Tranmere manager Nigel Adkins was delighted to see his side battle out a 2-2 away draw at promotion-chasing Mansfield.
The Stags were unbeaten in their first 17 league games before Saturday’s defeat to Swindon, but Tranmere twice took the lead and only a deflected equaliser saw Stags grab a share of the spoils in the 79th minute.
“I thought it was an excellent performance and a very good point,” said Adkins after Tranmere went four games unbeaten in their efforts to pull clear of trouble.
“They scored a deflected goal near the end which Luke (McGee) was going to save. That fortune has got to change and go our way eventually.
“But the work-rate and commitment from the players was phenomenal and the game plan worked superbly.
“We set ourselves a really good defensive shape against a good side.
“But we have the ability to intercept and counter attack.
“There is a spirit here. The lads have grafted today and had a go.
“Things are going against us at times but we have a whole group – not just 11 players – who are having a right go for Tranmere Rovers and each other and I think the fans appreciate that.
“We play some exciting football at times.”
Stags dominated possession but were caught out by a 13th-minute break as Harvey Saunders sent Charlie Jolley away to beat Christy Pym.
Pym also made a double save to deny Saunders before Rhys Oates levelled from close range after 37 minutes.
An error from Davis Keillor-Dunn sparked another counter after 62 minutes that saw Rob Apter drill home a low finish from 18 yards.
But sub Will Swan equalised with a deflected finish before Tranmere had Jordan Turnbull dismissed for a second booking in added time.
“I was pleased with the performance overall, but we conceded probably two of the worst goals we have conceded all season,” said Stags boss Nigel Clough.
“We have conceded very few here at the One Call, which has been our foundation.
“If we win our game in hand, we go second and we have only lost once in 19 games so I don’t think we’re doing too bad.
“It just seemed like one of those nights. We had a lot of the ball. But they had two lively lads up front and they are difficult to break down when people come and sit like that.
“You have to be patient and the crowd have to be patient too and stay with us. We are playing no different to how we were playing eight weeks ago, yet for some reason the crowd seemed more unhappy just because Tranmere scored a goal on the break.”
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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