John Coleman praised two ‘special’ goals as his Accrington side boosted their play-off hopes with a 2-0 win over fellow promotion challengers AFC Wimbledon in Sky Bet League Two.
Jack Nolan curled the ball in from the edge of the area on 50 minutes and Ben Woods blasted home from 25 yards with nine minutes remaining to make the win safe and move 12th-placed Stanley to within two points of the top seven – two places below their opponents.
In between, Manchester United loan keeper Radek Vitek pulled off a double save to keep out unmarked Kofi Balmer’s header and then cleared Lee Brown’s follow-up with his feet. He also denied Harry Pell near the end.
Coleman said: “It’s an important three points. It was a typical League Two game played on a lively pitch.
“It wasn’t conducive to a lot of football being played but we stuck to our task well and scored two great goals to win it.
“We got ourselves into areas where we can have shots and when you do that, eventually they are going to go in.
“We have had games this season where we have had 25-plus shots and not scored. There were not too many on target tonight but the ones that were, were special.
“That’s clean sheets in three out of our last four games and Radek has made a wonderful save. It’s moments of brilliance which win you games at both ends of the pitch.
“The word at half-time was belief, we have to believe we are going to win this game and we showed that.”
AFC Wimbledon boss Johnnie Jackson said: “We are disappointed. There wasn’t a lot in the game but we lost to two worldie strikes.
“The table shows we are evenly matched and this is a difficult place to come to. To take something out of the game we needed something out of the ordinary and they did that with their two moments of quality.
“We arguably had the two best chances but we couldn’t take them. We didn’t create enough and, in games like this, you want to come away with something and 0-0 is never a bad result but their two worldies were the difference.
“We are in a good place, we have been on a good run. Last time we took a punch like this we responded well and we have two home games coming up.
“We have been strong at home this season with six wins out of seven and we have to take this on the chin and move on. It is frustrating but we have full belief we can respond.”
Victory in Greece signals England are 'moving in the right direction', says Carsley
Interim coach Lee Carsley was delighted with the progress of his England side as they defeated Greece 3-0 in Athens to move top of their Nations League group.
Having fallen to a 2-1 defeat to Greece when they travelled to Wembley at the start of October, the Three Lions exacted revenge as Ollie Watkins opened the scoring early before an own goal and debut goal from Curtis Jones completed the rout deep in the second half.
The travelling side entered the international break without several key figures, including Cole Palmer, Bukayo Saka, Phil Foden and Trent Alexander-Arnold, after nine players withdrew with injury.
While England are set to welcome the Republic of Ireland to their home venue on Sunday, Carsley is pleased with the development he has seen so far.
"It represents that we are moving in the right direction. We won't get too carried away, we have a big game on Sunday at Wembley,” he told ITV.
"It is just important the players played to their strengths. We have a lot of outstanding talent. The players that weren't here, we concentrated on the ones who were. They took their opportunity today.”
Carsley’s team featured three debutants – Jones, Morgan Rogers and Lewis Hall – with Jones scoring an audacious backheel flick to stun the crowd.
The Liverpool midfielder capped off what was already a tremendous performance as he had the most touches from either team (86) and delivered 100% passing accuracy in the final third.
"Curtis Jones is an outstanding player. He played really well, even without his goal. With his goal it was an excellent performance,” Carsley enthused.
"People were speaking last night about the inexperience in the squad but these players are playing for their clubs at a really high level."
Greece 0-3 England: Stunning Jones debut goal helps Three Lions go top
Curtis Jones’ brilliant backheel on his debut helped England win 3-0 against Greece to move top of Group B2 in the Nations League.
Lee Carsley’s men exacted revenge in Athens having been defeated 2-1 by Greece at Wembley. The result sees England overtake their opponents on goal difference with 12 points each.
England got off the mark quickly as Noni Madueke burst down the right wing, beating four players to the byline, before cutting back for Ollie Watkins to slot home from close range in the seventh minute.
Jordan Pickford was called into action to keep the scores level, first tipping over Kostas Tsimikas’ stinging shot before denying Fotis Ioannidis' effort from range after the break.
While Jude Bellingham hit the left post with a header from a corner not long into the second half, England would have to wait until the 77th minute to celebrate their second.
Bellingham was the instigator once more as he latched on to a first-time pass from debutant Morgan Rogers to charge in from the left and drive a low shot onto the left post.
The ball rebounded onto the trailing leg of the diving Odysseas Vlachodimos, who could not scramble back in time to prevent an own goal.
Jones completed the rout six minutes later as he latched onto Morgan Gibbs-White’s cross from the right to send an audacious backheel past Vlachodimos.
Data Debrief: Debut delight for Jones
Jones is the first Liverpool player to score on his England debut since Sammy Lee back in November 1982, also in an away game against Greece.
He is the ninth Jones to play for England, after Alf, Bill, Harry, Herbert, Mick, Phil, Rob and William. The only surname to provide more England players is Smith (20).
There were also debuts for Lewis Hall and Morgan Rogers. The latter became the 63rd player to make their England debut while with Aston Villa. It’s the first time they've had two in the same year (Ezri Konsa and Rogers) since 2007 (Scott Carson and Ashley Young).
At 20 years and 67 days, Hall became the youngest Newcastle United player to appear for England in a competitive international since Jock Rutherford in April 1904 against Scotland in a Home Nations match (19 years and 180 days).
Belgium 0-1 Italy: Azzurri advance to Nations League quarter-finals
Italy sealed their place in the Nations League quarter-finals and ended Belgium's hopes of advancing with a 1-0 victory in Brussels, courtesy of Sandro Tonali's goal.
Tonali – who recently returned to action after serving a 10-month ban for breaching betting rules – scored his first senior international goal in the 11th minute.
He fired home after Giovanni Di Lorenzo's cutback deflected off Zeno Debast and fell kindly into his path at close range.
Luciano Spalletti's visitors continued to enjoy the better of the play in the first half, with Nicolo Rovella going close when he fired high and wide in the 25th minute.
Mateo Retegui was denied by Koen Casteels when one-on-one after half-time, while Gianluigi Donnarumma was called into action at the other end by Debast and Lois Openda.
Belgium's best chance for an equaliser fell to defender Wout Faes seven minutes from time, but he headed against the post when left unmarked in the centre of the box, leaving the Red Devils locked in a battle with Israel to avoid finishing bottom of Group A2.
Data Debrief: Azzurri flying on the road
Italy have now won three competitive away matches in a row within the same season, beating France, Israel and Belgium.
They last achieved that feat between June and November 2019, winning five in a row in qualifying for Euro 2020.
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