Joe Edwards hailed unlikely match-winner Shaun Hutchinson after the Millwall skipper ended a near three-year scoring drought in stoppage time to sink Bristol City at Ashton Gate.
The experienced centre-back went forward for a 92nd-minute corner and, when City failed to clear, sent a sweet left-footed volley beyond the dive of goalkeeper Max O’Leary to clinch a 1-0 win.
It was Hutchinson’s first goal since March 2021, which meant he took a fair bit of stick from celebrating team-mates in the dressing room after the game.
Head coach Edwards said: “The lads are saying sarcastically that it was all part of the game plan to stay level and work the ball on to Shaun’s left foot at the end.
“Fans not at the game looking at the score sheet will probably think he netted with a header. In fact, it was a quality strike with his weaker foot.
“I hope we don’t have to wait as long for his next goal. Because of injury, Shaun hasn’t played as much as he would have liked since I arrived at the club.
“But I never doubted his value. He is a leader by nature and that’s why he is captain.
“Bristol City are one of the Championship teams capable of dominating possession. But we came prepared for that and restricted them to very few chances.”
City head coach Liam Manning said his side should have come away “with at least a point”.
He said: “To concede so late makes the result doubly frustrating, as does the fact that we can play so much better.
“We have had four games in 11 days without being able to change the back four because of injuries, but I don’t want to use tiredness as an excuse.
“If anything, I thought it showed in our mindset, rather than physically. We could have been more positive and in the second half we dropped too deep.
“We weren’t brave enough with our passing at times and didn’t play our normal game. Millwall showed the respect due to us after our recent run and were prepared to sit back.
“I am under no illusion that we are still at the start when it comes to players’ understanding how I want us to play. Because of Christmas, we have still only had three weeks training together since I arrived.”
The game ended in a melee involving numerous players from both teams, but neither coach saw much amiss and referee Tom Nield took no action.
Edwards said: “It looked as though a player got pushed over the advertising boards and it provoked a reaction, but it was nothing serious.”
Real Madrid 0-4 Barcelona: Guijarro brace sets visitors up for Clasico glory
Patri Guijarro's first-half brace set Barcelona on their way to a thumping 4-0 win over rivals Real Madrid in Liga F on Saturday.
Claudia Pina and Alexia Putellas were also on target as Barcelona continued their perfect start to the season, extending their lead at the top of the table.
The visitors dominated from the off, as Guijarro broke the deadlock inside the fourth minute, tapping in from Putellas' flick-on from a corner.
Cata Coll was forced into a big save to deny Alba Redondo an equaliser shortly after, but Madrid's hope was soon dented as Guijarro picked out the bottom corner with a superb long-range strike for her second.
Pina strengthened their lead six minutes before the break, clinically slotting past Misa with her low strike.
Putellas added some more gloss to the scoreline with four minutes remaining of normal time, beating the Madrid keeper with a lovely dink to bring up her 199th goal for the club.
Barcelona have won all 10 of their games, and now sit eight points clear of Madrid, who suffered their first league defeat of the campaign.
Data Debrief: Total dominance
Madrid will have felt fairly confident coming into this game after a strong start to their season, but they once again failed to find a way past their Clasico rival.
Los Blancos have lost every single game they have played against Barcelona in all competitions, with this their 15th such meeting.
Barcelona smothered their attack early on, restricting their hosts to just one shot in the first half, while they had 10.
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).
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