Blackpool boss Neil Critchley thought his team thoroughly deserved their point from the 1-1 draw at second-placed Oxford, even though Jordan Rhodes left it late to grab the equaliser.
Rhodes, who had missed two previous opportunities in a stirring second-half fightback by the Tangerines, glanced home a header in the second minute of stoppage time from James Husband’s headed cross.
Jamaica international Greg Leigh had scored his fifth goal of the season to put a dominant Oxford in front in the 36th minute but Blackpool responded well after the break and finished very strongly.
Critchley said: “A point was the very least we deserved from the game after that second half.
“I just don’t think we were close enough in the first half. We allowed a good team with good players to control the game.
“They didn’t really have a good chance except for their goal – they didn’t really get to our goal – but we were just a little bit passive, a bit too far off.
“The goal epitomised the first half for us – we didn’t get close enough to stop the cross and we switched off and didn’t defend the ball into the box well enough. That’s the reason we were 1-0 down.
“In the second half we came out with a lot more aggression to take the game to Oxford and we stopped them from building up and controlling the game, and we pushed them right back.
“Then we were the dominant team and we created a number of chances.
“If we had scored with maybe 10 minutes to go we could have gone on and won the game possibly.
“We could easily have thought it was not going to be our day, but this team never give up.
“It was the first time we have come from behind this season to take something – that’s really important – and that second half is exactly how I want a Blackpool team to play – dominating the ball and possession… sometimes you have to go sideways and backwards to then go forward.
“I felt we had them, the substitutes made a difference. Oxford are at home in great form and not many teams could have come here and done what we’ve done to them today.
“Jordan is actually disappointed coming off the pitch. He said, ‘I could have had two or three goals really’, but it was a great goal, and a brilliant header from Hubby across the box, and Jordan does what he does, he gets across his man and glances it in from the six-yard box.”
Blackpool’s equaliser denied the U’s what would have been a sixth straight league win, but they stay second in the table, behind Portsmouth.
Oxford head coach Liam Manning said: “The lads are obviously disappointed because of the timing of when the goal was conceded.
“But I was delighted with the football we played and our play in possession in the first half, and the goal was outstanding.
“Yes, we have to manage the game better and you do that by getting out wide to stop them getting crosses in – but it takes a lot of running.
“The bigger picture to me, though, is that the first half showed the huge progress we have made. There was some terrific football from us.
“We had a certain structure out of possession today that was different to us in possession and I think the players did that well.
“The goal we scored had some great moments of interplay in the build-up, and the finish was a moment of real quality from Greg.
“What we have to remember is that it was a major transition with the players in the team in the summer.
“The most pleasing thing to me was that the first half showed the progress we have made with the players taking on board what we’re trying to do – because to do that in possession takes a long time normally.”
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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