Emma Raducanu advanced into the third round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells after her opponent Dayana Yastremska retired injured after just four games.

Raducanu had made a flying start and led 4-0 in the opening set when the Ukrainian 30th seed appeared to suffer an abdominal injury.

She immediately called for the physio but could not carry on, handing the Briton the win.

Raducanu may well have been victorious anyway had the match lasted the course as she looked impressive in the play that was possible.

She broke Yastremska’s serve in the opening game with a sublime drop shot and then showed grit to save a break point in her first service game.

A second break came courtesy of a strong backhand before a routine service hold put her in control.

It was in that game that Raducanu won to love that Yastremska suffered the injury and it forced a second retirement against the former US Open champion in two meetings.

Raducanu now looks set to meet second seed and Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka in the third round, which will test exactly where the 21-year-old is in her comeback from an injury-ravaged 2023.

Kai Havertz headed home a late winner against Brentford to send Arsenal top of the Premier League and spare the blushes of goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale.

With title rivals Liverpool and Manchester City facing off on Sunday, any victory for Arsenal would have been enough to take them to the summit for the first time in 2024.

It looked like they were on course to miss out after Ramsdale gifted a goal to Yoane Wissa to cancel out a brilliant Declan Rice header, only for Havertz to convert with four minutes remaining to secure a 2-1 victory.

Mikel Arteta has seen his team sweep aside all comers in recent weeks but this was another face to Arsenal, an attritional display that will see them remain as league leaders if Liverpool and City share the spoils at Anfield.

Ramsdale has not played since the return game at Brentford in November after losing the battle for the Arsenal number one spot to David Raya – who is on loan from the Bees and therefore ineligible against his parent club – and this could yet be his final outing for the Gunners.

Ivan Toney, linked with Arsenal throughout January, cleared an inswinging Rice corner off the line early on but unlike recent games away from home Arsenal did not have everything their own way in the opening stages.

They would, however, still break the deadlock as Ben White crossed for Rice to head home like an accomplished Premier League striker as he enjoys the best goalscoring season of his career with six goals.

From that point on, Arsenal looked in control – that was until deep into first-half stoppage time when Ramsdale collected a routine back-pass from Gabriel Magalhaes but dallied in possession and, as he attempted to clear, was closed down by Wissa.

The block could have gone anywhere but looped into the back of Ramsdale’s net to take the teams in level at the break.

Brentford smelled blood and after the interval Toney attempted an audacious effort with Ramsdale off his line – but this time he made a good stop to turn the goal-bound strike behind.

Arsenal were still the more dangerous side and Gabriel almost headed home a Bukayo Saka corner only for Vitaly Janelt to block into the grateful hands of goalkeeper Mark Flekken.

The hosts were getting more and more frustrated with referee Robert Jones as they felt a number of penalty claims went against them, although Havertz was lucky to escape a second booking after seemingly diving inside the box just after the hour.

Brentford were still threatening and Ramsdale was now providing the rearguard protection, brilliantly tipping over a Nathan Collins header as the second half drew on.

The game was opening up into an end-to-end contest as Rice rattled the crossbar with a bending effort from outside the box, with nerves creeping in around the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal, though, manfully stuck to the task at hand and ultimately found a way through as White once again provided the cross, Havertz this time diverting a header past Flekken for his fourth goal in four league games.

Massimiliano Allegri called on Juventus to turn around their recent poor form when they host Atalanta on Sunday as he expressed his disappointment at a run that has seen them fall 15 points behind Inter Milan.

Juve topped Serie A as recently as late January, but their title challenge looks all-but over after they collected just five points from their last six games.

They were beaten by defending champions Napoli last time out, with Inter now looking increasingly likely to claim their first title since 2021.

“I am not worried,” said Allegri. “If anything, I am disappointed because we did not get many points in February.

“Even at Napoli we showed some positive signs but in the end we came home with nothing. We need to turn this trend around.

“We have 11 league games left, plus two – hopefully three – Italian Cup games, we are fully in contention to reach our targets and now all our energy must be focused on those.

