Peterborough manager Darren Ferguson praised his promotion-chasing team’s defensive performance following their 2-0 victory over Bristol Rovers at the Memorial Stadium.
Ferguson spoke out after a first-half volley from Joel Randall and substitute Ricky Jade-Jones’s classy stoppage-time gave the Posh a morale-boosting victory as they get ready for the play-offs.
“I told the players that clean sheets will end up getting us promoted and it really is as simple as that,” Ferguson said.
“That’s why I enjoyed that win a lot and I’m really pleased with the players, especially in terms of what we did out of possession.
“I asked them to be more solid and compact and they did that really well and were really well organised. We limited them to next to no clear-cut chances.
“Keeping clean sheets is not simple to do and that’s why we had a good meeting before the game when we went through everything in detail.
“We looked back at some of the chances we’ve been giving up so and I asked them to be more connected and the players deserve lots of credit as they were outstanding.”
Ferguson was also pleased with his goal-scorers after Randall took his personal tally of goals to 11 while Jones now has 13 goals to his name.
“I still had one eye on if Derby slipped up and we were getting told about the Derby score but we just had to concentrate on our jobs here,” Ferguson added.
“After the first 10 minutes we got control and some of our football was outstanding.
“I was especially pleased with Joel because we’d been asking the team to team to get more bodies into the box to support our striker Jonson Clarke-Harris. And with Ricky we’d been asking him to get in front of his man more so it was really pleasing when he made the points safe.”
Rovers manager Matt Taylor said the result highlighted his team’s shortcomings.
“Their physicality was one thing that stood out for me,” Taylor said. “They were not only able to wriggle out of but drive out of certain situations and it showed there’s a real need for a added profile to this group.
“We have some fantastic ball players but speed, pace and power are other huge assets at this level and they had both the ball players and that today which is why they are such a good team.”
Taylor, who was without suspended striker Chris Martin, added: “We didn’t get close enough to man and ball often enough in the first half and we gave them too much respect certainly in the deeper layers of the pitch.
“They were able to go through the pitch on the back of it and it was a poor opening goal to concede. We forced more moments after the break but it didn’t materialise in the box.”
Arteta confirms Arsenal captain Odegaard out 'for a while' with ankle injury
Mikel Arteta confirmed Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard will be out "for a while" after suffering a significant ankle injury while playing for Norway.
The 25-year-old hobbled off during his country's Nations League 2-1 win over Austria in Oslo on September 9 and returned to London on crutches.
Odegaard missed Sunday's 1-0 derby victory against Tottenham and Arteta revealed the bad news on the midfielder ahead of Arsenal's opening Champions League game away to Atalanta.
"The scans showed that he's got some damage especially on one of the ligaments in the ankle," the Arsenal manager said on Wednesday.
"It's something quite significant so we're going to lose him for a while."
Arteta, whose side are second in the league and two points behind Manchester City, said he hoped it would not be months "but let's see".
Odegaard has become a key player for Arsenal, missing only a handful of games over the last three seasons, and a lengthy absence will come as a huge blow.
"He's our captain. He's been one of the biggest and best players in our team," continued Arteta.
"Our identity is very linked to how he plays and behaves. It's a big test for the team to see how able we are to show a different face."
Norway coach Stale Solbakken told VG newspaper he had been fully updated about the injury and was "preparing for a life without Martin".
"We have to take it week by week and day by day. Some types of damage go faster and some go slower," he said.
Man City 0-0 Inter: Guardiola's men frustrated in repeat of 2023 final
Manchester City's bid for a second Champions League crown got off to a frustrating start as they were held to a goalless draw by Inter in a repeat of the 2023 final.
Both teams squandered numerous chances in a breathless back-and-forth affair at the Etihad Stadium, with Inter defending resolutely before threatening to hit Pep Guardiola's hosts on the break on numerous occasions.
City's goal machine Erling Haaland was hoping to become the fastest player in history to score 100 goals for a European club, but he saw a header held by Yann Sommer early on before rolling another effort narrowly wide of the post.
Marcus Thuram flashed a first-time shot over the crossbar as Simone Inzaghi's men fired a warning shot of their own, while another Sommer save prevented Phil Foden from capping a delightful City move with a goal.
Inter's clearest opening came in the 53rd minute, but former Manchester United defender Matteo Darmian inexplicably tried to find a team-mate with a backheel when presented with a clear sight of Ederson's goal.
Henrikh Mkhitaryan had City fans breathing a huge sigh of relief when he missed another golden late opportunity, sending a wild effort spinning over the crossbar from 10 yards out.
But the last chances went City's way, Ilkay Gundogan eliciting huge groans from the home fans with two misses from short-range headers in the dying seconds.
Data Debrief: Inter make a statement
City are always favourites on their own turf, but Inter were expected to put up a fight on Wednesday and they did precisely that, marking themselves out as potential challengers for the European crown.
It was just the second time City had failed to find the net in 42 home Champions League matches under Guardiola, with the other being a goalless draw with Sporting CP in 2022.
Alessandro Bastoni, Francesco Acerbi and Yann Bisseck impressed in the heart of defence, limiting Haaland to the fewest touches (14) of any starter on either team.
The Nerazzurri also offered a threat going forward, with their 10 first-half attempts making them the first Champions League visitors to reach double figures at the Etihad since Monaco in February 2017 (also 10).
Club Brugge 0-3 Borussia Dortmund: Gittens net twice as last season's finalists open with win
Jamie Gittens scored twice as Borussia Dortmund opened their Champions League campaign with a 3-0 victory away at Club Brugge.
Serhou Guirassy added a late penalty for last season's finalists, who netted three times in the final quarter of an hour at Jan Breydelstadion.
Brugge carried the greater attacking threat for most of the contest, going closest to scoring when Hugo Vetlesen rattled the crossbar, but they were made to pay for their profligacy.
Gittens entered the action as a 68th-minute substitute and broke the deadlock eight minutes later—albeit in fortuitous circumstances—with his shot taking two deflections before nestling in the top-left corner.
The 20-year-old doubled his and Dortmund's tally with four minutes remaining, cutting inside before firing past Simon Mignolet in the Brugge goal.
Guirassy added further gloss to the scoreline from the penalty spot deep into stoppage time, slotting home from 12 yards after he was fouled by Brandon Mechele.
Data Debrief: Super sub Gittens stars in historic win
Keeping Brugge at bay, Dortmund became the first team in Champions League history to play a single opponent five times without conceding a goal.
Gittens got the ball rolling at the other end. At 20 years and 41 days old, he is the second-youngest player to score two or more goals as a substitute in a Champions League game, older than only Monaco's David Trezeguet, who was just 34 days younger when he struck against K. Lierse SK in October 1997.
Guirassy completed the victory from the spot, meaning Dortmund have now converted each of their last six Champions League penalties, last failing from 12 yards against Barcelona in September 2019 through Marco Reus.
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