Sarina Wiegman was “really happy” with the win while seeing room for improvement after England got a first Euro 2025 qualifying victory on the board by beating the Republic of Ireland 2-0 at the Aviva Stadium.

Four days on from being held 1-1 by Sweden at Wembley in their Group A3 opener, the reigning European champions went in front via Lauren James’ early finish and Alex Greenwood added an 18th-minute penalty before sending another against a post on the half-hour mark.

After the break Fran Kirby was thwarted by a fine Courtney Brosnan save, and Hannah Hampton – selected over Mary Earps in the England goal – then parried Caitlin Hayes’ header as the Republic applied late pressure to no avail in front of a crowd of 32,742.

Lionesses boss Wiegman, whose side are two points behind pool leaders France ahead of playing them in a double-header in their next fixtures on May 31 and June 4, said: “I think the first half we were totally dominating.

“We were 2-0 up but I think we should have been up more. I think at moments we should have been more tight on the ball, more secure to really create the big chance, and right before the chance sometimes we were a little bit sloppy, although I did think we played well.

“I think the second half, at moments we did good too but then they got momentum and we were struggling a little bit and they made it a real fight.

“We had to really fight in one-v-ones in the 18-yard box, and then for us of course it’s a lesson that if we win that ball we really want to keep it and play out of that press and then create our momentum again. That’s what we struggled with a bit.

“But I do think what we showed is we really as a team wanted to keep the (clean sheet), were able to fight also. That’s what we take with us for the next games, so I’m really happy with the win.

“We know they (France) are absolute top level so we have to be at our top level. We have to improve all the time, first of all because we want that, and second, because if we want to stay at the top, then it’s necessary to develop.”

Asked about her decision to select Hampton over Earps, Wiegman said: “They are two incredibly good goalkeepers, so that’s a really luxury position we’re in.

“Mary’s been really consistent with us but Hannah is also competing, has improved a lot, so I felt this was a game to give her the opportunity also to play, I have the trust she can do a good job.

“In the air (Hampton) was good, we know she’s good with her feet, some moments could have been better, but solid, and one save was important in the second half.

“Of course (Earps) was disappointed, because she wants to play and has been so good for us. We had that conversation and she then she just showed up and moved on.”

Five changes to Wiegman’s starting XI also included fit-again skipper Leah Williamson returning for her first appearance in just under a year, and she said of the defender: “I’m happy with her performance, she had to get through this moment.”

Leeds boss Daniel Farke felt his side should have been awarded two penalties in their goalless home draw against Sunderland.

United missed the chance to go top of the Sky Bet Championship after being denied a 10th straight home league win after leaders Leicester had slipped to a 1-0 defeat at Millwall.

A first-half cross struck Sunderland defender Dan Ballard on the elbow and a second-half corner hit visiting skipper Luke O’Nien on a raised hand, with both penalty shouts for Leeds turned down by referee Tim Robinson.

Farke said: “We didn’t create enough clear-cut chances. That’s why we didn’t win this game.

“I also have to say, we were pretty unfortunate with several decisions today. It was a clear handball in the first half, should have been a penalty, and a clear handball in the second half, should have been a penalty.

“If there is a rule how there should be a handball, I ask just for the rule.

“I think we’ve had six letters during the season so far apologising for (not being given) a penalty or for red cards – we’ll probably get two more letters now, but it won’t help us.

“They were decisive moments, but credit to Sunderland I think. In the last five games they’ve had four clean sheets.

“I’m annoyed with the (penalty) decisions because they were decisive, but I also like to be self-critical and today we didn’t create enough clear-cut chances.”

Sunderland had won only one of their previous eight league games under interim boss Mike Dodds, but have had clean sheets in four of their last five and proved a tough nut for Leeds to crack.

But Dodds, placed in temporary charge for a second time this season when the Black Cats sacked Michael Beale in February, was in no mood to celebrate his side’s hard-earned point.

