Alex Neil expressed his delight at Stoke’s home comforts as they defeated Watford 1-0.
New hero Andre Vidigal starred again as he notched his fourth goal in as many games since a summer move from Maritimo.
The Portuguese winger – who turned 25 in midweek – fired in a second-half winner with an emphatic strike on the volley.
And, in the process, The Potters secured successive league victories at home for the first time since April 2022, while they also beat West Brom in the cup.
“We’ve now won three games on the bounce at home and I think that’s vitally important to get our fans onside and backing us,” Neil said.
“You can see that connection starting to happen because the fans can see that the players left everything on the pitch so I’m really pleased.
“Watford are a really good side and they’ll be at the top end of the division for me so we knew it was going to be tough.
“In the main, we contained them really well, defensively we were sound and we got a goal that changed the dynamic of the game.
“You could see today that we were good in both boxes in terms of that final strike to get a goal and when we needed Travers at the other end.”
Neil also praised the in-form Vidigal, who continues to impress on English soil.
“The biggest thing about Andre is that he’s equally comfortable playing off the left, off the right or as a centre forward.
“He’s always going to get chances, he’s always looked a threat and he actually could’ve had more with the chances he’s had.
“He’s got that unbelievable knack of landing in the right position and getting strikes away and he just wants to score.
“He said to me at half-time, ‘Don’t worry, I’m going to score!’ and then he did so fair play to him.”
Meanwhile, Watford’s unbeaten league start under new boss Valerien Ismael comes to an end.
Substitute Yaser Asprilla spurned two glorious opportunities to open the scoring and then level late on, but the Colombia international failed to convert.
“Our performance in the first half was not good enough and we didn’t stick to our gameplan,” Ismael admitted.
“We created chances but it wasn’t enough and we weren’t present in the basics.
“If you are not having a good day, at least make sure you get the basics right and we didn’t do that.
“That’s what I said at half-time and in the second half we came out much better, but we conceded a goal in our best period of the game.
“We created a lot of chances after that so at least we saw our identity, but it’s a journey in this division.
“The players need to learn that the Championship is ruthless and every game you’ve got to be on it and if you think it is going to be easy you will be punished like today.
“We will learn from the game and make sure from the beginning we are ready to compete, especially in away games.
“You can lose games, I don’t mind, but at least I want to see the identity and the mentality in the players, and I missed it in the first half.
“What we deserve is the criticism that we didn’t perform for 90 minutes.”
Everyone wants to beat Leverkusen, says Alonso ahead of Frankfurt clash
Bayer Leverkusen continue to edge towards a remarkable unbeaten season and Xabi Alonso acknowledged every club wants to put that run to an end.
The newly-crowned Bundesliga champions moved a step closer to a treble after beating Roma 2-0 away in their Europa League semi-final first leg on Thursday.
Alonso's side have also reached the DFB-Pokal final against Kaiserslautern as their extraordinary 47-game unbeaten run continues across all competitions.
Leverkusen, who ended Bayern Munich's 11-year stranglehold on the Bundesliga title to secure their first trophy since 1993, travel to sixth-placed Eintracht Frankfurt on Sunday.
"We want to stay unbeaten and we know every week it gets tougher. Everyone wants to beat us," Alonso told reporters.
"It hasn't been easy in Frankfurt in recent years, they've always a tough opponent with a flexible system of play. We don't have much time to prepare."
The 42-year-old Spaniard will be watching the Frankfurt game from the stands after receiving his fourth yellow card of the season during his side's 2-2 home draw with Stuttgart last week.
"You can see the game better from the stands and I can communicate with the bench," he said.
"I will miss the direct contact with the team during the game but the players are intelligent enough to decide situations individually on the pitch."
Saudi Pro League: Mahrez and Firmino on target as Al-Ahli tighten grip on third place
Riyad Mahrez and Roberto Firmino were both on target as Al-Ahli tightened their grip on third place in the Saudi Pro League table with a 4-1 win over Damac on Thursday.
Matthias Jaissle's team were four goals up within just 25 minutes as Damac folded, Ziyad Al Johani and Feras Al Brikan netting their first two before Franck Kessie was felled by Dhari Al Anazi for a penalty, converted by Mahrez.
Firmino then tapped home a fourth after being teed up by former Newcastle United winger Allan Saint-Maximin on the break, but Al-Ahli took their foot off the gas from there, Domagoj Antolic's second-half consolation rounding off the scoring.
Elsewhere, 10-man Al-Riyadh scored two stoppage-time draws to earn a dramatic 2-2 draw with Al-Fateh in Al-Mubarraz.
Goals from Djaniny and former Columbus Crew star Lucas Zelarayan put Slaven Bilic's hosts on the brink of victory, with Al-Riyadh playing almost half the game a player down after Khalid Al Shuwayyi's 54th-minute red card.
An astonishing collapse denied them, however, with Mohammed Al Shwirekh halving the arrears one minute into stoppage time before Didier Ndong headed in a left-wing cross three minutes later.
Thursday's other game saw Al-Hazm and Al-Akhdoud play out a goalless draw, keeping the hosts bottom of the table while Al-Akhdoud inched two points clear of the relegation zone.
Will Still leaves Reims job with immediate effect
Will Still has left his role as Reims head coach with immediate effect, the Ligue 1 club announced on Thursday.
Still took over as Reims boss – initially on an interim basis – after Oscar Garcia was sacked in October 2022 and went unbeaten through his first 19 league games at the helm.
The 31-year-old was eventually handed the role on a permanent basis and led Reims to an 11th-placed finish in Ligue 1 in 2022-23, with his lack of a UEFA Pro Licence causing the club to be fined €25,000 per match until he began the course.
Reims are currently 11th in Ligue 1 again, though they are winless in their last five games and have lost each of their last three.
In a statement, the club said: "Following a meeting this morning between president Jean-Pierre Caillot, general manager Mathieu Lacour and head coach Will Still, it was mutually agreed that the two parties would not continue the sporting adventure together next season.
"In order to allow Reims to confidently look forward to the next year, it was also decided that Will Still and his deputy Nicolas Still would step down from their respective functions as of today."
Still was linked with the Sunderland job earlier this season and said in February that he would be open to joining an "ambitious" Championship club.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
