Forest Green boss David Horseman hailed his wealth of attacking options after Troy Deeney’s first Rovers goal earned them a 1-1 draw at AFC Wimbledon.
The former Watford star lobbed Dons goalkeeper Alex Bass with 15 minutes to go, cancelling out James Ball’s first-half strike.
Deeney’s arrival added to the goal threat for a side already boasting fellow summer addition Matty Taylor as well as Matty Stevens, who scored 23 goals when Rovers were promoted from Sky Bet League Two in the 2021-22 campaign.
Deeney may face competition from team-mate Ty Omotoye, who was in close attendance, to claim his goal, while Stevens spurned several opportunities at Plough Lane.
But Horseman feels it will not be long until his illustrious strikers are regularly finding the net for a side who have scored just three times in their opening five matches.
“Troy lifts it and he says he bundled it in, I will have to check the video, but him and Ty will have a conversation about that one,” Horseman said.
“That is the most minutes that Matty Taylor has played so far, since I have come here anyway, and he will only be stronger for it.
“Matty Stevens is a threat. When it is in and around the box, three chances fall to him today, three that he should always score and he will score going forward. But the fact is, he is in there and we looked a threat.”
Stevens was one of several players to go close prior to Ball’s opener, seeing a close-range header saved by Bass after Charlie McCann had earlier hit a post.
Ball met former Rovers midfielder Armani Little’s corner to give his side the lead 10 minutes before the break and his side could have won it late on, only for Luke Daniels to deny Josh Neufville and Ali Al-Hamadi late on.
AFC Wimbledon boss Johnnie Jackson said: “We have definitely had enough chances to see the game off and by the end of it we were the team pressing, so we are disappointed not to win.
“We had to make two enforced changes, we lost our captain [Jake Reeves] midway through the first-half and Armani Little had to go off at half-time, so we had to shift it around.
“They got their equaliser and they got into the ascendancy, but I was delighted with how we responded to that.
“They are a good side, they have got good players. Matty Taylor and Matty Stevens are a good front two for a level higher than this.
“All the boys felt like we should have won the game and we had enough chances to do it, so there is that disappointment.”
Van Dijk understands Netherlands criticism at Euro 2024
Netherlands captain Virgil Van Dijk understands the criticism of his side at Euro 2024, despite remaining unbeaten in the tournament following their goalless draw against France last time out.
The Dutch came from behind to win their opening Group D game against Poland, before holding out for a point against a wasteful showing from Les Bleus.
In a game dominated by Didier Deschamps' side, the Netherlands recorded their lowest possession figure in a Euros game on record (since 1980) with 37%.
Despite this, excluding shootouts, the Oranje have lost just one of their last 18 games at major international tournaments, coming at Euro 2020 against Czechia (W12 D5).
Van Dijk and his team-mates were criticised by pundits and newspaper columnists after the game against France, but the Liverpool captain was unmoved by the comments.
"Everyone is allowed to have their own opinion, that's fine," he said. "It doesn't bother me, it's part of football. If it irritated me, I would have a very unpleasant life.
"Expectations are high, also among ourselves. We have a good team; I sincerely think so. We want to show it in big matches. After the match against France, we as players clearly said to each other what needs to be improved.
“We can and must do better than we did against France. We can still make progress in this European Championship."
The Netherlands face Austria in Berlin on Tuesday to conclude their group campaign.
Ronald Koeman's side knows that should they equal or better France's result against Poland, they will finish top of Group D ahead of the knockout stages.
Scotland denied '100% penalty' against Hungary, says Clarke
Scotland head coach Steve Clarke was adamant his side should have been awarded a penalty as their Euro 2024 campaign ended with a 1-0 defeat to Hungary in Stuttgart.
Kevin Csoboth scored the winning goal in the 10th minute of injury-time to put Scotland out of another major tournament in the group stages.
However, things could have been much different for Clarke's side.
Stuart Armstrong looked to have skipped beyond Hungary's Willi Orban in the 80th minute, before the RB Leipzig defender grappled across the midfielder, with both tumbling inside the area.
Referee Facundo Tello waved away Scotland's appeals, and a subsequent check by VAR deemed the challenge not worthy of awarding a spot-kick.
“It was 100% a penalty," Clarke said. "Somebody, somewhere has to explain to me why that's not a penalty. It’s a one goal game, we get the penalty and it could have been a different night.
