Ben Brereton Diaz struck a second-half brace as Blackburn came from two goals down to beat Millwall 4-3 and send their hosts tumbling out the Sky Bet Championship play-off places.
Both sides started the day with top-six ambitions and the hosts looked on their way to securing the win they needed when Duncan Watmore’s double and Oliver Burke’s addition sent them into the break 3-1 up.
But Gary Rowett’s side crumbled after the break and after Joe Rankin-Costello reduced the arrears, Brereton Diaz’s double completed a remarkable turnaround.
Sunderland’s win at Preston saw the Black Cats claim sixth spot, with Blackburn leapfrogging the Lions and only missing out themselves on goal difference on a day of high drama at The Den.
The teams were greeted by a cacophony of noise and the hosts responded by flying out the traps, opening the scoring after eight minutes when Watmore lashed home a loose ball after Zian Flemming’s long throw was not dealt with.
The Lions thought they had a second inside 10 minutes when Tom Bradshaw tucked home the rebound after Flemming’s free-kick hit the post, only for Millwall’s top scorer to be denied by an offside flag.
Flemming headed wide as the one-way traffic continued but the home fans were then stunned into silence as Adam Wharton curled Blackburn’s first attempt of the afternoon into the bottom corner from 20 yards.
Rovers were soon architects of their own downfall as the hosts regained the ascendancy, with Watmore first to benefit.
A mix-up between Aynsley Pears and Harry Pickering saw the latter’s misjudged header from Burke’s long ball leave the goalkeeper in no man’s land and the winger with a tap-in.
Just two minutes later, Wharton’s loose pass was seized upon by Burke, who struck low into the corner to give Pears no chance.
Rovers boss Jon Dahl Tomasson made two changes at the break and Blackburn were back in it five minutes after the restart, Rankin-Costello converting the rebound after Long parried Brereton Diaz’s free-kick.
The Chile international was then on hand to level matters after 63 minutes, superbly curling the ball past Long from outside the area.
He then came within inches of giving the visitors the lead when he outmuscled Danny McNamara and struck the inside of the post, the rebound bouncing wide off Tyrhys Dolan.
Events at Deepdale left the Lions suddenly needing to find a winner to muscle their way back into the top six but Rovers stayed on the front foot and Brereton Diaz saw a header kept out by a combination of Scott Malone and the crossbar.
But there was no denying him with four minutes to play, Brereton Diaz tapping in Sammie Szmodics’ inch-perfect cross to settle a breathless contest and deny the Lions a first play-off appearance at this level for 21 years.
Indonesia 0-4 Japan: Visitors stay unbeaten with rout
Japan continued their unbeaten start to World Cup qualifying with a 4-0 victory over Indonesia on Friday.
Two goals from the visitors in either half were enough to seal the three points and get them back to winning ways after a stalemate with Australia last time out.
Ragnar Oratmangoen should have put Indonesia ahead, but he hesitated one-on-one with the goalkeeper, and Japan did not look back after that. They got a bit of fortune with their first goal, Justin Hubner deflecting a cross into his own net in the 35th minute.
Takumi Minamino got their second just before the break, finishing off a pacy counter-attack by darting onto the end of Kaoru Mitoma’s cross to sweep it past Maarten Paes.
While there was not much the goalkeeper could do with that one, he was at fault for the third as he gifted the ball to Hidemasa Morita, who coolly picked out the bottom corner just after the break.
Yukinari Sugawara came off the bench to round off the scoring in the 69th minute. He raced down the right wing and instead of looking to his options, he rifled it in from a tight angle at the near post.
Japan are up to 13 points after five games, sitting top of Group C, while Indonesia are bottom, still in search of their first win.
Data Debrief: Clinically done
For a team still chasing their first win, Japan are probably not high on the list of opponents they would want to face, and Indonesia were undone by their visitors.
Hajime Moriyasu's side created 0.79 expected goals (xG) to Indonesia's 0.72, while they only had four more shots than their hosts (12 compared to eight).
Japan took their chances, and though the win margin may look harsh, they were deserving of the three points, having dominated throughout the game.
Jamaica 0-1 United States: Pepi give visitors advantage in Nations League quarter-final
Ricardo Pepi's first-half strike gave the United States a 1-0 advantage over Jamaica after the first leg of their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final.
The hosts saw a penalty saved in the first half before their frustrations were compounded late on thanks to Mason Holgate's red card.
The USA had the lead just five minutes in – having smothered a Jamaica attack at one end, the visitors caught them out with a pacy counter-attack, with Pepi sweeping it into the back of the net.
Shortly after, Shamar Nicholson was brought down by Matt Turner when he tried to take it around him, but the goalkeeper made amends, diving low to his right to deny Demarai Gray from 12 yards.
In the second half, Holgate was denied a tap-in by Yunus Musah before Turner scrambled to stop Leon Bailey's corner from nestling into the net as Jamaica searched for an equaliser.
With 86 minutes on the clock, Holgate received a second yellow card in just over 10 minutes for dragging Brandon Vazquez back, meaning he will miss the return leg in Missouri on Monday.
Data Debrief: Hitting the mark
Pepi got the all-important goal on Thursday, and is the fourth player to score 12 goals for the USA before turning 22 years old, joining Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore and Christian Pulisic.
But it was perhaps Turner who actually had the most vital interventions; he has now saved three of the eight penalties he's faced for the USA, including two against Jamaica.
Mauricio Pochettino also could not have asked for a better result from his first competitive game in charge of the Stars and Stripes as he became just the third full-time manager to win his first competitive away match, joining Bob Bradley (2008) and Steve Sampson (1996).
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
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