Dodds said: “I’m happy for them, but I don’t want to go over the top. I’ve just said to them that we have drawn the game, we haven’t won it.

“There were a lot of positives, but we have drawn the game and I don’t want to be sat here celebrating draws.

“Our out-of-possession stuff was excellent. I didn’t feel at any point that Leeds were going to score or break us down or carve us open.”

Dodds would not be drawn on whether Leeds should have been awarded at least one penalty.

“The reality is that these decisions are swings and roundabouts. It would have been unbelievably cruel on us,” he added.

“I felt all their chances came from our sloppy play and I just said to the group my biggest disappointment was our quality with the ball.

“Our evening would have been a lot more comfortable had we not turned it over far too much.”

Norwich boss David Wagner insisted his side were “not ruthless” enough as he saw them blow a two-goal first-half lead to draw 2-2 in the Championship with Sheffield Wednesday at Hillsborough.

Norwich hit the front in the 11th minute when Josh Sargent tapped in at the back post and doubled their lead five minutes later when they were gifted the ball outside the box which allowed Borja Sainz to stroke it into the bottom corner.

Danny Rohl made four substitutions at the break but his Owls side missed further chances before Michael Ihiekwe’s header gave Wednesday the belief before Michael Smith nodded home with five minutes to go to rescue a much-needed point in their relegation battle as they marked their 5,000th league match.

Wagner was frustrated with his side’s inability to kill the game after and put themselves in a commanding position to strengthen their play-off bid.

He told a press conference: “We have done everything super well, we looked sharp in ball possession and out of ball possession but we didn’t kill the game.

“We were not ruthless inside the opponent’s box, we had a lot of clear-cut chances and obviously this at the end of the day has shown why we have not won the game.

“Today we have put the hard work in to collect three points but haven’t done because we could not kill the game. Especially when a team is so direct with set-pieces something can happen.

“We have not made use of our chances, this is what frustrates us and the performance the players have shown on the pitch, the commitment is good.”

The point for Norwich gives them a five-point cushion inside the play-offs but Wagner thinks his side have dropped two points from a good performance.

He added: “I would have liked to have six points (from Ipswich and Sheff Wed) after you have seen the two performances.

“But in football, you don’t always get what you wish, you get what you earn and today we only got one because we weren’t ruthless.

“We have to be more ruthless, this is what hurts. How we played, how we defended was good.”

Wednesday remain in the relegation zone only on goal difference after the draw and Rohl hailed his side’s togetherness to fight back and claim a point.

He said: “We showed again our togetherness. Not many people thought we would come back and take something but we did.

“Second half we played better, the stadium was behind us and created energy and this showed what we need in our situation.

“Today we take the point and now we have to go again Saturday. If we are over the line on the last matchday everyone will take it.

“We keep coming back and today we came back from 2-0 down, today we showed we can do this against a strong Norwich side.

“I’m happy with the point. Not happy with the first half but one key point.”

Blackpool manager Neil Critchley insists the Seasiders are poised to capitalise on any League One slip-ups following a 1-0 win over their relegation-threatened local rivals Fleetwood.

The Seasiders snatched Fylde Coast derby bragging rights thanks to Jake Beesley’s first-half header at Bloomfield Road.

Jay Lynch kept Fleetwood in the game with his superb save from Shayne Lavery’s penalty in the 77th minute.

Victory marked Blackpool’s first win over the Cod Army since December 2020 as they closed the gap between themselves and the play-off spots to three points.

Critchley said: “It’s a big win for us for a lot of reasons. We know how much this fixture means to the fans.

“We knew [to reach the play-offs] that we would probably have to win all four of our remaining matches and that’s the first one out of the way.

“It’s out of our hands at the moment and our aim going into each game is to win and get three points. If we can do that then we can hopefully capitalise on any slip-ups from the teams above us.”

The Blackpool boss defended Lavery for his penalty miss and switched the focus to their next clash against Carlisle at the weekend.

