Cardiff registered a fourth successive Championship win as they eased to a 2-0 victory over struggling Rotherham.
Second-half goals from striker Kion Etete and full-back Perry Ng were enough for the sixth-placed Bluebirds to claim all three points and continue their recent surge up the table.
It was not an encounter that will live long in the memory, but Erol Bulut’s home side were full value for the victory, with a dismal Rotherham team barely laying a glove on them all afternoon.
The first half could scarcely have been a drabber spectacle.
Both sides managed some neat and intricate passing, but largely in the middle third.
Cardiff enjoyed most of the territory and possession, but did very little with it.
Their best opportunity before the interval fell to captain Ryan Wintle who found space in the box in the 43rd minute, only for Rotherham goalkeeper Viktor Johansson to comfortably save his tame effort.
Before that, a scuffed attempt from right wing Yakou Meite and Etete’s speculative 20-yard shot was the closest the home side came to breaking the deadlock.
The Millers were even less threatening, ending the first half without creating a single opportunity worthy of note.
Their bluntness spoke volumes about their disappointing start to the campaign, but Cardiff fans will have expected more from the hosts.
Any momentum from the recent upturn in fortunes was nowhere to be seen, with the Bluebirds lacking urgency and attacking ideas.
With the second half came a marked increase in tempo from Cardiff – and they were rewarded with the opening goal in the 56th minute.
Left wing Karlan Grant exchanged passes with Joe Ralls on the flank and Grant’s cross was met by a downward header into the bottom corner from Etete, who outmuscled Rotherham full-back Cohen Bramall far too easily.
Cardiff’s dominance of the ball continued. Substitute Ollie Tanner – who replaced the injured Meite in the 18th minute – flashed a shot just wide, and Grant increasingly made his presence felt out wide.
Rotherham waited until the 80th minute to threaten an equaliser when substitute Arvin Appiah cut in from the right and sent a left-footed shot just over the crossbar.
It triggered a promising spell of pressure from the away side, but fashioning clear-cut chances remained a problem.
Cardiff, with centre-half Mark McGuinness outstanding, were rock solid at the back.
And just a minute before the end of normal time the Bluebirds counter-attacked for a second goal.
Ng rammed home a loose ball in the box after Rotherham botched an attempted clearance and the win was sealed.
Chelsea 2-0 Manchester City: Bompastor's side go top of WSL with late show
Chelsea left it late, scoring twice in four minutes, to secure a 2-0 win over Manchester City in the Women's Super League to leapfrog them to the top of the table.
Mayra Ramirez and Guro Reiten got the all-important goals, condemning City to their first league defeat of the campaign.
The visitors, who were without the injured Lauren Hemp, arguably should have taken the lead in the first half when Khadija Shaw latched onto Sandy Baltimore's wayward backpass, but the forward could only drag it wide of the far post.
In a tight game, Chelsea stayed calm, though Ramirez wasted a chance to square it into the box to give a team-mate an easy tap-in early in the second half.
The Colombian did not make the same mistake a second time. On a quick counter-attack, she brushed Alanna Kennedy aside to reach Maika Hamano's throughball before weaving away from Alex Greenwood to drive it into the bottom-right corner in the 75th minute.
Just four minutes later, they doubled their lead. Reiten was left in acres of space on the right of the box and curled a delightful finish out of Ayaka Yamashita's reach.
Chelsea maintained their perfect record under Sonia Bompastor, making it 10 wins from 10, and moved two points clear of City at the top of the WSL, still with a game in hand over their title rivals.
Data Debrief: Battling to the end
Even so early in the season, there was a lot riding on this in regards to the title race, and City have seemingly blinked first.
They looked far from their usual best, possibly in part due to Hemp's absence, as they struggled to create many meaningful chances.
Chelsea were also guilty of being wasteful early on but looked the more likely to score, managing 15 shots compared to City's eight while also edging the expected goals (xG) count (0.85 to 0.56).
Bompastor also became the first-ever manager to win each of their first seven games in the WSL.
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.
Jamaica 0-1 United States: Pepi give visitors advantage in Nations League quarter-final
Ricardo Pepi's first-half strike gave the United States a 1-0 advantage over Jamaica after the first leg of their Concacaf Nations League quarter-final.
The hosts saw a penalty saved in the first half before their frustrations were compounded late on thanks to Mason Holgate's red card.
The USA had the lead just five minutes in – having smothered a Jamaica attack at one end, the visitors caught them out with a pacy counter-attack, with Pepi sweeping it into the back of the net.
Shortly after, Shamar Nicholson was brought down by Matt Turner when he tried to take it around him, but the goalkeeper made amends, diving low to his right to deny Demarai Gray from 12 yards.
In the second half, Holgate was denied a tap-in by Yunus Musah before Turner scrambled to stop Leon Bailey's corner from nestling into the net as Jamaica searched for an equaliser.
With 86 minutes on the clock, Holgate received a second yellow card in just over 10 minutes for dragging Brandon Vazquez back, meaning he will miss the return leg in Missouri on Monday.
Data Debrief: Hitting the mark
Pepi got the all-important goal on Thursday, and is the fourth player to score 12 goals for the USA before turning 22 years old, joining Landon Donovan, Jozy Altidore and Christian Pulisic.
But it was perhaps Turner who actually had the most vital interventions; he has now saved three of the eight penalties he's faced for the USA, including two against Jamaica.
Mauricio Pochettino also could not have asked for a better result from his first competitive game in charge of the Stars and Stripes as he became just the third full-time manager to win his first competitive away match, joining Bob Bradley (2008) and Steve Sampson (1996).
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