Hibernian boss Nick Montgomery expressed his pride in his players after they held on to secure all three points against Dundee despite going down to 10 men.
The visitors had established what looked to be a commanding 2-0 lead in the cinch Premiership clash thanks to goals by Jair Tavares and Lewis Miller.
However, the latter was sent off in the 63rd minute, with Dundee pulling one back through Owen Beck late on.
Hibs, who have thrown away two-goal leads already this season, withstood a late onslaught to emerge victorious to the delight of their manager.
Montgomery said: “We’ve been 2-0 up in a few games and conceded late and dropped points but we deserved more in some of those games. You don’t always get what you deserve.
“I was really proud of the boys. They work really hard and internally we had to fix it. Whether it was a mental thing or us not playing our football and heads dropping, but we’ve addressed it and it’s great to see us putting bodies on the line.”
Montgomery also admitted he would go easy on Miller, who was sent off for bookings in each half for fouls on Beck.
The manager added: “You pick up a silly booking and you’re walking a tightrope. His second was maybe harsh but I’ve not seen it.
“In that moment you regret the first one because it affects you and the team but he scored a winning goal with the header so I’ll let him off.”
Dundee boss Tony Docherty believed Hibs should have been reduced to 10 men earlier when Rocky Bushiri chopped down Beck in full flight.
Referee Don Robertson flashed a yellow with the VAR not intervening.
That irked Docherty, especially as earlier this week the VAR Independent Review Panel had ruled that the Dark Blues had already been on the wrong end of calls this season that resulted in a Josh Mulligan red card against Kilmarnock and an Amadou Bakayoko goal at Livingston being chalked off.
When asked if Bushiri should have been dismissed, Docherty replied: “I thought so. I thought it was reckless, high and at the speed Beck was going through I was worried for him.
“I thought it might be a possible bad injury. VAR must have looked at it and thought it wasn’t.
“I’m disappointed. They got three wrong and two affected us. It’s how it impacts your season. In the Kilmarnock game we’re 1-0 up and lose him (Mulligan) and then lose him for two games.
“There was also a perfectly good goal chopped off. I’m disappointed but we move on.”
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.”
Clement wants ruthless Rangers after nervy win over Hearts
Rangers boss Philippe Clement called on his team to show greater ruthlessness after they were made to work for a 1-0 win over Hearts in the Scottish Premiership on Sunday.
Cyriel Dessers put the Gers ahead after just six minutes at Ibrox, diverting James Tavernier's effort past visiting goalkeeper Craig Gordon.
However, Clement's team failed to build on that quick start and inched over the line amid a tense atmosphere, moving back to within nine points of pacesetters Celtic and Aberdeen.
Speaking after the game, Clement acknowledged his players are fatigued after a gruelling run of fixtures but added they must start taking their chances.
"We made too many wrong choices with the ball and became too sloppy," Clement said.
"It's the end of a very busy period, though, with a lot of travelling and they're all human beings, not robots.
"We missed scoring the second goal and we know that until you get that goal the other team stays in the game, so I want us to kill the belief of the opponent faster.
"I'm very satisfied with the result and the deserved three points. We didn't show the same quality in the second half and we didn't finish off the game. We had a few chances, but it stays nervous until the last second."
Rangers host Dundee United after the international break, while Celtic visit Hearts and Aberdeen travel to St. Mirren.
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