“Look, everybody misses penalties,” he said. “Nobody misses them on purpose. Shayne, unfortunately, missed his. But thankfully it didn’t come back to cost us.

“Derbies are always intense, scrappy affairs. They’re nervy. We’re pleased to get the three points and we move onto Saturday now.

“All we can do is focus on ourselves.”

Fleetwood’s Tommy Lonergan thought he had found a crucial equaliser at the death but celebrations were cut short when his goal was ruled offside.

Manager Charlie Adam stood firm that his side will not give with Fleetwood six points off safety with just four games remaining.

He said: “It’s a disappointing result and we’re disappointed we’ve come away with nothing.

“We came here with a game plan and I thought we stuck to that very well. It’s a game that we came into thinking we could win.

“I’m proud of them, really proud of them. I’m proud that they have come here and shown some personality.

“I said to them before the game that we needed personality and bravery on the ball and they’ve shown that.

“They fought for this jersey, fought for this football club right until the very end and sadly it wasn’t to be tonight.

“It will be the same Saturday and it will be the same for the last four games, we won’t give in.

“We will be here until the end and we will keep fighting. There is absolutely no doubt about that.”

Charlton boss Nathan Jones was disappointed with his side’s defensive work in Tuesday night’s 2-2 League One draw with Wigan.

The Addicks had gone ahead in the 20th minute when Wigan captain Charlie Hughes sliced a long ball from Macaulay Gillesphey into his own net.

But Charlton’s soft underbelly was on show again just after the hour mark, when two goals in four minutes from Charlie Kelman turned the game around.

Chuks Aneke was able to rescue a point, but only Carlisle have fewer League One clean sheets than Charlton.

“This team hasn’t kept many clean sheets,” he said. “There’s been three managers now and no one’s kept clean sheets, me included.

“That’s something that we need to address and we’ve got to be better at because I don’t want us to have to score three goals at home to win a football game,” he continued.

“It’s either work or personnel. We’ll do lots of work and if the work doesn’t do it then we’ll change personnel.”

The Charlton boss was also disappointed with his team’s finishing.

“We created enough to have punished them tonight,” he said. “If that’s 4-2 or 5-2 then no one’s moaning, no one’s saying ‘we’ve got lucky there’.

“We’ve had 20 shots tonight. We’ve had double their shots, double their shots on target. It shows that we’ve had a right go tonight. The fans want three points but they’ve seen a team that’s proper front-footed tonight.

“But when you don’t put them away, then it’s a 2-2 game – and that wasn’t a 2-2 game.”

Shaun Maloney could have been forgiven for having his mind on other matters, given that his wife gave birth to their daughter on Monday.

“I just about made it here today, so it wasn’t the normal preparation,” said the Wigan manager.

“We knew this was obviously coming at some point and I thought the staff did a really good job today and yesterday. All of them.

“I just want to thank the senior players. They really stepped up today.”

It was a spirited performance from the Latics, who had to suffer but came out with a point. Maloney was pleased with the second half in particular.

“We were under real big pressure,” he said. “We’re 1-0 down, the first five minutes were really difficult. To then play the way that we did, I really liked.”

Maloney was full of praise for the man who turned the game around.

He added: “He’s had to be patient, Charlie. It’s tough. I’m a really big fan of his.

“I think there’s loads more to come. Physically, in the first two or three weeks he got up to speed. I just really like his movement. I love him out of possession. He knows what I think of him.

“Tonight was really big for him.”

Ruben Selles praised Reading’s character after they moved nine points clear of the League One relegation zone thanks to a comfortable 2-0 win over Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Stadium.

Selles was all smiles after striker Sam Smith put the visitors in command after eight minutes with a close-range header before Lewis Wing doubled the lead just before half-time with a stunning 25-yard free-kick.

“It takes a lot of character to win in the circumstances where we are fighting against relegation,” Selles said.

“We did a really good job to get the three points and we hope that with this result and the coming performances we will have done enough to stay in the league.

