Peterborough boss Darren Ferguson stressed “there will be no complacency” after his side’s thumping 4-0 victory over Sheffield Wednesday in the first leg of their League One play-off semi-final.
Posh, who snuck into the top six on the final day, put the shell-shocked Owls to the sword at the Weston Homes Stadium.
Cameron Dawson’s howler from Jack Taylor’s strike before Joe Ward’s shot took a cruel deflection saw the hosts go 2-0 up before half-time.
Kwame Poku and Jonson Clarke-Harris, with his 29th goal of the season, finished the job and left Wednesday with an absolute mountain to climb in the return fixture next week.
“It’s 4-0, but we’re not going to get ahead of ourselves,” insisted Ferguson, who is bidding for a fifth promotion with the club.
“There will be no complacency from us going to Hillsborough.
“We want to go to Hillsborough and try to win the game, that’s the attitude that we’ve got.
“I felt we couldn’t go there after losing the game tonight, it’s been a great night for us.
“I have to say that Will Norris has made a big save for us (from Michael Smith) at 0-0. That was a really big save. That would have changed the course of the day.
“It was a really, really top performance. Overall it was a very pleasing performance, but it’s only halfway.
“I’ve been in this game long enough to know anything can happen, but it was a really good night for us. I have to say that.
“It’s not about me, the players have got to take all the credit after a performance like that. They have to get the credit. It was a very good performance against a good team.
“The fans were outstanding. I’ve had it before here in the play-offs, it was amazing again.”
The Owls’ bid for a Championship return has already had chapters of heartache.
Last season they lost in the play-offs to eventually promoted Sunderland.
And this term their 96 points was the highest total ever in the Football League without earning promotion after they finished third.
Punch-drunk Owls’ boss Darren Moore reflected: “It’s a bad night for us tonight.
“It’s a huge task, we know that. They’ve got the four-goal advantage, but all we can do is reflect on the game and get ready for next week. It is a big uphill task.
“I can totally understand the disappointment and frustration because there was real hope. There was vigour among the boys and our supporters.
“It’s a disappointing night, but as manager you’ve got to try and keep your composure and get the lads ready for next week.”
On Dawson’s mistake for the first goal, Moore added: “There’s a lot of negativity when mistakes happen in games. Nine times out of 10 Cameron deals with that situation.
“On a night like that when your emotions are a little bit more flared it’s probably a lapse in concentration.
“It’s normally a routine save and the other one’s a deflected shot and then we’re two down.”
Clarke hails solid Scotland as Croatia win boosts Nations League survival hopes
Steve Clarke credited Scotland's defensive resilience after they boosted their hopes of remaining in the top tier of the Nations League by beating Croatia 1-0 at Hampden Park.
John McGinn came off the bench to score the all-important goal as Scotland took advantage of Petar Sucic's sending-off to claim their first win of the 2024-25 Nations League campaign.
The result – coupled with Poland's crushing 5-1 defeat in Portugal – means Scotland will stave off automatic relegation to League B if they win in Warsaw on Monday.
While Clarke felt Scotland could have done more with the ball, he was impressed both with their off-the-ball work and with the impact of super sub McGinn.
"My first thoughts when I came off the pitch were that we could play better," Clarke said.
"We could be more clinical when we get to the final third of the pitch. The sending off changed the game, but we were due a little break.
"This is a group of players that want to be successful, want to do well for their country.
"That's another clean sheet, two in a row. If you don't concede goals, you always have a chance to win the game.
"It was nice to get John on the pitch and I thought his finish was really good because it wasn't easy. It was nice to be able to look at the bench behind and know we had people who could come on and affect the game. It's nice when we get everybody fit and available."
The victory was Scotland's first in a competitive match since September 2023, when they beat Cyprus 3-0 in Euro 2024 qualifying.
They had gone 10 games without a competitive victory since then, drawing four and losing six, including a return of just one point from three outings at Euro 2024.
Denmark 1-2 Spain: Oyarzabal and Perez on target as Roja secure top spot
Spain secured top spot in Group A4 of the Nations League with one match to spare after defeating Denmark 2-1 in Copenhagen.
Mikel Oyarzabal and Ayoze Perez were on the scoresheet as the unbeaten Roja made it four wins and a draw to pull six points clear of the second-placed Danes.
Luis de la Fuente's side capitalised on a poor pass from Denmark centre-back Jannik Vestergaard to open the scoring as Oyarzabal latched on to a ball from Perez and finished past Kasper Schmeichel in the 15th minute.
Villarreal forward Perez then doubled the visitors' lead in the 58th minute after Dani Olmo turned provider with a defence-splitting pass.
The hosts reduced the deficit with six minutes of regulation time left, as Fabian Ruiz's back pass to goalkeeper David Raya was intercepted by Gustav Isaksen, who had been denied by the woodwork moments earlier, and he slotted into an open goal to set up a tense ending.
But the Spaniards held on for the win and will now face Switzerland in their final group game on Monday, before taking part in the quarter-finals, scheduled for March.
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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