Flying Kiwis – February 14
Chris Wood – Leeds United (English Championship)
OLE, OLE, OLE, OLE… CHRIS WOOD! CHRIS WOOD!
Those are two different awards, by the way. One is on behalf of the EFL and the other the PFA, though you can probably figure that one out form the tweets themselves. Wood is the first Leeds player to win the EFL award since Sam Byram (now at West Ham) in December 2015 with Ross McCormack winning it in November 2013 before him. As for the PFA award, which is voted for by fans on the Sky Sports UK website, his predecessor comes a little more recently… Pontus Jansson won it for December. Six goals in four league games will do that for ya, the man is on fire and of the four PFA shortlisted candidates he took in close to half of the votes. No surprises he’s also the first NZer to win either.
Garry Monk: “Chris has been fantastic. He’s one of a number of players who’ve contributed exceptionally well. He deserves this award and we’re all very happy for him but he knows he needs to work incredibly hard, which he is, and stay focused, which he is. He needs to keep contributing to the team. All of the players, Chris included, are very much team players. It’s a team ethic here and Chris is part of that.”
Yorkshire Evening Post: “None of that is the same as saying that Leeds could have coped with the pace of the play-off zone without Wood’s goals. The New Zealand international said in July that he would reach 20 “easily” and 21 by the first weekend of February is precisely that. But behind him Souleymane Doukara has five and Kyle Bartley has four. Only five other players have scored more than once.”
He even found the time amidst all this to have a sit down with the Daily Mail (a website that is no longer accepted as a reference on Wikipedia). In it he shares his theories on the mental stability of goalkeepers, how his sister is an even better player than he is (she might be, you know) and there are stories from his career as well, such as his Premier League debut for West Brom and his days at Leicester with Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy, a pair of blokes who have gone places themselves recently.
Chris Wood: “I was in the promotion side, playing and scoring goals,’ he says. ‘Harry Kane and Jamie Vardy were on the bench. They are now the best English strikers we’ve got, it just shows how quickly football can change.”
What a man. Shame he couldn’t translate all that into another win. Instead Leeds took on Cardiff and lost some valuable ground in the promotion race with a 2-0 defeat. That’s consecutive defeats for the first time since September, not really where you wanna be trending at this stage of the season.
Leeds just didn’t turn up like they usually do. Pontus Jansson was out with a virus and Leeds looked like they didn’t really know what they were doing as Cardiff sat deep against their conservative tactics, dulling the game which tends not to do well for the team at home expecting to win. Cardiff could have scored through Sol Bamba, former Leeds captain, but he fluffed up while Greg Halford hit a header straight at Rob Green. Woody put a strong free kick on target which was saved by Allan McGregor but it was scoreless at the break.
The Whites went on the offensive after HT, Pablo Hernandez was so close to finding Chris Wood with his cross but the ball was picked off in the nick of time. Then another opportunity, Liam Cooper heading over. Yet it was Cardiff who found the net. Craig Noone put one on a platter for Sean Morrison and less than 20 minutes after Kenneth Zohore finished off following Ronaldo Vieira’s giveaway in midfield. Again stuff like this happened…
… but nothing resulting in goals and Leeds went down 2-0. Liam Bridcutt was sent off with two minutes left, a second yellow card for him.
YEP Player Ratings: “Chris Wood - Did what he could to work Warnock’s defence but Leeds were crying out for a plan B in the second half. The reliance on Wood’s goals is too heavy. 5/10”
Yo but don’t tell Woody, as it happens he denies that the Whites are over-reliant on his goal-scoring…
CW to BBC Radio Yorkshire: “It's just one of those things where we're all capable of scoring goals and the whole team knows how to score goals so once people get in those situations, they will take their chances. It's probably just working on it in training, to open them a bit more to get more clearer chances.”
Up Next: Leeds vs Bristol City, 8.45am Weds (NZT)
Winston Reid – West Ham United (English Premier League)
London Stadium hasn’t been the happiest home for West Ham yet. It’s been a lot better of late when they haven’t been playing teams from Manchester but still they’ve only won five of 13 home games in the league. Against West Brom on the weekend, a team with a reputation for drawing away games… well that was the thirteenth. Unlucky for some, aye?
Unlucky for these buggers, they were 1-0 down after six minutes as Nacer Chadli (a former Spurs man too) scored for the Baggies. Although if you ask Winston and his buds then they’d tell you it should never have stood. Not sure why, apparently they thought there was a foul in the build-up but mostly it looked like Mark Noble and Sofiane Feghouli being dumb and giving the ball away. And also Cheikh Kouyate and Darren Randolph both got nutmegged.
