Julian Alvarez is revelling in his partnership with Erling Haaland in Manchester City’s attack.

The Argentinian World Cup winner continued his strong start to the season with two goals as the holders began their Champions League title defence with a comfortable 3-1 win over Red Star Belgrade on Tuesday.

An injury for Kevin De Bruyne has seen Alvarez handed a run of games in support of prolific centre forward Haaland and it is a role he is relishing.

“I am very happy with the goals, to help the team,” the 23-year-old said. “We are doing well, we are winning – which is the most important thing – and playing good games.

“I am trying to adapt and I continue growing in this position, where I am moving freely, to give the team another option and add to the attack.”

Alavarez was the dominant figure in City’s forward line as they threatened to overwhelm Red Star in their opening Group G game at the Etihad Stadium.

Yet despite creating a plethora of chances – with Haaland hitting the bar and goalkeeper Omri Glazer making several saves – City fell behind to an Osman Bukari strike just before half-time.

Alvarez began the fightback with a fine dinked finish after the restart and then put Pep Guardiola’s side ahead when his free-kick was inadvertently punched into the goal by Glazer.

Rodri wrapped up a thoroughly deserved victory with a typically composed finish 17 minutes from time but, again, City could have had several more. Haaland went the closest when he hit the goal frame for a second time.

“We played a good game,” said Alvarez. “It was important to start with a win and three points at home in this difficult competition. We are very happy.

“We had many chances we could not convert but Pep told us to keep doing what we were doing and the goals would come.

“It was the same in the previous game where we were losing and came back, so it was fine. We always try to stay calm, play well in the second half and win.”

Alvarez was not a regular starter last season, despite his starring role in his country’s World Cup triumph, but Guardiola believes he can do an important job in easing the goalscoring burden on Haaland.

Guardiola said: “It’s the same player as last season but being a World Cup winner doesn’t mean you have to play all the time.

“Last season we had Kevin and (Ilkay) Gundogan in that position. Kevin was in top form and Gundo was incredible.

“In that moment sometimes it was difficult to find spaces but I never had a doubt.

“Now Gundo has gone and Kevin unfortunately is injured. We need players to be close to Erling, don’t put all the responsibilities just on the shoulders of Erling to score all the goals.

“That’s why when Phil (Foden) has played there, when Julian plays there, we have the feeling that we create a lot of chances.”

Military March, fourth to Kameko in the 2000 Guineas three years ago but only seen once since, is on the comeback trail.

Trainer Saeed bin Suroor is hoping to get the six-year-old back on track next month, with a view to bigger targets if all goes well.

While he could head out to Dubai, the scene of his last run in January 2021, Bin Suroor also mentioned the Bahrain International Trophy, run in November, as a possible option.

He said: “He worked on Monday and he worked well. He still needs time but he’s getting there now.

“We will find a race for him in early October I think, before we start thinking big. Maybe we could take him out to Bahrain, if he’s good enough.

“It’s been a shame he hasn’t been able to run that much but he’s a nice horse.

“We could have run some nice races with him but he’s coming back and I’m happy with him.”

The disgraced former president of the Spanish Football Federation [RFEF] Luis Rubiales was not worthy of representing his country, according to Sevilla vice president Jose Maria del Nido.

Rubiales was widely condemned for his behaviour as Spain celebrated their victory over England in last month's Women's World Cup final, having grabbed forward Jenni Hermoso before kissing her on the lips.

Hermoso repeatedly stated the kiss was not consensual and has since filed a criminal complaint against Rubiales, accusing him of sexual assault.

Though Rubiales initially refused to resign, the pressure eventually told as he announced his departure ahead of an interview with Piers Morgan, which aired last week.

Sevilla became one of the first clubs to demand Rubiales' resignation on August 25, and Del Nido believes the events have left a stain on the reputation of Spanish football. 

Speaking at the Thinking Football Summit, Del Nido told Stats Perform: "Instead of everyone talking about the success of being world champions, being the best in your sport at a global level, it's a complete failure that we should be talking about events that are totally unacceptable, of a person who should not represent the Spanish Football Federation. 

"Instead of paying attention to the damage that the attitude of the president of the federation has done, I would stay with the attitude that the Spanish people have had. 

"I think it is true that this hurts the reputation of Spain, but Spain is not Luis Rubiales. 

"Spain is everything we have manifested against the behaviour of Rubiales, everything we have done to support Jenni. 