“It will not be a decisive game tomorrow, but still important. Now the points start to weigh that bit more and because Atalanta are also in the running for a top-four finish.

“We need to read the phases of the game in the right way and improve when we defend, because we have conceded too many goals lately.”

Weston McKennie and Moise Kean are available after injury, though, Adrien Rabiot and Carlos Alcaraz are set to miss out.

Sunday’s visitors are themselves chasing down a Champions League place and are looking to get their season back on track after their recent five-game winning run in the league was followed up by three without a victory.

Manager Gian Piero Gasperini talked up Ademola Lookman after he put in an impressive display during Wednesday’s Europa League draw with Sporting Lisbon.

“Every now and then I push him to become a more complete player, he has the physical ability to do so,” he said.

“Sometimes he hides a little but he can be more of a reference point, especially this year.”

Inter Milan extended their lead at the top of Serie A with a hard-fought 1-0 win at Bologna.

With closest challengers Juventus not in action until Sunday, Simone Inzaghi’s side took full advantage to move 18 points clear.

Yann Bisseck’s first-half header proved enough for a 14th straight victory in all competitions to end Bologna’s own winning run.

The Nerazzurri started brightly, with Alexis Sanchez forcing Bologna goalkeeper Lukasz Skorupski into an early save at the near post before Matteo Darmian sent a left-footed shot wide.

Nicolo Barella then fired straight at Skorupski after collecting a loose ball on the edge of the penalty area and Carlos Augusto’s angled drive was well saved.

Bologna threatened when Scotland midfielder Lewis Ferguson called Yann Sommer into action with a long-range effort and then Alexis Saelemaekers curled his shot just wide.

Inter finally made the breakthrough in the 37th minute when centre-back Alessandro Bastoni clipped a pass over from the left through the area toward the back post, where Bisseck headed the ball down and into the net.

It was almost 2-0 just before half-time when Darmian sent the ball across the face of goal towards Barella, but Bologna defender Victor Kristiansen managed to make a sliding block.

Bologna regrouped at the break and went close to levelling soon after the restart when Jens Odgaard sent Stefan Posch away down the right and his angled drive back across goal flew just wide of the far post.

Inter boss Simone Inzaghi looked to freshen up his side again following the hour mark, with Kristjan Asllani and Davide Frattesi sent on.

Former Bologna striker Marko Arnautovic came off the bench after 66 minutes, which was greeted by some jeers from the home support at the Stadio Renato Dall’Ara.

Bologna, who had won their last six matches to climb to fourth in the table, continued to press Inter back as Ferguson cut inside and drilled a shot wide.

With 12 minutes left, Joshua Zirkzee forced a brilliant reaction save from Sommer before substitute Riccardo Orsolini headed wide from a corner as Inter saw out the closing stages.

Arnautovic went down in stoppage time, appearing to pull a hamstring, and had to be helped off the pitch with an injury which could leave him doubtful for next week’s Champions League last-16 second-leg clash at Atletico Madrid.

Paul Warne brushed off his Derby side moving back into the top two of Sky Bet League One after a convincing 3-0 win at Bristol Rovers.

The Rams boss explained that if his team keep winning, following the club’s sixth victory in their last nine games, then they need not worry about what any of their promotion rivals are doing.

Dwight Gayle opened the scoring in the 55th minute, bundling in after Tom Barkhuizen’s shot had hit the crossbar and bounced on the goal-line.

Barkhuizen guided in a first-time effort from a Nathaniel Mendez-Laing pass to double their lead before substitute Martyn Waghorn made sure of the result when he poked in from close range in the 89th minute.

“We just keep saying to the lads ‘don’t look at the league table, just keep playing your best football for 10 games and see where we’re at’,” said Warne.

“Everything matters – I’ve said that from day one. I was talking to the lads today that it’s 250 days since we started this campaign and the pre-season, and everything matters, every tackle you make, every tackle you miss.”

Warne’s side have now won back-to-back league games 3-0 and his side may be finding form at the right time. The former Rotherham boss is eager for his side to find yet more consistency.

