Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson hailed the effort of his players as the Red Dragons recorded their first away win since being promoted to League Two last season as well as their first clean sheet of the campaign.
Aaron Hayden’s 56th-minute header meant Parkinson’s side took all three points in a fiercely contested local derby against Tranmere at Prenton Park
The visitors dominated the early stages of a frantic first half with Ollie Palmer, Elliott Lee and James McClean all coming close to opening the scoring.
Meanwhile, Rovers’ best chance fell to Kristian Dennis who almost latched onto a Regan Hendry cross in a rare sortie into the visitor’s box in the opening period.
It was a similar story after the break and Wrexham’s pressure eventually told when Hayden lost his man from a corner to nod the ball home in front of the 2,000 travelling fans.
Despite their dominance, the visitors were unable to add to their lead, despite coming close through Ollie Palmer while Rovers’ only real effort of note was Sam Taylor’s speculative effort which was tipped over by Wrexham goalkeeper Mark Howard.
It’s now five games unbeaten in the league for Wrexham while Ian Dawes’ Tranmere side have lost three on the bounce.
Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson said: “I’m very pleased, I thought it was a strong performance from us, particularly in the first half.
“We were excellent and passed the ball really well, we didn’t get the goal, but we didn’t feel sorry for ourselves and kept going.
“Obviously the home team is going to come back into it to a certain degree and we had enough good chances to win the game by more.
“1-0 wins are important as they show resilience and I thought we dug deep today when we had to and we pushed ourselves that extra yard to get the result.
“Everyone knows we had that spell early on where we were conceding goals and we had to rectify that and the first clean sheet of the season will do the defenders the world of good today.
“The lads have responded brilliantly today and to win a local derby with the support we’ve had here is an incredible feeling.”
Tranmere manager Ian Dawes said: “We knew going into the game it was two teams with two completely different styles of play.
“Wrexham are a very physical side who were going to go long and we knew they’d be relentless, so we knew we had to manage the game.
“We worked the ball well into the final third at times today but we just lacked that little bit of guile.
“We knew we’d have to be patient with the ball because we’d have been crazy to go direct against the three biggest centre backs in the league.
“I thought we defended set plays really well today and there was just one moment where they got a block on us and they scored the goal – that one moment has been the difference today.
“It hurts us today massively and the fans, staff and players will be hurting because it wasn’t just a game of football today, it was about that rivalry and we walk away gutted.”
Al-Riyadh 0-1 Al-Nassr: Mane hands visitors bragging rights
Sadio Mane's first-half strike ensured Al-Nassr maintained their unbeaten start to the Saudi Pro League season with a 1-0 win over rivals Al-Riyadh.
He smartly finished from close range in the 41st minute, with his goal enough to seal the three points and move Al-Nassr up to third in the table.
Al-Nassr's threat grew as the first half went on, with Milan Borjan making a fine double stop to deny Ronaldo and Talisca once again before Mohamed Simakan struck the post on the rebound.
Mane would eventually break the deadlock in the 41st minute though, darting in front of his marker to meet Abdulrahman Ghareeb's low cross and rifle it into the roof of the net.
The Senegalese striker arguably should have doubled his tally before the break, but was denied by Borjan's stretching save when one-on-one with the Canadian.
Talisca should have wrapped up the points in the final three minutes, but he blazed over an empty net from close range, before having a late goal disallowed for offside.
Data Debrief: Derby delight for Al-Nassr
After drawing their last two matches, this win was a welcome result for Al-Nassr as they racked up their sixth victory of the season to close the gap at the top of the table to six points.
It is just the second time Al-Nassr have avoided defeat in their first 10 matches of a Pro League campaign, last doing so in 2013-14, when they won the league title.
They are now unbeaten in their last seven Pro League derbies (W4 D3), their longest such streak since a run of nine between 2018 and 2020.
This is the first time in eight such games that they have kept a clean sheet though, and limited their opponents to just five shots throughout.
Al-Hilal 3-1 Al-Ettifaq: Champions return to the summit with dominant win
Al-Hilal surged back to the Saudi Pro League summit with a convincing 3-1 triumph over 10-man Al-Ettifaq on Friday.
The defending champions are now one point clear of Al-Ittihad in the standings, with their latest victory piling more misery on Al-Ettifaq boss, Steven Gerrard.
Al-Hilal struggled in the early exchanges at the Kingdom Arena, registering their first effort on Marek Rodak's goal in the 38th minute courtesy of Marcos Leonardo.
But the hosts would take the lead in the second minute of first-half stoppage time, with Mitrovic on hand to steer Renan Lodi's delivery into the net from close range.
Al-Hilal then doubled their advantage nine minutes from time when Malcolm collected the ball from Abdullah Al Hamddan, before rounding Rodak and finishing into an empty net.
However, hopes of a comeback from the visitors were revived in second-half stoppage time when Joao Cancelo gave away a penalty after a handball inside the box.
Vitinho stepped up and fired home the spot-kick, but Al-Hilal confirmed the win two minutes later through Mohammed Al Qahtani, with visiting forward Abdullah Radif shown a late red card for violent conduct.
Data Debrief: Happy Friday!
Al-Hilal continued their quest for a 20th Saudi Pro League crown with a dominant display against Al-Ettifaq, extending their unbeaten run against their opponents in the process.
They have now not lost their last 13 league encounters against Al-Ettifaq (W12 D1), surpassing their longest unbeaten streak against them in the competition (12 matches between 2008 and 2013 - W8 D4).
Al-Hilal have now lost only three matches when hosting teams on a Friday in the Pro League out of 55 matches (W46 D6 L3).
Lodi also took his goal contribution tally to eight this season in all competitions (three goals, five assists). During his European career with three different clubs, he only notched more goal involvements (nine) in the 2021-22 campaign with Atletico Madrid.
Kompany unbothered by modest scoreline as Bayern beat Benfica
Vincent Kompany was pleased with the way Bayern Munich attacked at home to Benfica in the Champions League on Wednesday, despite only winning 1-0.
The victory ended a run of back-to-back defeats for the German team in the competition, leaving them 17th in the league with six points from four matches.
"It's important for us to win a game this way. In the past, we always scored three, four or five goals, but today we stayed calm," Kompany told the official club website.
"We had 24 shots on goal and the opposition had one. Not every finish was dangerous, but we controlled the game. There are games in which the last pass just isn't as precise as necessary.
"We know we can decide matches within the first five minutes if we're on good form. That didn't happen today. But in the end, it's the Champions League. It was a good game and a good win."
Midfielder Jamal Musiala scored the only goal of the game in the 67th minute, turning home Harry Kane's knockdown after Leroy Sane had played the ball across the box.
Sane is yet to start a game in any competition for Bayern this season, coming on in the 56th minute on Wednesday, but his contribution was not lost on Kompany.
"Obviously, I'm really happy to have the quality of Leroy Sane and Michael Olise in the same position - not to forget Kingsley Coman and Serge Gnabry. You can say Leroy turned this game around today," he said.
The goalscorer Musiala, meanwhile, was pleased after scoring his fifth goal in all competitions for the club this season.
“We had good moments, but the opposition played and defended well. Of course, there are still things we can improve, but it's important to have won the three points," he said.
"I don't know what's going on with me scoring headers at the moment. The ball dropped nicely for me a few times and I just keep trying to get into good positions I can score easy goals from.
"We all knew we had to win tonight and we did a good job. We had a tough time settling into the game, but we can't win by four or five goals every time. Sometimes a 1-0 win has to be enough.”
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