Crewe boss Lee Bell saluted his players for showing gritty resistance as the Railwaymen held firm in the face of a strong Colchester fightback to claim a 2-1 victory.
Chris Long struck twice in the opening minutes to put Crewe in early control but Samson Tovide set up an intriguing second half when he cut the arrears soon after the break at Gresty Road.
Crewe were hanging on at times as Colchester dominated before the hosts were able to record their third win in four games.
Bell, whose side were indebted to captain Luke Offord’s goal-line clearance from Joe Taylor, said: “These are the best type of wins when you have to work your way through to get a result. We couldn’t stop Colchester’s flow, but we worked so hard.
“They played some good football and I don’t think their current position is a reflection on them at the moment. After the early goals we wanted to carry on with our attacking but we sat back a bit and let them back into the game.
“We did stay strong in the second half and our skipper cleared that one off the line late on with a brilliant recovery. We under a bit of pressure, but the lads kept their heads and discipline which was really pleasing.
“I was delighted with the early goals. Mickey’s [Demetriou] throws are a real threat and then Longy took his penalty really well. But I thought everyone in the team put in great effort and they were all excellent.”
Demetriou’s long throw caused problems for the Us defence and Long fired the loose ball into the corner of the net to give the hosts a third-minute lead.
Long then took his tally for the season to five by converting from the spot in the seventh minute after Shilow Tracey was bundled over in the box.
Colchester’s response saw Taylor volley over and Noah Chilvers crack an effort onto the post.
But it was after the break the Essex side stepped up their onslaught after Tovide finished off Taylor’s driven cross over the six-yard box in the 53rd minute.
Tovide, Arthur Read and substitute Jay Mingi all went close before Taylor was thwarted in stoppage time.
Colchester boss Ben Garner said: “We won’t concede a worst goal all season for their first and I thought the penalty was really soft. But after that we were brilliant and we absolutely killed them.
“The number of chances we created, we dominated the ball and for 80 minutes that was our best performance of the season.
“When we got the goal I thought we’d go on and win the game, but we couldn’t just get the next goal. We got into some really good positions and had one cleared off the line.
“If we’d performed like that over the whole 90 minutes we’d have won the game comfortably.
“The second half was as dominant display as you will have seen. It was just a case of whether we’d get the goals, but I thought Crewe defended set-pieces well and threw their bodies on the line, but we should have taken at least a point.”
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.”
Women's Super League predictions: Man City and Arsenal backed for victory
Brighton have been one of the stories of the season so far, and head into matchday seven of the Women's Super League season in third place.
Yet the Seagulls will face a huge test when they travel to face Arsenal on Friday, in one of two matches taking place that day to kick off the WSL weekend.
League leaders Manchester City are also in action on Friday, taking on Tottenham.
On Sunday, reigning champions Chelsea - fresh from a 5-0 win at Goodison Park - are back on Merseyside to play Liverpool.
Four of the bottom five play each other, with Crystal Palace taking on Everton and West Ham going up against Leicester City, with Manchester United, who drew 1-1 with Arsenal last week, rounding out the weekend against Aston Villa.
Here, we delve into the pre-match facts, and take a look at the Opta supercomputer's predictions, for each of the fixtures.
ARSENAL V BRIGHTON
Arsenal are unbeaten under interim boss Renee Slegers, and despite Brighton's fantastic start to the season, the Gunners are predicted to claim the points.
They have a whopping 82.1% chance of victory on Friday, with Brighton's win probability at just 6.8%. The threat of a draw is 11.2%.
Arsenal have a perfect record against Brighton in the WSL, winning all 12 of their meetings with them in the competition by an aggregate score of 44-2. Only Manchester City have a better 100% record against an opponent in the competition (16/16 v Everton).
Brighton, though, have won four of their six league games this season (D1 L1), just one fewer victory than they managed across the whole of last season (W5 D4 L13). This is the Seagulls' best start after six matches of a WSL campaign.
Arsenal are winless in their last three home games in the league (D2 L1) – only once have they had a longer run without a win on home soil in the competition (six between May-October 2014). Brighton, though, have never won back-to-back away matches in the competition (they beat Crystal Palace in their last away game).