“I've got other words, but I'm not going to use them. I don't understand how VAR can look at that and say it's not a penalty.
“In a European competition, it may have been better to have a European referee but we had European VAR and maybe a referee didn't see the challenge clearly on the pitch, so what's the purpose of VAR if they are not going to come in on something like that. It was a penalty.”
Having qualified for successive European Championships, this was Scotland’s 12th major tournament group stage, and in 50% of those they have failed to win a single match – at the 1954, 1958, 1986, and 1998 World Cups and EURO 2020 and 2024.
“We gave everything, there’s nothing you can fault there. It was a very tough game against a good opponent," said Clarke. "A very close game that was always going to be decided by the first goal. You could tell that after half an hour.
“Unfortunately for us when we opened up towards the end of the game to try and chase the winner, that we felt we needed to get to the next stage, we got caught on the counter.”
Euro 2024 Data Dive: Late goals and broken records tee up dramatic finish to Group A
Sunday's action at Euro 2024 saw the conclusion of Group A, with late drama ensuring a last-gasp shake up to the standings.
Germany looked sure to be on the end of a shock defeat to Switzerland until substitute Niclas Fullkrug stepped up to make it 1-1 in stoppage time and send the hosts through as group winners.
Meanwhile, Scotland crashed out of the tournament without a win after conceding the latest goal ever scored at the Euros, with Hungary keeping their hopes of knockout football alive with their 1-0 victory.
Here, we run through all the best Opta stats to emerge from the day's matches.
Switzerland 1-1 Germany: Neuer makes history, but Fullkrug grabs headlines
Having already qualified for the last 16, the hosts left it late to seal top spot in the group, needing Fullkrug to make a much-needed impact off the bench in Frankfurt.
Dan Ndoye had given Switzerland a first-half lead with his maiden international goal to become the nation's second-youngest goalscorer at the Euros (aged 23 years 242 days), but Switzerland could not hold on.
Manuel Neuer was left helpless against the forward's first-time finish on his 18th appearance at the European Championships, the most among goalkeepers at the tournament (overtaking Gianluigi Buffon – 17). At major tournaments, only Cristiano Ronaldo (45) has played in more games than the Bayern Munich stopper (37).
Julian Nagelsmann named the same starting XI for three consecutive games, the first time Germany have done so in the competition's history, though it looked like tiredness was starting to take its toll as they struggled to break down their opponents.
Toni Kroos finished the game with a passing accuracy of 92.5%, only averaging lower than that in one game for Real Madrid in 2023-24), but also equalled a record in the late drama.
Having completed 323 passes so far at Euro 2024, Kroos has made the joint-most on record (since 1980) by a player in the group stage since himself at Euro 2016 (also 323).
Germany eventually had 18 shots, with Fullkrug picking out the top corner with the final one; the striker has scored 13 goals in just 19 international appearances, while his four as a substitute at major tournaments are more than any other European player.
Despite ultimately losing out on top spot, Switzerland have now gone unbeaten in their last four games against Die Mannschaft (W1 D3), with no nation currently enjoying a longer unbeaten streak against Germany (England and Spain both have ongoing runs of four).
Scotland 0-1 Hungary: Csoboth breaks Tartan Army's hearts
Meanwhile in Stuttgart, it was Hungary celebrating a late strike to seal a 1-0 victory that ensured an early exit for Scotland as they chased what would have been a landmark win.
Kevin Csoboth cemented his place in European Championship history with his counter-attacking finish as he netted the latest goal ever scored in the tournament's history (excluding extra time), timed at 99 minutes and 32 seconds.
Despite needing a win to finish third, Scotland failed to have a single shot on target in the game. In total, the Tartan Army had just 17 shots at Euro 2024 – since the group stage was introduced in 1980, it is the joint-fewest by a national team, along with Northern Ireland at Euro 2016.
Indeed, only twice at Euro 2024 has a team failed to manage a shot on target in the first half of a match and both have been Scotland (also on MD 1 against Germany).
Scotland pushed numbers forward for their last-minute corner with the hopes of reaching the knockout stage of the Euros for the first time, but instead will leave a major tournament group stage without a win for the sixth time (1954, 1958, 1986 and 1998 World Cups and Euro 2020 and 2024).
While looking down and out after failing to win either of their opening games, Hungary finally ended a run of eight games in the competition without a win, registering their first victory since beating Austria 2-0 at Euro 2016 – this was also their first clean sheet since that win.
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