Swindon boss Michael Flynn said his in-form side’s 2-1 victory over Grimsby was among their most pleasing wins of the season after seeing them claim the points despite not firing on all cylinders.
Town equalled a club record as they made it nine league games unbeaten to start a season, but they were made to work hard by a Grimsby side struggling in the bottom half of League Two.
Goals in either half from Dan Kemp and Jake Cain put Swindon in charge but Grimsby pulled a goal back through substitute Donovan Wilson to set up a nervy finish for the high-flying Robins.
Flynn said: “The way the players stuck together really got them through that. It wasn’t a good second half from our point of view.
“We have played a lot better than that and thrown points away.
“It was probably up there with the most pleasing win this season. We weren’t at our fluent best in the second half, but we dug in and made blocks, and followed our runners.
“I know that they had one or two chances, but so did we to put the game to bed.
“It was a pleasing win because you can’t just win every game with total football.
“They put the ball in the box, they kept the pressure on, and they gave everything, so for us to stand up against that was really pleasing.”
Swindon took the lead after 26 minutes when Charlie Austin chipped the ball through for Kemp to fire into the bottom right-hand corner.
Home goalkeeper Murphy Mahoney kept the hosts ahead with impressive saves from Harry Clifton and Danny Rose before Cain made it 2-0 in the 64th minute when he latched onto a superb through-ball from Kemp.
Wilson made an instant impact off the bench, turning Frazer Blake-Tracy before finishing neatly into the near post to make it 2-1 in the 70th minute, but Grimsby could not find a leveller as they slumped to a fourth defeat in their last five competitive games.
Mariners boss Paul Hirst was frustrated his side were made to pay for the same mistakes once again.
He said: “I just feel like it’s Groundhog Day at the minute. We’re getting punished for small mistakes but obviously they matter and at the other end we had enough chances.
“I think they (Swindon) had very little in that second half. But we know we leave pointless and very frustrated.
“They are unbeaten and right up there. And I felt that we started the game better and were the better team. I thought we were on to get a point or something.
“I’m kind of sick of saying but I think that we look a decent side and we are well in games.
“I think you risk making yourself look silly, or people think that because if it’s the same thing you know, same results, same outcome – everyone will see that we got beat.”
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).
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
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