Northampton boss Jon Brady was delighted after his side secured back-to-back League One wins by beating Reading 3-1 at Sixfields.
The home side were dominant in the first period and goals from Sam Hoskins and Louis Appere gave them a 2-0 lead at half-time.
Reading fought back and Dom Ballard’s goal 24 minutes from time resurrected hope of a comeback, but that was killed off by Mitch Pinnock in stoppage-time.
“I think we showed both sides of our game tonight,” said Brady. “For the first 15 or 20 minutes, I felt we had them on the back foot with how we started and how we played.
“It gave us a strong foothold, especially when we got that early goal from Sam. That was really important but full respect to Reading because I think they are a high level side.
“We watched them over and over and they play with a 4-2-2-2 and their movement is excellent. We compressed them and worked so hard and in the second half we really had to dig in and show a different side to our game.
“They pushed their full-backs right on but we were a threat on the counter-attack and got that third goal at the end.
“We dominated the first 25 minutes and then had to weather a few storms but I’m just pleased to make it back-to-back wins because that’s hugely important at this level.”
Having been docked four points this season, Reading are now third from bottom in League One with just six points from their opening 10 games while Andy Yiadom – an unused substitute – was shown a red card by the referee in stoppage time.
Royals boss Ruben Selles said: “It’s a tough night and again it was the first part of the game where we were not ready.
“We came here with an idea of how to play at the start of the game but we did completely the opposite and it’s difficult to come back after those tough moments.
“We had some opportunities to equalise but their goalkeeper made two fantastic saves and then straight after we concede another goal and that makes it very difficult.
“We did well in the second half, we got the goal and we had chances to score again but you can make mistakes when chasing the game in the last few minutes and we did that.
“We need to reflect and we need to learn quickly. We’re not scoring enough goals but we’re getting into the right positions so we need to be more ruthless and more clinical with our finishing.
“That’s the thing which is stopping us from winning games.”
Cabal becomes second Juventus defender to suffer ACL injury
Juventus' Juan Cabal will undergo surgery after tearing the anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee, intensifying the Serie A giants' defensive injury crisis.
The 23-year-old was forced to return to Turin after injuring his knee during training with the Colombia national team ahead of their World Cup qualifiers against Uruguay and Ecuador.
Cabal is the second Juventus defender to suffer an ACL injury this season after Gleison Bremer, who hurt his left knee during their 3-2 Champions League win over RB Leipzig last month.
Cabal has so far made nine appearances across all competitions this season.
Juventus are sixth in the Serie A standings and 11th in the Champions League's new-look league phase.
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.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
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