Ken Sema struck his first goal of the season in spectacular fashion to earn Watford a 1-0 win over Swansea.
Harry Darling and Matt Grimes went the closest to scoring for the hosts in the first half while Vakoun Bayo should have netted for the Hornets in what was a tight affair.
Kristian Pedersen thought he had put the Swans ahead after 72 minutes when he headed Grimes’ corner beyond Daniel Bachmann, but the effort was ruled out.
And visiting substitute Sema’s piledriver in the 82nd minute ensured Watford left south Wales with all three points.
Both sides were welcomed onto the pitch by a somewhat tame fireworks display.
And it was the hosts who looked to provide fans with a proper spark early on as they wasted a glorious opening to take the lead.
Having had his initial free-kick cleared, Jamie Paterson’s pinpoint cross found Darling unmarked in the Watford box, but the defender failed to make enough contact with his head to test Bachmann.
The Hornets threatened on the counter attack and forced Brighton loanee Carl Rushworth into a smart save as he kept out Tom Ince’s strike after Jamal Lewis crossed from the left.
But, in truth, the meek pre-match booms and bangs proved to be a surprising highlight.
Both goalkeepers survived minor scares as Edo Kayembe drilled wide following a risky pass from Swansea’s Rushworth to Jay Fulton before Bachmann raced back to gather Grimes’ audacious lobbed effort from 45 yards out moments later.
Swansea took the direct approach in their quest to break the deadlock shortly after the half-hour mark as Harrison Ashby, Liam Cullen and Fulton combined to tee up Grimes whose curling strike was tipped behind by Bachmann.
The clearest opening fell to Bayo who was beautifully picked out at the back post by Jeremy Ngakia two minutes before half-time, although the Ivory Coast international headed straight at Rushworth from point-blank range to ensure the score remained level at the break.
Valerien Ismael’s outfit improved after the restart and saw Francisco Sierralta head over from Sema’s corner nine minutes into the second half.
Both sides made changes after the hour mark in a bid to snatch a winner – with Ollie Cooper and Josh Tymon being summoned by Swansea boss Michael Duff while Yaser Asprilla and Mileta Rajovic came on for the visitors.
The latter had a shot blocked shortly after entering the fray, although Watford thought they had gone behind with 18 minutes left.
Pedersen met Grimes’ corner and headed into the net, but referee Andrew Kitchen disallowed the effort after spotting a foul in the box.
Sema, who was introduced at half-time, then had what was ultimately the final say eight minutes from time as his thumping effort flew beyond Rushworth, with Bachmann twice denying Darling at the end to ensure Watford clinched back-to-back wins for the first time this season.
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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