The Times - UK (2020-10-20)

64 2GM Tuesday October 20 2020 | the times

SportFootball

Three years ago Max Kilman was

playing for Marlow on loan from Maid-

enhead in front of 91 at Chalfont Saint

Peter in the Evo-Stik Southern Premier

— Division One Central. There were

not many more here at Elland Road

behind closed doors, only home direct-

ors, visiting dignitaries, six scouts,

assorted media and Gareth Southgate

the England manager, in a long trench

coat but it will have felt special for

Kilman.

The 23-year-old Wolverhampton

Wanderers centre back was excellent,

and just pipped his captain, Conor

Coady, for man of the match. He made

Wolves’ second-half goal with a long

diagonal pass to Raúl Jiménez and con-

stantly read the danger in the swarms of

Leeds attacks. Leeds lacked a cutting

edge and Patrick Bamford ran hard but

had an off night, but much of the home

side’s frustration was rooted in their

inability to break through a back three

of Willy Boly, Coady and the left-sided

Kilman.

As befits somebody whose father is

an art dealer who plays poker on the

side and his mother a former catwalk

model, Kilman has not taken the tradi-

tional pathway to the top division in the

land. He was released by Fulham’s aca-

demy, studied at the University of Hert-

fordshire, played non-League football

but never gave up his elite dream, and

was signed by Nuno Espírito Santo two

years ago. He’s learnt under Nuno but

had to bide his time, spending many

games watching from the bench. That is

why last night seemed like a break-

through for him, showing he could

handle such sustained pressure.

For a club oft criticised for prioritis-

ing foreign talent, Kilman’s presence

and performance is a boon. “The

nationality is not an issue,” Nuno said.

“I don’t think this way. Three years ago,

Max was a back-up, now he is in the

squad. I don’t look at the passport.” Just

as well. Kilman has an exotic back-

ground, with roots in Odessa, Moscow

and Chelsea — and he’s eligible for

England, Russia and Ukraine.

This was only his fourth start in the

Premier League and his best. He made

five clearances, regained possession

eight times, as well as providing that

assist. As befits a former England futsal

international, Kilman was calm in

possession when pressed and distribut-

ed the ball well, particularly that pass to

Jiménez after 65 minutes.

He stood up to the Leeds high-tempo

challenge, blocking an early Luke

Ayling shot. For 44 minutes until

Wolves broke out and threatened the

Leeds goal with Daniel Podence’s shot

saved by Illan Meslier, Marcelo Bielsa’s

side had dominated.

Leeds players park their cars along-

side banners draped over barriers read-

ing “Side Before Self” and “Marching

On Together”, and their work ethic and

sense of collective endeavour are from

the ages. Jack Harrison flew down the

left. Robin Koch impressed, taking

responsibility for Jiménez, controlling

him well for 70 minutes.

Koch would win the ball, rising to

meet it in the air, or chesting it down

and building moves, twice switching

play to Harrison midway through the

first period. Leeds kept piecing together

these quick breaks from the deep, often

built on crisp one-touch passes, the ball

swept so swiftly upfield. Wolves needed

Coady at his organisational best, and

Kilman demonstrated good touches

and interceptions alongside him.

Leeds simply could not find a route

through. Wolves were a different team

in the second period, far more assertive,

far quicker to reach Jiménez. Coady

launched a move after 55 minutes,

switching play to Podence on the right,

and the No 10’s cross eventually found

its way to Romain Saïss at the far post.

His finish was magnificent, propelled

unerringly past Meslier. Michael

Oliver, the VAR, intervened, finding

Podence’s foot offside and David Coote,

the referee, signalled no goal.

Then came that Kilman pass from

left to right. Jiménez was able to isolate

and turn Pascal Struijk, who slipped,

allowing the Mexico international to

run across the area. Stuart Dallas went

with him, looking to nick the ball away,

but Jiménez chopped back, working the

ball on to his right foot. His shot was

heading straight to the well-positioned

Meslier, but caught Phillips and

deflected in. Wolves celebrated wildly

and Jiménez made an A sign with his

fingers, a tribute to his new daughter,

Arya.

Over in the home dug-out, Bielsa

rose from his blue bucket and began

making changes. Ian Poveda replaced

Hélder Costa. Pablo Hernández came

on for Struijk, who had started after

Liam Cooper felt his left adductor.

