If Norwich City win promotion to the Premier League, a large part will have been played by Simeon Jackson.
The Mississauga, Ontario, native has raised his game to new heights this month, as his club looks to lock up second place and an automatic invite to the richest league on the planet. Jackson started April with a hat-trick off the bench and has not looked back since, scoring eight goals in the past six matches for Norwich.
After potting one in a 5-1 win over bitter rival Ipswich Town last Friday, Jackson added three more Monday afternoon against Derby County, a game that Norwich had to win in order to stay ahead of Cardiff City. Jackson opened the scoring with a nifty header, added a second with a well placed left-footed shot from the top of the 18-yard box, then capped off his day with a dramatic goal in added time that secured the 3-2 victory for the Canaries and sent the home fans into rapture.
The win keeps Norwich one point above third-placed Cardiff, with two games to play in the league.
Elsewhere in the English Championship, another Canuck striker was involved in a fierce end-of-season battle, this one to avoid relegation to the third tier.
Iain Hume and Preston North End have been playing well above their heads recently in order to avoid the drop, although a 4-0 defeat last Saturday to Millwall meant that they’d have to win out to even have a chance.
On Monday, Preston faced off with Cardiff needing nothing less than a victory. Hume was relied upon heavily, as he had been over the past several weeks, to create the lion’s share of Preston’s offense.
Unfortunately for PNE, the talismanic striker went down with an injury in the 32nd minute and the team never got on track, falling 1-0 and getting themselves officially relegated to League One. Early reports didn't specify the nature or prognosis of the injury.
In more positive news, big striker Rob Friend played the final 13 minutes as his Hertha BSC won promotion back into the German Bundesliga by virtue of a 1-0 win over MSV Duisburg. With promotion assured, all that’s left for Hertha BSC to play for now is the 2.Bundesliga championship, with only FC Augsburg left to challenge for top spot.
Marcel de Jong is a key member of that Augsburg squad, although he missed their 2-1 loss on Sunday to Alemannia Aachen with a thigh strain.
Over in the Netherlands, a Canadian is involved in a championship battle of his own. PSV Eindhoven are in a fierce three-team battle for Eredivisie supremacy, and Atiba Hutchinson is in the thick of it. On Sunday, Hutchinson played the first half as PSV lost 3-1 to Feyenoord, a result which saw weekend winners FC Twente and Ajax both leapfrog the Eindhoven club in the standings.
PSV sit third in the league with two matches remaining.
Things are far less frantic in the Danish Superliga as that league has been decided long ago. AC Horsens are firmly in mid-table, and Issey Nakajima-Farran has established himself as a viable offensive weapon from the bench. Over the weekend, Nakajima-Farran subbed into Horsens’ match against Lyngby with 15 minutes left and got himself a goal, Horsens’ second in a 2-0 win.
Also in Denmark, veteran midfielder Patrice Bernier returned from a hamstring strain and took part on both of FC Nordsjaelland’s games over the past week – a 2-1 win Thursday over OB, and a 3-3 draw Sunday with Aalborg.
Staying in Scandinavia, Chris Pozniak played the full match on Monday for his club FK Haugesund in a 5-0 loss to Lillestrom in the Norwegian Tippeligaen.
Lars Hirschfeld also saw action in the Norwegian league Monday, manning the goal for Valerenga in their 2-0 away loss to league power Rosenborg.
Another Canadian goalkeeper was called into action this week, as Milan Borjan played two matches for FK Rad in the Serbian SuperLiga. Borjan picked up a clean sheet in Rad’s midweek 0-0 draw vs. Borac Cacak, and gave up two in a 2-0 loss to Spartak Zlatibor on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Tomasz Radzinski played 90 minutes for Lierse SK in their 1-1 draw with Sint-Truiden in the Belgian Europa League qualification tournament.
In Turkey, Josh Simpson played 71 minutes for Manisaspor as his team dropped a 2-1 road decision to Bursaspor.
Finally, 21-year-old Matt Lam started and played just over an hour for his club JEF United in 3-0 win over FC Tokyo in the Japanese second tier. The match was the first for JEF United since the horrific natural disasters earlier this year in Japan.