“You’ve just got to be bang on the money if you’re going to be successful and today this performance is already over,” he added.

“I want the lads to enjoy it for about half an hour, but then we’ve got to do it again Tuesday and then again Saturday. You’ve got to be relentless.

“My only slight criticism is that at times today we let them off the hook where we could have really finished them off. But I’m really pleased with the goals and the clean sheet.”

Bristol Rovers counterpart Matt Taylor recognised the quality of the opposition, hailing Derby as the best team in the division before the match.

Afterwards, the Rovers boss was particularly unhappy with how his side dealt with dead-ball situations.

“Set-pieces were frustrating as we’ve got a couple of first contacts on the long throw and the corner [that led to the opening goal] and got there first, but if we get there second then it’s more of a scramble. We have to be better.

“The next two [goals] come when we’re in possession of the ball and the third is when we’re really chasing the game. But that was a little bit of a reflection of us today. Our ball use wasn’t good enough today.

“In terms of the individual aspects they ‘manned’ the game today – they taught us a lesson in how to manage the game and how to manipulate certain situations.”

Frustrated Gregor Townsend refused to entertain questions about his future after Scotland suffered a calamitous second-half collapse on their way to a costly 31-29 Guinness Six Nations defeat in Italy.

The Scots arrived in Rome aiming to enhance their bid for a first top-two finish in the championship this century, while they still held out some hope of winning the title. However, their loss in the Eternal City, allied to England’s win over Ireland, leaves them staring at the prospect of a bottom-half finish.

Things looked to be going well for Townsend’s team when they led 14-3 and 22-10 during the first half following tries by props Zander Fagerson and Pierre Schoeman and wing Kyle Steyn. A disallowed George Horne try early in the second half following a foul by Schoeman proved pivotal though.

Italy, who had scored in the first half through Martin Page-Relo, turned the match in their favour with tries from debutant Louis Lynagh and substitute Stephen Varney. And some excellent kicking under pressure from Paolo Garbisi took the game away from the Scots before Sam Skinner’s late try gave them a glimmer of hope.

Scotland incredibly still have an outside chance of finishing in the top two as they prepare to head to Ireland for their final match next weekend, but losing to Italy for the first time since 2015 represents a major setback for Townsend just five months after an underwhelming display at the World Cup brought pool-stage elimination.

When the head coach, who is contracted until 2026, was asked if he felt his job was under threat after his side became the first to lose a Six Nations match in Rome since 2013, he said: “I’m not going to answer that question.

“We’re disappointed with the result today, but we know this team have come on since the World Cup.

“We can look at this result and be really disappointed, but I’ve been really proud of how this team’s played during the championship so far.

“I believe in this group. You can look at results and say: ‘We’ve lost to Italy, this team aren’t going to take that next step’. Or you can look at where we’ve grown since the World Cup.

“I still believe the performances the players are putting in can show we can beat anybody.

“But if we take our eye off the ball for a period of time, we can be beaten. That’s what happened today.”

Townsend admitted Scotland were architects of their own downfall – although he did acknowledge a superb performance from Italy, who won their first championship match since their victory in Wales two years ago.

“The credit has to go to Italy as well,” said Townsend. “There are two teams that play the game, not just one. I thought that Italy were very good even in the first half where we dominated most of the possession.

“But our actions after the try that was disallowed weren’t good enough. We gave Italy a way into the game through penalties and field position. If you give that to any team in the Six Nations, they’re going to take the points, which they did.

“It’s very frustrating that we didn’t get that try, which is down to our execution, and after that it was even more frustrating.”

Townsend admitted the result “hurts a lot” but he remains steadfast in his belief that Scotland are continuing to make progress overall under his stewardship.

“We won in Wales for the first time since 2002 this year,” he pointed out. “We retained the Calcutta Cup. We had a decision (over what would have been a match-winning try) go against us in the game with France.

“This result is very disappointing. We’ve lost against a good Italy side, one of the best Italian teams I’ve seen. But today is not what defines this team.”

