Claudia Bunge & Daisy Cleverley - HB Køge (Danish Kvindeliga)

85th minute of the match. It’s HB Køge versus last-placed Aalborg yet they’re struggling to break them down. It remains nil-all, meaning that HBK are at risk of dropping valuable points in the title race and with the winter break to follow the bad taste of that would linger for a very long time. So Daisy Cleverley decided she’d change the narrative by doing this...

What A Goal. Even if it wasn’t an 85th minute winner, still What A Goal. And a deserved goal as after DC had looked as dangerous as anyone all game having been given the chance to start as an attacking midfielder.

The first chance of the match was Cleverley sprinting onto a through ball and winning a corner, ultimately running out of space to beat the keeper but still letting everyone know how this one would go. From that very same corner, Claudia Bunge might have scored and preserved the home crowd’s finger-nails except her header flew over the top. One that she knew she should have done better with. Alyssa Walker also missed a close range effort a little later. HBK didn’t create heaps but what they did create was good enough to have given them goals yet they weren’t able to convert them. Although at least they kept the clamps on in defence, hardly ever looking like AaB were capable of scoring against them.

Within the last ten minutes a corner kick was cleared in the direction of Cleverley who was hunting on the edge of the area. She took a touch. She let it drop. She swung her foot through the ball with ferocity... and she ripped it off the crossbar. Probably with a touch from the keeper though the officials missed that bit. That opportunity sounds a lot like the goal she scored soon afterwards... because it was a lot like it. Very similar strikes... one a dress rehearsal and one the real deal. Main differences being that the goal came from open play and she didn’t have time to take a touch first. No worries. DC made that net swish and HBK get to take a 1-0 win into the winter break.

Let’s not ignore a clean sheet from Bunge either. She was a strong presence with lots of touches at the back and 89% passing accuracy. Her four interceptions highlighted the defensive mahi. Bunge recently missed some time with a back injury and HBK have not conceded a goal in either game since her return. In fact they have kept clean sheets in six of the seven Kvindeliga games that she’s played, allowing just one goal (and Bunge has scored one so that balances out).

HBK with Claudia Bunge:

7 GM | 4 W | 3 D | 0 L | 10 GF | 1 GA | +9 GD | 15 PTS

HBK w/o Claudia Bunge:

7 GM | 4 W | 0 D | 3 L | 8 GF | 7 GA | +1 GD | 12 PTS

That’s one goal conceded in 623 minutes with Bunge on the pitch. Remarkable stuff. Meanwhile Cleverley did have an injury at one stage too though has still been able to play in 12/14 league games, starting four of them. This was her second start in a row and the first time this season that she’s done a full ninety. A wise decision on their coach’s part given how it finished up. Did we mention what a great goal that was?

Up Next: Next time they play will be a few winter friendlies in February... around which time these two might instead be with the Football Ferns trying to qualify for the Olympics

Ally Green - AGF (Danish Kvindeliga)

Daisy Cleverley wasn’t the only one to score a ripper in the Kvindeliga this week...

Ally Green, stop it please. You strike too tough. You swerve too much. Your set pieces are too hard to handle. They’ll foul you. This was her second goal of the season and it carries on what’s been a sneakily impressive run of form from Greeny – which includes being one of the first subs used in both of the recent Football Ferns vs Colombia games. The path to the 2027 World Cup has already begun and Ali Riley recently turned 36 years old. She’ll still be there for the Olympics but the left back role at the next World Cup could be up for grabs. Michaela Foster has nudged ahead in that depth chart but Green is playing very well and at a higher level. Competition for places. That’s what we want. Here’s an even better angle of the goal...

Green’s goal was an equaliser a few minutes before the break. Opponents Fortuna Hjørring had earlier taken a 13th minute lead and they’d restore that lead a few minutes into the second spell. However AGF were able to ensure that they didn’t end the year on a dud note when Mie Lerche popped up with another equaliser in the 89th minute this time. Give it a 2-2 draw.

That’s nine games in a row that Green has started, with two goals to her name. The national team opportunity hasn’t come out of the blue. She’s been playing very well at club level this season and AGF have been a better team when she’s on the pitch.

