Jordan White scored a poacher’s hat-trick as Ross County beat Dundee United 3-1 in their relegation showdown at Tannadice to climb off the bottom of the cinch Premiership and leave their hosts two points adrift at the foot of the table.
A large and expectant home support had turned out to try and roar their team towards safety while also celebrating the 40th anniversary of their club’s only top-flight title win in 1983.
But they endured a demoralising afternoon in the Tayside sunshine as striker White scored in the opening minute and then struck another two in the second half after Jamie McGrath had levelled things up with a penalty midway through the first half.
United boss Jim Goodwin made two changes to the side that started the previous weekend’s defeat at St Johnstone as Kieran Freeman and the suspended Charlie Mulgrew made way for Ryan Edwards and 17-year-old striker Rory MacLeod.
There were also two tweaks to the County line-up from their victory over Livingston as Josh Sims and Alex Samuel came in for Keith Watson and Simon Murray.
On a day when United honoured one of the most revered teams in their history, the spirit of 1983 was sadly lacking as they fell behind after just 38 seconds when White nodded over the line from close range after Jack Baldwin headed George Harmon’s corner back across the six-yard box.
The Tayside outfit had a great chance to get back in the game in the 13th minute when centre-back Loick Ayina surged out of defence to latch on to an Ian Harkes through ball and drove into the box, only to blaze his shot over the bar from 15 yards out.
After their slack start, United had cranked up the pressure and they got themselves level in the 23rd minute when, following a VAR intervention, County winger Sims was deemed to have handled Aziz Behich’s cross in the box and McGrath kept his cool to slot home the penalty.
The home support were revelling in the way their team had fought their way back into the match and MacLeod and Craig Sibbald both tested Ross Laidlaw with shots from the edge of the box as United finished the first half strongly.
They went desperately close in the 50th minute when Fletcher’s shot from inside the box was deflected just wide after MacLeod hooked Ilmari Niskanen’s cross down into his path.
Having enjoyed such a lengthy period of pressure, however, the Tannadice side then completely lost their way.
They were fortunate not to concede in the 55th minute when Mark Birighitti made a superb save after Sims nicked the ball off Ayina in the box and got a shot away.
But there was no reprieve for United in the 57th minute when White beat Scott McMann to the ball and clipped beyond Birighitti from close range after Nohan Kenneh’s cross-shot from the right came across the face of goal.
And County seized full control in the 72nd minute when David Cancola released substitute Simon Murray down the left and his cross was knocked over the line at the back post by White.
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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