Raphinha, the £17 million Brazilian

How they stand

PW D L F AGDPts

Everton................5 4 1 0 14 7 7 13

Aston Villa.........4 4 0 0 12 2 10 12

Liverpool............5 3 1 1 13 13 0 10

Leicester.............5 3 0 2 12 8 4 9

Arsenal.................530286 29

Wolves..................530257-29

Tottenham ........5 2 2 1 15 8 7 8

Chelsea................5 2 2 1 13 9 4 8

West Ham...........5 2 1 2 11 7 4 7

Leeds.....................52 129907

Man City..............42 1 17707

Southampton...52 1289 -17

Newcastle...........52 1279-27

C Palace...............52 1268-27

Man United.......4202912-36

Brighton..............5113911-24

West Brom.........50 2 3 513-8 2

Burnley................4 0 1 3 3 8 -5 1

Sheffield Utd....5 0 1 4 2 7 -5 1

Fulham.................50 1 4 412-8 1

signed from Rennes, raced on for

Harrison. Raphinha soon created a

chance for Poveda but Wolves held

firm. Kilman read another Leeds

attack, and cleared calmly.

Leeds kept pouring forward and

Ayling put in another burst down the

right, looking for Bamford to make a

run to the near post, but the striker fail-

ed to read the full back’s intentions. Rui

Patrício did, catching confidently.

Leeds became increasingly frustrated.

They were then angered when Jiménez

kicked out, catching Koch, after being

fouled by his marker. Leeds protested

loudly but VAR did not look, and Oliver

and Coote have probably had enough

controversy for the week.

Kilman, Coady and Boly calmly held

out, ensuring an important victory that

lifts Wolves to sixth in the table.

For Kilman, it was a particularly sat-

isfying night, bringing his first involve-

ment in a Wolves goal after 14 games in

all competitions. The Evo-Stik South-

ern Premier — Division One Central

seems a long while ago. But

Kilman has shown what can be

achieved with patience and persistence.

0

2

1

Leeds United

Wo l ve s

Jiménez 70

0

1

Leeds blunted by rising Kilman

Henry Winter

Chief Football

Writer

Leeds United (3-1-4-2): I Meslier 7 — L Ayling 8,

R Koch 6, P Struijk 6 (P Hernández 75min) —

K Phillips 7 — H Costa 6 (I Poveda 71), M Klich 7,

S Dallas 6, J Harrison 7 (Raphinha 82) — Rodrigo

6, P Bamford 6. Subs not used K Casilla, E Alioski,

T Roberts, Raphina, J Shackleton.

Booked Phillips, Ayling.

Wolverhampton Wanderers (3-5-2): R Patricio 7

— W Boly 7, C Coady 7, M Kilman 7 — N Semedo 6,

L Dendoncker 7, J Moutinho 6 (R Neves 82),

P Neto 6 (Marcal 89), R Saïss 7 — R Jiménez 8,

D Podence 7 (A Traoré 65, 6). Subs not used

J Ruddy, K Hoever, F Silva, O Otasowie.

Booked Moutinho. Referee D Coote.

Jiménez scores the decisive goal for Wolves with the help of a deflection off the head of Phillips, the England midfielder

ALEX PANTLING/AP

Newcastle fans’

TV protest nets

£20k for needy

Martin Hardy

Newcastle United fans have raised

more than £20,000 for a food bank in

the west end of the city after boycotting

the club’s game on pay-per-view

television on Saturday evening.

Significant numbers chose to make

payments of £14.95 to the nufcfood

bank rather than watch their side’s 4-1

defeat by Manchester United after Sky,

BT and Amazon Prime introduced an

additional charge for some matches.

The move has had a domino effect

through the Premier League with fans

of Leeds United, Manchester City and

Burnley matching the protest payment

to food banks in their own cities.

On Monday evening the nufcfood

bank thanked those who had made do-

nations, tweeting. “We’ve reached

£20,000! Thanks everyone who has

donated to this fantastic cause to help

feed local people across Newcastle via

the @WEFoodbank. Best Fans In The

World!”

The Leeds supporters’ trust said

yesterday that 100 fans had donated the

£14.95 fee in the 24 hours since it

announced its plan.

Rooney must

isolate despite

virus all-clear

Wayne Rooney has received a negative

test result for coronavirus but is “angry

and disappointed” that he will miss the

next few Derby County matches while

he goes into isolation.

The former England captain — now

player-coach at Derby — was visited by

a friend who had been instructed to be

tested for Covid-19 and was later found

to have the virus.

After the test result, Rooney tweeted:

“Delighted for myself and family but

obviously angry and disappointed that

I now have to self-isolate and miss vital

games for @dcfcofficial.”

The Sun reported on Sunday that the

entrepreneur Josh Bardsley had met

Rooney at his home on Thursday to give

him a watch, when he should have been

isolating, having been contacted by Test

and Trace staff. Bardsley, 21, later

returned a positive test. Rooney was

unaware of any Covid-related concerns

and played in Derby’s 1-0 home defeat

by Watford on Friday night.