Nikita Parris has been in fine form for Brighton, and she will go up against her former club. No player has scored more goals in the WSL against their old teams than Parris (nine, level with Ellen White).
Beth Mead could be the player to really stand out for Arsenal. Against no side does she have more combined WSL goals and assists than Brighton (12 – seven goals, five assists).
MANCHESTER CITY V TOTTENHAM
Arsenal are the most likely side to win, according to Opta's model, this weekend, but league leaders Man City are just behind them.
City came out on top in 81.8% of the supercomputer's 10,000 pre-match simulations ahead of their game against Tottenham, whose win probability is 6.9%.
Spurs' only win on their four previous trips to face City in the WSL came in September 2021, coming from behind to win 2-1 (L3).
City have won eight of their nine WSL meetings with Tottenham (L1), winning the last five in a row by an aggregate score of 16-1.
Only Chelsea (20) have scored more goals in the 2024-25 WSL than Tottenham (12 – level with Man City), however only Palace (16) have conceded more goals than Spurs (14) this term.
City have gone unbeaten through their opening six games of a WSL season for the fourth time after 2016, 2017-18 and 2018-19, while they have never lost in the competition when playing on a Friday (W3 D1), beating reigning champions Chelsea in their only such game last season (1-0 away).
LIVERPOOL V CHELSEA
Sonia Bampastor has had a brilliant start to life at Chelsea, and the Blues are expected to keep up that excellent form when they face Liverpool.
Chelsea's win likelihood is 73.1%, while there is a 15.1% probability of a draw, while Liverpool's chances are rated at 11.8%.
Bompastor could become the first manager to win each of their first four away games in the WSL. Chelsea have already scored 14 goals on the road this season, with the previous most scored under a manager after four away games being 11 by Jonas Eidevall's Arsenal.
Matt Beard, meanwhile, has won four of his 10 WSL meetings with Chelsea as Liverpool manager (D1 L5) – including his most recent in May 2024 (4-3) – with Nick Cushing (five) and David Parker (five) the only managers to win more games in the competition against the Blues.
Chelsea have won their opening five games of a WSL season for the very first time and could be the sixth team to win their first six matches of a campaign after Arsenal (2018-19, 2021-22, 2022-23) and Man City (2016, 2017-18).
This will be the 23rd WSL meeting between Liverpool and Chelsea with only Arsenal and Chelsea meeting more often in the competition (28 times).
Despite the Blues being favourites for this one, it is worth noting Chelsea won four consecutive WSL away games against Liverpool between September 2015 and March 2019 but are since winless in their last three such trips (D1 L2).
CRYSTAL PALACE V EVERTON
Things are not going well for Everton this season. They are bottom of the pile and without a win to their name.
They visit Palace on Sunday, and the supercomputer is anticipating a tight contest. The hosts' chances are rated at 37.3%, with Everton's at 36.3%. The draw is at 26.4%.
Everton's two points is their joint-worst tally at this stage of a WSL campaign along with 2014, when they were relegated, and 2018-19 (finished 10th).
Everton are, however, unbeaten in their last eight WSL games against newly-promoted opposition (W6 D2), winning each of their last four such away games by an aggregate score of 14-0.
Palace have lost all three of their home games in the WSL without scoring, conceding 11 goals in the process; only three teams have lost each of their first four matches on home soil in the competition: Yeovil Town in 2017 (-9 GD), Aston Villa in 2020 (-11 GD) and Leicester City in 2021 (-8 GD).
WEST HAM V LEICESTER CITY
West Ham are unbeaten in three previous home games against Leicester in the WSL (W2 D1), drawing this fixture 1-1 last season, and the Hammers are expected to end their wait for a win this season when they face the Foxes on Sunday.
Leicester won just 25.6% of the model's simulations, while West Ham won 48.6%.
West Ham are, however, the team that is most likely to finish bottom of the WSL this term, according to the supercomputer.
The Hammers are winless in their last 15 WSL games (D6 L9) while their two points from six games this term is their worst return at this stage of a top-flight campaign (D2 L4).