“But I think this season for Reading is never done until the final whistle – and maybe after that – but we can only control what happens on the pitch until then.

“We are just thinking about getting as many points as possible because we never know what might happen, but hopefully nothing else will happen with processes.”

Selles added: “We have been talking about how the team has been growing and maturing and today we did the job in the first half and then you could not expect us to dominate for the 100 minutes.

“They had good players to send on at half-time and they made it difficult for us over a period of 15-20 minutes but after that we regained control and we finished strongly.

“We enjoyed the victory and we enjoyed celebrating with our fans because we go all in and they enjoy that.

“Sometimes we don’t get what we want and sometimes we do but there is no doubt we go all in every single time we play.

“The way we do things is exciting for the fans and the way we play is good for the fans and the way we have connected is great.”

While Reading fans celebrated victory, Rovers fans booed their side at the final whistle following a record-extending seventh game without a goal

Manager Matt Taylor said he understood their frustration but asked for the poor run to be seen in context.

“It is understandable because they don’t like what they see at the moment but they are not alone in that,” Taylor said.

“As the manager I have to find a way to make the team function better than we did tonight.

“Moments in the game just dictate everything and certainly the weakness within us to concede that first goal in the manner we did is so frustrating.

“And then they were on top of us because they understand the situation and they don’t like what they see.

“But there is a deeper story. We all know the elephant in the room as regards where players are going to be towards next season.

“But there are still four games left this season so there is enough to play for to show their pride because the supporters want to see fight and endeavour.

“They probably saw that at the start of the second half, which is close to what I want to see out on the pitch, but they didn’t like the way it derailed towards the end.”

Harry Kane knew it was not just Bayern Munich fans who wanted him to score on his return to north London in the Champions League quarter-final first leg against Arsenal.

Tottenham’s record scorer was back at the Emirates Stadium for the first time since leaving Spurs in the summer and scored his customary goal when he converted a first-half penalty to put the German side 2-1 up before half-time.

Kane kept his cool after Leroy Sane had been fouled not long after Serge Gnabry had cancelled out Bukayo Saka’s early opener.

No opposition player has scored more goals at the Emirates than Kane, who scored plenty of penalties for Spurs over the years and he knew his old fans would have been watching.

“I think they have a soft respect for me,” he said of Arsenal fans who were goading him during his interview on TNT Sports.

“I know there wasn’t just Bayern Munich fans watching this game tonight, so maybe there was a little bit more pressure. It is always a tough game.

“I have done a bit of research of the penalties against Porto, he (David Raya) was reading it into the corners early so I had to change my style a little bit.

“It was nice to see him go early and make it easy for me.”

Leandro Trossard’s second-half strike ensured it ended 2-2 and leaves it finely poised for next week’s second leg in Munich.

Kane said: “You have seen it over the last couple of years, probably my last season at Tottenham, they were really strong and had a good go at winning the league.

“They are a really good team, we changed how we defended without the ball. More of a 4-4-2 and had to work and dig deep.

“We know we are playing a top team and they are on top of Premier League for a reason. Tough game.”

The Champions League represents Kane’s only real chance of silverware in his debut season in Munich following his side’s capitulation in the Bundesliga title race.

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Despite their poor league campaign, Kane has loved his debut season in Germany, where he has scored 39 goals in 38 matches.

He added: “It’s been an amazing experience, of course the league hasn’t gone the way I or the club would have wanted it to go, but for me personally it has been an amazing experience.

“To see a different culture, to see a different league, it has been a great step in my career.

“The league has gone this year but I am at Munich for a long time and I know we will come back stronger.”

Ryan Lowe said substitute Milutin Osmajic showed “pure class” as his eight-minute hat-trick completed Preston’s comeback in a 4-1 win over Huddersfield that keeps their Championship play-off hopes alive.

Relegation-battling Huddersfield were the better side in the first half and led through Josh Koroma’s strike four minutes before the break, but Will Keane levelled from the penalty spot early in the second half before Osmajic’s stunning cameo.