Up Next: The Winter Break

Malia Steinmetz – FC Nordsjælland (Danish Kvindeliga)

We’re not gonna overlook Malia Steinmetz. Last week was the second time this season that the four NZers in the Kvindeliga all started, this week was the first time that all four played ninety minutes. Steinmetz’s team and Bunge/Cleverley’s team have been nose to nose all season, part of a three-pronged title race alongside Brøndby... so naturally they’d endure almost identical fates in their last matches before the winter break to leave them with almost identical records after 14 rounds.

FCN hosted Kolding and left it even later than Koge did. Wasn’t until the 90+3rd minute that Josefine Funchal popped up with the only goal in a 1-0 victory, sneaking free as she angled in from the right wing and then finishing calmly for the win. Kolding made it very tough for them and FCN have been a little short of goals these past couple of games. However they’re absolutely impenetrable at home. This result means they still have yet to concede a goal in their own stadium after seven matches. Their away form is scratchier but the home fortress is what’s got them in the running for the title. This was an important win after only taking four points from their previous four games.

Steinmetz had one or two moments getting the ball forward into good areas, though mostly sat deeper and held the fort. This isn’t quite as flash as the Bunge stats but FCN have only conceded five times in 901 minutes with Malia Steinmetz on the pitch. Same as her mate Claudia, MS seemed to settle into being an important player for her new club as soon as she stepped off the plane.

It was a wonderful week for the Kvindeliga Kiwis but wait there’s more. Because, in the one game this round that didn’t involve any NZers, league leaders Brøndby did the opposite of what the other two title challengers managed. Instead of scoring a late winner, they conceded one. BIF were 2-1 up after 83 minutes at home against Thy-Thisted only for a couple of Camilla Nielsen goals (84’, 90’) to send them to a 3-2 defeat. With HBK and FCN both winning, that closes the gap to just a single point ahead of the long break.

Long way to go yet but this is set up very tastily for when the Kvindeliga eventually returns. Especially with the championship rounds meaning that all the top teams will get to play each other again a few more times.

Up Next: And now we wait

James McGarry - Aberdeen (Scottish Premiership)

McGarry’s initial arrival in Aberdeen was delayed by the birth of his first child, but then it was straight into the action with the season already underway. He did feature as they lost their Europa League qualifier, hence the drop into ECL, but after being an unused sub in their first match he was injured for the next four. Two weeks ago he made the bench for their trip to HJK in Finland but he was probably happy he got to keep the jacket on for that one since it was so cold and snowy that they had to stop the game with twenty to go and send on a trio of snow-plow tractors to clear the surface.

But at the sixth and final time of asking, McGarry was picked to start at home against Eintracht Frankfurt and he put in a 78 minute defensive shift as The Dons sprung a bit of an upset. Despite only having 22% of possession and sitting very deep in a 5-4-1 formation, they were able to limit Frankfurt to nothing much and then scored from their only two shots on target, both direct counter-attacking moves, and that was enough for a 2-0 victory. Their only win of this group stage (they’d already been eliminated beforehand).

McGarry wasn’t so flash with the ball at his feet, although that was mostly down to the tactics. He sprayed a few passes, often short of options to begin with, and couldn’t connect with either of his two crosses. However he did burst up that wing a few times (when he was able to get that far forward). And defensively he was rock solid. Jumped into several tackles, kept his position fantastically, pretty much just worked hard for the lads. Attaboy.

James McGarry: “It's a funny game. It was a big game for us and we came here with lots of fresh legs in the team. We were full of confidence as we know we have a great squad and anyone who comes in and do the job. Frankfurt are a top team so we will take a lot of confidence from that. We went out there, worked hard, and sometimes you get rewarded for doing that with two nice goals. I'm not sure it was perfect gameplan as we probably wanted to be on the ball a bit more. But it can be hard when you are defending for large parts of the game but we knew about their quality and defended really well. The boys dug deep as it was tough out there. We are strong on the counter attack and got rewarded there a couple of times. I am proud of the lads and we will take big confidence going into Sunday.”

