Ryan Fraser’s stoppage-time goal extended Southampton’s unbeaten run to seven matches as they defeated a spirited Millwall 1-0 at The Den.
The Lions had been indebted to their goalkeeper Bartosz Bialkowski, whose heroics looked to have earned them a point in SE16.
But substitute Fraser sent the 3,031 travelling fans into raptures with a late clincher – meaning Russell Martin’s side have taken 17 points from a possible 21.
Fraser’s other goal for Southampton was also a late winner – at Hull on October 21 – while Saints also snatched a point against Preston in added time.
Millwall’s main threat in the opening 45 minutes came from George Saville’s corners and they hit the crossbar from one of them. Jake Cooper nodded Saville’s delivery back across goal and Wes Harding, who had scored in the last two matches, saw his header come back off the woodwork.
Southampton, though, controlled the possession and forced Bialkowski into a number of saves in the first period.
First the Polish goalkeeper tipped over Stuart Armstrong’s shot in the 20th minute, the first notable attempt in the match, and he also pushed away full-blooded strikes by Carlos Alcaraz and Will Smallbone.
Southampton dialled up the pressure at the start of the second half and it needed another excellent save from Bialkowski to deny Stuart Armstrong, who had stormed onto Kyle Walker-Peters’ low cross.
There was more resilient defending by the Lions soon after. Harding blocked Walker-Peters’ low strike while the visitors’ top scorer Adam Armstrong lashed over after Smallbone had bulldozed his way through a couple of challenges inside the box.
Bialkowski continued to frustrate Southampton, repelling Kamaldeen Sulemana’s attempt from a swift counter-attack led by Alcaraz in the 74th minute.
Stuart Armstrong’s skidding shot went narrowly wide of Bialkowski’s left upright before Fraser failed to find the target after Alcaraz’s initial attempt was blocked by Millwall captain Jake Cooper.
Millwall were posing only the most intermittent of threats, although Zian Flemming and Ryan Longman both produced respectable attempts even if they did not force Gavin Bazunu into action.
The influential Alcaraz’s 25-yard free-kick was parried away by Bialkowski in the 84th minute but Fraser had the final say when he slid the ball beyond Bialkowski from a cutback by Adam Armstrong.
Millwall look set to name their new manager next week and caretaker boss Adam Barrett has collected two points from a possible 12. This was a fifth home league loss of the campaign – making for the joint worst home record in the division along with QPR.
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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