Bolton are in a strong position to book a second Wembley trip in six weeks, boss Ian Evatt insisted after his side’s play-off draw with Barnsley.
The EFL Trophy winners failed to secure a first-leg advantage in their semi-final and were grateful as leading marksman Dion Charles scrambled in an equaliser after Nicky Cadden’s 64th-minute opener had put Barnsley in the driving seat ahead of next Friday’s return at Oakwell.
Trotters keeper James Trafford, in his final home appearance before returning to Manchester City, produced some vital saves either side of the goals.
Evatt described his team’s first-half display as “shy and timid” but said defiantly: “I know we can play a lot better. I feel really positive.
“Maybe last night’s result (Peterborough’s 4-0 win over Sheffield Wednesday) had an impact because it looked like we were playing in our shells.
“There was a huge amount of nerves and that result effected everyone’s mindset because no one wanted to lose it in the first leg.
“Once the goal went in the shackles came off. All of a sudden we sparked into life and had more possession and more control.
“Barnsley will feel they are in a strong position. But I feel we are in a strong position.
“There will be more onus on them being the home team, more pressure and we are a dangerous team when the spaces become bigger.”
On Trafford’s performance, Evatt said: “James made some wonderful saves. He is the best goalie in the league for a reason and that’s what he does.
“He is a brilliant young keeper and I believe he will go to the very top.”
Opposite number Harry Isted had less to keep him occupied. And when he tried to cut out Randell Williams’ cross, he could only push the ball out for Charles to score.
Trafford continued to thwart Barnsley with a double save from Bobby Thomas while Barnsley skipper Mads Andersen ensured there were no further goals with a fine block from Wanderers substitute Dan N’Lundulu.
“We did enough to win the game,” insisted Barnsley boss Michael Duff. “It was a disciplined performance against a very good team.
“Their goal came from nothing and we had some good chances and the keeper made some good saves.
“It is a sign of our performance that there is a tinge of disappointment that we didn’t do enough to shade it.
“Even after (their goal) we still had enough chances to go on and win it: lots of corners, lots of shots.
“But next Friday will be a tight and similar sort of affair. I said to the players, ‘don’t think the job is done now’. There will be no back-slapping.
“Last time they came to our place they beat us 3-0. There are 90 minutes of the season left so we still have to give it everything again.”
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.
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).
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