"This type of conduct cannot be accepted under any concept, and even less if it is a person who occupies a status or a position of that magnitude. 

"He is not worthy of representing the Spanish Football Federation. Spain has spoken out against this event in a very good way. 

"I will finish as I started. What we have to do is congratulate the Spanish women's team for becoming World Cup champions, which is the only thing that should be discussed."

Despite the exits of Rubiales and World Cup-winning coach Jorge Vilda – who was sacked earlier this month having been the subject of player revolts – the storm surrounding the RFEF is far from over.

A group of 81 Spanish players announced their intention to boycott international duty and 39 said they would continue to strike for further changes on Friday, with Hermoso claiming "nothing has changed" at the governing body on social media.

However, six of the players who agreed to strike reported at Spain's training camp on Tuesday, with goalkeeper Misa Rodriguez telling reporters she was not glad to join up with the squad as she arrived. 

With the relationship between women's rights and Spanish football under the microscope, Getafe completed the controversial loan signing of Manchester United's Mason Greenwood this month.

Greenwood was arrested and charged with attempted rape, assault and controlling and coercive behaviour last year, with the charges dropped in February after the withdrawal of key witnesses.

While Del Nido was not prepared to comment on Getafe's decision to sign Greenwood, he said Sevilla never considered a move for the forward.

"I read about it in the press and it was never among the options that the sporting director of Sevilla [Victor Orta] managed," Del Nido asserted.

"With it not being within the options of the sporting director of Sevilla, I don't dare to speak about a signing for another club, Getafe, for whom we have a lot of respect. 

"They have made some signings but we have never valued the option of that footballer at a sporting level, so I have nothing to say about that."

Greenwood made his Getafe debut as a substitute on Sunday as they beat Osasuna 3-2 in LaLiga.

The majority of Spain’s World Cup-winning squad have agreed to end their boycott after “profound changes” to the Spanish football federation were promised, according to National Sports Council president Victor Francos.

A decision was reached in the early hours of Wednesday morning following a lengthy meeting between the players, RFEF officials and CSD in a hotel in Oliva.

Fifteen players of the group from this summer’s tournament were on Monday named in new head coach Montse Tome’s squad for the Nations League encounters with Sweden and Switzerland.

But 21 of the 23-player contingent had already stated they would not play for their country again until major changes had occurred within the RFEF, in the wake of former president Luis Rubiales kissing Spain forward Jenni Hermoso on the lips during the medal ceremony in Australia.

The threat of sanctions to the squad for potentially refusing to play for their country had been raised, but an agreement was finally reached with Francos confirming the news after the meeting.

“We’ve had several meetings that were conducted in an extremely cordial atmosphere in which people were able to speak freely,” Francos said, according to Spanish sports newspaper AS.

“We covered all issues. In terms of conclusions: firstly, we’ve reached a series of agreements that will be signed tomorrow by the RFEF and the CSD.

“Furthermore, a mixed commission will be created involving three parties – the federation, the CSD and the players – to monitor the (implementation) of those agreements, which are related to the development of Spain’s sports law in terms of gender policies, pay equality and furthering the infrastructure of women’s sport.

“The players also conveyed to us the need to make profound changes (in personnel at the RFEF). These changes are to happen immediately, and will be announced by the RFEF.”

Amanda Gutierrez, president of players’ union FUTPRO, was also present at the meeting, and was quoted by AS as saying: “It is considered a rapprochement of positions. It is the beginning of a long road that lies ahead of us.

“(The players), once again, have shown themselves to be coherent and the vast majority have decided to make the decision to stay for the sake of this agreement.”

The players had reluctantly turned up for duty on Tuesday amid talk of fines or suspension under Spanish sports law for “unjustified lack of attendance”, with Hermoso accusing RFEF of intimidation in her own statement on Tuesday.

Goalkeeper Misa Rodriguez also answered “no” when asked by reporters if she was happy to be part of Tome’s squad when a group of Madrid-based players met at a hotel in the Spanish capital before they travelled to their nation’s training base near Valencia.

However, lengthy talks between the players, RFEF and CSD officials resulted in the boycott ending, although two players will leave the camp ahead of Friday’s match in Sweden.

Francos added: “Two players have said they aren’t in the right frame of mind and have asked to leave the squad. Twenty-one players have expressed their desire to stay.”

Celtic goalkeeper Joe Hart will take confidence from their display with 11 men against Feyenoord as he and his team-mates seek to change their Champions League narrative.

