Disappointed Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson accused his players of “losing too many second balls” as they threw away a two-goal lead at Harrogate.
The Dragons were in the ascendancy following efforts from midfield duo Andy Cannon and Elliot Lee but Harrogate hit back either side of half-time with replies from Dean Cornelius and Anthony O’Connor to secure a 2-2 draw.
And Abraham Odoh should have even secured maximum hosts for the Sulphurites, who are winless at home since September 23, when he fired wide of a gaping goal.
On his team’s surrendering of two Sky Bet League Two points, Parkinson said: “I’m very disappointed because in the first half we had done everything right.
“We knew that Harrogate would be playing for a lot of second balls but we had contended with that brilliantly and their goal just before half-time came out of absolutely nothing.
“Then, if you lose a header in the middle of the goal, like we did just after the break, it’s never acceptable and, after that, their crowd came alive and we just never got going again.
“They won the first and second balls and it’s very frustrating not to have won from 2-0 up but, even at 2-2, we just needed to relax and play because, if we had done, we’d have gone on to win 4-2.
“In the first half, some of the football we played was really good and we spoke at half-time about the need to replicate that.
“But, when you lose so many second balls, the momentum swings and we never got back into our stride and I feel it was two points dropped.”
Home boss Simon Weaver argued that his team’s performance merited at least a point and also gave praise to a supportive Wetherby Road crowd in the club’s biggest gate of the campaign.
He said: “We were disappointed to be 2-0 down and the second goal was a poor one to concede from the long throw, because we had practised that for the majority of the day before the game, but the reaction was brilliant.
“We got right on the front foot and it was a strong response. We showed spirit and character and the least we deserved was a point.
“We believe something is happening at the club now and that we are moving forward and it’s all about building momentum.
“I didn’t envisage us going 2-0 down, because I expected a good performance and result despite knowing we were coming up against strong opposition so, to come back and get a draw should do wonders for our confidence.
“We felt our pace and rhythm upset them a bit in the second half and the front four caused them problems with the midfield two backing that up with energy and grit.
“It was everything but a win and the noise levels were fantastic from our fans who turned out in their numbers, which was really appreciated.”
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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