Jim Goodwin rued a “very, very disappointing” start to the season as his Dundee United side came under fire following a humiliating Viaplay Cup group-stage defeat against League Two new boys Spartans.
More than 1,000 Tangerines fans packed into Ainslie Park hoping to see their team kick off the new campaign on a positive note after a demoralising season last time round that resulted in relegation to the Championship.
But there was more misery for United as they lost 1-0 to a side who were playing in the fifth tier last term, with Blair Henderson scoring the only goal in the 11th minute before Tony Watt saw a second-half penalty saved by Spartans keeper Blair Carswell.
“It was sloppy from our point of view,” boss Goodwin told BBC Scotland. “In the first half the build-up and the tempo was very slow.
“We allowed Spartans to get back behind the ball in numbers too often instead of playing the forward pass a little bit earlier. The second half was better, we had a bit more control.
“The problem is when you give lower-league opposition a goal advantage, they have something to hang on to.
“I have to give Spartans great credit but it’s very, very disappointing. The least we should be coming away from here with is a clean sheet.”
Goodwin and his players were subjected to a torrent of abuse from their fans at full-time.
“I think the reaction from the supporters is expected, it’s only natural,” said the manager. “It doesn’t matter what club you’re at, supporters expect you to beat lower-league opposition.
“Unfortunately today we came up short. There’s no glossing over the cracks from us. We’re still a very new team, it’s still early days.
“We just have to do better in the final third, which is the most difficult part of the game. We were getting into good areas but the end product, the quality of cross, just wasn’t quite there.
“They’re things that we will improve on. We’ll work hard to get it right for Tuesday (at home to Partick Thistle).”
Goodwin was determined to keep things in perspective, adamant that the shock defeat will not prompt him to make any drastic changes to his plans for the campaign ahead.
“It’s the first game of the season,” he said. “Of course we wanted to start on a positive note and it’s extremely disappointing to lose the game but it’s very early days.
“The supporters have got every right to show their frustration at the end, we’re all disappointed with the outcome but we’ll work harder to make sure we get things right in the future. It will take time but we’ll get there.”
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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