The Dutch champions triumphed 2-0 in Rotterdam but Celtic’s hopes of a second-half comeback were dashed by red cards for Gustaf Lagerbielke and Odin Thiago Holm.

Hart saved a penalty in the five minutes between the red cards before being beaten again in the 76th minute.

The former England goalkeeper let in the opener from Calvin Stengs’ 30-yard free-kick in first-half stoppage-time after Celtic had more than held their own during the opening 45 minutes.

Celtic have now won just once in 22 Champions League group games and fans came away with similar frustrations to much of last season’s campaign, when their team’s two-point total was scant reward for some of their play.

When asked if it felt like the same old story, Hart said: “At the moment it feels like that but we are at the start of a new adventure. That’s the great thing about football, it always gives you a chance. This is a brand new season, whatever has been, has been.

“It’s a tournament of six games for us and we believe we put ourselves in a good position to play Feyenoord at home.

“Obviously we have got four other games that we need to take care of compete in. Now we know one of our rivals in this tournament, we feel like we can definitely compete with them.

“We had plenty of character, desire and buying into the messages that we are being given.

“We were in a good game, a close, close game and obviously a few things went against us, some of them self-inflicted, and you fall on the wrong side in this competition.

“But overall, 11 v 11, I felt like we could have given it a right good go.

“An avoidable goal just before half-time and two red cards makes it difficult.”

Hart described the opening goal as a “perfect storm” after the wall failed to do its job and then the ball curled just out of his grasp after skidding off the wet surface in Rotterdam.

“The guy running across Kyogo, causing Kyogo to move,” Hart said.

“”I have obviously got to hold my ground. As a goalkeeper you have got to hold your ground, especially when it’s very close to people’s shoulders, you’ve got to wait ’til it goes past them because you can’t over-commit.

“Once it went past Kyogo, I couldn’t get across quickly enough with the skip and the curl on the ball.

“It’s disappointing, obviously disappointing on my behalf, I’ve got high standards.

“But that doesn’t define the game, there was plenty more to come, and we were going toe to toe with a good team and it felt like we could have achieved something.”

Rangers take on Real Betis in their Europa League opener on Thursday night.

The Light Blues have had a difficult start to the season and are under pressure to turn in a positive performances at Ibrox.

Here is the lowdown on the Gers’ opponents ahead of the Group C encounter.

Form

The Spanish side have started the season in patchy form with just two wins in five La Liga matches to leave them 10th in the table, eight points behind leaders Real Madrid. Real Betis have beaten Villarreal and Rayo Vallecano, drawn against Atletico Madrid and lost to Athletic Bilbao and Barcelona. The 5-0 loss to Barca at the weekend could mean confidence has taken a dent but their fans will hope their side can exploit any anxiety at Ibrox. Betis finished sixth last season, 28 points behind Barcelona.

Manager

Manuel Pellegrini is one of the most experienced managers in the game. The 70-year-old Chilean has been a boss since 1988 when he took over at Universidad de Chile in his homeland. A globetrotting career has followed and he has been in the  hot seat at clubs like River Plate, Real Madrid, Manchester City and West Ham, among others.  Pellegrini joined Manchester City in 2013 and won the Premier League and League Cup double in his first season, winning the League Cup again in 2015/16. Most recently, he won the Copa del Rey in 2022 with Los Verdiblancos, who he joined in 2020.

Players

There has been a lot of recent speculation around which players Pellegrini will have at his disposal for the trip to Glasgow, with reports suggesting four key players will be back in contention. Former Manchester City and Barcelona keeper Claudio Bravo – aged 40 – is recovering from a calf injury and could make his first start of the season after Portugal goalkeeper Rui Silva had to come off against Barcelona with a thigh injury to be replaced by debutant Fran Vieites, who usually plays for Betis B. Captain and Mexico international Andres Guardado had been missing with an ankle injury but could return along with William Carvalho, who has won 80 caps for Portugal, and right-back Aitor Ruibal. Brazilian striker Willian Jose has scored four of Betis’s five goals this season. Spain internationals Hector Bellerin and Borja Iglesias are also in the Betis squad.

European pedigree

Real Betis have never won a European trophy and have taken part in the Champions League on only one occasion, in 2005/06. Betis finished third behind Liverpool and Chelsea and above Anderlecht in Group G with seven points, dropping down to the UEFA Cup where they were knocked out in the last 16 by Steaua Bucharest. In the 2021/22 season they were drawn in the same group as Celtic in the Europa League, winning 4-3 at home and losing 3-2 at Celtic Park. Last season they were knocked out of the Europa League at the last-16 stage by Manchester United 5-1 on aggregate.

