Walsall boss Mat Sadler hailed Isaac Hutchinson’s “unrivalled engine” after the midfielder’s 25-yard thunderbolt gave the Saddlers a 1-0 victory over Colchester.
Hutchinson found the top corner from outside the box to reward a dominant first hour from the hosts in the September sunshine.
“Isaac just runs and runs – probably all of us got caught out by the weather today because it was red-hot and I had lads cramping up, there were some really tired bodies on both teams,” Sadler said.
“It caught me unawares to be fair – I was drenched in sweat.
“But he is not affected by it, he is relentless, he has got an engine that is unrivalled – I don’t see anyone who can keep running at the same pace he does.
“He’s a real threat and his finish is top-drawer, he hits it and it stays hit.”
Colchester, lifeless until conceding, rallied after the goal and three times came close to rescuing a point as Arthur Read’s free-kick flew just wide and Owen Evans saved two Connor Hall headers.
The clean sheet was Walsall’s first of the season and a relief for Sadler after several late dropped points.
“It should have been more but 1-0 is a fantastic result, it’s a special result because it answers a few – we’ve been frustrated by conceding goals, it hurts me to my core,” he added.
“I’m delighted for all of them because of what they’ve put in to the game to get that clean sheet, we’ve worked really hard at that mentality.”
While victory lifted Walsall to 14th, Colchester sit just above the bottom two in 22nd and boss Ben Garner was frustrated at a failure to build on their impressive 3-0 win at high-flying Gillingham.
“It was disappointing overall,” Garner admitted.
“The challenge for us at the moment is consistency – we can go to Gillingham last week and hit those levels and perform at that intensity. And then we were nowhere near those levels today.
“We had too many not at it. We are stretched as a squad, we’ve had some injuries but that’s no excuse because we were stretched last week and we went and did what we did.
“With the quality we’ve got in the team we have to create more. Their keeper has made two good saves towards the end but we haven’t worked him anywhere near enough especially in open play.
“I’ve just seen the goal back and it’s a super strike but there’s five mistakes in there from us.
“There’s a lot of young players developing on the job and it’s sink or swim time now, we have to see which ones can survive and we’ve got to be ruthless enough to see which ones can’t.”
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
Al-Nassr 1-2 Al-Qadsiah: Aubameyang winner ends hosts' unbeaten run
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the winner as Al-Qadsiah inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League on Friday to end their 21-match unbeaten run.
Cristiano Ronaldo's seventh league goal of the season put Al-Nassr ahead, but Al-Qadsiah replied swiftly through Julian Quinones before Aubameyang struck the decisive blow.
The hosts drew first blood in the 32nd minute when Ronaldo slotted home after Al-Qadsiah goalkeeper Koen Casteels had spilled a routine catch from Talisca's cross.
However, Al-Nassr's joy was short-lived when Quinones brought down Turki Al Ammar's delivery five minutes later, with the Mexcio winger firing past Bento to level the scores.
Quinones also played a part in the winning goal after brilliantly turning the ball back across goal from Nahitan Nandez's search pass to tee up a simple finish for Aubameyang.
The result sees Al-Qadsiah move level on 22 points with third-placed Al-Nassr, with Al-Shabab also level with them.
Stefano Pioli's Al-Nassr are six points adrift of defending champions and leaders Al-Hilal, who also have a game in hand.
Vlahovic out of Juventus clash with Milan
Dusan Vlahovic will miss Juventus' trip to Milan in Serie A this weekend and is also a doubt for the Champions League game at Aston Villa, head coach Thiago Motta has confirmed.
Vlahovic returned from the international break with a muscle problem in his left thigh, and the manager, after he confirmed the Serbian's absence for Saturday's game at San Siro, was asked about his chances of playing on Wednesday at Villa Park.
"I don't know. He definitely won't be there tomorrow. We hope to have him back as soon as possible," Motta told a press conference on Friday.
"Injuries are part of football. Now it's Vlahovic's turn, but we'll keep playing with the same principles, attacking and defending together."
Vlahovic is the latest of Motta's injury problems at Juventus. Argentine winger Nicolas Gonzalez missed the last six league games and is still unavailable, while Poland striker Arkadiusz Milik is a long-term absentee.
Brazilian midfielder Douglas Luiz will also miss the game with Milan and defender Juan Cabal recently suffered an Anterior Cruciate Ligament (ACL) injury, the same issue which will keep fellow defender Gleison Bremer out for the rest of the season.
"I'm really disappointed for Cabal because, like Bremer, he'll be out for a long time," Motta said.
"This is another reason to push ourselves, to commit that bit more so that these absences don't weigh too heavily."
Juventus go into the game as the only unbeaten side in Serie A but find themselves sixth in the standings in what is so far a very tight title race, with just two points separating Motta's side from leaders Napoli.
"It's very balanced and this is good for both us and the public," Motta said.
"We must all try to continue like this. We have to try to get as many positive results as possible."
Milan are one place behind Juve but six points off Motta's side.
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