The Montenegrin put Preston in front in the 84th minute before scoring again in the 87th minute and the first minute of stoppage time.

“It’s just pure class and he’s got that in him,” Lowe said of the summer signing from Cadiz. “It’s been tough for him, he’s been in and out of the team at certain times…That’s his real hunger and desire to perform for the football club and for his team-mates and he takes all the credit for that.”

There had been a very different mood at half-time, with boos greeting the referee’s whistle as Preston were in danger of letting a top-six finish get out of reach.

“The first half wasn’t us, we weren’t at the races,” Lowe said. “We got them in at half-time and told them they need to be better. I had faith the lads could come out and perform. We changed one or two things, gave them a bit of information and told them they needed to raise it 20 per cent.

“The penalty gave us a bit of a life line to get back in and then there was only one team going to win it.”

The win leaves Preston five points off sixth-placed Norwich, who visit Deepdale on Saturday.

“It’s massively important,” Lowe said of the game. “I’m not going to play it down. Who knows? It might be the biggest one so far. It’s out of our hands what other teams do points-wise. I just want us to stay in the mix. If we can keep climbing up, with five games to go, who knows?”

Huddersfield boss Andre Breitenreiter was left to rue the chances that got away in a strong first half, and said the way his side defended after the break was “not acceptable”.

“When you defend like we did in the second half you cannot get some points,” the German said. “It was terrible, it was poor, too many ball losses.

“We played a really good first half but we missed the final pass to score more goals, we had really good opportunities to score two or three goals and we didn’t do that…

“I cannot tell you my opinion (on the penalty decision) because I didn’t see the clip. But the goal changed everything. Then we have to speak about our own performance and the performance was not good enough.

“After 1-1 there were too many ball losses, we didn’t play as a team, we had bad body language. It was a different game and it was not acceptable for me.”

Richie Wellens blamed his side’s lack of experience after his Leyton Orient side, who finished with 10 men, drew 2-2 with Exeter at Brisbane Road.

Orient were holding a comfortable two-goal lead with Ollie O’Neill and substitute George Moncur on the scoresheet.

But the context of the game changed when Brandon Cooper was forced off with injury during the second half leaving Orient, who had already used all their substitutes, to battle out the final 20 minutes a man down.

Orient were then penned in and around their own penalty area and the Grecians finally broke through a resilient rearguard action with a Millenic Alli header before Will Aimson got the final touch to Tommy Carroll’s shot to salvage a point.

“I thought it wasn’t a great game in terms of quality,” said Wellens.

“Both teams gave too many turnovers, especially us. When we go into a 2-0 lead and down to 10 men, it’s a problem. But it should only be a small problem and we just lacked experience.

“The schedule and the amount of extra time we’ve played is hard for everyone and I think every single club have lost a lot more players this season. For us, losing another two players to injury tonight was not ideal. We always wanted to give Dan Agyei half an hour but losing two players made us run the risk with substitutions.

“We’ve got certain players out of contract and some players are not improving, so we’ve got some decisions to make in the summer.

“The game tonight was comfortable for us but the injuries and the lack of bodies we had before tonight was severe. But it’s extreme now, we’ll have a patched-up team for Derby on Saturday.”

Exeter boss Gary Caldwell admitted it was a hard-earned point.

“We had to work extremely hard for the point to come back from behind,” he acknowledged.

“I thought the first half was fairly even. We started the game well but then Orient came back into it. I wanted a bit more intensity and I thought we got that second half.

“The two goals we gave away were extremely poor from our point of view and they didn’t create many chances outside of them.

“Late on I thought we created enough chances to win the game, so it was great fight and spirit from us to keep the unbeaten run going. It’s another point on the board but we wanted more so we now need to look at the remaining three games to see what we can take out of them.

“We put a lot of balls into their box and it was a backheel I think from our centre-half Will Aimson for the equaliser from a brilliant short corner, but at that moment we were creating lots of opportunities.