Damon Hill said a star was born after rookie teenager Ollie Bearman beat Lewis Hamilton on his shock Ferrari debut at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix.

Bearman drove into the record books by becoming the youngest British driver to race in Formula One and he delivered by finishing seventh, ahead of both Lando Norris, eighth and Hamilton, ninth.

Seven-time world champion Hamilton waited by Bearman’s Ferrari before embracing the 18-year-old as he climbed out of his scarlet machine at the end of the race.

“A star is born now,” Hill, the 1996 world champion, said on X. “To jump in at such short notice, on a track as intimidating as Jeddah, in a Ferrari of all things, and hold up under immense pressure from Lando and Lewis and keep it together. Wow.”

Max Verstappen raced to his second win in as many weeks, but Bearman, an eleventh hour stand-in for Carlos Sainz, ruled out with appendicitis, stole the show.

With just one hour of practice and Friday’s qualifying session under his belt, Bearman lined up in 11th and made up four positions in a fine drive which saw him voted as driver of the day by the sport’s fans.

Sergio Perez completed a one-two finish for F1’s crisis-hit Red Bull team, with Charles Leclerc third for Ferrari.

“He has done an incredible job,” said Leclerc of Bearman, 18 years, 10 months and one day.

“He was straight on the pace. Seventh in your first race in a new Formula One car is hugely impressive.

“I am sure he is extremely proud and everyone has noticed how talented he is. It is only a matter of time before he is in Formula One.”

Manager Russell Martin hailed super-sub Joe Rothwell after his quickfire double helped Southampton stay on track in the Championship promotion race after beating Sunderland 4-2.

Stuart Armstrong and Adam Armstrong had put Saints into a comfortable first-half lead before Romaine Mundle and Jobe Bellingham hit back.

But Rothwell’s 73rd-minute introduction turned the momentum with two goals in three minutes to condemn Sunderland to a sixth straight defeat.

Martin said: “Joe is an amazing finisher. The first one looks easy but it isn’t, it is in the half volley, and then with the second he’s showed great composure.

“He was really great when he came on. Him and Joe Aribo can be frustrated that they aren’t starting but they have two guys in front of them who have been playing really well.

“It is good problems for me but they have to keep doing what they have been doing when they get on to the pitch and being frustrated at not playing.

“We should have been out of sight by half-time is my feeling. We only let them have one shot from inside the box and that hit the post and we should have made them pay for that.

“I’m delighted we have won but am furious and frustrated we have conceded two goals because it shouldn’t happen.

“Credit to Sunderland as I thought they only had 15 minutes more of energy and then they score and we weren’t clean enough and there was a bit of tension around the ground.

“But I think we deserved the win, I don’t think anyone who watched the game would say any different.”

Stuart Armstrong opened the scoring by sweeping in from a yard before Geordie Adam Armstrong converted from the spot after Ryan Manning had been downed in the box.

Mundle pulled one back in the 62nd minute from 20 yards with a strike off a post and Bellingham completed the comeback with a wonder strike after shifting on to his right foot from the edge of the area to beat a diving Gavin Bazunu.

Rothwell then claimed the three points. His first came after Adam Armstrong’s blocked cross landed perfectly for him to follow in and lash home before Adam Armstrong’s low cross was cleared off the line and into the path of the Bournemouth loanee to pounce again.

Sunderland boss Mike Dodds is still winless since taking over from Michael Beale last month and said: “The four goals are avoidable goals from my perspective.

“I want to try and spin positives about going toe-to-toe with two quality teams this week but we need to do that more consistently and get the results – that isn’t lost on me.

“I can see everyone is really trying but things aren’t going our way. It is an important moment for this group and we need to stick together.

“My confidence hasn’t taken a hit. I’m really enjoying the role. It has reinforced that I can still see the path I want to go on and still see the belief in the players.

“They have lost six on the bounce. They aren’t skipping down the corridors or high-fiving each other. But I think they can see what we are trying to do.

