New Zealand striker Chris Wood. Photo / Mark Mitchell
By any measure, Chris Wood's feats over the last two months are unique in New Zealand football. Playing for Birmingham City, he has scored seven Championship league goals in five games over the last six weeks. He grabbed one at Watford, three against Milwall, scored versus Southampton and got the last two goals in a comeback 3-1 win at Nottingham Forest, a result that ended former England manager Steve McLaren's reign at the City Ground.
The goal-scoring run means Wood is currently the third highest scorer in the Championship, behind Ross McCormack of Leeds and Southampton's Richard Lambert (eight goals each).
New Zealand has had players feature in the Premier League - notably Ryan Nelsen and to a lesser extent Simon Elliott and Danny Hay - but they have always been defenders or midfielders.
Wood is the first New Zealand striker in recent memory to succeed in the highly competitive second tier of English football. Chris Killen barely found the net for Middlesbrough and didn't start at Manchester City, while Wynton Rufer signed for Norwich in the early 1980s but wasn't granted a work visa.
Wood also scored a goal in European competition (against Portuguese side Nacional in the final qualifying round of the Europa League), also a rare feat for a Kiwi. He is still only 19, with time on his side.
Though obviously happy with his form, Wood struggles to find a reason for his current golden touch: "When I came to Birmingham, I took a couple of weeks to get going," Wood told the Herald on Sunday. "But things have been going well lately. It's hard to pinpoint but I do feel that my game has gone to another level."
Getting regular game time has helped. Wood was signed as injury cover in August and is jostling for a spot with three other strikers at St Andrews, compared to the pack of six or seven back at West Bromwich Albion. Wood is not the first choice forward. Preferred are Jamaican Marlon King and Nikola Zigic, the giant (2.02m) Serbian who has scored 20 international goals and reputedly cost the Blues £6 million when he signed in May last year.
"The lads have been great and the fans are brilliant," says Wood. "All those things help you to fit in. Obviously I hope that my form continues but as a striker, you never know what is round the corner."
He admits the hat-trick, the first triple by a Blues player since Mikael Forsell against Spurs in 2008, was a huge buzz.
"It was my first senior hat-trick," says Wood. "I didn't even imagine scoring one this early in my career, so I was ecstatic and I won't forget it."
"Chris has improved with every game he has played so far and long may that continue," says Birmingham City manager Chris Hughton.
"He's come here to compete with the other strikers at the club and has been finding the back of the net, which can only be good for his confidence".
Wood's career in England began in the 2008-09 season, when he made two appearances off the bench for West Bromwich Albion, who were bouncing their way out of the Premier League. He started six games the next season, as well as 17 as substitute. Last season, he endured an brief, unhappy loan spell at Barnsley, before finding his feet at Brighton, scoring 10 goals as Gus Poyet's men were crowned champions of League One.
Due to his age, his current spell at Birmingham still comes under the youth loan category. It means he can still be brought back when necessary to play in reserve games for Albion and the Baggies retain the option of recalling him at any time.
"We weigh up all the loanees' situations on a month-to-month basis but at the moment we're reasonably okay in the forwards' positions," Albion assistant coach Michael Appleton told the Birmingham Mail. "Chris is coming on and doing well for Birmingham. He is playing at a decent level in the Championship and playing down the road, so he hasn't had to move."
Appleton also noted a positive change in the player's personality: "I think he is coming out of his shell a little," he added. "All of a sudden he started to find a personality, which he'd struggled to find beforehand. He's had the experience of last season. He had a really tough time at Barnsley where he got some stick before blossoming at Brighton."
Wood's next match will be against Leicester City, managed by former England mentor Sven Goran Eriksson, and he will face Brighton at the end of October. Another date circled on the calendar in the Wood household is December 26 - when Birmingham face Winston Reid's West Ham.
"He has been playing well for them and it would be great to play against him," says Wood. "We talk a lot through text and I'm sure there will be plenty of banter before that game."
By Michael Burgess
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