“But to be 2-0 down and come back, I’m delighted.”

Plymouth director of football Neil Dewsnip praised his side for their “never say die” attitude after claiming a late leveller in a 1-1 Championship draw with relegation-rivals QPR.

Albert Adomah scored an 85th-minute own goal as Argyle piled on the pressure from a later corner after Sam Field had fired Rangers into a 73rd-minute lead following a goalmouth scramble in which home goalkeeper Michael Cooper made two incredible saves.

Dewsnip said: “When QPR scored, the team had to show incredible resilience. ‘Never say die’ is a part of the culture here. The team were superb and the fans fantastic.”

Managerless Argyle slipped to 20th as a result to sit just two points above the relegation zone, but Dewsnip said: “We see it as a point gained at home not an opportunity missed as that’s now four points in two games.

“It means momentum is changing and we go again on Friday. I like to look forward so hopefully we will score more than one on Friday.

“We will look forward rather than backwards. I see the point as a positive point, we are going the right direction again.

“Michael (Cooper) has been injured but he is getting sharper game by game and made some superb saves again tonight, as he did at Rotherham.

“All the players were superb tonight. Michael had a fantastic game, Adam Randell did, Dan Scarr, Lewis Gibson but I could go on and on and name every one of them because I thought they all played their part in a tremendous performance.

“Friday night against Leicester is huge. The players will recover now and then we all go again on Friday.”

QPR head coach Marti Cifuentes – whose side hover four points above the bottom three – said: “It was disappointing not to win as we did enough to win the game. We needed to score a second (goal).

“That’s always going to be the target at 1-0. We not only created chances to win the game but enough to close the game out.

“I have mentioned this not once, not twice that unfortunately, it’s something we have experienced many times this season.

“And then you know if the opposition get a half-chance in this type of situation they will score and that’s exactly what happened.

“For us today it was important for us to react in a strong way after losing and I am delighted to say that’s what we did.

“After we scored we kept pushing hard for a second and I know if we carry on playing this way we are going to win football matches.

“I don’t usually look at the table. Tonight it was about the last five games.

“Now we have four games left and I want to win all of them. We need to keep on pushing, we need more points.

“Our focus is on the next game and we know that Hull will be difficult because they are chasing the play-offs but there are no easy games in this division.

“We have to make sure that collectively we recover from this one and be well prepared to go again.”

Neill Collins is confident play-off chasing Barnsley can overcome their recent struggles after a 2-1 defeat to Stevenage leaves them looking over their shoulder at a crucial time in the season.

Goals from Jamie Reid and Dan Butler either side of the break earned Boro victory and they now sit within three points of sixth-placed Oxford, albeit having played a game more.

Barnsley, who had taken the lead through Adam Phillips’ 30th-minute strike, are precariously in fifth having taken just eight points from their last eight games, hitting a difficult patch of form at a crucial stage.

But Collins assured supporters it is only a matter of small margins to get them back on track.

He said: “People might make more of it than it is. We are disappointed with some of the recent results but I don’t think it will take a lot to turn it around.

“This is the first time we have lost two consecutive games since the third and fourth game of the season. The players have been really resilient and it was going to be tough tonight.

“There is no getting away that the recent run of results we have had, especially with the fixtures we have had, it’s not been good enough.

“I think we have been very consistent prior to that and I think we will get that back. At times we have been victims of our own mistakes but I think we need to not blow everything about proportion.

“We need to concentrate on getting the small margins back in our favour because I think that’s all it is.”

Victory for Stevenage brought an eight-game winless streak to an end. And with Steve Evans’ side playing Oxford next and the U’s also playing seventh-placed Lincoln, he believes Boro are still in with a chance of breaking back into the play-off spots.

He said: “Not often do I say that I’m prepared to lose, but I’m prepared to lose in a major way to try and win.

“The players just knew the mission for tonight was to get the three points and they got them and have gone in quietly. We will regroup and freshen up for Saturday.

