Chris Wood - Nottingham Forest (English Premier League)

Every game he plays is an opportunity for Chris Wood to score goals. The form he has been in lately, the opposition doesn’t even matter. Chelsea. Tahiti. Malaysia. Crystal Palace. No dramas in sight. And we can add Leicester City to that list because take a look at this bad boy...

Oh yes, that’s how it’s done. Magnificent awareness of where the goal is to strike that sucker on the spin and pick out the bottom corner so perfectly. That’s prime stuff. Authentic.

It was also a goal to give his team the lead, this after an enjoyable first half in which Ryan Yates had scored a banger for Forest (16’) but Jamie Vardy had swiftly equalised for the Foxes (23’). Chris Wood had barely been involved outside of his usual tireless work off the ball and a few unrewarded runs into the box hoping for crosses to come his way, so to pounce like that two minutes into the second half was further proof of a man who is completely locked in on the footy pitch right now. But The Woodsman didn’t only score that one, he also stayed alert to punish some poor Leicester defending on the hour for his second of the day...

That was the goal that clinched it. Leicester City were pretty average after the break and Forest punished them for it with a 3-1 win that sent them temporarily up to fifth place on the ladder (now seventh after the full round of fixtures). An amazing Friday night away day for the fans and Woodsy clearly loved it too. It would have been even more amazing if he’d stuck around and completed a third EPL hat-trick, but that wasn’t to be. His first hatty came for Burnley against Wolves – who were managed by Nuno Espirito Santo at the time – and his second came for Nottm Forest against his previous club Newcastle United (managed by Eddie Howe). If he’d scored one against Steve Cooper’s Leicester City then that would’ve been three three-fors and all of them against managers that he’s played under.

Instead he got subbed off with ten mins to go against the Foxes, getting a huge standing ovation from the visiting fans (and maybe even some of the home crew since he did once play for LCFC himself), and then quickly whipping his boot off to get some ice on his foot. He’d been visibly limping just prior to coming off, no need to risk anything. It seemed to happen as he fell backwards competing for a header with Boubakary Soumaré. Got his foot trod on. He’ll be alright.

What that means is that Chris Wood has scored seven goals in nine Premier League games this season. He’s already halfway to matching his record haul in a campaign. He’s third-equal in the Golden Boot ranks with more goals than the entire Crystal Palace or Southampton squads. Since Nuno Espirito Santo took over as NFFC manager, Wood has scored 18 goals in 25 matches... and that’s not including his cup and international strikes. It’s legendary stuff. He’s about to turn 33 years of age and is in the form of his life – and as someone whose game is built on strength rather than speed, there’s no reason to think he can’t continue this for several more years. In which case there will be plenty more of these to add to the collection...

He’s scored those seven goals from 3.7 xG so this current streak can’t last forever. Gotta even out at some stage. But damn it’s been glorious to witness. A good old fashioned centre-forward banging goals away, giving credit to his coach and the teammates around him. To think that Nottingham Forest tried so hard to bring in a new striker during the previous window and now he’s three goals away from becoming Forest’s all-time leading Premier League scorer. This season Forest have scored 11 Prem goals and Woodsy’s bagged seven of them.

The Athletic: “Wood’s seven goals represent 64 per cent of the 11 goals Nuno Espirito Santo’s side have mustered this season — no player has provided a bigger percentage of their side’s goals. Haaland is next with 53 per cent (10 of Manchester City’s 19). What makes it even more impressive is that Wood has achieved all of this from only 19 shots in his nine league appearances. His conversion rate of 36.8 per cent is the best in the division among players who made five or more shots. Haaland’s goals, in comparison, have come from 35 shots at a conversion rate of 28.6 per cent. Only Haaland (23) and Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah (16) have had more shots on target than Wood (13).”

The only thing left to ponder is when that contract extension is gonna happen. Every passing week has potentially been adding more currency to his asking price, so NFFC have surely gotta get that done soon. There were already rumours of talks getting underway where prying eyes couldn’t see... now The Telegraph have led the charge in reporting those extension chats loudly and proudly. Expecting a 2.5 year contract, no doubt with improved wages (not the worst time for a payrise when you’ve just announced that you and the missus are expecting your first child – not that a bloke with 200+ games of Premier League experience would be scrounging). Sweet as. When you’re getting extended segments with Jamie Carragher on Sky Sport you really shouldn’t be chilling on an expiring deal...

