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.”
Conte slams transfer market timing after comeback Parma win
Antonio Conte was displeased with the transfer market deadline due to potential injury risks after their 2-1 win over Parma.
Debutant Romelu Lukaku and midfielder Andre Zambo Anguissa scored stoppage-time goals to earn the Italian his second victory as Napoli head coach, and provisionally move fourth in the standings.
However, he was concerned about not having squad depth while dealing with last-minute changes made to his team due to the transfer window closing on Friday, leaving him hoping his players can remain fit.
"We take these three points knowing full well that we have to work after this absurdity of the transfer market," Conte told reporters.
"Coaches have to train players who are going to leave and wait for players we've never worked with and don't know in what condition they'll be when they arrive.
"We had zero midfielders on the bench today, as yesterday [Gennaro] Iaccarino and [Coli] Saco went on loan. We had to pray that nothing happened to [Stanislav] Lobotka and Anguissa.
"I hope that things can change in the future, seeing as everyone is ready to change formats and rules."
Conte added he was pleased with Napoli's transfer window, as they added Scott McTominay and Billy Gilmour to their ranks on Friday, despite the failure of Victor Osimhen's move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Ahli.
"We did not just bring in players to build on an existing team but to fill certain empty slots, and I am happy with the work done by the club," he said.
"If we had been able to sell Osimhen, it would've been an even better situation, but what happened cannot be changed, and we move on."
Chicago Fire 1-4 Inter Miami: Suarez on target once more in road win
Luis Suarez scored two and orchestrated another as Inter Miami cruised to a 4-1 win over Chicago Fire at Soldier Field on Saturday.
His shot led to the opening own goal before his second-half double put the game out of reach as Miami stretched their lead at the top of the Eastern Conference to nine points.
Suarez played a neat one-two with Diego Gomez to set up a strike from the edge of the box, and though Chris Brady did well to save it, he pushed it straight against Tobias Salquist, who chested it over the line 25 minutes in.
The Uruguayan thumped a free header against the bar minutes later, but finally got his reward just after the break – he raced in behind before slotting a neat shot in at the near post.
Alba then picked him out for his second in the 65th minute, fizzing a low cross into the six-yard box for him to guide past Brady.
Gomez was unlucky from distance as his drilled shot hit the inside of the post before Georgios Koutsias' instinctive close-range finish beat Drake Callender.
Substitute Robert Taylor then rounded off the scoring with a lovely first-time finish in stoppage time.
Data Debrief: Suarez continues to step up in Messi's absence
Miami have now been without their talisman Lionel Messi for three months due to the Copa America and an ankle injury, but Suarez has proven once again that they still pose a threat without him.
He has scored four times from a total of 12 shots since MLS resumed, with nine of those coming in this game.
The 37-year-old ran the show, leading the team in expected goals (1.4), shots on target (five), touches in the box (eight) and big chances (four).
Fonseca shrugs off talk of rift with Milan duo
Paulo Fonseca was quick to dismiss talk of any tension with Rafael Leao and Theo Hernandez, who both appeared to snub him shortly after coming off the bench.
The pair came off the bench to help earn a 2-2 draw with Lazio on Saturday, being brought on in a quadruple change by Fonseca after being left out of the starting line-up.
Milan were losing 2-1 at the time of their introduction, and they immediately turned things around, with Hernandez and debutant Tammy Abraham, another substitute, involved in Leao's equaliser.
Minutes later, the game stopped for a cooling break, with both managers using the opportunity to instruct their players, but both Leao and Hernandez remained on the far side of the pitch, taking no part in the team talk.
"The situation with Theo and Leao, there is no problem and I think Theo has already explained," Fonseca told DAZN.
"We don't need to create any problems. This week I spoke with the players and they accepted my decision. There is no problem, I was concentrated, and I didn't see that they weren't there."
Hernandez had already given his reasons immediately after the game.
"We had been on for two minutes, we didn't need the cooling break," Hernandez said.
"It was nothing against the team and the coach. Then people talk, say things that aren't true. Rafa and I are always with the team to help, and that is the important thing."
Milan are still without a league win this season after three games, but Fonseca says he saw a decent performance in the opening half, giving him something to work on.
"We had a good first half. We always managed the game well with the ball. When you control the game like this, we have to have more moments to become dangerous, but it's something we have to work on," Fonseca told Milan TV.
"We must always have the courage we had in the first half because we did good things. If we had won the other two games, this could have been a good result, but it is not so. But we have to start from today's first half."
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
