Wood on target in comeback
All Whites star Chris Wood signalled his English Premier League return with Burnley’s winning goal against Everton after a ‘‘hugely frustrating’’ injury absence.
Wood, who had not played since injuring his knee on December 23, notched his first goal since November to give Burnley a 2-1 home win yesterday.
The 26-year-old headed past Everton’s England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford in the 80th minute to earn Burnley’s first victory in 12 matches.
‘‘It was a great ball in from Johann [Berg Gudmundsson] from the corner,’’ Wood told Burnley’s club website.
‘‘They play zonal, so no-one’s really picking you up. Wardy’s [Stephen Ward] done a great block on the line and I’ve got up and stuck it away, which was nice.’’
Wood was relieved to be back on the pitch after his knee injury stalled his progress at Turf Moor.
‘‘It’s been hugely frustrating for everybody and especially me. It’s nice to be back and nice to be playing again and hopefully there’s a lot more to come.’’
Burnley collected their 10th win of the season to remain in seventh place on the EPL table, five points behind Arsenal, who have a game in hand.
Wood said the victory was ‘‘needed for everybody outside the club’’.
‘‘It’s not nice to go on a winless run for so long, but now it’s broken, we are going to kick on and win many more games until the end of the season.
‘‘Nine games to go, all to play for and a lot of points up for grabs. Hopefully we can keep going and keep working hard and see where it takes us.’’
Wood came on for the second half, replacing Jeff Hendricks to join Ashley Barnes in a twopronged attack.
‘‘We played well in the first half but I guess the manager just wanted to make a tactical change,’’ he said.
‘‘We went a bit more gung-ho going forward and created a few more problems in the box, which leaves a bit more space for us two strikers and the boys around us fed us nicely to give us opportunities.’’
Meanwhile, fellow New Zealander Winston Reid’s Premier League season could be in jeopardy after he was knocked unconscious and suffered a knee injury in West Ham United’s 4-1 defeat at Swansea City.
The All Whites captain needed oxygen as he was stretchered off the pitch in a neck brace in the 27th minute. Reid was treated on the Liberty Stadium pitch for 10 minutes and was later taken to hospital for a scan.
‘‘Winston has been knocked unconscious and concussed and it’s his secondary injury we’re more worried about,’’ West Ham manager David Moyes said after the match.
Moyes later apologised to West Ham fans for the club’s worst display since he took over last November.
‘‘It’s a big sorry to the supporters who travelled through the snow to get here,’’ Moyes said.