Now, he did limp off with a dozen to play... though he revealed afterwards that it was only precautionary. Which is a relief because Aberdeen also played Rangers in the Scottish League Cup final this weekend and McGarry’s main left-back rival was out injured.

No matter how that goes, McGarry will always hold the honour of being the first New Zealander to play in the Conference League. That’s because the third-tier UEFA club competition has only been around for a couple of years (by the way they’ve begun talking about finally getting a second-tier women’s competition, which is great for kiwi players since we haven’t had any Champions League qualifiers since they shrunk things into the 16-team group stage format). But despite its freshness, it was getting tetchy watching fellas continually not quite qualify. Ryan De Vries, Max Mata, Nando Pijnaker, Joe Bell, Logan Rogerson, Zac Jones, and Ollie Whyte have all played in the qualifying stages across the past three years and none made it this far. It took James McGarry falling backwards from Europa quals to get it done.

Marko Stamenic’s Red Star Belgrade came last in their Champions League group so they’re also out of continental competition for the season. Unless there are transfers in January, that’s it for the kiwi presence in all these competitions... with the exception of the Women’s Champions League. Doubtful that Erin Nayler will play but she was on the extended bench again for Bayern Munich in their 1-1 draw with Ajax. That sends them top of their group at the halfway stage thanks to PSG beating Roma in the other Group C match.

Moving onto the League Cup final now, McGarry probably wasn’t expected to be picked to start so no reason to get upset that he wasn’t. But he did get a solid stint off the bench. Conference League and a Cup Final in the same week. Hell of a thing. Hell of a thing.

It was Rangers vs Aberdeen so the Dons were very much the underdogs here but despite having to cope with plenty of defending they weren’t giving up clear chances. It was a knuckle-down performance amd it was working as they took things into half-time still scoreless and carried that on as the game resumed. Admittedly, Rangers did begin to tighten the bolts. The first half was dull but the second half saw Aberdeen really stuck deep and hanging on. That was the state of affairs when James McGarry was subbed on as part of a 66th minute double change, the first subs of the game for either team. McGarry on for Jonny Hayes at LWB, Ryan Duncan on for Ester Sokler up front. Trying to wrestle back the momentum.

But it didn’t work. Rangers carried on applying the pressure and eventually James Tavernier whipped in an acrobatic volleyed finish on 76’ for the lead. McGarry was the closest defender but it’s hard to anticipate a block when a dude is striking the ball sideways in mid-air. Aberdeen gave it a nudge in the closing stages by pumping the ball into the area whenever possible and forging a few scrambles yet nothing that could salvage their hopes of a trophy. Rangers won it 1-0. Bummer.

Up Next: Aberdeen vs Livingston on Thursday at 8.45am (NZT)

Anna Leat – Aston Villa (English Super League)

Whenever these League Cup games roll around, you know that Anna Leat is about to do some things. As she lined up in goal to face Durham, another second tier side (Villa got a handy group stage draw), Arrowtown’s number one goalkeeping export was making her 10th appearance in the competition across her three seasons in England (out of a possible 12). She’s kept clean sheets in half of those with this game following on from a 5-0 win over Sheffield United (in which she saved a late penalty) and a 7-0 win against Blackburn Rovers this term.

With seven changes made to the side that lost to Manchester City in the WSL the previous weekend, Villa were always dominant but struggled to turn that into goals. Lucy Parker had a snapshot hacked off the line while Ebony Salmon missed a 1v1 later in the half and the teams hit the sheds still at 0-0. Not to worry. The Villans turned up the heat in the second spell and it only took three minutes before Adriana Leon was tapping in an open goal from a Kirsty Hanson low cross. Rachel Corsie doubled the lead within five minutes. Then they did the absolutely ruthless thing of subbing on England international Rachel Daly who scored a half-hour hat-trick. Already 2-0 up against a lower-tier team in a secondary cup and you unleash your world class top scorer. That’s some savagery.

