Relegated Blackpool ended a disappointing Sky Bet Championship season on a high note as they recorded a hard-fought 1-0 win over Norwich at Carrow Road.
A well-taken first-half goal from Morgan Rogers proved enough to settle an entertaining encounter between two clubs with nothing but pride to play for.
It was a reward for a spirited showing from the visitors, who signed off on a positive note under caretaker head coach Stephen Dobbie, while for Norwich it was a sad exit for striker Teemu Pukki, who failed to mark his final game for the club with a goal.
It also completed a miserable end to the campaign for the Canaries, who won just one of their final 11 matches and slumped to an 11th home loss of the campaign.
Blackpool went ahead from their first clear chance after 15 minutes.
Josh Bowler did well to spot Rogers’ run behind the home back line and the on-loan Manchester City youngster produced a neat chipped finish to beat Angus Gunn and stun a disgruntled home crowd.
The fact that it was Pukki’s final game for the Canaries had helped lift the atmosphere somewhat and it took an excellent fingertip save from Daniel Grimshaw to deny him a goal three minutes later, after the Finn had latched onto a loose ball in the area.
Norwich continued to press, with Pukki thwarted by a timely block from Curtis Nelson and Grimshaw then diving at full stretch to tip a low drive from City’s player of the season Gabriel Sara around the post.
Blackpool were still a threat however and it needed a fine last-ditch tackle from Andrew Omobamidele to deny Rogers a second before Pukki again took centre stage with a shot on the turn that was deflected just over.
In a lively start to the second period, Gunn made a good stop to deny Bowler after the Tangerines’ midfielder had linked up well with Rogers on the right.
At the other end, first Pukki and then Onel Hernandez sent good efforts agonisingly wide of the target.
Blackpool – playing with commendable spirit for a relegated side – nearly doubled their advantage just past the hour mark when CJ Hamilton burst into the area and let fly with a powerful shot that Gunn did well to parry.
But it was Norwich who were seeing most of the ball and Pukki wasted another chance to sign off with a goal after 77 minutes as he failed to get enough on his touch after meeting Sam McCallum’s inviting low cross at the back post.
It was the 88-goal striker’s final contribution as he was substituted to a huge ovation a couple of minutes later.
Substitute Rob Apter should have settled the contest for Blackpool six minutes from time after catching the hosts on the break, but with other options available he choose to go it alone and was denied by another excellent Gunn stop.
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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