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

Elijah Just - SKN St. Pölten (Austrian Erste Liga)

Chris Wood wasn’t the only bloke to score immediately before the international break, score in both All Whites games during the window, and then continue that form afterwards. Eli Just can tick off all three of those objectives himself. Just didn’t find the net in a 0-0 draw against Liefering last week but check this out...

Yeah alright bro we get the idea. That’s four goals in his past five matches for club and country and three of those goals have come from outside the penalty area. We’ve got a trademark move developing, folks.

This latest one came midway through the second half of an SKN St. Pölten match away against FC Horn. They’d had a great start, with Ramiz Harakate giving them the lead in only the second minute, and could have soon been up further. Eli Just dropped a shimmy in the area to go past a defender but his touch escaped him before he could shoot past the keeper. He still managed to squeeze the ball back for a teammate but a lunging block diverted that shot out for a corner. St Polten gave away a penalty late in the first half only for their keeper to save it. However, they conceded from the resulting corner and then conceded again to be 2-1 down at half-time.

Their second half was awesome though. Equalised on 53’ as Winfried Amoah scored a diving header. Just gave them the lead on 67’ with his wonder goal. Then Harakate flipped one in on 89’ to clinch a 4-2 victory. Exactly what they needed having parted ways with their previous manager during the international break. Turkish boss Tugberk Tanrivermis has since taken over, joining from the Roma U18 job, and he’s now got his first win with the club (after starting with the draw last week). St Pölten are up to tenth on the standings with 13 points from 11 matches. Breaking it down further, they have 11 points from 6 games when Eli Just plays and 2 points from 5 games when he didn’t.

Up Next: Home against Sturm Graz 2 at 6am on Saturday (NZT)

Finn Surman - Portland Timbers (American Major League Soccer)

No doubt still riding high from his Portland debut, Finn Surman found himself sitting on the bench for a play-in game at home against the Vancouver Whitecaps. Eight seed in the playoffs on the line. Vancouver were supposed to host it as the highest-finishers on the table but their stadium was double-booked so for some reason the Timbers got to have the game at their ground instead. When asked about it at the pre-game presser, PT coach Phil Neville said that God must be a Timbers fan.

A day later while bathing in the afterglow of a 5-0 victory for his team, Vancouver Whitecaps head coach Vanni Sartini said: “God can be a Timbers fan but God doesn't exist for me”. Controversial sentiment, perhaps, but one heck of a bar to be dropping in a press conference after his team absolutely blew away their opponents. It was ugly. Probably a good thing that Surman was only on the bench for most of it (although maybe he’d have fixed it, we’ll never know). Ryan Gauld scored a hatty (20’, 31’, 59’) while Brian White (24’) and Stuart Armstrong (51’) also got goals for the ‘Caps. Neville made a half-time triple sub with his team down three and ten minutes later they were down five, with the Neviller bemoaning afterwards that his boys just weren’t up for it like they should have, further implying that a few players would pay the consequences. Their star player, Evander, then criticised team management on social media so yeah they’ve got some stuff to figure out.

Sad thing is, the Timbers were supposed to be the form team heading into this game... the last time the Vancouver Whitecaps won a playoff game was back in 2017 when Stefan Marinovic was in goal. But there was one silver lining to the hiding because the game was such a write-off that there was no reason not to throw Finn Surman out there for some additional experience...

Surman got the last eight minutes, coming on with a bunch of instructions as the Timbers shuffled some deck chairs on the Titanic before their season submerged for good. His first home appearance for Surman and it was a postseason match. Given the state of that Timbers defence, and his very promising debut, and the fact that his combative and courageous and defiant defensive stylings seem to match perfectly with exactly what this team needs... you’ve gotta think his first eleven prospects could be brewing when the Timbers get back into it next year.

Up Next: Feels like he only just got started but nope that’s the end of his season

Kees Sims - GAIS (Swedish Allsvenskan)

62 minutes into GAIS’s trip to Mjällby, they took the lead when Chovanie Amatkarijo flexed a bit of pace and strength (a lot of it, actually) to get in behind the defence and score.

