MK Dons were denied a “clear goal” in their 1-1 draw against fellow League Two promotion contenders Wrexham, according to head coach Mike Williamson.
The most controversial moment of a fiery contest came after an hour when Wrexham goalkeeper Arthur Okonkwo appeared to fumble Joe Tomlinson’s shot over the line, with Dons captain Dean Lewington being sent off for his protests.
Williamson said: “I don’t know where to start with that, I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it.
“The fact that he was so close to the post indicated to everybody in the stadium that it’s a clear goal.
“The reaction of their team was to turn around, they all thought it was (a goal) and I think everybody did apart from the officials.
“I’m taken aback, and I’m really gutted for the boys because they did exactly what we asked them to do, they carried out everything very well and they deserved that.”
On Lewington’s red card, he added: “He had the same reaction as all of us, I think.
“I was so taken aback I probably could have said many things to the officials, which you’ve got to bite your tongue about, but we’ve got to dust ourselves off, pick the bones out and take a lot of positives.”
Wrexham, who are now one point clear of fourth-placed Crewe, went ahead after 22 minutes when Luke Young’s corner was headed in at the near post by James McClean.
It took just four minutes for MK Dons to equalise when Jack Payne played the ball through for Dan Kemp, who finished emphatically past Okonkwo.
The Arsenal loanee had pulled off a stunning save from Tomlinson’s 30-yard piledriver before the incident that led to Lewington’s red, while Will Boyle’s second yellow ensured both sides finished with 10 men.
Wrexham boss Phil Parkinson said on the ‘ghost goal’: “I can’t see from where I was and it was not conclusive whether it’s crossed the line, or not.
“If the referee or the linesman is not sure, then they can’t give it. It was some game of football. I thought it was two good sides again.
“I was pleased with the early exchanges. We knew how they play, putting the ball at risk in their own third.
“Our pressing game was good, we got the goal, we looked really confident that we could go and score again but their goal, like goals do, gave them a lift, then Arthur’s had to make some good saves.
“In the second half we played really well. Then 11 v 10, we looked like we were going to score.
“Boyley’s sending-off has evened the game up numerically, which is a shame. It could have then gone either way.”
England 5-0 Republic of Ireland: Carsley signs off with Nations League promotion
Lee Carsley signed off as England's interim manager with an emphatic 5-0 win over 10-man Republic of Ireland that sealed the Three Lions' Nations League promotion.
England took advantage of Liam Scales' sending-off with a ruthless second-half attacking display, with four first-time scorers helping to secure top spot in Group B2 and passage back to League A.
The first half was tight, with few chances for either side after Curtis Jones' early strike was deflected wide before Kyle Walker headed over from the resulting corner.
Yet the floodgates opened with three goals in the space of five minutes after the break.
Scales received a second yellow card for tripping Jude Bellingham in the box, and Harry Kane marked his return to the side by expertly dispatching the penalty.
Anthony Gordon volleyed in his first England goal shortly after, before Conor Gallagher was alert to meet Marc Guehi's flick-on at a corner.
Jarrod Bowen then made an instant impact after his introduction, sweeping a Bellingham corner through the crowd with his first touch of the match.
Taylor Harwood-Bellis rounded things off in the 79th minute, grabbing a debut goal as he thumped a header past Caoimhin Kelleher from six yards out after meeting another Bellingham corner.
Data Debrief: First time for everything
Carsley said on Saturday that he believed he was leaving the England squad in a good place for incoming boss Thomas Tuchel, having widened the pool of young players.
He has certainly done his bit, handing out eight senior debuts in all, with Tino Livramento and Harwood-Bellis the players to benefit against Ireland.
Meanwhile, in Gordon, Gallagher, Bowen, and Harwood-Bellis, four players have scored their first England goal in the same game for the first time since October 1930 v Northern Ireland, when Harry Burgess, Jimmy Hampson, Sammy Crooks, Eric Houghton were on target.
At the other end of the age spectrum, Kyle Walker made his 38th England appearance at Wembley, overtaking Wayne Rooney's total at the venue (37) – only Peter Shilton (52), Bobby Charlton (44), Bobby Moore (43), and Stuart Pearce (41) have now played there more often for the Three Lions.
Carsley, who has collected the biggest win as an interim England boss since Graham Taylor oversaw a 7-1 victory over San Marino in 1993, started his short reign with a win over Ireland in September, and England have now won three consecutive games against them for the very first time.
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.
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