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.”
St. Louis City v San Jose Earthquakes: Hosts prepare for life without Carnell
St. Louis City will play their first MLS game without Bradley Carnell after the head coach was dismissed ahead of Thursday's meeting with San Jose Earthquakes.
Carnell's departure was confirmed this week after failing to triumph since mid-May, slipping down to 12th in the Western Conference standings after a nine-game winless run.
St. Louis were guided to a first-place finish in the West last season, their maiden campaign in MLS, yet they are preparing for a new era with technical director John Hackworth in interim charge.
"Given Bradley's many contributions to the club, this was not an easy decision,” said City's sporting director Lutz Pfannenstiel.
"Unfortunately, based on our results to date, we believe a coaching change is in the best interest of the club as we regroup and look to improve, both our performance and our results."
Hackworth has almost 30 years of coaching experience, including positions within the United States men's national team and MLS rivals Philadelphia Union.
His first task will be downing an out-of-form San Jose, who sit at the bottom of the West standings with just three wins to their name all year.
The Earthquakes are also without a manager after Luchi Gonzalez's dismissal, falling to a 3-0 defeat against LA Galaxy in their first match since his dismissal.
Gonzalez's assistant coach Ian Russell took interim charge for that home humbling, and will be desperate to turn things around as San Jose remain in search of a new full-time boss.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
St. Louis City – Njabulo Blom
Njabulo Blom's seventh-minute goal on Saturday was St. Louis' 10th from outside the box in regular-season play in MLS, with Blom the ninth different player to record one of those strikes.
Blom may fancy his likelihood of adding another long-range strike in this outing, considering the Earthquakes defence is far from convincing.
San Jose Earthquakes – Hernan Lopez
Hernan Lopez has contributed to a goal in each of his first four MLS road games (two goals, two assists), with the midfielder hoping to extend that impressive run here.
However, only two players have recorded a goal contribution in each of their first five MLS road games: Cucho Hernandez (six straight in 2022) and Romain Alessandrini (also six in a row in 2017).
MATCH PREDICTION – ST. LOUIS CITY WIN
The hosts are the heavily backed favourites for victory in this encounter, despite their woeful run of form of late.
St. Louis are winless in their last nine matches, losing six of those. Prior to this run, they had only lost as many games in 27 league matches dating back to June 2023.
Yet, the home side will fancy their chances of arresting that streak given St. Louis beat San Jose twice last season, winning 3-0 and 2-1.
The Earthquakes' form is poor, too, having lost 15 of their first 20 matches this season. Only Tampa Bay Mutiny in 2001 suffered more such losses in the post shoot-out era since 2000.
Only four teams have collected fewer points than San Jose's 11 this year at this stage of a campaign, most recently D.C. United (10) in 2013, and that drab spell could extend here.
OPTA WIN PROBABILITY
St. Louis City win – 52%
Draw – 24.5%
San Jose Earthquakes win – 23.5%
Southgate salutes England's 'togetherness and spirit' but acknowledges need for improvement
Gareth Southgate hailed the togetherness and spirit demonstrated by England, but acknowledged the need to improve ahead of their Euro 2024 quarter-final with Switzerland.
The Three Lions were considered one of the pre-tournament favourites to go all the way in Germany, but have produced generally underwhelming displays in their four matches so far.
England topped Group B despite winning just one of their three games, and were just seconds away from a humbling last-16 exit against Slovakia, until Jude Bellingham's sublime acrobatic effort spared their blushes.
Harry Kane then completed the turnaround in the early stages of extra time, as Southgate's relieved side scraped through to the last eight by the skin of their teeth.
Nevertheless, the England boss is adamant his players' last-gasp exploits against Slovakia will provide momentum ahead of facing Switzerland in Dusseldorf on Saturday.
"There's no question it will give the whole group belief," said Southgate.
“We know we should be better than we've been, but we've ended up with a lot of young players in important positions and trying to solve problems right the way through the four weeks of the camp.
"But the standout is the way the players are dealing with it. Their togetherness, their spirit."
Southgate referred to the 1990 World Cup and Euro 96 as similar instances where England were slow out of the blocks, before going on to reach the semi-finals at each tournament.
"Everybody now, 30 years on, looks back at [Euro] 96 in a different way to how it was at the time," the Three Lions boss added.
"We were bang average against Switzerland [in the opening game at Euro 96]. We were the same against Scotland; Scotland missed a penalty at 1-0 [down]. Spain should have beaten us in a 0-0 draw [in the quarter-finals].
"1990 was similar, so you do go through these moments in tournaments."
The 53-year-old will oversee his 100th England game in charge against Switzerland, becoming only the third Three Lions head coach to reach triple figures after Walter Winterbottom and Bobby Robson.
Martinez salutes Ronaldo and Diogo Costa as shootout hero revels in 'best game of my life'
Roberto Martinez paid tribute to Cristiano Ronaldo's character and Diogo Costa's penalty shootout heroics after Portugal scraped through to the Euro 2024 quarter-finals.
The 2016 champions were given an almighty scare by a stubborn Slovenia, who kept them at bay for 120 minutes at Frankfurt Arena - thanks largely to Jan Oblak in goal.
The Atletico Madrid stopper reduced Ronaldo to tears when he saved his tame penalty in the first half of extra time. However, the Portugal skipper made no mistake in the shootout, where Diogo Costa took centre stage.
The Porto goalkeeper, who produced a crucial save to deny Benjamin Sesko in the second half of extra time, then kept out all three Slovenia kicks from Josip Ilicic, Jure Balkovec and Benjamin Verbic.
And Martinez was full of admiration for the efforts of both players.
"Ronaldo missed a penalty and then was decisive when he started the penalty shoot-out, he paved the way," the Portugal head coach told EURO2024.com.
"It was a victory for unity, from the dressing room and Cristiano is our captain. He showed that in life and in football, there are difficult moments and we can't give up, we have to keep going and it was a demonstration of what to do when things aren't going well."
"We worked very well, the energy, strength and passion in the dressing room to win a game like that is incredible."
On Diogo Costa, Martinez added: "The secret of Portugal is Diogo Costa, he's the most hidden secret in European football.
"Today, he appeared on a different level, he was incredible in the one-on-one situation [with Sesko], and then he had the focus and quality to make three consecutive saves in the shootout. We have to be very proud of him."
Diogo Costa became the first goalkeeper to ever save three penalties in a European Championship shootout.
"This is probably the best game of my life," he said. "I focused on doing what I had to do. I went with my gut feeling. Of course, we analysed the penalty takers, but players change, and they change how they shoot.
"I am very happy and very excited to have helped the team. These are the hardest games as I barely touched the ball, but the hard work paid off.
"We all felt we needed to keep believing [after Ronaldo's first penalty]. We believed until the very end, and we're all very happy."
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
