Barrow boss Pete Wild was full of praise for debutant Kian Spence after his stunning strike secured all three points from a 2-1 victory over Tranmere at Prenton Park.
On a rain-soaked afternoon on Merseyside both teams played their part in a fascinating encounter which saw plenty of goalmouth action at both ends.
Tranmere looked more threatening in the opening minutes as Josh Hawkes forced Barrow goalkeeper Paul Farman into action with a fierce shot from the edge of the box after just eight minutes.
But it was the visitors who took the lead after 19 minutes when Spence’s effort from the edge of the area ricocheted off the heel of Niall Canavan and into the net, leaving Rovers keeper Luke McGee stranded.
The home side should have been level in the 24th minute when the ever-dangerous Hawkes pounced on a poor backpass only to be denied by Farman, who came out to narrow the angle.
With half an hour remaining, though, Rovers were handed a lifeline when Harvey Saunders was upended in the box and Josh Hawkes blasted the penalty past Farman in the Barrow goal.
However, with the home side looking the more likely to go on and take all three points, Spence, making his first league appearance, blasted Barrow back into the lead in the 70th minute with a stunning effort from the edge of the area to stun the home fans and ensure maximum points.
Wild said: “We’re really pleased with the result today. This is a tough place to go.
“We knew they were well organised, we knew their two wide boys would be a real threat and they could cause us problems, it was a real back-and-forward game and took a while to settle down.
“When it did settle down I thought we moved the ball really well and all things considered it’s a great start.
“We’ve put a real emphasis on second balls on the edge of the opposition box and we feel that’s the best way to approach set-pieces this season, so it’s great to see it pay off.
“We’ve covered a lot of miles today and that’s what we’re going to have to do in every game as that’s the way we play, we’re athletic in midfield.
“Even in the last 15 minutes when we were looking to protect what we’ve got, I thought the lads executed the defensive part of the game really well.
“For Kian to score a goal like that on his Football League debut, it really doesn’t get much better than that.”
Tranmere manager Ian Dawes said: “I think anyone watching the game would agree that we at least deserved something from the game today.
“If you look at the game as a whole I think we were the better side through the 90 minutes. They had a good spell for 15 minutes just before they scored with set-plays.
“I’ve got to take the emotion out of it sometimes, the three points were obviously important but it’s all about us making sure that we plan and prepare for the next games.
“We had 17 shots and I thought we completely dominated the game and when we got it back to 1-1 I thought it looked like only one team was going to score.
“To be fair to their lad he scored an absolute worldy from the edge of the box but he’ll probably get one of those every blue moon.
“While I’m disappointed with the result today, I’m confident that we’re going to grow and we’ll be in a good place come the end of the season.”
'It will happen in a year, two years' - Ronaldo hints at retirement date
Cristiano Ronaldo says it will be one or two years before he retires from football as he aims to enjoy the end of his career.
The 39-year-old scored twice on Friday, including a stunning overhead kick, as Portugal cruised past Poland 5-1 in the Nations League, to clinch top spot of Group A1.
Overall, Ronaldo has now netted 910 times in his career, with 135 of those coming for Portugal, including five goals in five Nations League appearances this campaign.
Ronaldo has dropped hints in recent months though that his retirement is drawing closer, with his 40th birthday coming up in February, and he says his main goal is to enjoy playing football while he still can.
"Planning the retirement of football... It will happen in a year, two years, I don't know," Ronaldo said.
"I say honestly, it's not a joke, it's enjoying the moment, feeling that I'm enjoying football. Get up and go to training and to the game motivated.
"When I don't feel that, I'll step forward and say, 'I can't do it anymore.' It's an excellent career, I haven't felt it yet."
He was a standout once again for Portugal as he finished the match against Poland with a game-high 2.06 expected goals (xG), generated from five shots, the most of any player on the pitch.
Ronaldo hit the 900-goal mark in September, with many believing he would next be targeting 1,000 as another goal in his storied career.
The forward has scored 10 more goals since then but insisted he was not actively thinking about making it to four figures.
"If you ask me if I want to reach a thousand goals... It's normal to want it. But I don't think about it," he added.
"Think game by game. In three months, I will be 40 years old. It's about taking it easy and enjoying.
"That's what I've been doing, especially in the national team, which is where I like to play the most. I like to play for the national team, and I really enjoy coming here. Scoring goals and good performances helps too.
"Day by day. Enjoy goal after goal. Enjoy the moment. The thousand goals don't matter to me at all, honestly."
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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