“We have to win every game. We have been on the wrong end of some tough stuff and I said to them at half-time we can play eight up front tonight because that will be the way it will be.

“The managers that fail at this level continuously are not prepared to lose, but you have to be prepared to lose to win games.

“Neil Harris and Neil Warnock are specialists at it because in their heart they try to win and that is in me.”

Darrell Clarke admitted his Cheltenham side are “falling at the last hurdle” in their survival bid after they went down 1-0 at home to already-relegated Carlisle.

Sam Lavelle’s first-half goal was enough to seal the points for the Cumbrians, whose fate was sealed by a 2-0 defeat at Northampton last Saturday.

Cheltenham knew a win would lift them out of the bottom four for the first time since mid-August, but they came up short and Clarke admitted he is scratching his head over the performance.

“I am very disappointed with our performance and with the whole night,” Clarke said.

“Yet again, after a poor first half, I am searching for answers and I am not coming up with the right solutions at the minute.

“The group is lacking a bit of confidence, but it’s no excuse and I’ll take responsibility as manager.

“We are falling at the last hurdle as things stand, and that’s not acceptable after working so hard to give ourselves a platform to stay in this division.

“I have to get better, the group has to get better as well and we have to give our supporters a lift come 3pm on Saturday (at home to Bristol Rovers).”

Carlisle were the better side during a cagey first half.

Joe Nuttall missed a good opportunity to give Cheltenham the lead in the sixth minute, side-footing wide after Liam Sercombe’s pass.

Georgie Kelly saw a shot saved by Luke Southwood at the other end and Luke Armstrong fired wide of the near post.

Jack Armer blasted over the bar for the Cumbrians, but the deadlock was broken three minutes before half-time.

Jack Robinson’s corner was headed back across goal by Ben Barclay and Lavelle touched it in from close range.

Cheltenham sent on four substitutes at half-time and changed formation, resulting in some early pressure on the visitors’ goal.

But goalkeeper Harry Lewis was rarely troubled and Southwood had to fly at full stretch to keep out a looping effort from Jon Mellish in the 77th minute.

Carlisle boss Paul Simpson was pleased with his side’s attitude.

“It was one of those games where we had to roll our sleeves up, put our tin hats on and defend for our lives and that’s what we did,” he said.

“I was really pleased with so many things in what has been a tough time for us.

“It was a good goal and then we had to hang on because Cheltenham are fighting for their lives.

“It’s a good result and makes the journey home more enjoyable. I’m still adamant I want the players to do something now at home for our fans as they’ve been starved of a good 90 minutes. We now have two home games to do that.

“It’s been really painful what we’ve been through this year, but the truth is we just haven’t been good enough.

“I think the players who are still here next year will be better for the experience.”

Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta believes his side can still beat Bayern Munich after admitting they were below-par in Tuesday’s Champions League quarter-final first-leg draw.

Leandro Trossard’s late equaliser made it 2-2 at the Emirates after goals from former Gunner Serge Gnabry and ex-Tottenham striker Harry Kane overturned Bukayo Saka’s early opener.

That means it is all to play for in Munich next week and Arteta said on TNT Sports: “I have a lot of belief we can go there and beat them. We have to prepare really well.

“We scored a really good goal and then after that is the moment of the game when Ben (White) is in front of (Manuel) Neuer and if we make it 2-0 it would be a very different match.

“After that the ball is open, we gave it to the opponent and they scored. That created some uncertainty.

“The second goal as well is unusual for us to concede but this is the Champions League, if you make a mistake you get punished.

“A lot of things today we have not done to the standards we usually do and that has allowed them spaces to run and they are very dangerous.

“The Champions League, if you give something they take it.”

Arsenal felt they should have been awarded a penalty in the final moments when Saka looked to have been fouled by Neuer but the referee waved away protests and VAR confirmed the decision.

Arteta said: “(The referee) didn’t say anything. They said they checked it and they decided it wasn’t a penalty.”