Only issue was that Leaty didn’t get another clean sheety. It was a game in which she had heaps of touches, making heaps of short passes, but didn’t have many saves to make. A few long-rangers that were comfortable. However things did get friskier in the latter stages as Villa perhaps got complacent and Durham found some decent runs in behind. Leat’s crossbar got struck with quarter of an hour left and she took a blow to her shoulder in trying to challenge for the cross before the header. She was fine, no dramas. Then ten minute later Durham had another runaway that caught the AVFC defence all out of shape and Leat could not halt Amy Andrews from scoring. A rare concession but still a hefty 5-1 victory for the Villans who will progress to the knockouts with anything other than defeat against Sunderland (and Katie Kitching) in their last group game.

Usually the cup stuff is where it starts and ends for Anna Leat but this week was different. Because after that Durham game there was one more fixture left on their 2023 calendar and it was a very important one against Brighton & Hove Albion, who were occupying the spot directly above Aston Villa in the WSL. A chance to overtake them heading into the winter break. Big game... especially after Villa’s poor start to the campaign – their only two wins had been against the bottom two teams. And what’s more is that they were without their usual starting goalkeeper Daphne van Domselaar.

DVD had suffered a head knock in the loss to Manchester City. Although she did still finish the match, she was ruled out for the Brighton game as part of concussion protocols. AVFC manager Carla Ward was even talking about bringing in an emergency loan goalie as cover but that was only so they’d have someone on the bench (which they didn’t have for the Durham game). This was Anna Leat’s time to shine. Her first Super League appearance of the term. By the way, despite the emergency loan chat, which Ward herself spoke about in her press conference the day prior to the game... it never ended up happening.

Carla Ward: “We’ll be looking to secure an emergency loan for a goalkeeper today. I won’t tell you who that is yet but that should be sorted by tomorrow, so we’ll have added cover on the bench, because we didn’t on Wednesday.”

What did end up happening was a sneaky 1-0 win for Aston Villa. It was back and forth in the first half but AVFC always seemed to have the better moments in them. Adriana Leon was superb running at defenders and making things happen. She had a goal disallowed for offside in the first half while Kenza Dali also struck the crossbar. It was getting to be kinda worrisome that they hadn’t scored...so Leon took matters into her own hands on 63’ with a wonderful solo goal. Slicing in from the right, getting around her marker at the byline then chopping infield and ‘megging the goalie from close range.

They probably shoulda been two or three goals up by then but they weren’t and that allowed Brighton to have a crack in the latter stages. Nothing there that Anna Leat couldn’t handle. She almost got beaten in the first half when Elisabeth Terland hit the crossbar but beyond that she only needed to make one save. A few high punches and claims also abetted her clean sheet. Most of her mahi was in possession. Some really accurate chips out to her fullbacks and flawless feeds into the midfield. 41/47 passing accuracy overall with those six misses all being long balls. It wasn’t a flashy performance. It didn’t need to be. Instead a completely comfortable one in which Leat looked entirely confident of her abilities at this level... and for good reason.

If you’re keeping count, that makes it three clean sheets in four appearances for Leat at club level this season. She kept a cleanie against Colombia for the Footy Ferns too. She’s not been getting regular goes for obvious reasons (namely: being stuck behind the Dutch number one) but she might just have crept up into first choice status for the national team and when she has played she can’t have done much more than she has. These are all her starts this season...

• Aston Villa 5-0 vs Sheffield Utd (Conti Cup)

• Aston Villa 7-0 vs Blackburn Rovers (Conti Cup)

• New Zealand 0-0 vs Colombia (International Friendly)

• New Zealand 0-1 vs Colombia (International Friendly)

• Aston Villa 5-1 vs Durham (Conti Cup)

• Aston Villa 1-0 vs Brighton (WSL)

Should get to add to that when the team gets back into it with a couple of cup games coming up in mid-late January. This is only the beginning of this story.

Up Next: FA Cup fourth round, Aston Villa vs Everton on 15 January (NZT)

Ria Percival – Tottenham Hotspur (English Super League)

It was a wild week of footy for Spurs but not so much for Ria Percival. Two North London Derbies in a row for an out-of-form Tottenham side but Percy was only a substitute in each of them. First was in the League Cup group stage and she was subbed on for the last half hour with Spurs leading 3-2. Crazy game in which Spurs took the lead on three separate occasions and held those leads for one minute, seven minutes, and twenty minutes respectively.

