Walsall’s wonderful form is no ‘flash in the pan’, said Saddlers boss Mat Sadler after his side beat Doncaster 3-1 to record a fifth successive win and climb to sixth in Sky Bet League Two.
Josh Gordon powered home a header from namesake Liam’s cross to give Walsall an early lead and they wasted chances to go further ahead before Kyle Hurst volleyed Doncaster level.
However, Jack Earing drilled home through a crowded area to put them back ahead before former Doncaster loanee Mo Faal rubbed salt in the wounds late on by heading home a corner.
“The lads are working really hard, they are listening to everything we are saying and taking it all on board, they love being with each other and growing together – that’s what’s special,” Sadler said.
“We just have to keep going and be relentlessly driven and focused – we don’t want to stop, we want to keep going. They are giving me everything, they are giving each other everything.
“Setbacks are going to happen, we will go behind in games because that’s football – the response and reaction from everybody is: we will get the next goal and go and win the game.
“I’ve been speaking about winning games in different ways and today it came from two set-plays, which is great. We looked a real threat from them.
“I think we’ve been good for a long time now, it’s not been a flash in the pan and I’ve known for a significant amount of time what a good team we’ve got here.”
Honest Doncaster boss Grant McCann accepted the blame for the defeat at his door as Rovers remained 20th but still 12 points clear of trouble.
McCann switched from zonal set-piece marking to man-to-man to combat Faal and that left Earing free to fire in Walsall’s crucial second goal.
“We didn’t start well and the conditions weren’t great but after we trusted ourselves and how we could play, I thought we were really good,” he said.
“Their second goal is a mistake from the staff, we’ve let the players down today.
“We’ve made a decision to mark Faal when we usually go zonal – and we’ve taken a marker away from the guy who scored.
“That’s cost us and I apologise to the players and to the fans. It’s a defeat that’s at my hands.
“We thought Faal was causing a problem in and around Timmy (keeper Thimothee Lo-Tutala) but we need to stick to the plan, stick to the process and we’ve let people down today.
“We talk about positivity and we’ve been negative in a situation and that has cost us today.
“It’s one of those days where decisions we made as a staff has hindered the result.”
Scriptwriter Bellingham thrills England boss Southgate
Gareth Southgate said Jude Bellingham "writes his own scripts" after the England star sealed a 1-0 win for the Three Lions over Serbia.
The Real Madrid midfielder was on target in Gelsenkirchen to take his international tally to four goals, becoming just the second player to score at both the World Cup and Euros before the age of 21 in the process.
Bellingham timed his run into the penalty area to perfection to head Bukayo Saka's cross beyond Predrag Rajkovic, and put on yet another mature display way beyond his years.
"I mean he writes his own scripts doesn't he," Southgate told BBC Sport.
"The timing of his runs, it was a super bit of play in the build-up to the goal as well, and I thought at different moments all of our forward players looked dangerous."
Southgate maintained his record of winning the opening in all four of the major tournaments that he has been in the England dugout, with only Alf Ramsey having a better win rate at international competitions.
England dominated the first half, but were forced to grind out the victory against a revitalised Serbia side following the interval.
Southgate feels the way in which the game played out was good for his team heading into the encounter with Denmark on Thursday, though.
"That's the reality of tournaments," said Southgate when asked if the victory was tougher than he was expecting.
"They are a strong team, and we had to suffer a bit which I think is really good for us to come through and defend out box the way we did was important for the group.
"We obviously had good chances to extend our lead and to kill the game which we didn't manage to take, so I was really pleased with a lot of the play, especially the first half."
England were limited to just five shots throughout the contest, with Harry Kane coming closest in the second half as he saw his header brilliantly tipped onto the crossbar by Rajkovic.
Southgate referenced the difficulty of playing against Serbia's compact defensive rearguard, but was confident his forward line will be firing on all cylinders in the fixtures that follow.
"Today was just the finishing and a good save from the goalkeeper with the header towards the end. But that will come," he added.
"I am confident that we will score goals. We were playing against a back five which is not easy to create chances but we did and in the end, one was enough.
"I liked the fact that we had to suffer a bit without the ball because I think that is an area we have worked on a lot this week, and we were obviously so much better than we were last week in doing that."
Ten Hag reveals Man Utd future was settled 'on holiday in Ibiza'
Erik ten Hag revealed his Manchester United future was settled whilst on holiday in Ibiza, though he is yet to agree a contract extension at Old Trafford.
The Dutchman's future with the Red Devils was in doubt following a disappointing 2023-24 season, in which they recorded their lowest Premier League finish of eighth.
Although Ten Hag, who has a year remaining on his existing contract, did lead United to FA Cup glory following a 2-1 victory over rivals Manchester City in the final at Wembley.
The club's new co-owner Jim Ratcliffe reportedly spoke to several candidates to potentially replace the Dutchman, including former Chelsea and Bayern Munich boss Thomas Tuchel.
Ten Hag confirmed this, before United officials visited him to confirm he would remain in charge, and they would extend his stay at Old Trafford.
"The club management came to me while I was on holiday in Ibiza," he told Dutch TV channel NOS. "They suddenly showed up on my doorstep and told me they wanted to continue with me."
