Bolton manager Ian Evatt praised the “bravery and courageousness” of his side after they beat Port Vale 1-0 to leapfrog their opponents in the League One table and move into fourth.
Dion Charles struck just before half-time to ensure the Trotters’ rise from seventh with 17 points – the same tally as Vale, who dropped to sixth as a result.
“I think the first half was excellent from our perspective,” Evatt said.
“The slight criticism and critique would be that we should have got more than one goal.
“But we had a lot of control, a lot of domination, which at a place like this isn’t easy to do.
“They’re a good team, they’ve improved a lot since they’ve been promoted.
“Second half, yeah – you can’t come here and expect to have it all your own way for 90 minutes.
“There’s going to be spells where your backs are to the wall.
“They’re going to put you under pressure and the adversity that we came through second half (was fantastic).
“The intelligence with our defending, but the bravery and courageousness, the way we put our bodies on the line and defended our box.
“You have to do that to get results away from home, but in particular here and we did that superbly well.”
Charles scored the winner in the 43rd minute, breaking through and finding the bottom corner with his left foot.
Vale nearly equalised moments later, but Ben Garrity’s effort was well saved by Nathan Baxter.
Randell Williams threatened to double Bolton’s advantage in the 53rd minute, forcing a good stop out of Connor Ripley after a long, mazy run.
Kofi Balmer headed just wide from Conor Grant’s corner as Vale pushed for a leveller, but it was not to be for the hosts.
Valiants boss Andy Crosby felt it was the proverbial game of two halves.
“If you give them too much room to play, they can do what they did in the first half, which is spend a lot of time in possession and we had to do a lot of running because the pitch was too big,” he said.
“We had to do a lot of chasing and then, when you get the ball back, you’re invariably more tired than you are normally.
“And we probably turned the ball over more than we have done recently.
“But the response of the players in the second half – we got on the front foot, we were more assertive, we were more aggressive – both with and without the ball and we penned them back for long periods of time.
“It was probably like what they did to us in the first half and we just couldn’t create that clear-cut opportunity to get ourselves back in the game.”
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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