Indeed, West Ham have won fewer points (12 – W2 D6 L10) than any other ever-present team in the WSL in 2024, while they have lost each of their last five league games in the month of November, since beating Leicester 1-0 in 2022.
Leicester, though, have won just one of their last 13 away games in the WSL (D6 L6), a 1-0 victory at Everton in January.
MANCHESTER UNITED V ASTON VILLA
Rounding off this round of matches is Man Utd's home game against Villa.
Marc Skinner's team, who are still unbeaten, are backed to get the win at 73.4%, with Villa having a slender 11.2% chance.
With just two points from six games, Villa have had their worst start to a WSL campaign (D2 L4) and this is the first time they have gone winless across their opening six matches.
Villa have lost all four of their away meetings with United in the WSL, conceding 15 goals and netting just once in the process, with that sole goal coming in this fixture last season when losing 1-2.
United may be unbeaten, though they have drawn their last two WSL games. The Red Devils could draw three successive league matches for the first time since November 2021.
Their success has been built on solid foundations this season. United have conceded just two goals after five league games, facing fewer than 10 shots in three of those matches.
Iraola prepared for 'very, very difficult game' away to Brentford
Bournemouth boss Andoni Iraola expects a difficult game away to Brentford on Saturday, despite having taken seven points from their last three matches against top-four finishers.
The Cherries inflicted Manchester City's first league defeat of the season last weekend, while they had done the same to Arsenal two weeks before and earned a point at Villa Park between those matches.
"I'm not going to lie, we didn't expect seven points. Definitely, we didn't expect these points," he told the Bournemouth Echo.
“But it's true that it’s not the end of anything. We have to recover tomorrow and next week we go Brentford away.
“The way they are playing at home, it's going to be a very, very difficult game again and we have to continue to try to give us chances because it's going to be very difficult. This is the Premier League,”
Antoine Semenyo opened the scoring against City last week and is Bournemouth's top scorer with four goals. Iraola will be looking for another performance from him at the Gtech Community Stadium.
“He has been playing very well all the season," said Iraola.
“I think we demand him a lot because I think he can give a lot, and today probably he scores and everyone gives him more recognition.”
“I think Antoine is going to be always dangerous for every centre back, every full back that he attacks."
But ahead of their trip to Brentford, there was no chance of Iraola getting carried away with his side's recent form.
“To win one game in the Premier League against any team is very difficult," he said.
“You have to do a lot of things well. So, we have to continue because we need more points and we want to continue building and take advantage because we've got these points now against these teams.
“So, let's try to take this advantage and not lose it straight away.”
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Brentford – Bryan Mbeumo
Mbeumo has scored in all five of his Premier League appearances at home this season, with seven of his eight league goals coming at the Gtech Community Stadium.
The Cameroonian is equal-second in the Premier League top scorer standings on eight, level with Chris Wood and three behind Erling Haaland.
Bournemouth – Antoine Semenyo
Semenyo scored his fourth goal of the season last weekend, opening the scoring in Bournemouth's 2-1 victory at home to Manchester City.
The Ghanaian is his club's top scorer and has had the second-most shots (42) of any player in the Premier League this season.
MATCH PREDICTION: BRENTFORD WIN
Brentford come into this match having won four of their five Premier League home games this season, drawing the other. No side has picked up more home points in the competition this season so far than the Bees (13, level with Man City), while no side has scored more home goals than Thomas Frank’s side (15, level with Tottenham).
That isn't great news for Bournemouth, who have kept just one clean sheet in the Premier League this season. They are also yet to keep a clean sheet in any of their six games on the road in all competitions so far, while Bournemouth's only away win this season was a 3-2 victory over 16th-placed Everton in August
Brentford are also unbeaten in their last seven matches against Bournemouth (W5 D2), which is a run that stretches back to August 2014. In fact, Bournemouth haven't won a league game away to Brentford since October 2005 (D5 L4), in which they beat them 2-0 when both teams were in League One.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
Brentford – 44.1%
Draw – 26.8%
Bournemouth – 29%
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