“I’m not going to say we deserved to win the game but for large periods we were better than Southampton.”

Marcus Smith’s stoppage-time drop goal rewarded England’s standout performance of the Steve Borthwick era as the Guinness Six Nations title race was taken to the final weekend with a 23-22 victory over Ireland.

Smith, making his first appearance of the tournament after recovering from a calf injury, struck in the final act of the game to deny Ireland back-to-back Grand Slams on an afternoon of high drama at Twickenham.

Watched from the stands by former captain Owen Farrell, England’s attack finally ignited as Ollie Lawrence, George Furbank and Ben Earl plundered tries to topple opponents who had been installed by bookmakers as staggering 1/5 favourites to win.

The Achilles heel of failing to capitalise on visits to the 22 appeared to be harming them once again and their 8-6 lead was a poor return for half an hour of dominance that produced just a single try for Lawrence.

But they were inspired in the closing stages, soaking up James Lowe’s 72nd-minute try that appeared to have snatched the win for Ireland and then striking through Smith amid a late do-or-die assault.

England dazzled from the start and their first try had Furbank’s influence stamped all over it as he launched the counter-attack and then helped flash the ball to Lawrence, who finished in the left corner.

The early score developed into a full-scale onslaught as inspired England poured forward, directed by George Ford and with Earl, Ollie Chessum and full debutant Immanuel Feyi-Waboso making telling contributions.

Bundee Aki made ground with every carry as Ireland’s main weapon but he was swimming against the tide as the white shirts pressed again and a second Lawrence try was ruled out because of a knock-on.

The crippling handling errors and turnovers that led to Scotland retaining the Calcutta Cup in round three had vanished, replaced by players running hard on to flat passes and punching holes in the visiting defence.

Yet for all the hosts’ dominance, successive Jack Crowley penalties meant they trailed 9-8 and as Ireland produced their first sustained attack the fly-half landed a fourth shot from the tee.

England were guilty of inviting pressure when Ford missed a routine penalty and Furbank took the ball into touch, but when their line were breached for the first time in the 44th minute it was because of their opponents’ killer instinct by exploiting Henry Slade’s positioning in the blitz defence to conjure a try for Lowe.

Furbank hit back quickly by racing over in the left corner after slick approach work from his team-mates and suddenly the pendulum swung again.

Ireland captain Peter O’Mahony was sent to the sin-bin for hands in the ruck and England seized their chance, battering away at the green wall through route one until Earl forced his way over.

Marcus Smith replaced George Ford and Danny Care came on for his 100th cap but the Harlequins fly-half was unable to stop Lowe with his despairing late tackle attempt as Ireland crept back in front.

Elliot Daly missed with a long-range penalty attempt but there was still time for England to conjure the win, Smith splitting the posts after his team had battered away at the whitewash.

Coventry manager Mark Robins was a relieved man after his side came from behind to beat Watford 2-1 with two Haji Wright goals at Vicarage Road.

Robins admitted he considered making changes in the first half, such was the disjointed nature of his side’s display.

But Wright’s penalty in the 40th minute cancelled out Ryan Porteous’ headed opener before the United States international completed the turnaround.

Robins said: “Watford played well in the second half the other night and carried that on. They have got some really talented individuals with a lot of pace and power who can hurt you. Thankfully they didn’t.

“But I thought we were poor in the first half. We didn’t start well enough. We didn’t have enough of the ball and then they scored out of nothing when we didn’t really compete for the header.

“Their goalkeeper bringing down Josh Eccles for the penalty gave us a lifeline. I was contemplating making changes before half-time before that because there were too many times when they had two-v-ones.

“The second half followed a similar pattern, except we were a little bit better. Then we scored with the best bit of play in the game.

“Haji has the confidence to take on that shot and thankfully he found the corner of the net.”

Robins acknowledged his team’s FA Cup quarter-final away at Wolves next Saturday made victory imperative in order to keep pace with their play-off rivals. Coventry now have a 20-day hiatus between Championship fixtures.

