hat-trick.”

Sweet as. Mike Boxall was an unused sub for this one, the gaffer Baxter has been regularly rotating his cup sides so there’s nothing in that to worry about.

Boxall played 90 minutes a few days earlier against defending champs Mamelodi Sundowns in the league. Brockie got 83 minutes in there as well. But, ah… it didn’t go so well. In fact, in a reverse precursor of the Confed game, they went and lost 5-0. Clayton Daniels scored an own goal in the seventh minute and it only got worse from there – down 4-0 at half-time.

Sundowns aren’t only the South African champs but also the African champs and with that they had to go off to play at the World Club Cup and missed a bunch of games. So while SuperSport were looking flash on the table a month ago, two losses in a row combined with Mamelodi (and others) cramming in postponed games has seen them slip to sixth. And their next opponent? That’d be Mamelodi again.

Also, the Nedbank Cup defence takes its next step here…

Up Next: Home to Mamelodi Sundowns, Thursday at 5.30am (NZT)

Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)

You want some good news? Here’s some good news.

A fair distance from missing the rest of the season as was rumoured a few weeks back. There isn’t a lot left for the Hammers to play for this season but getting him into some fitness would certainly help the All Whites some ahead of the Confederations Cup. Plus a few more strong performances and he’s got a good shot at winning Hammer of the Year again (he took the award in 2013), what with basically nobody doing much for them this season anyway. Winnie’s missed a fair few games but when he’s played it’s been him and Michail Antonio (now out for the season) and maybe a bit of Andy Carroll and Manuel Lanzini carrying the load.

It was James Collins and Jose Fonte that started at centre back with Riedo out. Collins even scored a goal which was nice of him. But up against bottom-of-the-table Sunderland they still only managed to split the points. Manny Lanzini drew an early save outta Jordan Pickford with a wicked swerving free kick and then Andre Ayew was there to open the scoring for real a few minutes later, finding acres of space in the box on the end of a skewed Carroll shot. Sunderland defending, folks.

But then in the 26th minute Wabhi Khazri went and scored directly from a corner kick, how about that? Cheeky old chap. Safe to say that Darren Randolph’s poor turn of form in goal has his starting role in a bit of strife these days. Straight after half-time the Hammers were in front again, starting strong in both halves, as Collins headed home from a Robert Snodgrass corner. Makes you wonder why neither team bothered with a defender on the far post. Anyway, up 2-1 in the final minute of the regulation 90, Randolph came scurrying off his line towards a pumped long ball and he palmed it to Fabio Borini who fired it in. When Winston’s back, he’ll probably take Collins’ starting role (probably but not necessarily) but the real issue here was the goalie. Sam Byram was sent off for a second yellow in stoppage time, just for kicks.

Up Next: WHU vs Everton, 2.00am on Sunday (NZT)

Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)

Argh, not a whole lot to talk about here. Let’s just say that it’s a good thing that Zwolle are still four points ahead of the relegation playoff spots because they got annihilated by Groningen this week. A team that was only a point ahead of them on the table and they got smoked 5-1.

It was basically a worst case scenario first half. Bryan Linssen scored the first one, Mimoun Mahi added another five minutes later and they were 2-0 down inside 20 minutes. Linssen then added another before the break, a second assist for Oussama Idrissi, and it was ugly as hell. Nicolai Brock-Madsen scored straight after the break to give the PECers a chance and he came close to pulling a second one back but his follow-up from Queensy Menig’s shot was also saved. Mahi made it 4-1 in minute 53 and sub Ajdin Hrustic added icing to the cake late on. Hrustic’s an Aussie too, goddammit. It was his first professional goal.

Zwolle uncharacteristically played a 4-4-2 shape which saw Thommo deployed out wide on the right. Not his usual place and perhaps not a system they try again in a hurry. Thomas played the full game with one shot on target and one key pass, plenty of touches too, but not really enough in and around the opposition penalty area.

Up Next: Home to Heracles, 5.45am Sunday (NZT)

Jake Gleeson – Portland Timbers (American Major League Soccer)

It was a second loss of the season for Portland and a first at home when they dropped 1-0 to Kansas City – a first home defeat in eight games all up. They’re still top of their conference but with other teams having played fewer games, they’re vulnerable. To be fair to Sporting KC, they’re an unbeaten team and they played very well here, dominating the ball and creating the better chances, but it also wasn’t anywhere near Peak Timbers like they’ve shown previously this season.

Dom Dwyer scored the only goal eight minutes after half-time, burying one from a cross. In a scrappy game against the best defence in the MLS (i.e. Kansas), that was the deciding factor. As Timbers coach Caleb Porter said, it was otherwise a fairly even game, decided by one mistake. But at least it wasn’t a Jake Gleeson mistake. He was in pretty good form himself.

Oregon Live: “Kansas City continued to pressure Portland after the goal. Timbers goalkeeper Jake Gleeson made a tremendous kick save to deny Gerso Fernandes in the 60th minute and stopped a free kick in the 65th minute.”

Here are some words he had before the game, after training during the week.

This was also the first ever double-header MLS/NWSL match at the venue as well and the women had done their bit with a 2-0 win over the Orlando Pride. First weekend of competition for those lasses, no kiwis involved in that game though.

Kiwis on NWSL rosters for the 2017-18 season:

• Rebekah Stott (Seattle Reign)
• Rosie White (Boston Breakers)
• Abby Erceg (NC Courage)
• Katie Bowen (FC Kansas City)

And while we’re in America…

Cheeky goal for Chris James there, while shout out to Deklan Wynne on getting named in the USL team of the week for last week.

Up Next: Porty vs Vancouver Whitecaps @ 8.00am Sunday (NZT)

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