Eddie Howe is confident there is more to come from Newcastle after they took a point from their Champions League baptism of fire in Milan.

The Magpies found themselves under the cosh at the San Siro on Tuesday evening as they opened their Group F campaign with a tough trip to AC Milan and ultimately emerged with a creditable 0-0 draw.

Howe’s team will have to be significantly more progressive than they were in Italy if they are to bank the points they will need to progress, with Paris St Germain and Borussia Dortmund waiting in the wings, but the 45-year-old believes they will be.

Asked after the game if the overriding emotion in the dressing room on the final whistle had been exhaustion, disappointment or pride, he said: “It was a mixture of all of those things, definitely pride in the result and the performance, the mentality shown.

“Not internally in the squad, the result wasn’t overestimated. They are very honest payers and they acknowledge we can perform better. Yes, a bit of fatigue as well, but we’re now looking forward to our next match.

“For us to stand up strong and come back fighting in that second half – because I thought that was a good second half display from us – bodes well for the future. All we can try and do is try and win every game.”

But for goalkeeper Nick Pope and a glaring miss from Milan’s Portugal star Rafael Leao, Newcastle could have been in deep trouble by half-time, although having got there on level terms they produced a fine defensive display after the break to plug the gaps through which the Rossoneri had poured during the opening 45 minutes.

Indeed, they might even have picked the Serie A club’s pocket in stoppage-time when Sean Longstaff forced a fingertip save from substitute goalkeeper Marco Sportiello.

Howe said: “There were a few things we changed at half-time. We were looking to tweak a few things.

“The mindset was the most important thing. The blocking of the shots, recovery sprints when we are caught out of position was all out of the top drawer, especially when it needed to be in that second half.

“We had our moments in transitions going the other way and that’s where the quality was missing, and I’m a little bit frustrated with that. As I say, we will look to improve.”

Howe will now turn his attention to Sunday’s Premier League trip to Sheffield United, with opposite number Stefano Pioli, whose side lost 5-1 to derby rivals Inter last weekend, also able to take positives from a display which promised much but did not deliver the outcome he craved.

Pioli, who also lost goalkeeper Mike Maignan and midfielder Ruben Loftus-Cheek to injury, said: “I liked the performance, I liked the attitude. We attacked very well, we defended well, we showed that we were full of energy through the whole 90 minutes.

“We were as intense as they were – actually, we were more intense than they were – but we couldn’t win, and that’s a pity.

“Now we have to move on. There are very important games in Serie A and then we will have to play against Borussia Dortmund.”

Ronald Acuna Jr. hit a pair of home runs to reach 39 and stole his 67th base as the Atlanta Braves ended a four-game losing streak with a 9-3 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Tuesday.

Acuna is one home run shy of becoming the first player with 40 homers and 60 steals in a season, much less 40 home runs and 70 stolen bases.

The Braves' superstar is batting .386 with 11 home runs, 26 RBIs, 23 runs and eight steals in his last 20 games.

Acuna’s first home run was his seventh leadoff blast this season and 33rd of his career. Of his 205 hits this season, 51 have come in the first inning.

His performance overshadowed Spencer Strider’s major league-leading 18th win.

The right-hander allowed three runs and four hits over seven innings with 11 strikeouts to raise his MLB-best total to 270.

Marcell Ozuna drove in three runs with three hits, including a two-run double in the fifth, as Atlanta avoided its first five-game skid since September 2017.

Bryce Harper hit a three-run home run for the Phillies, who hold the top wild-card spot in the NL.

Padres lose combined no-hitter in 9th, walk-off Rockies

Blake Snell threw seven no-hit innings, and the San Diego Padres lost a combined no-hitter in the 9th before Xander Bogaerts hit a walk-off two-run homer in a 2-0 win over the Colorado Rockies.

Snell struck out 10 with four walks over the first seven innings and threw 104 pitches but was replaced by Robert Suarez, who worked a perfect eighth.

Closer Josh Hader gave up a leadoff single to Brendan Rodgers in the ninth before getting three outs.

Bogaerts homered off Tyler Kinley with two outs in the ninth to give San Diego its season-high sixth straight win.