Robins added: “I’m delighted with the three points at this stage of the season. That’s what it’s all about.

“The Championship is so much better this season with the quality it has, so your levels have to be higher to get anything from games.

“Three points was a must today and I’m grateful that we got them. We’ve got the FA Cup next week while other teams play, so you have to think that they’ll pull away a bit and we will have to play catch-up after the international break.”

For Watford manager Valerien Ismael, the frustration at another home defeat was obvious. His side’s last league victory at Vicarage Road was on November 28.

Ismael said: “Finally we started strong in a home game and we continued from the second half against Swansea. We took the decision to have a mobile midfield again and had a great start with lots of chances.

“We should have scored a second goal, but then from nowhere they got the penalty. In the second half we continued to push, but they scored from their only shot on target, so it’s a real pity today.

“But we saw good energy and good dynamic on the pitch to change the way things are going at the minute.

“We had some crosses too high, some crosses too low, some crosses blocked, but at least we tried and our game was back.

“We didn’t see anything from Coventry today. It was just one of those days when things run against you.

“We kept pushing and we were dangerous, but when things don’t go your way, you start to think too much again. We know that we can compete, but it is about confidence, too.”

Rob Edwards wants his Luton side to use Cauley Woodrow’s dramatic late leveller as a “springboard” after the substitute scored in the final minute of stoppage time to rescue a 1-1 draw at Crystal Palace.

The relegation-threatened Hatters were seconds away from a fifth-straight Premier League defeat when Woodrow nodded ex-Eagle Andros Townsend’s delivery past Sam Johnstone’s left post to draw Luton within three points of 17th-placed Nottingham Forest.

It seemed an unlikely result on an afternoon at Selhurst Park in which the hosts managed 21 shots to the visitors’ eight, but instead conceded in the final 15 minutes for a Premier-League leading  21st time.

Edwards said: “I wouldn’t say (that goal) was a turning point, that wouldn’t be the word I’d use.

“We’ve been performing well, obviously results have been against us lately, but that can happen against Manchester United, Liverpool, Villa.

“We played well in those games in big spells, but I wouldn’t say turning point, but hopefully springboard. I’d use that.

“Hopefully it garners a lot of belief. We’re up against it at the moment.

“I know there’s a lot of clubs suffering with injuries, but it’s hard for us with so many players missing, and then to lose two centre-backs during the game as well.

“We’ve got a lot of square pegs in round holes out there towards the end, and to find a way when we’re not our best away from home, to drag a result out, is huge.”

Woodrow had been an 81st-minute replacement for Gabriel Osho, who Edwards revealed had taken a knock to his knee, while Teden Mengi was replaced by Daiki Hashioka.

Luton remain in the relegation zone with 21 points, three fewer than 17th-placed Forest, who play Brighton on Sunday.

Palace were eight points clear of Saturday’s opponents ahead of Oliver Glasner’s third game in charge, and had plenty of chances to extend the distance between them and other relegation-threatened sides – including a late Odsonne Edouard chance that clipped the crossbar.

Austrian Glasner encouragingly found plenty of his own fingerprints across Palace’s performance until the final 30 seconds of the contest.

He said: “In this one situation we didn’t do it. We have to accept the result.

“It hurts. It really hurts today but sometimes you have to feel this hurt then you develop and learn from it, and we will learn from it to be active and keep the opposite team out of our box until the referee ends the game.”

Glasner will not be paying too much attention to Palace’s record of conceding late when the team travel to Spain for a warm-weather camp in the international break, believing dwelling on it to be detrimental to improvement.

He added: “We won’t talk too much about it.

“Sometimes it’s like a self-fulfilling prophecy.

“If you always drive a car, you’re afraid of having an accident. If you go down the stairs and you are always afraid to fall down, it will happen.”

Charlton manager Nathan Jones said he was pleased to have League One top scorer Alfie May spearheading his attack as the striker’s 19th and 20th league goals of the season earned a 3-2 win over Carlisle.

Charlton did not have it all their own way, going behind to a 20th-minute volley from Luke Armstrong, but goals either side of half-time from May and Daniel Kanu helped to resume normal service.