Good fun... though it’d have been better had Percival been more involved. Amy Turner’s 68th minute own goal was the one that ended the scoring. The Gunners then claimed the bonus point with a 4-3 win in the shootout with Percival not getting to take a penalty. This was another game in which Percival seemed to operate within herself. The situation will have accounted for some of that though it’s also true that she’s not winning nearly as many of her tackles as she used to before the injury and lacks the same zip in her step, perhaps just a little more residual hesitation to overcome. The style under Robert Vilahamn’s management also gives her far less opportunity to get forward. But it is what it is. She’s battling away.

The draw here keeps Spurs in with a good shot of making the Conti Cup knockouts although the bonus point loss means it’s not entirely within their own hands because they’ve ceded top spot to the Gunners. But that’s alright because they took some sweet revenge on Arsenal a couple of days later in a WSL rematch.

After some incredible footballing activities, Spurs came away with a 1-0 win – their first ever against Arsenal. They had to face up against 32 shots (compared to only 8 of their own) and held less than 40% of possession. Their Czech goalie, Barbora Votíková, made eight saves to keep a clean sheet in her first appearance of the season so safe to say she won’t be the backup much longer. Expected goals read 0.4 to 2.5. And yet Martha Thomas (58’) scored the only goal of the match.

Ria Percival didn’t get out there until late, replacing goal-scorer Thomas in the 85th min. There was still plenty of work to do at that stage though (with 12 minutes of added-time getting played due to an apparent incident in the crowd). Just to prove the point of how imbalanced this one was, Percival made three blocks and attempted three passes... and that was despite Percival actually coming on as an attacking midfielder in support of their striker Jessica Naz – definitely not how she’s usually been used this term. That led to one thrilling moment to potentially put a full stop on the result as Percy ran beyond the defence towards a chipped cross in behind which drifted slightly over her head and it turned out she was offside anyway. No dramas. This was an amazing victory, the first for Spurs in any competition since October.

Oh yeah and check out who was in the stands to watch the game...

Football Ferns co-captains united again.

As for CJ Bott and Leicester City, the Foxes finished the year by conceding extremely late (eighth minute of stoppage time, bloody hell) for a 1-1 draw with West Ham. This after a 3-1 loss against Manchester United in the Conti Cup which leaves them needing United to beat Man City in the last round of fixtures and the Foxes to beat Everton as well as praying for other results to see if they can be one of the top second-placed finishers to advance to the quarters. Not sure that’ll happen. More to the point is that CJB missed both these games as she recovers from that calf complaint which forced her off early in last week’s draw with Brighton. No specific updates other than the manager ruling her out prior to each of those matches. The good news is that she’s now got a month to recover before they next play.

Up Next: Back at it in four weeks, watch this space

Liberato Cacace – Empoli (Italian Serie A)

Libby Cacace did not play last week as Empoli drew 1-1 with Lecce. He was an unused substitute with Simone Bastoni getting ninety minutes instead... but don’t let that fool you. That was the first game since September that Cacace didn’t play some part of and he’s started nine of the last 11... including the latest match away against Torino. Two of the lowest-scoring teams in Serie A. No surprises that Empoli are worse... there is only one team in the top five European leagues that has scored fewer goals than Empoli this season and that’s Clermont Foot in France. And they’re only one goal behind with a game in hand.

When you’ve only scored 10 goals in 16 games, it doesn’t take much for a game to sneak out the gate and get away. A single error could mean an unassailable deficit (even against a team like Torino who haven’t exactly been running away with things themselves). Every missed shot carries the weight of the entire game. Even the ones that don’t miss. Like when Liberato Cacace hunted down a long free kick delivery and headed the ball home only for the entire stadium to understand that the offside flag was going to deny him.

That could have been his first Serie A goal. It could have been his first goal at club level since he was at the Wellington Phoenix. The only time he scored for Sint-Truiden it was also disallowed for offside... although in that case it was somebody else’s offside and it was much more controversial.

