A-WARD SEASON GOES ON FOR JOE
Posh winger nets Goal of the Month prize again
PETERBOROUGH winger Joe Ward doesn’t score loads of goals, but they tend to be pretty special when he hits the target.
And winning the Sky Bet League One Goal of the Month prize for the second month in a row is proof of that.
Just as it looked as if the home match against Burton would finish goalless, the 24-year-old drove a rising shot from distance into the roof of the net for a dramatic injury-time winner.
It was his second league goal of the season – the first one, against Gillingham in October, also bagged him a trophy.
Ward said: “It is great to have won the Goal of the Month for the second successive month.
“This particular goal was a special one, probably my favourite, not just because of the strike but the fact it won us the three points so late in the game.
“It sat up lovely for me and it was special seeing it rifle into the top corner.” Lead Sky Bet EFL Goal of the Month judge and Sky Sports pundit Don Goodman said: “It’s extremely unusual for a player to be nominated in back-to-back months, but it was impossible to leave out Joe Ward again after his match-winning thunderbolt that almost tore the net from the goalposts such was the power it was struck with.
“It had been an evenly balanced encounter with a both sides limited to few clear-cut chances, but Ward’s effort was the difference and brought an end to a spirited resistance from Kieran O’Hara in the Burton net – it was a strike fit to win any game.”
With 46 per cent of the public vote, Ward beat off competition from Rotherham’s Matt Crooks and Coventry’s Liam Walsh.
Leeds midfielder Mateusz Klich scooped the Sky Bet Championship Goal of the Month prize, receiving a whopping 75 per cent of the votes. The 29-yearold Pole curled home his second and the Whites’ fourth in their 4-0 romp against Middlesbrough at the end of the month.
Klich said: “I am delighted to win the award – I think a lot of Leeds fans voted, so I’d like to thank them.
“We had worked on short corners in training and I’m glad that the hard work paid off.” Rocket
Goodman said: “Already full of confidence from his earlier effort, he knew what he wanted to do as soon as the ball was rolled to him on the edge of the penalty area, and the execution of the shot could hardly have been more precise.”
Klich beat off competition from West Brom’s Matheus Pereira and Stoke’s Sam Clucas.
Scunthorpe winger Alex Gilliead claimed the Sky Bet League Two Goal of the Month honour for November, receiving 51 per cent of the public vote.
The 23-year-old rocketed home a stunning shot from the edge of the box early in the 2-0 victory at Leyton Orient.
“It’s always nice to be recognised for goals and I need to be scoring goals and getting assists too,” he said. “Whether it’s good ones like against Leyton Orient or whether it’s a tap-in, I don’t mind so long as they go in.
“With it going into the top corner, it was probably the best goal I’ve scored but I also caught the one against Forest Green (three weeks later) sweet too. I’m just happy to be recognised for it, and hopefully there’s more to come.”
Goodman said: “So often when the ball drops to the edge of the area from a corner there is a disappointing swing at the ball and it flies wildly over the bar, but when the ball dropped to Alex Gilliead he had different ideas, and his touch and controlled drive into the top corner were perfection.”
Gilliead held off Morecambe’s AJ Leitch-Smith and Colchester’s Brandon Comley to claim the accolade.