Derek Adams saluted his “outstanding” Morecambe side after JJ McKiernan’s hat-trick secured them a deserved 3-1 win at Colchester, despite playing for more than an hour with 10 men.
McKiernan headed home Adam Mayor’s 21st-minute corner to give Morecambe the lead but the visitors had James Connolly sent off in the 36th minute after the defender appeared to leave a boot in on Samson Tovide.
McKiernan stabbed home from close range in the 53rd minute after Yann Songo’o had helped on Mayor’s corner and completed his hat-trick in the 61st minute when he collected Donald Love’s pass and ran almost the length of the Colchester half before firing past Owen Goodman.
Adams said: “The performance was outstanding and we opened up Colchester so many times and had so many opportunities on goal.
“The way we passed it, the way we pressed them, the way we allowed their goalkeeper to come to 30 yards out and not affect us and the way we picked them off.
“We hit the post, we made their goalkeeper make saves, we missed chances and then there was the sending off.
“We were already 1-0 up at that time and we had to make two substitutions and take (Jordan) Slew and (Tom) Bloxham off, two of our best players.
“So it was a big shuffle up at that stage and we then got into half-time and kicked on in the second half.
“The goals that JJ scored today to get a hat-trick were excellent.
“He has really found form and found a position that really suits him in the side.”
Colchester bagged a consolation from Cameron McGeehan’s 73rd-minute header following Brad Ihionvien’s assist and Noah Chilvers blazed a stoppage-time penalty over for the hosts, after Songo’o had handled Ihionvien’s shot in the area.
Colchester boss Ben Garner said: “It wasn’t good enough, frankly. Right from the start of the game, we were second best.
“We weren’t competitive, we weren’t intense, people not doing their jobs, people not doing their jobs off a set-piece cost us a goal.
“They then get the red card and we finish the first half well and then in the second half, we don’t do what we spoke about doing at half-time.
“The players want to go and do their own thing and so the team shape goes and we let two really poor goals in and gave ourselves a mountain to climb.
“I apologise to the supporters as it was nowhere near good enough. It’s a million miles away from where it should be but we’ve all seen how good it can be and how good it has been.
“It’s very frustrating that there’s no level of consistency or minimum standard.”
Verona 0-5 Inter: Five-star visitors go top of Serie A
Inter hammered lowly Verona 5-0 away from home on Saturday to move top of the Serie A table, with all five goals coming in the first half.
The hosts could easily have taken the lead through Casper Tengstedt just six minutes in as he struck the post after causing chaos in the box, but Inter sparked to life after that.
Joaquin Correa rattled the crossbar moments later, and then opened the scoring after 17 minutes, finishing off a lovely team move by chipping Lorenzo Montipo.
Having set up the opener, Marcus Thuram added a quick-fire double; twice in three minutes, he took the goalkeeper out of the game with clever play before picking out the back of the net.
Substitute Stefan de Vrij fired their fourth past Montipo before Yann Bisseck managed to pick out the top corner despite initially tripping over the ball in the 41st minute.
The second half was a subdued affair, though Correa almost scored another, but instead smacked the crossbar for a second time.
Inter leapfrogged Napoli, who do not play until Sunday, as they moved into first with 28 points. Verona are 14th on 12 points.
Data Debrief: Full-throttle first half
It was a pretty much perfect first half from Simone Inzaghi's side, and it gave the manager a chance to rest some key players with a Champions League tie ahead of them in midweek.
Inter scored five goals in the first half of an away league game for only the second time in their history in Serie A - after the 5-1 score against Sampdoria in the first 45 minutes of play back in March 1964.
The visitors scored with all five of their shots on target in the first period and outperformed their 2.79 expected goals (xG) by some margin.
Correa has scored in a Serie A game 756 days after his last goal in the top-flight, on 29th October 2022, against Sampdoria, at Meazza. Meanwhile, all three of his away goals have come against Verona at Bentegodi.
Chelsea not focused on Liverpool and Man City, insists Jackson after Leicester win
Chelsea are not getting carried away by talk of a title challenge following their 2-1 win over Leicester City, according to striker Nicolas Jackson.
Jackson netted his seventh Premier League goal of the season and was joined on the scoresheet by Enzo Fernandez on Saturday, as Enzo Maresca got one over on his former club at the King Power Stadium.
The result lifted the Blues to 22 points in third, just one adrift of champions Manchester City in second and six behind leaders Liverpool.
Speaking to TNT Sports after the game, Jackson said: "We know the months of November and December have a lot of games, so we just try to recover for the next one and go again.
"I saw the danger, then the ball came to Enzo, he gave it to me and he finished. I'm just working in every game to try to help the team win."
Asked if Chelsea were now thinking of themselves as title challengers, he added: "No, we don't look at the teams in front of us, we just try to win every game."
Five of Jackson's goals this season have come on the road, the most of any player in the Premier League.
Since the start of May, only Erling Haaland (18) has bettered Jackson's 11 goals in the competition overall.
Leicester got a stoppage-time consolation through Jordan Ayew's penalty, though they earlier felt aggrieved not to be awarded a spot-kick when Stephy Mavididi was seemingly felled by Wesley Fofana in the 85th minute.
Boss Steve Cooper lamented that call, saying: "We've had some terrible luck with this referee. That continued today.
"There's also the game to talk about. Tough first half in terms of Chelsea territory and dominance with the ball. We gave away a poor goal. It should have been 0-0.
"Defensively we were generally okay. We need to be showing courage and belief. If we do that we can create chances and be a threat.
"The big moment is the first penalty not given, it's clear what happened there. The second one was offside [before VAR] and you see how onside he was.
"That was the story of the officials' game. You can speak to them after 30 minutes. I'm not sure if I will or won't."
'It's an honour' - Flick delighted by Messi's Barcelona praise
Hansi Flick says it is an "honour" to hear Lionel Messi praise Barcelona's start to the season.
Flick took over as Barcelona head coach in May, with the club making an impressive start to LaLiga, as they sit top on 33 points after 13 matches.
They have won 11 of their games, losing the other two, while they are sixth in the Champions League table, just three points behind leaders Liverpool.
Messi, who spent 17 years at Barcelona before leaving to join Paris Saint-Germain in 2021, recently described Flick's team as "spectacular", in particular lauding his use of young players in the team.
The German has not shied away from using academy players during his time at Barcelona so far, with Lamine Yamal the standout of the bunch after he carried last season's form into this campaign.
Yamal is the only player across Europe's big five leagues to complete 25+ dribbles (34), create 25+ chances (26), have 25+ shots (39), score 5+ goals (five) and provide 5+ assists (seven).
When asked how he felt about Messi's comments, Flick was delighted.
"It's an honour to hear the best player in history say that he likes this Barca," he told reporters.
"He follows the team closely, he has his heart set on this club, that means a lot to the youngsters and to the team."
Barcelona return to LaLiga action when they travel to Celta Vigo on Saturday, looking to extend their lead at the top of the league.
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