Empoli were already 1-0 down at that stage. Cacace was doing excellent work defending the wing threat of Raoul Bellanova but he was stranded on 25’ when Torino sent an overload and then an overlap in his direction. Helpless to stop the progress. Bellanova got through and dinked a cross over for Duvan Zapata to tower over the Empoli centre-backs and head home. A fair reflection of how the game was going to that point, to be fair – Torino had a spectacular overhead kick disallowed for an offside. Like Cacace’s later one, that was an obvious flag. The apparent equaliser from Tyronne Ebuehi, on the other hand... not so much. For a team that already can’t score enough to have one disallowed for an offside heel, Achilles himself would feel fortunate in comparison.

That’s how it’s going lately, both for Empoli and also with those millimetre offside VAR yarns. The second half saw much more of Torino hanging back to protect the lead while Empoli coughed and spluttered their way into not very much attacking output. Cacace was amongst those to take a late potshot but he dragged his with with a slight bobble. Torino claimed it 1-0.

Despite the defeat, Cacace impressed in his role. Particularly in a defensive sense where he made four clearances and a tackle, won a couple of important back post headers, and was next to flawless in the build-up. 92% passing accuracy, always able to dribble his way into a better angle when needed and with the awareness to switch the play to the open side when the opportunity arose. The Azzurri simply could not translate that stuff into the other half of the pitch, is all. Frustrating. But a decent statement from Cacace, who knows he’s got to keep making those while Giuseppe Pezzella remains sidelined with a broken ankle.

Up Next: Empoli vs Lazio at 6.30am on Saturday (NZT)

Grace Neville - London City Lionesses (England Championship)

Yeah go on then, let’s add another goal. This one was initially awarded to teammate Chantelle Boye-Hlorkah but has since been adjusted as Grace Neville’s second of the season and first in the Championship. Funnily enough, her other goal also came against Watford in a 2-2 Conti Cup draw.

This game was a 3-3 draw. Not a great result against the bottom team in the division... until you take into account how the Lionesses were 3-0 down after seven minutes. No typos. It was a disastrous start. However they were able to get one back before the break then Neville’s goal on 79’ was followed by Lucy Fitzgerald levelling up on 90+1’. A pretty insane comeback and perhaps a great result after all.

Especially with no Paige Satchell in the squad. Not sure where she was, maybe just nursing something after the international break or maybe she got early leave ahead of the winter break. Neville played the full game. As did Katie Kitching for Sunderland... though they lost 3-0 to Birmingham which sends the Blues into first and drops Sunderland to third – after 12 games there’s just two points separating first from fifth. LCL are way down in ninth.

It’s been a busy week for the Lionesses. If you remember back in the offseason, they were in all sorts of strife with the players from last year’s squad signing an open letter to ownership pressing for more investment. LCL is one of the highest ranked clubs without a top level men’s equivalent team so the money isn’t easy to find. But this week they came under new ownership as American entrepreneur Michele Kang brought them into her portfolio of women’s football teams that also includes Washington Spirit, plus she’s in the process of becoming a 52% majority owner of Olympique Lyonnais.

Up Next: They’ll be back in mid-January when the FA Cup swings around

Ben Waine – Plymouth Argyle (English Championship)

Three curious things happened with Ben Waine this past week. The first was their game against Rotherham United, in which Waine was named on the bench. Ryan Hardie was picked to start in the number nine role though his day didn’t go so well. Not only did Rotherham take a 16th minute lead but Hardie also suffered a head clash midway through the first half which led to his being replaced by backup striker Mustapha Bundu. Those are the two blokes who Waine is competing with for minutes. But there was no competition when Bundu was then clattered in a nasty challenge within a minute of coming on and would need to be stretchered off.