Taylor Charters equalised with a 63rd-minute penalty after Armstrong was fouled by Macaulay Gillesphey but 15 minutes from time May pounced on a Sam Lavelle back-pass to claim the points.

“He’s a wonderful player,” Jones said of his striker, who arrived for his own media duties with a bottle of champagne.

“He’s a clever player, he’s a great lad and he’s brilliant around the place. He thinks about his game, he thinks about his movement and he doesn’t just go and play off the cuff.

“He’s scored goals wherever he’s been, he’s come here and he’s been scoring goals. His dip coincided with a dip in the team’s form, which can happen, but all you have to do is keep giving these players confidence and keep talking to them and Alfie’s responded fantastically well.”

The result moves Charlton 10 points clear of relegation but Jones insisted he remains focused on his team playing well.

“It wasn’t [about] survival, it was about getting performances,” he said. “Yes, we want to make sure that we don’t get sucked into any kind of relegation thing but we want to finish as high as we possibly can because we want to build.

“We’re not just planning for now, we want to build for the future as well.”

Carlisle boss Paul Simpson felt his team merited a much-needed point.

“The players have worked extremely hard today and probably deserved something out of it but unfortunately we go away with nothing again, which is the story of our season,” he said.

“For long periods I thought we looked decent. I thought our shape was good. I thought the plan that we had was good.”

“I’m pleased with some individual performances. Harry [Lewis]. Dylan McGeouch got on the ball and passed the ball well for us. Harrison [Neal] had another good game. Good for Luke to get a goal.”

Unfortunately for Simpson, individual errors cost the Cumbrians. “We’ve just given really poor goals away today,” he said.

“We just haven’t reacted well enough for the second goal. It’s a throw-in and we’ve not squeezed high enough up the pitch to make us nice and compact.”

“The third goal is a mistake and it’s just one of those things. We’ve got to clear our lines in that position.”

Reading manager Ruben Selles called on his side to rediscover that “extra percentage” after they failed to capitalise on their second-half dominance in the 2-1 defeat at home to Wycombe.

Wanderers went ahead early on through a superb overhead kick from on-loan defender Nigel Lonwijk but Reading equalised with 16 minutes left thanks to Sam Smith’s 10th goal of the season.

However, the visitors then clinched a dramatic 88th-minute victory when Beryly Lubala netted a penalty after Clinton Mola had clumsily fouled Chem Campbell in the home area.

“We are creating and putting ourselves in situations to score,” Selles said. “But we need to find that extra percentage at the end to make the chances count, to make the goals.

“We were not near to being ourselves in the first half. We suffered in certain situations that we should not have suffered.

“We were disconnected in some of those moments, but in the second half we were the team who wanted to do things. We were the best team on the pitch.

“Sometimes that happens in football, when you don’t play well for all of the 90 or 100 minutes, but we were able to come back, to get it to 1-1. And then from one of Wycombe’s few attacks in the second half, it came down to that penalty that we could have easily avoided.

”The atmosphere was fantastic, the crowd was with us even though we were not at our best in the first half.

“In the second half, you could feel it every time we were approaching the goal and when we scored. The environment was really good.”

Wycombe picked up their second win in six league matches, much to the delight of manager Matt Bloomfield.

“I thought that we were absolutely excellent in the first half. Maybe as good as we have been in my tenure here for 45 minutes. We were very good,” he said.

“We could have been further ahead and I was slightly disappointed at half-time that we weren’t.

“It was never going to be the same in the second half and Reading used their athleticism a lot once the game had spaced out.

“They used that incredibly well, we knew that they are a good team.

“We had to dig in at times but we then managed to find a special moment at the end [Lubala’s penalty]. That was incredibly pleasing.

“It was disappointing to give their goal away from a set-piece situation and we knew then that we had to transition into more of a low block.

“It was a case of protecting the space behind us. The athleticism that Reading have was causing us issues.

“As well as a growing team, I want us to be a winning team.”