Anyway, Winston was part of a back four consisting of himself and Jose Fonte, with Kouyate unusually at right back and Aaron Cresswell very usually on the left. Also of note is that Robert Snodgrass, aka The Scottish Payet, was starting his second game and he almost made something of a deep, curling free kick which Ben Foster tipped wide. No Andy Carroll to follow it up, you see.
West Ham naturally got better after that, though Winnie and Jose were having a bit of trouble with Salomon Rondon who ripped one off the crossbar from range – woulda been a screamer. Then Snodgrass whipped in another one which Foster this time fumbled and Feghouli thought he’d scored with a deflection… but it was flagged for offside. Understandable that Feghouli was convinced about it, an injured Baggie meant he was kept on but he didn’t see Michail Antonio run into Foster from the back, pretty standard interference. Still, the refereeing frustration from the Hammers was only growing.
Snodgrass was the main man, his delivery into the box is one of those rare skills that can look unplayable at times… sorta like a certain Frenchman that used to grace this field. Not only did he almost set up an Antonio goal that was cleared off the line but he also had a penalty appeal declined by the man with the whistle. More frustration.
Then midway through the second half they finally got their goal. Manny Lanzini hit the bat, Feghouli followed it up and this time there was no flag. From there a bit of desperation from WBA was enough to keep things at 1-1 as the game snuck towards its conclusion… until another Lanzini rocket nestled firmly in the bottom corner and West Ham had come all the way back for a 2-1 lead, only a couple of minutes left.
But they let it slip, the silly blokes. Just like Snodgrass’ lefties, Chris Brunt smashed in a scorcher of a corner deep in injury time and at the far post up got sub Jonny Evans amidst a horde of players and his header nipped off Gareth McAuley and into the bloody goal. 2-2, there you go. West Brom had the keeper up and everything. Fair to say that Slaven Bilic didn’t take the leveller too well…
Slaven Bilic: “To concede like this, it is very frustrating. The decisions were big time against us, every one of them. It is hard for referees but when you are on the wrong side of all decisions it makes you very, very angry. The referee was very bad today.”
Catch some highlights over here, won’t ya?
Winston was in the middle of the back post scrum for the goal and was one of the first to raise their arms in disbelief. Had to feel harsh after a tough comeback, Reidy had eight clearances in the game though he also picked up a yellow late on for what you’d call a professional foul. Trying to stop the counter, he knew exactly what he was doing, as they say. It means he’s only one booking away from a two game ban as well, uh-oh.
According to the BBC: “Only Bournemouth (six) have conceded more goals in the 90th minute of Premier League games than West Ham this season (four).”
Mirror Player Ratings: “Reid 6 - Booked. Premeditated lunge to try and take out Nyom deserved at least a booking”
ESPN FC Player Ratings: “Winston Reid, 6 -- Booked and didn't look as comfortable as he normally does.”
Up Next: Week off for the FA Cup, then away to Watford at 6.30am on Sunday 26th (NZT)
Tommy Smith – Ipswich Town (English Championship)
The man is back in training and he’s back playing games, folks. The training thing happened a couple weeks ago, you read it here, the games have come since. With first team boss Mick McCarthy watching from the stands, Smith got through 90 minutes for the Under 23 side in an 8-0 hiding handed out to Watford’s youth side. Got outta there unscathed as well, great to hear.
Making it even cooler is that he was playing alongside young All White Monty Patterson, who buried three goals for a hatty in the contest.
Ipswich Star: “Fellow new face, winger Danny Rowe, also starred, while defender Tommy Smith completed 90 minutes, following time out with a back injury. Rowe, who only played for 45 minutes, needed just two minutes to set up Patterson for the opener, before combining with Moore to help Patterson net his second. Fowler scored the third from a rebound after Moore got on the end of a Rowe corner, before Moore and Patterson, with his hat-trick, got on the scoresheet before the half-time whistle.”
Smith was included in the first team squad for the game against Aston Villa after that, though he didn’t make the match day cut. Ipswich have gone from barely being able to fill a team earlier in the season to now having a full on squad where there are too many genuine dudes to fit. Right now with Adam Webster out hurt, there’s an opportunity for Smith to earn his place back in the starting XI but you can’t rush these comebacks and he isn’t quite considered fully fit yet. Defenders Steven Taylor and Christophe Berra both got subbed off with ailments in the Villa game so yeah, if Smith is good to go next week they might well need him. Taylor joined from Jake Gleeson’s Portland Timbers, coincidentally. They won 1-0 against Villa too.
Meanwhile Monty Patterson’s gone back on loan to Braintree where he was earlier in the season and he’s immediately made an impact:
Patterson had just scored that hat-trick with the U23s alongside Smithy and he re-joins the National League side he played six times for earlier in the season, scoring once in an FA Cup early rounder.