72 minutes into the game, they were reduced to ten men when keeper Mergim Krasniqi found himself way outside his penalty area facing a speedy counter attack and he simply lunged himself at Timo Stavitski’s feet and took him out.

That’s a red card, son. Weirdly, it was not so dissimilar to a red card that Kees Sims got back in August – on that occasion it was a handball that did the deed rather than a foul but the outcome was the same. Except that this time it was Sims who had to jump up off the bench and prepare himself in a hurry, subbed on in place of goal-scorer Amatkarijo in the wake of that sending-off. His task was to try and preserve that delicate lead against a team above them on the table who now had the momentum in the match. How’d that go for him? Well, this save was absolutely golden...

But alas the resistance only lasted for eight minutes and fifty-eight seconds of the nine minutes of stoppage time that was called for. Sims was beaten with almost the last act of the game, a magnificent glancing header from Per Arvid Brorsson that flicked in off the far post. No chance of stopping that.

Nevertheless, he put on a good display. Three saves overall plus some good stuff against the high ball. His passing accuracy was awful but only because his team were so backs-to-the-wall by then that he had to fling it long every time. And crucially he’s now in line to add a seventh league appearance next week while Krasniqi is serving his suspension. Sometimes the red cards go against you, sometimes they work in your favour.

Up Next: Häcken vs GAIS at 2am on Monday (NZT)

Gabi Rennie - Åland United (Finnish Kansallinen Liiga)

Following on from last week’s wrap-up of Gabi Rennie’s year with Åland United... she’s gone and won herself a trophy at the club awards too: årets lagkamrat. That translates literally to Teammate of the Year. So, player’s player kinda thing. A reminder that Rennie had 6 goals and 7 assists in 20 Kansalinnen Liiga matches, plus she also scored a double in her only cup appearance. It was a really great campaign and her teammates recognised it.

Up Next: She’ll be off-contract now so decisions may need to be made during her holidays

Sarpreet Singh - União de Leiria (Portuguese Liga 2)

Now that’s a sight for sore eyes. Sarpreet Singh signed with UD Leiria right about the same time as Elijah Just signed with SKN St. Pölten yet Just has already made six appearances for his new club plus four more for the All Whites in that time. Singh, meanwhile, had a wee knock that ruled him out of the September internationals and since then has been working his way towards match fitness behind the scenes. But he finally got where he needed to get to this week and was named on the bench for a Liga 2 game away to Mafra.

Singh was subbed on after 66 minutes. UD Leiria had been in a hole down 2-0 to a pair of Stanley Iheanacho goals (34’, 47’) but they’d gotten one back to make it 2-1 and were pushing for an equaliser. Didn’t really get a whole lot of Singh magic in there as he tended to have to dip deeper into midfield to try and progress that ball forward... and there weren’t many touches at that. He did concede two fouls though. Ordinarily that’d be a bad thing but in this case it at least shows he was getting stuck in during his first game back. Ultimately, UDL’s big chance came in the 83rd minute when they won a slightly soft penalty kick but Brazilian striker Daniel dos Anjos missed the thing off the post so they went down 2-1.

UD Leiria have only won one of their past five games, falling into a slump that’s left them one measly spot above the relegation playoff. Mafra were themselves in the drop zone until leapfrogging UDL with this result. Still early days. And anyway they’ve got Sarpreet Singh on their side now. This was Singh’s first game of proper footy since NZ’s 3-0 loss to France at the Olympics on 31 July and his first club game since getting sent off for Hansa Rostock on 4 April. Back in business. Let’s go.

Up Next: UDL vs Leixões at 4.30am on Monday (NZT)

Ben Old - AS Saint-Étienne (French Ligue 1)

Translation: “The New Zealand international, who suffered a sprained knee, underwent successful surgery today, Thursday. He suffered an injury to the internal lateral ligament and the meniscus, and the winger will be unavailable between four and six months. The entire club gives him its full support and wishes him a speedy recovery.”

