Matt Taylor pointed to his players’ efforts as Bristol Rovers became the first home team to beat Portsmouth in League One this season.
Paddy Lane equalised for Pompey in the 76th minute after Antony Evans had curled in an exquisite free-kick 10 minutes earlier for the hosts, but Rovers’ Luke Thomas struck four minutes into added time for a winner.
Taylor believes that Portsmouth will ultimately be promoted this year but, after overseeing a win at Bolton 10 days ago and now winning his first league game at the Memorial Stadium, the former centre-back says his team must go for it if they want to get into the promotion play-off picture themselves.
“It was emotional at the end,” said Taylor who picked up a yellow card for his exuberant touchline celebrations following winger Thomas’ late goal.
“I thought the lads got what they deserved and I was so pleased with the effort they put in and the fact that they got more to show for it than they might have got at the end – certainly their [Portsmouth’s] goal seemed to come out of nothing, maybe a mistake in the middle of the park from ourselves and suddenly it’s 1-1.”
A fiery encounter saw 11 yellow cards handed out to both teams and Taylor said that central defender Sean Raggett could have seen red for one bad tackle on Rovers’ Aaron Collins.
“It was a passionate game and exactly what you want to see on Boxing Day,” he added.
“I thought they got after [winger] Thomas – it was almost like they took off one left back who got booked and put another on to do the same – I’m so glad for him that he kept on going and was in the right place at the right time to win us the game.”
Portsmouth head coach John Mousinho said his team must be more clinical after his substitutes Christian Saydee and Kusini Yengi missed good opportunities to grab late goals themselves.
“The shape change gave us momentum and got our attacking players doing the right things and we got back in the game deservedly and looked the team more likely to win,” he said.
“I thought a winner was coming [for Portsmouth]. We had a couple of goalmouth scrambles and good chances and got ourselves into a good position but Christian dragged his shot just wide. We have to got to do better in those areas.
“These games are tough. Sometimes these games are tight for 60-70 minutes and you don’t create a significant amount and players get tired…the state of the game changes and those are the times we have to be a lot better.”
Object thrown at City striker 'Bunny' Shaw in Champions League win over Hammarby sparks UEFA investigation
UEFA has opened an investigation after Manchester City striker Khadija Shaw was hit by an object during their Women’s Champions League win against Swedish side Hammarby on Thursday.
The towering Jamaican striker scored both goals in City’s 2-1 win at the Stockholm Arena to see her side through to the quarterfinal stage.
Her animated celebration in front of the home fans after her first goal saw the 27-year-old being booked, with replays also showing an object seemingly thrown her way from the stands.
“Proceedings have been opened against Hammarby IF for throwing of objects (Article 16(2)(b) of the Disciplinary Regulations),” UEFA said in a statement.
“Manchester City player Khadija Shaw received a yellow card following her goal presentation for unsporting conduct,” the statement added.
Following the game, City captain Alex Greenwood chided match broadcaster DAZN for failing to mention the incident in a social media post.
The post on X, external said Shaw “antagonised” the home fans and received “stick” from them.
Greenwood replied, "Correction. Travel to Stockholm, score a big goal. Celebrates her goal. Gets objects thrown at her.”
Flick: Barcelona need to learn how to win without Yamal
Hansi Flick has urged Barcelona to find a way to win without the absent Lamine Yamal, as he misses a second consecutive match with an ankle injury.
The 17-year-old missed their 1-0 loss at Real Sociedad which halted Barca's seven-match winning streak in all competitions before the international break.
Yamal has only missed two LaLiga matches since the start of last season, while Barcelona have lost both games this campaign in which he has not started, after coming off the bench in a 4-2 loss to Osasuna in September.
Flick said that his players need to show that they can win without their teenage sensation.
"Tomorrow I will put the question to the team, it will be a very good question for them [if they can win without Yamal]," Flick told a press conference on Friday.
"Against Real Sociedad, we didn't play well, and it wasn't because of Lamine's absence. He is a very important player for us, but we have options to also play well without him.
"He won't be able to play tomorrow, we don't know when he will be able to go back from his injury, but what is clear for me is that we want him to be back only when he is 100% recovered."
Yamal played a big role in Spain's European Championship title win earlier this year in Germany, winning the best goal and the Young Player of the Tournament award in his breakthrough campaign.
He continued to thrive this season with five goals and seven assists to help Barca to the top of the LaLiga standings on 33 points, six ahead of rivals Real Madrid, who have a game in hand in second place.
Yamal is also the only player across Europe's big five leagues to complete 25+ dribbles (34), create 25+ chances (26), have 25+ shots (39), score 5+ goals (five) and provide 5+ assists (seven).
Flick suggested that he may have to adjust his system, as it is hard to replace a player with such a mixture of speed, technique and finishing.
"We might be a bit limited by the absence of Lamine," Flick said.
"But we have a lot of players with great quality, and they can play in different positions. We'll see what we'll need and we'll design the game plan.
"It's always important after the international break to come back strong and with confidence. That's our goal for tomorrow."
Moca FC's Baez, Correa sanctioned by Concacaf Disciplinary Committee for violent conduct in Carib Cup semis clash against Cavalier
The Concacaf Disciplinary Committee has sanctioned players Miguel Baez and Jesus Correa of Dominican Republic club Moca FC for incidents that occurred during their Concacaf Caribbean Cup second-leg semi-final match against Jamaica’s Cavalier FC on Thursday, October 30.
After considering the documentation and evidence gathered during its investigation and based on the competition regulations and the applicable disciplinary code, the Disciplinary Committee has imposed Miguel Baez a six-match suspension and Jesus Correa a three-match suspension for violent conduct.
The sanctions include the automatic one-match suspension for the on-field direct red cards given to each player during that 7-0 beating in Kingston.
Both Baez and Correa must serve their suspensions during the upcoming 2024 Concacaf Caribbean Cup third-place matches and future editions of the competition.
Moca FC is scheduled to meet Haiti's Real Hope FC in that home-and-away tie on November 26 and December 3 to determine the next Caribbean representative that will contest next year's Concacaf Champions Cup. Finalists Cavalier and Cibao FC, also of the Dominican Republic, have secured automatic berths.
Meanwhile, the Disciplinary Committee has also warned the players and the club that more severe sanctions could be taken should incidents occur during future matches.
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