"Ineos took their time. They are new to football; it's normal to reflect on the season. It's no secret that they talked with multiple candidates.
"In the Netherlands, that is not done. You are not even allowed to talk to another club if there is a current manager there. But in England, the rules and laws are different.
"Manchester United have told me that they spoke with Tuchel, but they eventually came to the conclusion that they already have the best manager.
"We had a good discussion and various topics were discussed. One of the conclusions is that we will extend the contract, but we still have to reach an agreement."
Euro 2024 data dive: England keep it clean, Eriksen creates and Weghorst makes his point
England had to hold out against Serbia, with Jude Bellingham's early goal proving enough for the Three Lions to claim a 1-0 win on Sunday.
That kick-started their Group C campaign, and a win over Denmark, who drew 1-1 with Slovenia earlier in the day, will see England progress to the last 16.
Elsewhere, the Netherlands overcame Poland 2-1 thanks to Wout Weghorst's late strike.
Using Opta data, we provide a run-down of the best statistics from day three of Euro 2024.
Serbia 0-1 England: Bellingham the main man for clean sheet kings
England were not exactly free-flowing for much of their clash with Serbia, but Gareth Southgate's team got the job done.
Bellingham was his hero, as he became just the second player ever to score at both the World Cup and Euros before turning 21, after compatriot Michael Owen.
Indeed, Bellingham is the first player to score for the Three Lions at both the World Cup and European Championships while playing his club football outside of England.
Finally, he became the first player to score for England at both the World Cup and Euros while playing his club football outside of England.
Yet it was at the other end that England had to hold their nerve.
Their defence has been questioned ahead of Euro 2024, but England have now kept a clean sheet in each of their last five group stage matches at the European Championships, the longest such run in the competition's history.
Indeed, England have won their opening game in all four of their major tournaments played under Southgate (Euro 2020 and 2024, World Cup 2018 and 2022), just one fewer such victory than across their other 23 major tournament appearances (W5 D11 L7).
Jordan Pickford pulled off a fine save late on to deny Dusan Vlahovic. The Everton star was making his 20th appearance for his country at a major tournament, a joint record for a Three Lions goalkeeper, matching Peter Shilton.
England would have been home and hosed if Harry Kane had not seen a header tipped onto the crossbar. The Bayern Munich star was making his 23rd appearance at a major tournament, seeing him become the outright leader in that regard for the Three Lions.
It was by no mean's a classic. In fact, this game featured just 11 shots, which is the lowest on record in a Euros game.
Slovenia 1-1 Denmark: Eriksen runs the show but Janza haunts the Danes
Christian Eriksen put the traumatic events of Euro 2020 firmly behind him as he scored in Denmark's opening match against Slovenia.
That was the 32-year-old's first goal at the Euros, as he became the oldest Dane to score for the nation at the tournament.
Eriksen created seven chances from set plays versus Slovenia, the most by a player in a game at the Euros since Scotland's Gary McAllister in 1992 v Germany (eight).#
Ultimately, though, Denmark could not get over the line, with Erik Janza rifling in a 77th-minute equaliser.
Janza has now scored three goals for Slovenia (11 appearances) with all three of his goals coming in competitive fixtures and with two of his three goals coming against Denmark.
Kasper Schmeichel may well have saved Janza's shot if it had not had taken a deflection on its way through.
Schmeichel, at the age of 37 yers and 224 days, became the second oldest player to play for Denmark at the European Championship finals (behind Morten Olsen - 38y 308d) and the oldest goalkeeper, overtaking his father Peter (36y 216d).
Slovenia are yet to win a match at the Euros (D3 L1), with their four fixtures the most any nation has played in the competition without recording a single victory, but this result keeps their hopes firmly alive.
Remarkably, all 10 of Denmark's starting outfielders recorded a shot in this match, only the third time a team has seen each of their outfield starters do so on record at the Euros (since 1980) after England v Spain in 1996 and the Netherlands v Italy in 2000.
Defender Andreas Christensen completed all of his 89 passes, meanwhile. It is the most passes any player has made while maintaining a 100 per cent accuracy in a match on record at the Euros.
Poland 1-2 Netherlands: Weghorst makes his point
Former Manchester United attacker Weghorst was not happy to be left out of Ronald Koeman's line-up, but he made sure to make his mark when he came on against Poland.
Weghorst scored the fastest goal by a Netherlands substitute at the European Championships, netting the winning goal of the game just two minutes and 18 seconds after coming off the bench.
His winner came after Cody Gakpo had restored parity in Hamburg. The Liverpool forward has scored in all four of his group stage starts for the Netherlands at major tournaments, and has now found the net in his first start at both the World Cup and European Championships.
Adam Buska put Poland ahead in the 16th minute, becoming just the fourth player for the country to score on his debut at the European Championships, after Robert Lewandowski (2012), Arkadiusz Milik (2016) and Karol Linetty (2021).
The Netherlands were ultimately decent value for their win, having had 21 shots – their most in a game at a major tournament (World Cup/EUROs) since 2012 against Denmark (32), although they did only accumulate 1.47 expected goals.
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