Hays hits 2 homers as Orioles defeat Astros

Austin Hays went deep twice and Ryan O’Hearn added a two-run shot to lift the Baltimore Orioles to their fourth straight win, 9-5 over the slumping Houston Astros.

Hays hit a three-run shot off starter Hunter Brown in the third inning to snap a 2-2 tie and put Baltimore ahead for good.

O’Hearn’s two-run homer in the first opened the scoring and rookie Heston Kjerstad connected for his second career home run in the seventh, one batter after Hays’ second of the game gave the Orioles an 8-5 lead.

Baltimore maintained a 2 ½-game lead over Tampa in the race for the AL East title, while Houston’s lead in the West was trimmed to one-half game over Texas and Seattle.

Celtic captain Neil Lennon was given a three-match ban by the Scottish Football Association on this day in 2005 for barging into referee Stuart Dougal at the end of his side’s 3-1 defeat to Rangers.

Lennon had been shown a red card for arguing with the match officials after the final whistle following Celtic’s loss at Ibrox in August, before he pushed aside the assistant referee and then barged into Dougal.

A Scottish FA disciplinary committee decided on the length of Lennon’s ban after a three-hour hearing, which the Northern Ireland midfielder attended with Celtic boss Gordon Strachan.

Lennon received an automatic one-game ban for his initial red card and another two-game suspension was added “for misconduct of a significantly serious nature”.

Celtic said in a statement after the hearing: “We are satisfied with the process, today’s outcome and pleased that common sense has prevailed.”

Strachan had said after the incident that Celtic “wouldn’t be stupid enough to make a fool of ourselves by trying to defend things that are indefensible”, while Lennon publicly apologised for his behaviour.

Scottish Professional Footballers’ Association assistant secretary Fraser Wishart said Lennon’s previous good behaviour had worked in his favour.

Wishart said: “Neil wants to put this incident behind him and one of the stressing facts is that he has never been sent off in an SPL fixture or been over the top of the threshold for yellow cards.

“His previous record has been taken into consideration.”

Caelan Doris admits to initially being shocked by the sheer size of the South Africa team but insists facing the fearsome might of the so-called ‘Bomb Squad’ will not significantly alter Ireland’s game plan.

Back-rower Doris will take on the Springboks for only the second time in his career in Saturday evening’s crunch Rugby World Cup showdown in Paris.

The 25-year-old helped Ireland register a 19-16 win over the reigning world champions in November following a bruising Dublin encounter in which he was taken aback by the hefty bulk of the opposition.

The Springboks will again look to impose brute strength on Andy Farrell’s men after naming a six-two split of forwards and backs on their bench for this weekend’s pivotal Pool B clash at Stade de France.

Asked what distinguishes South Africa from other sides, Doris replied: “Physicality is the word that comes to mind.

“I remember being shocked at just the sheer size of them, playing them in November.

“They kind of do a six-two or even seven-one sometimes off the bench and have massive reinforcements coming off the bench as well.

“But it’s definitely not the only string to their bow. They’ve got a lot of pace in their backs and their forwards are capable of keeping the ball alive and offloading.

“Obviously the physicality is tied into their set-piece, they’ve got a great maul, great lineout options as well, a very strong lineout and scrum as well, so getting those areas right is going to be big.”

Springboks director of rugby Rassie Erasmus, who was then head coach, adopted the stacked bench tactic during his side’s run to lifting the Webb Ellis Cup in 2019.

Doris insists Ireland will not be deviating from the approach which has brought 15 successive Test wins.

“It doesn’t actually change too much,” he said.

“We talk about delivering an 80-minute performance regardless of who we are playing and knowing that some teams target the last 20 minutes.

“We also speak of our bench coming on and not just fitting in but actually taking it up a level. That will be important for us this weekend.”

Ireland, who have topped the Test rankings for more than a year, can seal progression to the World Cup quarter-finals with success in the French capital.

Doris feels better equipped to deal with the pressures of performing in front of a capacity Stade de France crowd than during last year’s Six Nations when Farrell’s men suffered a 30-24 loss to France.

“There’s so much belief amongst this group and there’s belief that we can still get a lot better,” he said.

“Delivering that in such a big game in Paris in front of 80,000 people – hopefully there will be a lot of Irish there – is just about constantly getting better as a group and believing that we can improve quite a bit.

“We are always striving for the perfect performance.”

Referring to the 2022 defeat to Les Bleus, he continued: “From the warm-up there was a palpable intensity in the atmosphere from the French in particular, drums banging and stuff like that.

