Bradford boss Mark Hughes hailed Alex Gilliead’s versatility after the half-time substitute secured a 1-1 draw against Grimsby.
Gilliead, making his first appearance in almost a month after recovering from a thigh injury, blasted in an 89th-minute equaliser with the hosts’ only shot on target.
His spectacular strike cancelled out Danny Rose’s first-half opener for the Mariners and also denied Grimsby a first win over the Bantams since 1998 – a run that now encompasses 19 contests.
Gilliead only scored once last season – also against Grimsby – but his introduction at half-time in the centre of midfield, despite being better known as a winger, allowed the Bantams to find some much-needed forward momentum.
Hughes said: “He’s a great athlete and we have missed his versatility. When you can’t call on that, you recognise what he gives you a bit more.
“He gets a bit of ribbing because he doesn’t score too many goals but that was an important one for us. We were poor in the first half – we had four home debuts so there was a little bit of disruption to our playing 11.
“We wanted to press but that never happened and we tried to make changes but it was clear more radical changes were needed at half-time. We went to four at the back and that helped us a great deal and we then really forced the issue and got the goal we deserved.
“We needed wingers to stop their wing-backs and we were much better in the second half. We were on the front foot and I think the players understood what we needed and did the fundamentals better.”
Grimsby boss Paul Hurst admitted it was a bitter pill to swallow after he saw Gilliead – a player he has signed twice in the past for Shrewsbury and Scunthorpe – deny the Mariners a long-overdue three points against Bradford.
He took solace, though, from his team racking up a fifth league game unbeaten at a vociferous Valley Parade.
“He’s a good player and made a difference for them,” Hurst admitted.
“It’s just a shame that he wasn’t still injured for another week, but it was a great strike and he’s scored a couple against us now.
“They hadn’t had many shots at all, but it was a good goal and it was a big improvement from them in the second half. It was just a difficult one for us to take with them scoring so late but, at the same time, there were lots of positives to take from the game, especially in our first-half performance and a point at Bradford is a relatively good result.
“We’ve come here a few times and got nothing, so we will take a point and it’s another game unbeaten, which is the sign of a good team.”
Doncic backs Mbappe to turn fortunes around at Real Madrid
NBA superstar Luka Doncic has backed Kylian Mbappe to "figure it out" after his underwhelming start to life at Real Madrid.
Mbappe has scored eight goals in 16 games for Madrid in all competitions since joining as a free agent following the expiration of his Paris Saint-Germain contract.
He has gone four matches without a goal – a run that includes losses to Barcelona and Milan – and has been left out of France's latest squad.
However, Dallas Mavericks guard Doncic – a Real Madrid supporter due to his previous ties with the sports club – can see Mbappe turning things around.
"Obviously [their season] could be better," Doncic told Managing Madrid after the Mavericks' win over the San Antonio Spurs on Saturday.
"But when you get a guy like Mbappe, it takes some time to get used to it. We'll figure it out."
Mbappe has scored six goals in 11 LaLiga appearances for Madrid but has underperformed his season's expected goals (xG) total by 2.04.
The forward is averaging a goal every 166 minutes in all competitions this term, compared to one every 88 minutes for PSG in his last of seven seasons in Paris.
Madrid thrashed Osasuna 4-0 last time out in the league to return to winning ways but still trail leaders Barcelona by six points.
Asked about his connections with Madrid, former Los Blancos basketball player Doncic said: "I follow Real Madrid every time.
"I grew up there. They taught me everything, so it's a part of my life. You can call it a secondary home.
"I learned a lot of stuff there and, especially, they gave me a way to be here right now [in Dallas]. I always appreciate that 100%."
Madrid return to action after the international break with a trip to Leganes on Sunday.
Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona: Guijarro brace sets visitors up for Clasico glory
Patri Guijarro's first-half brace set Barcelona on their way to a thumping 4-0 win over rivals Real Madrid in Liga F on Saturday.
Claudia Pina and Alexia Putellas were also on target as Barcelona continued their perfect start to the season, extending their lead at the top of the table.
The visitors dominated from the off, as Guijarro broke the deadlock inside the fourth minute, tapping in from Putellas' flick-on from a corner.
Cata Coll was forced into a big save to deny Alba Redondo an equaliser shortly after, but Madrid's hope was soon dented as Guijarro picked out the bottom corner with a superb long-range strike for her second.
Pina strengthened their lead six minutes before the break, clinically slotting past Misa with her low strike.
Putellas added some more gloss to the scoreline with four minutes remaining of normal time, beating the Madrid keeper with a lovely dink to bring up her 199th goal for the club.
Barcelona have won all 10 of their games, and now sit eight points clear of Madrid, who suffered their first league defeat of the campaign.
Data Debrief: Total dominance
Madrid will have felt fairly confident coming into this game after a strong start to their season, but they once again failed to find a way past their Clasico rival.
Los Blancos have lost every single game they have played against Barcelona in all competitions, with this their 15th such meeting.
Barcelona smothered their attack early on, restricting their hosts to just one shot in the first half, while they had 10.
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.
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