Notts County boss Luke Williams showered Lewis Macari with praise after the Stoke loanee marked his English league debut with a stunning strike to earn his side a 2-1 win at Gillingham.
The 21-year-old grandson of Manchester United legend Lou Macari fired home from 20 yards with 12 minutes to play after Scott Malone had cancelled out Macaulay Langstaff’s opener.
Macari has previously enjoyed loan spells at Market Drayton and Dundalk but this was his first taste of EFL action, and Magpies boss Williams was delighted with his display.
He said: “He’s done himself proud. He performed brilliantly. I have to make sure I reward people for their hard work in training. He’s really enthusiastic so I wanted to be brave and give him a chance.
“This was a display of his personality. He did the job he was asked to do efficiently, but then he expressed himself as an individual.
“He had a big decision to make when the ball was out in front of him and he took it on. He showed us a new side to his game.”
County made a strong start to their 5,000th league game and Langstaff met Tobi Adebayo-Rowling’s low cross to deservedly put the visitors in front in the 38th minute.
Malone’s solo effort restored parity for the managerless Gills but Macari’s strike ensured County celebrated a perfect response to last weekend’s 4-1 derby defeat by Mansfield.
“Maybe we haven’t fully appreciated each other enough as a group at times recently,” Williams added.
“But I saw players celebrating when team-mates stepped up and moved the defensive line today.
“I saw players celebrating somebody else heading the ball out of the box today. We need to get back to really appreciating each other for what is good, elite work.”
The out-of-form Gills have now lost three of their last six games but interim boss Keith Millen remained pleased with the performance.
“It was a game decided by small margins,” he said. “I thought the players worked their socks off against a very good team. I told them in the dressing room that I’m really proud.
“It’s raw because I think we deserved a draw, but our effort and commitmentwere excellent. You can see the disappointment in the dressing room.
“When it got back to 1-1, I thought there was only one team who would go on to win it.
“Even in the first half, when they were having a lot of the ball, we had opportunities on the break but we weren’t clinical enough.
“Their first goal came from a three on two for us but we didn’t capitalise on it. We had so many good opportunities but we didn’t punish them.”
Victory in Greece signals England are 'moving in the right direction', says Carsley
Interim coach Lee Carsley was delighted with the progress of his England side as they defeated Greece 3-0 in Athens to move top of their Nations League group.
Having fallen to a 2-1 defeat to Greece when they travelled to Wembley at the start of October, the Three Lions exacted revenge as Ollie Watkins opened the scoring early before an own goal and debut goal from Curtis Jones completed the rout deep in the second half.
The travelling side entered the international break without several key figures, including Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden and Trent Alexander-Arnold, after nine players withdrew with injury.
While England are set to welcome the Republic of Ireland to their home venue on Sunday, Carsley is pleased with the development he has seen so far.
"It represents that we are moving in the right direction. We won't get too carried away, we have a big game on Sunday at Wembley,” he told ITV.
"It is just important the players played to their strengths. We have a lot of outstanding talent. The players that weren't here, we concentrated on the ones who were. They took their opportunity today.”
Carsley’s team featured three debutants – Jones, Morgan Rogers and Lewis Hall – with Jones scoring an audacious backheel flick to stun the crowd.
The Liverpool midfielder capped off what was already a tremendous performance as he had the most touches from either team (86) and delivered 100% passing accuracy in the final third.
"Curtis Jones is an outstanding player. He played really well, even without his goal. With his goal it was an excellent performance,” Carsley enthused.
"People were speaking last night about the inexperience in the squad but these players are playing for their clubs at a really high level."
Greece 0-3 England: Stunning Jones debut goal helps Three Lions go top
Curtis Jones’ brilliant backheel on his debut helped England win 3-0 against Greece to move top of Group B2 in the Nations League.
Lee Carsley’s men exacted revenge in Athens having been defeated 2-1 by Greece at Wembley. The result sees England overtake their opponents on goal difference with 12 points each.
England got off the mark quickly as Noni Madueke burst down the right wing, beating four players to the byline, before cutting back for Ollie Watkins to slot home from close range in the seventh minute.
Jordan Pickford was called into action to keep the scores level, first tipping over Kostas Tsimikas’ stinging shot before denying Fotis Ioannidis' effort from range after the break.
While Jude Bellingham hit the left post with a header from a corner not long into the second half, England would have to wait until the 77th minute to celebrate their second.
Bellingham was the instigator once more as he latched on to a first-time pass from debutant Morgan Rogers to charge in from the left and drive a low shot onto the left post.
The ball rebounded onto the trailing leg of the diving Odysseas Vlachodimos, who could not scramble back in time to prevent an own goal.
Jones completed the rout six minutes later as he latched onto Morgan Gibbs-White’s cross from the right to send an audacious backheel past Vlachodimos.
Data Debrief: Debut delight for Jones
Jones is the first Liverpool player to score on his England debut since Sammy Lee back in November 1982, also in an away game against Greece.
He is the ninth Jones to play for England, after Alf, Bill, Harry, Herbert, Mick, Phil, Rob and William. The only surname to provide more England players is Smith (20).
There were also debuts for Lewis Hall and Morgan Rogers. The latter became the 63rd player to make their England debut while with Aston Villa. It’s the first time they've had two in the same year (Ezri Konsa and Rogers) since 2007 (Scott Carson and Ashley Young).
At 20 years and 67 days, Hall became the youngest Newcastle United player to appear for England in a competitive international since Jock Rutherford in April 1904 against Scotland in a Home Nations match (19 years and 180 days).
Belgium 0-1 Italy: Azzurri advance to Nations League quarter-finals
Italy sealed their place in the Nations League quarter-finals and ended Belgium's hopes of advancing with a 1-0 victory in Brussels, courtesy of Sandro Tonali's goal.
Tonali – who recently returned to action after serving a 10-month ban for breaching betting rules – scored his first senior international goal in the 11th minute.
He fired home after Giovanni Di Lorenzo's cutback deflected off Zeno Debast and fell kindly into his path at close range.
Luciano Spalletti's visitors continued to enjoy the better of the play in the first half, with Nicolo Rovella going close when he fired high and wide in the 25th minute.
Mateo Retegui was denied by Koen Casteels when one-on-one after half-time, while Gianluigi Donnarumma was called into action at the other end by Debast and Lois Openda.
Belgium's best chance for an equaliser fell to defender Wout Faes seven minutes from time, but he headed against the post when left unmarked in the centre of the box, leaving the Red Devils locked in a battle with Israel to avoid finishing bottom of Group A2.
Data Debrief: Azzurri flying on the road
Italy have now won three competitive away matches in a row within the same season, beating France, Israel and Belgium.
They last achieved that feat between June and November 2019, winning five in a row in qualifying for Euro 2020.
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