Thus Ben Waine was subbed on late in the first half. A first half that required sixteen minutes of injury time and it was during that time that Finn Azaz was able to tie things up from the penalty spot after some corner kick grapple defending. Azaz also hit the post before Waine himself had a shot cleared off the line from a tricky angle. Azaz was brilliant and he’d sweep in his second on 52’ to give Argyle the lead, before a Daniel Ayala handball earned the Rotherham defender his second yellow to boost the Pilgrims even further. They slipped up to concede an equaliser on 77’ which left them scrambling against ten-men for a response. A response that they didn’t find when Waine’s stoppage time header was blocked but which they did when Azaz set up Morgan Whittaker for a 90+6th minute winner. There ya go.

Some winter madness at Home Park. Three more very valuable points heading into a busy stretch of games, with four matches in the space of ten days coming up. Plymouth have been able to stretch things out beyond the relegation zone, sitting relatively comfortable with 26 points from 22 games, though things change quickly at this time of the year.

Ben Waine didn’t have a huge role in this game despite the extended run. He’s struggled to get as involved as he’d like in this Championship stuff, with only eight touches in this game proving pretty consistent for him. The energy is good. The attitude is great. Just got to have more of an influence on proceedings. He should get further chances over the next fortnight because both Hardie and Bundu ended up in hospital after that game. Hardie needed assistance walking off the pitch and had a large swelling on his eye. Definite concussion likelihood which will probably keep him out for a few weeks. Bundu had to be stretchered off after a gash on his shin and it sounds like stitches were probably required.

The second curious thing with Ben Waine this week was when he went a wee bit viral for dressing up like some tiktok fella (Cal The Dragon) as part of a team party. That may or may not be of interest to you.

The third thing is that manager Steven Schumacher has left. The manager who signed Waine and has continued to give him regular opportunities has been poached away by Stoke City, the pests. What’s more is that Schuey has taken his assistant, first team coach, and goalkeeping coach along with him. Schumacher was excellent in leading Argyle to promotion last season and at 39 years old you can imagine the buzz that leads to. But it does put Waine in a potentially sketchy position, as is always the case when a new manager comes to town. PAFC’s director of football (Neil Dewsnip) and first-team coach (Kevin Nancekivell) are sharing the caretaker duties for now.

Up Next: Sunday at 4am against Birmingham (NZT)

Chris Wood - Nottingham Forest (English Premier League)

More managerial chaos. Steve Cooper has been given the flick by Nottingham Forest with that ruthless world of professional football taking over once again. Coops was beloved by fans which bought him plenty of time... but hanging out a couple spots above the drop zone isn’t enough for an ownership that has spent some hectic quantities of cash on this squad. Nuno Espirito Santos is expected to be named as replacement any time soon.

It was a defeat against Tottenham that proved to be the last straw. The initial resistance was decent, with NFFC sitting deep and then trying to hit on the break, but Richarlison scored in first half stoppage time then Dejan Kulusevski doubled that on 65’ (soon after Anthony Elanga had a potential equaliser ruled out by VAR for an offside). From there it felt like the writing was already on the wall... but Chris Wood and Danilo were still subbed on in the wake of that second goal to see what they could muster.

They could not muster enough. Wood only got a couple of touches and was crowded out of every header. Granted, a red card for Tottenham midfielder Yves Bissouma did give Forest some encouragement, leading to some frenetic footy in the last few minutes. Forest forced a few saves including one goal-line block. Woodsy flicked a header over to Neco Williams who smashed a shot onto the post. But even if one of those had flown in they’d still have needed one more with time running out. Stink. Now it’s farewell Coops and let’s hope Nuno fancies having a big man target striker like The Woodsman.

There is some hope there. Nuno Espirito Santo’s time at Spurs was a disaster but he was very good with Wolves prior to that (most recently he was working in Saudi Arabia). He’s a big fan of back threes and usually did like having a number nine in his formations. That’s good for Wood who found himself on the bench as Cooper tried to save his job with Anthony Elanga and Morgan Gibbs-White up front (a winger and a number ten). We’ll have to see how it goes but just remember that the best day of Chris Wood’s Premier League career was when he scored a hat-trick against NES’s Wolves back in 2021. And if it doesn’t work out then hey maybe old mate Sean Dyche at Everton can get amongst a loan move in January. Get the band back together.

