Wayne Rooney admitted “it’s great to be back in English football” despite suffering a 1-0 defeat in his first match as Birmingham’s new boss at Middlesbrough.
The former Manchester United and England striker was left frustrated against ex-team-mate Michael Carrick’s Boro when Morgan Rogers flicked in an 89th-minute winner at the Riverside.
Rooney, who turns 38 on Tuesday, took over from John Eustace during the international break.
It was a day of emotion and reflection for both Rooney and Carrick as they heard the news of Sir Bobby Charlton’s death at half-time, with both sets of fans then chanting the World Cup winner’s name before the restart.
Both Rooney and Carrick had spent time with Charlton during their Old Trafford careers.
Middlesbrough had controlled the first half and wasted numerous opportunities, the best of which was when striker Josh Coburn was played in and fired wide, having earlier headed over the bar too.
But when Rogers, only 13 minutes after emerging as a substitute, arrived at the front post to turn in Matt Crooks’ low return pass, there was no way back for Birmingham – meaning defeat for Rooney in his first game.
Rooney, whose side have slipped to seventh after a fourth straight defeat on the road, said: “I have been quite calm. You always have a feeling before the game as player or manager, which is normal, but I was quite calm. I know what I want.
“I know where we need to get to. I knew this was a possibility today, but it will take time to get where we want to go.
“We might have to go through days like this and it is important we stay calm to ensure we hit the goals we really want to.
“You never enjoy when you lose, but it is great to be back in English football, great to be at Birmingham. Thankfully we have another game Wednesday.
He added: “There were parts of the game we wanted to take the ball more, but ultimately you don’t always get what you want in football. It is decision-making and game management.
“Even after Middlesbrough scored there were different moments in the game were our game management has to be better. That is what frustrated me in the last eight minutes.
“But we are a team trying to adapt to a different way and that will take time. During that period we do have to pick up points.”
Given Rooney and Carrick’s Old Trafford connections, it was ironic that it was Rogers, a former Manchester City player, who scored the winner.
The 21-year-old has scored twice in the league cup since his summer arrival from the Etihad, but this was his first goal in the Championship – and one that secured a fifth straight win for Middlesbrough.
Carrick, whose side moved a point behind seventh-placed Birmingham, said: “It was a big goal for all of us – a big goal to win a game.
“I’m really pleased for Morgan, he came on to make an impact. Goals like that can give you a massive boost and I am sure he will have an impact for the rest of the season.
“We did enough to win the game because we had enough chances, and those chances we could have scored from, they were good ones.
“I couldn’t fault the boys. It is tough when you go into a game like this because we didn’t really know
what we were going into, there wasn’t much we had to go on (after Rooney’s arrival).
“But I’m really pleased about the impact from the boys off the bench. They have all come off and made an impact in different ways.
“You never know if a goal is going to come, but you have to keep doing the right things and freshen up to try to create a spark. In the end the boys found a way to score.”
Al Hilal crowned Saudi Pro League champions after Al Hazm hammering
Al Hilal secured their fourth straight Saudi Pro League title after Aleksandar Mitrovic starred in Saturday's 4-1 thrashing of bottom side Al Hazm.
Faiz Selemani restored parity after Mitrovic's 15th-minute opener at Prince Faisal bin Fahd Stadium, only for Jorge Jesus' hosts to roar back and be crowned champions with three games remaining.
Ahmed Al Juwaid's own goal handed the initiative back to the dominant Al Hilal, who led 4-1 at the break after Mitrovic added another to his tally and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic was on target.
The second of Mitrovic's strikes took him to a team-leading 26 league goals this term as Al Hilal breezed to another title, moving an unassailable 12 points clear of Cristiano Ronaldo's Al Nassr.
Jesus' side are unbeaten through all 31 games this season after securing their record-extending 19th top-flight crown in history, while Al Hazm need to win their last three matches to have any chance of staying up.
Al Hazm's relegation rivals Al Tai boosted their chances of survival in Saturday's earlier clash after a 1-1 draw away against Al Raed.
Al Tai are just a point away from 15th-placed Abha Club in their bid for top-flight safety after Ibrahim Al Nakhli's strike was cancelled out by Al Raed's Mohammed Fouzair in the second half.
Al-Ittihad 0-5 Al-Ettifaq: Ekambi scores hat-trick in five-star display
Karl Toko Ekambi netted a hat-trick as Al-Ettifaq got back to winning ways in style with a 5-0 thrashing of Al-Ittihad in the Saudi Pro League on Friday.
He scored twice in four minutes at the end of the first half to send the visitors into the break 4-0 up before getting his third just 10 minutes after the break.
Seko Fofana had already given Steven Gerrard’s side the lead five minutes into the contest, while Moussa Dembele doubled their advantage from the penalty spot.
Al-Ittihad had the chances, but they could not find the back of the net, as they stayed fifth, but are now just six points above Al-Ettifaq.
Data Debrief: Clinical finishers
Al-Ettifaq had five shots on target against Al-Ittihad, scoring with all of them while creating an xG of 3.62.
With his hat-trick against Al-Ittihad, Ekambi has now scored 11 goals for the season, netting more than once for the first time since joining the club.
Al-Akhdoud 2-3 Al-Nassr: Brozovic stunner delays Al-Hilal coronation
Marcelo Brozovic scored twice – including a fine half-volley in second-half stoppage time – as Al-Nassr beat Al-Akhdoud 3-2 to delay Al-Hilal's Saudi Pro League title coronation on Thursday.
Former Inter midfielder Brozovic fired in a seventh-minute opener from outside the area before Cristiano Ronaldo tapped into an empty net to double the visitors' lead.
Sadio Mane struck the woodwork early in the second half and Al-Nassr relinquished control of the game from there, with goals from Hassan Al Habib and Saviour Godwin making it 2-2.
However, Brozovic blasted a bouncing ball home following a goalmouth scramble in the first of seven minutes of stoppage time to hand Al-Nassr a fifth straight win and keep them within nine points of Al-Hilal, with three games still to play.
They have only delayed the inevitable though as the leaders – who have only dropped four points all season – need just one more point to secure their crown ahead of facing Al-Hazm on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Brozovic upstages Ronaldo
While it's usually Ronaldo writing the headlines for Al-Nassr, he was upstaged by Brozovic on Thursday as the Croatian found the net with both of his shots, also leading all players on the pitch for final-third passes (19) and completing 90.1 per cent of his passes overall (81/95).
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