Leyton Orient boss Richie Wellens acknowledged his side were made to battle hard before emerging with a 1-0 home win over Shrewsbury.
Orient recorded their third league win of the season to leapfrog their opponents and move into 15th place in League One thanks to a fourth goal of the season from striker Ruel Sotiriou.
The visitors had made the early running with O’s goalkeeper Sol Brynn producing an outstanding save to deny Max Mata.
But Sotiriou broke the deadlock after 20 minutes with a powerful strike into the roof of the net that was to prove the defining moment of the match.
Wellens said: “There has been times this year when we have been really good and things haven’t gone our way but today we had to really fight and scrap for that win.
“At the end of the game, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
“We have to give Shrewsbury some credit because whilst we started on the back foot, they started really, really well.
“Maybe a draw was a fair result or maybe we could have taken the chances at the end but we could have been 2-0 down.
“We had a bit of luck with the goal but credit to Ruel Sotiriou because he was in the right place at the right time. We were nowhere near as smooth or as cohesive as we wanted to be.
“But we had a good save from our goalkeeper which is what he’s there for and we won a lot of the first contacts and second balls.
“Overall, it’s a good win.”
Shrews manager Matt Taylor admitted his side’s profligacy in front of goal proved costly.
He said: “It’s very frustrating to go home empty-handed to be polite about it.
“What I think we did was to dominate a game of football where we created some very good opportunities which we have to take.
“We didn’t and when you do that you run the risk but we didn’t take our chances. If you look at the first 20 minutes in isolation, we should score three goals and I think they were big chances.
“The opposition got lucky for their goal with a bounce which went through and they score with the only shot on target they created but that’s the way it’s going for us at the moment.
“I can’t knock the performance overall, though. I don’t have anything negative to say about that. We were excellent to a man.
“Our application and our commitment was there but we can’t go away and create the chances we did and not take them.”
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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