There were eight positive cases of

Covid-19 among players and staff at

top-flight clubs in the 1,575 tests done

between October 12 and October 18,

the Premier League has announced.

Premier League

agreed to pay for, to take Eoin Morgan’s

squad to Cape Town on November 17

where they will stay at the Vineyard

Hotel and train at the nearby Western

Province Cricket Club.

The tour will comprise three one-day

internationals and three T20s, which

will be split between Newlands in Cape

Town and Boland Park in Paarl, and it

is expected that England will be able to

take their strongest squad as this tour

will take place after the Indian Premier

League and before the Big Bash League

in Australia, for which some of the

white-ball players have signed up.

Kick-off 8.0 unless stated

Champions League: Group E

Chelsea v Seville; Rennes v Krasno-

dar. Group F Zenit St Petersburg v

Club Bruges (5.55); Lazio v Borussia

Dortmund. Group G Dynamo Kiev

v Juventus (5.55); Barcelona v

Ferencvaros.

Group H Paris Saint Germain v

Manchester United; RB Leipzig v

Istanbul Basaksehir.

Kick-off 7.45 unless stated

Sky Bet Championship Bristol City

v Middlesbrough; Coventry City v

Swansea City; Huddersfield Town v

Derby County; Millwall v Luton

Town; Norwich City v Birmingham

City; Nottingham Forest v

Rotherham United; Reading v

Wycombe Wanderers (8.0).

League One Shrewsbury Town v

Bristol Rovers (6.0); Gillingham v

Portsmouth (6.30); Burton Albion v

Rochdale; Doncaster Rovers v

Ipswich Town (7.0); Accrington

Stanley v Fleetwood Town (7.0);

Lincoln City v Plymouth Argyle

(7.0); Oxford United v MK Dons

(7.0); Sunderland v Crewe

Alexandra (7.0); Wigan Athletic v

Peterborough United (7.0);

Blackpool v Charlton Athletic; Hull

City v AFC Wimbledon; Northamp-

ton Town v Swindon Town.

League Two Cheltenham Town v

Scunthorpe United (6.0); More-

cambe v Mansfield Town (6.30);

Barrow v Bolton Wanderers (7.0);

Cambridge United v Port Vale

(7.0); Stevenage v Newport County

(7.0); Oldham Athletic v Carlisle

(7.0); Exeter v Crawley Town (7.0);

Bradford City v Walsall; Colchester

United v Forest Green Rovers;

Grimsby v Harrogate Town;

Salford City v Southend United;

Tranmere Rovers v Leyton Orient.

Vanarama National League

Wealdstone v Chesterfield.

Scottish Premiership Aberdeen v

Hamilton Academical (7.0).

Football

Premier League

Leeds (0) 0 Wolves (0) 1

Philips (og) 70

W Brom (0) 0 Burnley(0) 0

Cricket

IPL: Abu Dhabi Chennai Super

Kings 125-5. Rajasthan Royals 126-3

(J C Buttler 70 not out). Rajasthan

win by seven wickets.

Tennis

ATP bett1HULKS Championship

Cologne: First round G Simon (Fr)

bt J Thompson (Aus) 6-3, 7-5;

M Kecmanovic (Serbia) bt S Nagal

(India) 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-1; Y Nishioka

(Japan) bt K Edmund (GB) 6-4, 6-0;

E Gerasimov (Bela) bt D Altaier

(Ger) 6-1, 6-0; A Mannarino (Fr) bt

A Popyrin (Aus) 6-2, 6-2.

Football fixtures Results

Buttler back to destructive best in IPL

It is likely that England will take a

bigger than usual squad — perhaps

more than 20 players — because of the

strict Covid protocols.This will be the

first time South Africa will have played

since they toured India in March.

Meanwhile, Jos Buttler starred for

the Rajasthan Royals in the IPL, hitting

70 from 48 balls to move his team off the

bottom of the table with a seven-wicket

win over Chennai Superkings, for

whom Sam Curran, the England all-

rounder, scored 22.

After his side had slumped to 28 for

three in pursuit of 126, with Ben Stokes

managing only 19 off 11 balls, Buttler hit

Ravindra Jadeja’s first ball of the match

for four with a reverse-sweep and went

on to hit eight further boundaries

including a six over long on as he redis-

covered his destructive best form.

“We had let a couple of games slip so

it’s nice to win tonight,” Buttler said. “I

tried to come out with a bit of intensity

with my batting, something I felt I

didn’t have last match. I felt more com-

fortable at the crease.

“It was a nice feeling. In T20 cricket

you can kick yourself for bad form

because you never play too many balls,

but you have to trust yourself.”

The win has lifted Rajasthan to fifth

in the table, keeping alive their hopes of

a play-off place.

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