Up Next: Nottm Forest vs Bournemouth on Sunday at 4am (NZT)

Sarpreet Singh - Hansa Rostock (German Bundesliga 2)

Not all managerial switches are to be worried about. This one was absolutely necessary for Sarpreet Singh because previous manager Alois Schwartz wasn’t even giving him a look. Singh has more starts for the All Whites than for his club team this season – he’s yet to get more than 26 minutes in a league game. 80 minutes in total across six sub appearances in 2.Liga stuff plus 45 minutes in the cup. He wasn’t even in the squad for their last game before the break, a 3-0 loss against Paderborn (after Schwartz had been sacked following a 2-0 loss to Schalke). Hansa sit 16th out of 18 teams at the Winter Break.

But there is hope because they’ve replaced that dude with one who knows Singh’s abilities very well: Mersad Selimbegović, who coached him at Jahn Regensburg. That includes the season when Singh was unstoppable until his long injury did what opponents could not. It also includes last season which wasn’t so great, still playing regularly on the right wing but not contributing the goals and assists he had done previously. That’s still preferable to not playing at all though. Hopefully this is the dose of fortune that gets him back into the spotlight because he’s had so much bad luck with all this stuff in Germany.

Up Next: Winter Break until 21 January when they return against FC Nurnburg, one of Singh’s old clubs (NZT)

Max Crocombe - Burton Albion (English League One)

Nice yarns for Des Buckingham, the honourary kiwi that he is, but unfortunately that first win happened to come in a very one-sided victory against Max Crocombe’s Burton Albion (a team that could use a coach themselves). Crocombe made an astonishing ten saves in this game... and still lost 3-0. Oxford Utd had 28 shots with 14 of them on target. Two of the goals were scored in the last ten minutes so it was closer than it sounds for most of it... on the scoreboard at least. Burton have lost five League One games in a row and are winless in their past seven.

Up Next: The games keep coming... with Charlton away at 4am on Sunday (NZT)

Nik Tzanev – AFC Wimbledon (English League Two)

Must be cup footy when Nik Tzanev goes long with every single pass he attempts in a game (success rate of 13/34). His Dons side got off to a hot start scoring three times in the opening half hour against Portsmouth then it was a matter of managing things from there. He did concede a couple along the way but a 5-2 win sends AFC Wimbledon into the next round of the EFL Trophy knockouts where they’ll face Des Buckingham’s Oxford United in the next round. Max Crocombe’s Burton & Tyler Bindon’s Reading are also still in the competition heading into the third round.

Up Next: Lots of league action before that next EFL Trophy round but doubtful Tzanev will feature in any of them... maybe the FA Cup fixture against Ipswich on 7 January (NZT)

Andre De Jong – Stellenbosch (South African Premier Soccer League)

Last but absolutely not least... we’ve got a trophy winner. A special moment for Andre De Jong and Stellenbosch who lifted the Carling Knockout after a penalty shootout win against TS Galaxy. It was the Stellies’ first ever major cup title and ADJ can now place that winners medal alongside his NZ National League one. He played a huge role in earning each of those jewels.

ADJ has been in and out this season just like all his other seasons in South Africa but he was one of the first fellas summoned off the bench in the final – part of a triple-substitution made after the hour with the team trailing 1-0. The subs did the trick because the Stellies were able to step it up and find an equaliser through Ismael Toure on 74’, capitalising on a bobbling ball in the area. ADJ was immediately involved with top strength to spin on the ball in the area and win a corner from his first touch. A minute later he set up another chance with a header. Onwards we went into extra time... but not much happened in extra time until Stellenbosch got a red card with a couple of minutes to go. So instead it was penalties that’d decide it.

Penalties indeed. Stellenbosch went second and missed their initial attempt but that was cancelled out when the TSG skipper hit the post in the third round. But De Jong went fifth which meant that after TSG scored right before him it was sudden death. A miss from ADJ and it was all over. He did not miss. He guided a side-footed with the keeper diving the wrong way, too cool. TSG’s goal-scorer then blasted the next one over the bar and Stellenbosch won it at the boot of Darrel Matsheke.

Up Next: Saturday 30 December away to Orlando Pirates in the league stuff (NZT)

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