Chris Wilder admitted that Watford’s 2-0 win over Stoke was only a small crumb of comfort after his immensely disappointing season.
The Hornets boss, who was sacked by Middlesbrough last October, refused to discuss his future at Vicarage Road, with the rumour mill rife that he is about to be replaced.
Imran Louza and Keinan Davis scored second-half goals to ensure Wilder’s side at least ended the campaign with a top-half finish.
Louza’s brilliant 20-yard curler broke Stoke’s resistance after 70 minutes and Villa loanee Davis’ deflected shot beat Matija Sarkic four minutes later.
Wilder said: “The message to the players was that there is always something to play for. There’s always somebody watching, there’s always that pride in pulling that shirt on, whether as an individual or as a team.
“From my point of view it could have been a really disappointing afternoon. The atmosphere might have turned one way but it didn’t because we’ve got a result.
“The supporters want to see a winning team and they’ve seen a winning team today, even all three results could have happened.
“We had some good moments first half and they had some good moments first half. But in the second half we get the goals in quick succession and then it’s a comfortable afternoon.
“To get a small consolation out of a deeply disappointing season is a small positive. But it was disappointing when we’re walking around (on the lap of appreciation) because this shouldn’t have been the end of the season. But it is and there’s a reason behind that.
“It’s been a strange old season, personally. It’s been quite tough. I’ve had a relatively successful career as a manager in terms of being involved in winning sides and building teams and personal accolades as well.
“You’ve got to take the rough with the smooth. I’m a better manager for all these experiences, I haven’t gone off the boil.
“I’m just concentrating on this win today, anything else going forwards will be a conversation, I’ve not sat down with anybody, I don’t want to go into gut feelings.”
Stoke boss Alex Neil looked relieved to wrap up a poor campaign from the Potters, especially as his former club Sunderland, who he left last August, clinched a play-off spot.
Neil said: “My verdict is that game pretty much sums up our season.
“I don’t think it was a poor performance. I thought in the first half we were really good at times, we created some really good chances. But, ultimately, if you don’t stick the ball in the net and then you can’t defend in moments, because that was all Watford had in the second half, moments.
“Their first goal was quite a good goal. Their boy cuts in and puts it in the far corner. Their second goal was just a one-v-one situation where we just don’t deal with it and the ball ends up in the back of our net.
“But we had three or four similar opportunities and we don’t manage to convert any of them. That’s basically the tale of our season for me. This season, at both ends of the pitch, we haven’t been good enough.
“Today wasn’t ever going to change anything. What’s been needed has been needed for a number of weeks.
“I feel as if I’m doing the same press conference week after week. It’s going to be a big summer for the club.
“I’ve got meetings (with the players) over the next week. Loan players we’re not in control of because ultimately they’re not our player.
“We’ll need to see what happens over the summer, but the difficulty is that we’ve got urgency, but that urgency needs to be shared by the opposite club. So it’s going to be difficult to get anything done.”
Van Dijk hails Hungary 'strength' for playing on after coach collapse
Virgil van Dijk saluted Hungary for playing on after assistant coach Adam Szalai appeared to suffer a fit during their Nations League clash.
Play was suspended for 13 minutes at the Johan Cruijff ArenA while Szalai was treated pitchside, with staff and substitutes forming a protective barrier around him.
The 36-year-old was taken to Amsterdam Hospital, where he later revealed he was "doing well" on his social media channels.
Although Hungary agreed to play on, the Netherlands ran out comfortable 4-0 winners to book their place in the Nations League quarter-finals.
Wout Weghorst and Cody Gakpo were on target from the penalty spot during the first half, while goals from Denzel Dumfries and Teun Koopmeiners after the break saw the Oranje secure second place in Group A3.
And Van Dijk paid tribute to his side's opponents.
"That was quite a shock, of course," he told NOS. "You see someone lying down, you see someone shaking. That is quite scary. But thankfully, at a certain point, it became clear that he was stable. I hope he is doing well and that he recovers quickly.
"They had to decide whether they wanted to continue playing. I think it shows a lot of strength that they did carry on. I have a lot of respect for that."
On his side's performance, Van Dijk added: "The pitch was very fast, but that's no excuse. It was sloppy.
"In the end, we won deservedly and that's the most important thing. We go to the quarter-finals, we win, we keep a clean sheet."
Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona: Guijarro brace sets visitors up for Clasico glory
Patri Guijarro's first-half brace set Barcelona on their way to a thumping 4-0 win over rivals Real Madrid in Liga F on Saturday.
Claudia Pina and Alexia Putellas were also on target as Barcelona continued their perfect start to the season, extending their lead at the top of the table.
The visitors dominated from the off, as Guijarro broke the deadlock inside the fourth minute, tapping in from Putellas' flick-on from a corner.
Cata Coll was forced into a big save to deny Alba Redondo an equaliser shortly after, but Madrid's hope was soon dented as Guijarro picked out the bottom corner with a superb long-range strike for her second.
Pina strengthened their lead six minutes before the break, clinically slotting past Misa with her low strike.
Putellas added some more gloss to the scoreline with four minutes remaining of normal time, beating the Madrid keeper with a lovely dink to bring up her 199th goal for the club.
Barcelona have won all 10 of their games, and now sit eight points clear of Madrid, who suffered their first league defeat of the campaign.
Data Debrief: Total dominance
Madrid will have felt fairly confident coming into this game after a strong start to their season, but they once again failed to find a way past their Clasico rival.
Los Blancos have lost every single game they have played against Barcelona in all competitions, with this their 15th such meeting.
Barcelona smothered their attack early on, restricting their hosts to just one shot in the first half, while they had 10.
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.
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