“Having experienced it once, it is an easier thing to visualise and be aware of. It will be a little bit less of a shock for me.”

Brendan Rodgers felt his Celtic team showed they can compete at Champions League level before inexperience played its part in their Group E opener against Feyenoord running away from them following two red cards inside five minutes.

Both Gustaf Lagerbielke and substitute Odin Thiago Holm were sent off on their Champions League debuts with Celtic trailing to Calvin Stengs’ 30-yard free-kick in first-half stoppage-time.

Joe Hart saved a penalty in between the red cards before Feyenoord went on to win 2-0 in Rotterdam.

Rodgers said: “We showed in the game that for this tournament we are going to be competitive.

“We started really, really well, for the first 60 minutes the game was very close. I thought we looked a threat and progressed the ball well into the final third. Maybe with better decision-making and releasing the pass we would have given ourselves the opportunity to get in front.

“I’m disappointed with the first goal, we should never be conceding that, especially at that moment.

“But it was even for 60 minutes and unfortunately we got two players sent off. It’s really difficult at this level with 11 against 11, but with 11 v nine, it’s difficult.

“But I have to applaud the players for their spirit and mentality, they kept going. It was harsh on them.”

Hart was left exposed by his wall for the opener, with Kyogo Furuhashi inadvertently jumping out of the way of the ball, and the curl on the shot took the ball away from the goalkeeper after it bounced on the wet turf, although he got a hand to it.

Rodgers said: “We talked about it inside. I like the players to make decisions and there was a decision within the game to change the wall. But you have to make sure the wall is correct or else you get done.

“It’s a very, very small detail but if you don’t look after it, you end up beaten. It was bitterly disappointing because we played well up to then.”

Rodgers felt both red cards should have been avoided. Lagerbielke received a second yellow after catching Igor Paixao in the throat with his arm as he tried to jockey the forward. Holm was shown a straight red card for lunging in to a high tackle.

Rodgers said: “With Gustaf, there was no drama. The ball was running through to the goalkeeper. I think it’s inexperience, just let the ball run through. I still thought it was a bit harsh but I can maybe see why the referee gave it. But we can avoid that situation for sure.

“The second one, he is young and committed but at this level you can’t go to ground. When I saw it back, his foot is up. At this level you get punished for that.

“Obviously they are bitterly disappointed afterwards, their first experiences of games at this level. They will learn from it.

“Gustaf had done well up to that point, two inexperienced centre-backs – I thought Liam Scales was outstanding and Gustaf had been coping well.”

Sheffield Wednesday manager Xisco Munoz said his focus is on the future despite his side remaining without a victory this campaign following a 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough.

Darragh Lenihan’s second-half goal for Boro cancelled out Anthony Musaba’s opener.

It was 23rd against 24th in South Yorkshire and that is where the draw sees the sides remain; both are now without a win in their first seven matches in the Sky Bet Championship this season.

Munoz said: “One of the problems we had in the last game was not finding solutions, but we did that today. We gave a good performance in the first half.

“We tried to change things in the second half and build on the positives. We can’t change everything in only a few days. For me, it’s important to try and give better things like in the first half.

“We’re trying to find the balance. The first half was at a good level but in the Championship you can’t have control for 90 minutes. It became a totally different game in the second half.

“I think the fans enjoyed the first half. You could hear it and this is what I want. We need to enjoy when we play at home. I understand if some people don’t like my style.

“My focus is on the future. I know what I can improve in this team and most importantly I believe in these guys.”

Middlesbrough boss Michael Carrick said he was proud of the way his players got back into the game after half-time.

Carrick said: “It was a game of two halves. I think in the first half we were second guessing things and we lacked that belief and confidence.

“We wanted three points but sometimes that can turn to desperation and that can be dangerous. It can make things tense and I think we tensed up a bit in the first half, we were almost over trying.

“We showed what we were capable of in the second half and it was really encouraging for the players, I’m proud of them. Being behind at half-time is a difficult place to be.

“Going behind kick-started us; it gave us the freedom of expression to chase the game down. In terms of reaction, character and personality I never doubted them.

“We had some good spells of play in the second half. We were doing lots of good things, especially down the sides, we just didn’t quite get the end part right.

“Of course, we expected to pick up more points than we have but I really enjoy working with this group of players. The boys are frustrated, we wanted to come here and win but it wasn’t to be.”