And there we have our answer. Good news and bad news. The bad being that he’s going to miss 4-6 months in recovery having already undergone knee surgery. The good news is that there was no damage to the anterior or posterior cruciate which would have probably meant 9+ months on the sideline and a very premature end to his first season in France. This way he’s a chance to return before the end of things, which is crucial since the club are likely to remain in a relegation battle. Old has played six Ligue 1 matches to date. Five of those were starts. 378 minutes in total. He’s got a four year contract so nothing to worry about there.

Cool to see the ASSE lads wearing “Get well soon Oldie” shirts during pre-game warm-ups this week. Unfortunately they did lost 4-2 away to Angers, but the sentiment was lovely...

Up Next: The road to recovery

Callum McCowatt - Silkeborg IF (Danish Superliga)

Midweek cup footy and a goal for Callum McCowatt, playing an hour of what turned out to be a 6-0 win (it was already five when he was subbed so they cooled off after that). The game wasn’t televised but with luck we’ll see some highlights in the next day or two... stay tuned to the TNC socials just in case. McCowatt also played an energetic 45 minutes of a 1-1 draw against Aalborg a few days earlier. Subbed on at half-time in search of an equaliser that his team finally discovered in stoppage time. These were only his second and third games back after injury so great to see him already this prominent again.

Up Next: Tuesday at 7am against FC Copenhagen (NZT)

Ollie Whyte - FC Haka (Finnish Veikkausliiga)

Haven’t mentioned Ollie Whyte for a wee while. He’d been playing and scoring plenty during the start of the season, then he was only playing plenty, and by the end he wasn’t doing heaps of either – although he did remain a prominent squad member.

FC Haka managed to qualify for the Veikkausliiga Championship Group as one of the top six teams but that meant their last five games were against teams above them. They lost four of five and thus remained in sixth as they crossed the finish line. Didn’t qualify automatically for Europe with that placing but they did still have the chance to earn Finland’s final Europa Conference League qualifying spot via their playoffs. First game there they won 2-1 after extra time against FC Inter. Whyte played sixty minutes. Second game he was on the bench to begin with. Then he got subbed on to do this...

89th minute goal to send it into extra time. That’s his first goal since July but it’s his ninth overall this year to go with nine assists, across all competitions. Love it. FCH then conceded against Gnistan in the 108th minute but equalised through Nicolas Dantas on 115’. That meant penalties to determine who’d go through to the final. Haka were the first to falter when their fourth kick was missed (Dantas unable to repeat the feat that got them to this point) but Gnistan followed suit with a poor kick before Whyte went fifth for FCH and scored. Gnistan missed their last one and that was that. It was 2-2 after ninety minutes. It was 3-3 after extra time. It was a 4-3 penalty shootout margin in the tiebreaker. FCH will face SJK over two legs in the final.

Up Next: First leg is at home on Thursday at 5am, second leg away on Sunday at 1.30am (NZT)

Hannah Blake & Michaela Foster – Durham FC (English Championship)

It’s an international window for the women therefore some clubmate humour with Hannah Blake is all there is to offer on that front. Should have put her with Michaela Foster but okay.

There were no Football Ferns games during this window, allowing the players a much-needed break after the Olympics concluded a very hectic couple of years. It was very notable how many Ferns have specifically mentioned taking quick refreshing break from football since those Olympics – Foster was one of those players, only joining Durham after the season had already begun. Also, the Ferns don’t have a coach right now so that complicates things too. Hannah Blake’s good form for Adelaide United may have been buried behind that team’s poor results... but that’s not been a problem with Durham where Blakey’s really hit the ground running so you’d imagine she’s getting pretty close to a Ferns recall these days.

Up Next: Monday at 4am, Blackburn Rovers vs Durham (NZT)

Joe Bell – Viking FK (Norwegian Eliteserien)

It’s all about results at this stage of the season. Win pretty or win ugly, as long as you win. Viking FK have been slogging their way through it lately trying to hang onto a spot in the top four and the mission got tougher when they fell behind 1-0 away to Sarpsborg after 21 minutes when Victor Emanuel Halvorsen scored a banger. It then should have been 2-0 after 29 mins except that Frederik Cartstensen scooped one over the top from six yards and there was another close miss soon afterwards too. Very frisky.

But Viking hit back right before the break courtesy of Lars-Joergen Salvesen’s thumping finish from ten yards out... and then right on 70 minutes the bro Gianni Stensness headed home from a corner kick. Boom. The Aussie international (former NZ youth international) with his second goal of the year for a potentially crucial moment in his team’s season...

