Barrow boss Pete Wild felt it was a case of two good sides cancelling each other out in his side’s 0-0 draw at home to AFC Wimbledon.
Far from a classic, the game had precious few chances at either end, although Wimbledon almost snatched all three points with a last-gasp breakaway chance for Jake Reeves.
But, after his keeper Paul Farman denied Reeves to preserve a point, Wild was quick to sing the 33-year-old’s praises.
“We’ve limited Wimbledon to not a lot of chances,” said Wild. “There was one in the second half on the counter and one in the final minute of the game, where your heart’s in your mouth.
“You need your goalkeeper every single week and we certainly needed ours today in that last minute. He pulled us out of the mire there, he does every week, he’s a fantastic keeper and deserves all the plaudits he gets.”
The result left Barrow 15th in League Two on 18 points, four points behind eighth-placed Wimbledon with a game in hand.
Wild added: “I think both teams have just cancelled each other out today, you’ve got to give Wimbledon massive credit for the way they’ve set up and made it tough for us.
“I said to the players that shows the respect that other teams are giving them now, they came and set up like that and I think we’ll see that a bit more in the coming weeks.
“With the ball we played some really good stuff, I asked them at half-time to move the ball quicker and create some overloads on the outside and we did that better in the second half but they defended their box excellently and come away with a point, so I’m sure they’re pleased.
“We’ve just got to keep knocking the door down and keep working on that final third and good things will come. It wasn’t to be today, it’s a tale of two good sides who’ve cancelled each other out.”
Dons boss Johnnie Jackson was left rueing Farman’s last-ditch rescue act, but admitted it would perhaps have been harsh on their hosts.
Instead, he was happy with a point and clean sheet from their longest away trip of the season.
“We almost won it with a really good chance at the end, on another day we go and score that goal and nick it,” said Jackson.
“It would have been nicking it too, it was a really tight, close game and we had to defend well at times.
“I thought we were really strong and resolute in the way we defended our box, and that gives you those moments where you can go and counter and create those moments at the other end and that was probably the best of the lot at the end.
“It was a difficult chance for Jake, I thought the pitch was really tough and made playing tricky, I could see it was bobbling about, and that was the nature of the day, it was going to be won or lost on those little moments because it was a tough, closely-fought game in difficult conditions.
“It’s another clean sheet though, they had most of their chances from set-plays. I didn’t feel like they played through us or got in behind us and got one-on-one, it was just those set-piece moments that we had to defend and I have to say we did it brilliantly.
“That’s my biggest takeaway, how resolute we were with our defending.”
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.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
Al-Riyadh 0-1 Al-Nassr: Mane hands visitors bragging rights
Sadio Mane's first-half strike ensured Al-Nassr maintained their unbeaten start to the Saudi Pro League season with a 1-0 win over rivals Al-Riyadh.
He smartly finished from close range in the 41st minute, with his goal enough to seal the three points and move Al-Nassr up to third in the table.
Al-Nassr's threat grew as the first half went on, with Milan Borjan making a fine double stop to deny Ronaldo and Talisca once again before Mohamed Simakan struck the post on the rebound.
Mane would eventually break the deadlock in the 41st minute though, darting in front of his marker to meet Abdulrahman Ghareeb's low cross and rifle it into the roof of the net.
The Senegalese striker arguably should have doubled his tally before the break, but was denied by Borjan's stretching save when one-on-one with the Canadian.
Talisca should have wrapped up the points in the final three minutes, but he blazed over an empty net from close range, before having a late goal disallowed for offside.
Data Debrief: Derby delight for Al-Nassr
After drawing their last two matches, this win was a welcome result for Al-Nassr as they racked up their sixth victory of the season to close the gap at the top of the table to six points.
It is just the second time Al-Nassr have avoided defeat in their first 10 matches of a Pro League campaign, last doing so in 2013-14, when they won the league title.
They are now unbeaten in their last seven Pro League derbies (W4 D3), their longest such streak since a run of nine between 2018 and 2020.
This is the first time in eight such games that they have kept a clean sheet though, and limited their opponents to just five shots throughout.
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