All Whites striker Chris Wood has scored the winner for Nottingham Forest in their 1-0 victory over Crystal Palace this morning.
Days after scoring a goal for New Zealand in their 4-0 win over Malaysia in Auckland, Wood was again on target in the 65th minute with a low shot from outside the penalty box that beat Palace keeper Dean Henderson.
Wood celebrated by putting the ball under his jersey and sucking his thumb, a message marking the pregnancy of his wife Emma.
“It’s 12 or 13 weeks – we’ve found out we’re pregnant, or my wife is pregnant, so it’s fantastic that hopefully we can welcome a little girl into our world,” Wood told broadcaster Sky afterwards.
Asked about his thoughts when the ball came to him, Wood replied: “[I was] just trying to hit the target and anything can happen. I had a couple of chances in the first half which didn’t go my way… you have to keep trying and thankfully it went in.”
It is his fifth goal of the season.
Travelling around the world for New Zealand’s international at North Harbour Stadium didn’t faze Wood, the striker saying: “It’s what I love to do to play for my national team. It was lucky it was a Monday night kick-off so it made travelling back a little bit easier with a lot more time to recover. It’s part and parcel of football, you just get on with it.”
Wood’s goal helped Forest into eighth place on the Premier League table.
It was a precious home victory that has featured a dramatic build-up.
Club owner Evangelos Marinakis was recently charged by the English Football Association for misconduct after Forest's 1-0 loss to Fulham last month in a match that was decided by a contentious, VAR-awarded penalty.
He was banned for five matches, with manager Nuno Espirito Santo given a separate punishment recently when fined $100,000 and banned from the touchline for two games after being sent off in his team's 2-2 draw with Brighton last month. He admitted using abusive and/or insulting words toward a match official.
Asked whether Santo’s absence from the touchline affected the team, Wood said: “No, definitely not. He has as much influence as possible throughout the dressing room before the game, after the game. He gets us ready on the training pitch and that’s the main thing.”
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