Mick McCarthy: “Bearing in mind he plays in Tom Lawrence’s position, he’s not going to play for us just yet is he? Being on loan at Braintree has helped him get in our Under-23s and play like he did the other night. He wasn’t doing that prior to the loan spell. It’s a real benefit for him going out and playing at that level. I always have a recall clause. If we have five games left and nothing to play for we may well bring him back and give him games.”
Up Next: Wednesday morn at 8.45am, Brighton vs Ipswich (NZT)
Bill Tuiloma – Olympique de Marseille (French Ligue 1)
Dumb, another defeat. Tui played 83 minutes. Not much else to say
Up Next: Home to Stade Montois, 6.00am Sunday (NZT)
Sam Brotherton – Sunderland AFC (English Premier League)
Brotherton didn’t play in the first U23 game he was with the club for, which is understandable, but he did get a good long look at it. On one hand he’s coming from an amateur situation in the American college system which could mean a period of adapting for him, on the other hand he’s already played at youth World Cups and in full internationals. We’ll wait and see how things go.
In the meantime, new U23 coach Elliott Dickman had a few words about the move to the Sunderland website:
“He’s a lovely lad with a great personality so we’re looking forward to welcoming him to the club and working with him. I’ve seen bits of him before and he will add some international experience to the group, but first and foremost we have to help him adapt to the daily training and how we do things. He’s got to settle and we’ve got to make him comfortable, so although we want him to play it may take him a little while to bed into English football. It would be harsh to judge him quickly so it’s important he used the remainder of the season adapt to the tempo and our way of playing, but he’s a good lad and we want him to contribute.”
Speaking of interviews, here’s Brotherton talking to kiwi radio on Trackside.
Up Next: Sunderland U23s vs Athletic Club II, 8.00am Thursday (NZT)
Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)
They’re happy days when the PECers are able to win consecutive league games, something they’ve only done twice all season and that includes this latest lil run. 2-0 they beat NEC Nijmegen, gaining some real ground on the same opposition placed directly above them now and more importantly creating some distance between themselves and the relegation battlers for the first time in all of 2016-17.
They did have to work for this one, a couple of times in the first half they were close to going behind and it was keeper Mickey van der Hart that they had to thank for that not happening, although Queensy Menig did hit the post at the other end. But 57 minutes in they grabbed the all-important first goal as Nicolai Brock-Madsen continued his hot run of form with Menig then adding a second quarter of an hour later. It was all they needed. Ryan Thomas played 84 minutes before being replaced with the game all sorted. A real busy game from him too, three shots including one that came back off the frame of the goal whilst also slipping in four key passes. Plenty of touches and plenty of impact playing in the number ten role.
Up Next: FC Utrecht vs PEC Zwolle, 8.45am Sunday (NZT)
Jeremy Brockie & Michael Boxall – SuperSport United (South African Premier Soccer League)
His contract runs out at the end of the season but no reason to panic, Big Mike Boxall is all about getting an extension sorted with Matsatsantsa.
Michael Boxall: “I have been speaking to the club about extending, so we’ll see how that goes. I’m really enjoying it here. This season has gone really well, ever since [Stuart] Baxter’s taken over, I’m absolutely enjoying my football and results are coming our way, so I’m very happy here.”
That’s a nice way to start this bad boy. The good ol SSU fellas made it 14 league games without defeat as they smacked up Lamontville Golden Arrows for a 5-2 victory this week, a game in which Boxall logged all 90 but Brockie was unavailable for, still not 100% after his freak injury a few weeks back. Took them top of the table too, though they dropped back to third after other games were played.
More Micky Boxall: “I think where we are sitting now, we’re not too satisfied with it because I think we could be so much better off than where we are [in terms of points]. I think defensively we’ve been very solid but we just struggled in the final third [in the first half of the season], so in the recent break we worked on that a lot. Hopefully we’ll be able to also turn a few of the 0-0 draws into 1-0 and 2-0 wins, and keep pushing to stay where we are on the log table.”
Not only that but as the reigning Nedbank Cup winners, they’re entered in the CAF Confederations Cup which is effectively the Europa League of Africa. Not the Champions League but still continental footy. They were in Madagascar on the weekend to play ASSM Elgeco Plus and came out of that one with a 0-0 draw. Not the worst first leg, as they look to progress a bit further. The second leg is at home in a week. Again Boxall played the full game in Madagascar, this time Brockie got 26 minutes off the bench.
Boxall played his 50th game last week for the club, so this takes him to 52. Not bad at all, son.
Michael Boxall for a third time: “I had no idea, thanks for filling me in," he tells KickOff.com. "I've really enjoyed my time here, so to get to that milestone is probably the happiest I've felt in a couple of weeks. But, obviously, I'm looking forward to the next [game]. That's all you do as a professional footballer, you look forward to the next game and then numbers like 50 and 100 pop up, and it's a very good feeling.”
Up Next: Free State Stars vs SSU, 6.30am Thursday (NZT)