Viking hit the post from a corner later on and had a stoppage time goal disallowed by VAR but still came away with a 2-1 victory. Huge three-pointer. Bell had one of those facilitating games that he’s specialised in recently, hanging back and making sure his teammates get the ball where they need it. Full ninety. 46/53 passes. Two key passes. A fair bit of defensive mahi too. Good good.

Bodø/Glimt lost to Rosenborg this week which wasn’t ideal for Viking. B/G have only taken four points from their last four games to open the door for Brann to move within two points of them at the summit. Viking are a further five points behind Brann though, so they’d have much rather fifth-placed Rosenborg had lost. The teams from two to five all won meaning Viking stay where they were in fourth but at least sixth-placed Fredrikstad did get beaten to snap a three-game winning streak. Four rounds remain.

Up Next: Viking vs Sandefjord at 6am on Sunday (NZT)

Ryan Thomas – PEC Zwolle (Dutch Eredivisie)

In some ways, this was a beautiful evening for Ryan Thomas as he got 33 minutes off the bench against his old club PSV Eindhoven. It was his most significant appearance of the season as he build back up after another injury absence and a poignant one at a stadium where he played many times in the past (though not nearly as often as he should have). In other ways, this was a complete nightmare for him.

Zwolle were already 3-0 down with a red card when Thomas joined the fray. Immediately after being subbed on, he won a good defensive tackle but then couldn’t get the ball out into space. RT appealed in vain for a handball then watched as PSV ran through and scored. Check the vid, you’ll see Thommo give scorer Ricardo Pepi a cheeky shove in the back afterwards – those two never overlapped at PSV. He had nothing to do with the other goals. PSV also missed a penalty so 6-0 wasn’t even as bad as it could have been. But good to see Thomas getting to stretch his legs for a little longer. It’ll take time to get back up to full pace but he’s slowly getting there.

Thommo then wasn’t involved midweek as PEC Zwolle were knocked out of the KNVB Cup in a 4-3 extra time defeat against NEC Nijmegen. Zwolle sit 16/18 on the table after ten rounds. Two wins, two draws, six defeats. It’s been harsh although this was the first game which really got away from them.

Ryan Thomas: “When I left PSV, everyone said that I can easily play for the club with my qualities, but there were just too many doubts about my body. I had a very hard time with that. I understand it very well from PSV, you cannot give a contract to a player when you don’t know if he can still help you, but mentally that is something you have to get over. You know you can do so much more but your body doesn't work. It really affected me a lot. As an athlete you just want to get the most out of yourself and if that doesn't work through your body, and not so much because of your qualities, every day is a mental challenge. I don't know if I can ever turn off the anger or sadness about my body: you just have to try to learn to live with it. I have to say that I’m getting better and better at that. I can also put things into perspective a lot more than before. My family is the most important thing, football's turn comes later.”

As for Matt Garbett, he got unused-subbed again in a 4-1 win for NAC Breda against RKC Waalwijk. Former Wellington Phoenix striker Oskar Zawada was brought on at half-time for the opponents – Waalwijk have been awful this season, taking just one point from ten games, and Zawada is yet to score a goal in 559 minutes of footy... however he did get a red card back in August. Matt Garbett has an Eredivisie goal this year... but he hasn’t played since before the international break. Four games in a row in which he’s not been required, one of which he wasn’t even in the squad after being dropped for undisclosed disciplinary reasons. That’s a loaded phrase, so Garbs did have a chat with some local media to clear that up this week...

Matthew Garbett: “The coach wanted something tactically different against FC Twente and of course I was at peace with that. The next day I reported to training, even though it was voluntary. I wasn’t overly disappointed and didn’t cause unrest. I had a good week of training, but after that there was a misunderstanding with a discussion between me and the trainer. I am not going to say that I have been treated unfairly, but it has been pulled out of context in the media afterwards. It was nothing serious. I am still very motivated and am happy to come to the club. In recent weeks I’ve had extra motivation to fight my way back into the picture. I’ve continued to train on my days off. People only read in the media that I was disciplined without knowing what really happened at training. Maybe I've disappeared a bit from the picture, but I know my chances are coming this season. I may need to be patient. But people should know that I really give everything.”

Not sure that actually clears anything up but it does reinforce what we already know about him: that Matt Garbett is a motivated player with a positive attitude who works hard on and off the pitch. His chances will come back around again, they always do. On a side note, the article also confirmed that his contract expires after this season, with the club holding an option to extend the deal for a further year. No doubt that’s part of the motivation too.

Up Next: PEC Zwolle are away to Go Ahead Eagles at 12.15am on Monday; NAC Breda have a JNVB Cup game away to Barendrecht at 5.30am on Thurs which Garbett could be involved in (NZT)

Marko Stamenic – Olympiacos (Greek Super League)

It wasn’t much, but Marko Stamenic did make his second Europa League appearance for Olympiacos last week. Got five minutes at the end of a 1-0 win away to Swedish club Malmö. Ayoub El Kaabi scored the only goal after half an hour, and we might even have him to thank for Stamenic’s cameo because El Kaabi should have put the game to bed on 83’ after he won a penalty rushing in behind and drawing the keeper out. He took the spottie himself but dragged it past the post. Stamenic was brought on pretty soon afterwards in a double change that saw El Kaabi take a seat. Stamenic helped lock it down the rest of the way and Olympiac went home with their second win from three UEL league phase games so far, looking good to progress into the knockouts if they can keep this up.

Righto. Following that game, Olympiacos were back in Greece a few days later to take on Asteras Tripolis in the Super League and aside from the goalkeeper and centre-backs, they changed almost the whole team. The right-back and right-wing backed up too but that still left six alterations from the European game. Enough changes that Marko Stamenic made his fourth Super League start of the term (and sixth GSL game overall).

But don’t get too excited because it was a laggy performance from the Reds who dropped pesky points in a 1-0 defeat. El Kaabi did come off the bench and hit the crossbar late on but for the most part they struggled to turn dominance into clear chances and were leaky on the counter attack. Stamenic was one of two blokes subbed off at half-time. It’s proving to be a difficult settling-in period in Greece. Olympiacos have only won once from their past six domestic games, although that includes three games that Stamenic didn’t play.

Up Next: Kallithea vs Olympiacos on Thursday at 8.30am in the Greek Cup round of 16, first leg (NZT)

Tyler Bindon - Reading (English League One)

This is just a sneaky opportunity to remind folks that Tyler Bindon is great at football. He did have a rough game this morning as Reading were beaten 4-1 away to Stockport, where he had to deal with a high pressing team that cut off a lot of his midfield options, but Reading did win three games in a row before that. They’ve gotten themselves into ninth on the ladder and would have been fourth if they’d beaten Stockport.

Aside from the game where Bindon was subbed for concussion protocols, he’s played every minute for the Royals in League One this season. Absolute class from a 19 year old centre-back... who could be in for an interesting few months because Reading still haven’t been able to clear a sale of the club which means they remain under a transfer embargo with limited finances. Last January they had to sell a couple of key players in order to fund the rest of the campaign. Well, Tyler Bindon would be very high on the list of Reading’s most wanted if other clubs are seeking to take advantage of this financial slipperiness.

Elsewhere, Mansfield Town are fourth as they continue grind out good results. Ben Waine hasn’t done a whole lot lately, mostly being used as a sub in league games – though he did start in the EFL Trophy this morning as Mansfield Town won 3-0 against Newcastle United U21s. No goal contributions though. There’s been no sign of Matt Dibley-Dias since his Northampton Town coach confirmed they were trying to bulk him up for senior footy after a few injuries and some illness. We’re nearly a third of the way through his season-long loan and he’s barely even been sighted. Nik Tzanev continues to be the backup keeper there as well.

You can see why these guys haven’t been getting much Flying Kiwis action lately because Max Crocombe’s in a tricky spot too. Remember how he was benched for the first game but then played a banger in a cup game to quickly earn his way back in? Well, naturally he hasn’t been able to sustain those enormous levels and his team hasn’t been able to win. Like, at all. 13 games and zero wins. They’re stuck in last place and in big trouble already. Harry Isted returned to the starting team for a couple of games recently, although that was immediately after the international break so Crocs wasn’t necessarily dropped. Isted conceded five goals from ten shots in a pair of losses and Crocs was back in for the Cambridge game on the weekend but he couldn’t hold a free kick shot which led to the only goal in a 1-0 loss. A couple great saves elsewhere weren’t enough. That makes it seven defeats in a row for Burton.

Up Next: FA Cup first round, Reading vs Fleetwood on Sunday at 4am (NZT)

Josh Redfearn - Welling United (English National League South)

Sneaky lower-league signing over here, with 23-year-old forward Josh Redfearn finding his way to Welling United in the English sixth tier. It’s a fair way down the ladder but let it be known that this was the same level that Henry Gray played at on loan with Chelmsford City last season – a move that supercharged his burgeoning career.

23-year-old Redfearn will be best known for his mahi leading the line for Auckland United over the past few years where he scored 43 goals in 91 appearances overall (only 2 in 17 in the National League portion, though he did score a few MNL goals for Waitakere United before that). Most recently he’s been over in Australia playing for Glenorchy Knights in the Tasmania competition. Redfearn made his debut for Welling United in a 2-1 defeat against Dorking Wanderers (English non-league club names are undefeatable) where he was subbed on in the 68th minute. Welling Utd are in 18th place with 16 points from 14 matches.

Up Next: Kent Senior Cup on Weds at 8.45am, Chippenham Town away on Sun at 4am (NZT)

Jay Herdman - Cavalry FC (Canadian Premier League)

Since moving to Cavalry FC on loan, Jay Herdman didn’t take long to work his way into the starting line-up. He’d already been a feature on the left wing for several weeks by the time that the CPL playoffs began. Cavalry finished second during the league stuff which meant a preliminary final against Forge to see who’d go straight to the main decider and who’d get a second chance against the best of the rest.

Cavalry were the away team but they turned ‘em over with a 1-0 win thanks to a 27th minute goal from Tobias Warschewski. Forge hit the post relatively early but Cavalry had the better first half, having already seen a header cleared (brilliantly) off the line before the Warschewski goal – running onto a very long ball from the keeper and holding off all challengers before sneaking past the keeper to score. The second half was a different story as Forge put their foot on the gas with a heap of possession and some desperate attacking moments. But Cavalry held firm. Herdman had a quiet afternoon though he did get 70 minutes in a very important game of senior footy and should be in line to start as his team hosts the final in two weeks.

Sadly the news was not so sweet for Moser Dyer whose Pacific FC team were beaten 2-0 by York United. They conceded at the start of the second half and then at the end of the second half. Close contest but they only had one shot on target. Dyer had a back-post header after three minutes which was easily gathered by the keeper. He ran in behind for a long ball after 11 mins but couldn’t get his finish past the keeper’s outstretched arm. Aaaand they never got that close again. Thus ends their season. Dyer, like Herdman, was only on loan at Pacific FC so stay peeled during the offseason to see what happens.

Up Next: CPL grand final, Cavalry vs Forge/Atletico Ottawa, Sunday 10 November at 9am (NZT)

Riley Bidois - Loudon United (American USL Championship)

Cheeky Riley Bidois assist on that one. Sadly, they went on to lose 2-1 to Charleston Battery which removed any hope they had of getting into the playoffs. Bidois made 21 appearances for Loudon Utd this year, 10 of those starts. 915 minutes overall with two goals and two assists. Trevor Zwetsloot popped by the team as short term cover earlier in the year, playing once in the league (10 mins).

Elsewhere, Kyle Adams (Louisville City) and Elliot Collier/James Musa (Indy Eleven) did make the playoffs so the charge continues for them. Lou City are favourites to win the whole thing having had the best regular season record. Collier has scored five goals with two assists. Musa has one goal. Adams no goals but four assists. Here are some playing numbers for the quintet...

Up Next: USL Champo conference quarters begin this week with Racing Louisville vs North Carolina at 12.30pm Sunday and Indy Eleven vs Rhode Island TBD on Monday (NZT)

If you rate the yarns on TNC, help us out on Patreon, Substack, or Buy Me A Coffee so that we can afford to keep on serving up the good stuff

Also helps to whack an ad, do the likes and shares and comments, and to tell your mates about us

Keep cool but care