Lee Johnson was delighted with his Fleetwood players after they got their first win of the League One campaign, beating Leyton Orient 1-0.
The Cod Army had to withstand early pressure before Jack Marriott hit the game’s only goal 10 minutes into the second half.
And manager Johnson was happy that his team got to show their quality after weathering the early storm.
“First and foremost I’m delighted with the first win of the season, both for myself and, mainly, for the players and the staff,” said Johnson, who got his maiden win in charge.
“If I’m honest the first 20 minutes was really poor from us, I thought we were passive, we didn’t play with anywhere near the right enthusiasm, both to press and to make angles and space for our team-mates, we had to change our shape a little bit and we got a lot closer to Leyton Orient and from 30 minutes on we were the better side.
“We could have had a second but we stayed organised and the work we did on the training ground bore fruit and that’s nice to see.
“They had half-chances early on but we made them look like Barcelona by not applying pressure. We have to be a front-foot pressing team, that’s my style and that’s what I demand.
“Once we did that you can see the quality of individual players coming out, because there are good players in that dressing room. They are getting fitter and starting to show what they’re about.
“I’m delighted for Jack to get his first goal of the season and he’s going to be so important for us.”
O’s manager Richie Wellens was critical of his side’s failure to make their early pressure count.
Though they rallied late on in a bid to salvage a point, they returned home empty-handed, with second yellow cards shown to Fleetwood’s Carl Johnston and Orient’s Ethan Galbraith the final act of the afternoon.
“We’ve wasted three points today,” said Wellens.
“In the first half hour we were totally dominant, the atmosphere in here was really quiet, they’ve obviously been struggling and we had an opportunity to be ruthless and we should have been one or two up.
“Fair play to them, they stuck at it and turned the game around with about 10 minutes to go in the first half, and then we started the second half really poorly.
“They got the crowd involved, but I still think it’s a game we should have won. We had a couple of chances late on but with the amount of balls we’ve had in the box and with the amount of opportunities early on, the amount of situations we had in the first half we’ve got to score, and if you don’t then you run the risk of the opposition coming into it.
“Fair play to Fleetwood, they ran a little bit more, won second balls and won a few duels and that’s probably won them the game. We’ve got to take shots on, we turned too many shots down.
“We need to be more ruthless, attack quicker and make decisions quicker and if we do that we probably win the game today.”
Al-Nassr 1-1 Al-Hilal: Mitrovic scores last-gasp penalty
Aleksandar Mitrovic scored a penalty in the 10th minute of second-half stoppage time as Al-Hilal denied Cristiano Ronaldo's Al-Nassr victory in a 1-1 draw.
Mitrovic netted his 27th Saudi Pro League goal of the campaign after Sadio Mane was harshly judged to have fouled Saud Abdulhamid in the area.
Mane stuck out an arm to shield the ball, catching his opponent in the throat, though the contact appeared to have been outside of the box.
Mitrovic made no mistake to keep Al-Hilal's unbeaten campaign going.
The Serbian's spot-kick cancelled out Otavio's first-minute opener, with Ronaldo having set up his compatriot.
Champions Al-Hilal remain 12 points clear of Al-Nassr at the summit of the Pro League standings.
Data Debrief: Ronaldo the provider
Ronaldo leads the scoring charts in Saudi Arabia this season, though he had to settle for an assist on Friday.
That came from the only chance he created, with the 39-year-old limited to 25 touches, though he did have four shots.
Al-Ittihad pegged back as winless run rolls on
Mohamed Sherif scored late on as Al-Ittihad's winless run in the Saudi Pro League stretched to four games after a 1-1 draw with Al-Khaleej.
Al-Ittihad have endured a miserable title defence, and with just two games remaining, the highest the big-spending, PIF-backed club can finish is fourth.
Muhannad Al Shanqiti put them ahead on the stroke of half-time, yet despite having a further eight shots and accumulating 1.07 xG in the second half, Al-Ittihad could not add another.
Their profligacy proved costly in the 81st minute, with Egypt international Sherif snatching an equaliser for 11th-placed Al-Khaleej.
Al-Tai moved out of the relegation zone with a surprise 3-1 win over seventh-placed Al-Fateh, with Bernard Mensah scoring twice.
Al-Raed, meanwhile, claimed a 1-0 win at Al-Wehda.
Data Debrief: Kante the creator?
On the day he received a surprising France recall, N'Golo Kante created three chances for Al-Ittihad, leading the team.
On the flip side, Kante only attempted one tackle, with the midfielder showing a different side to his game, not that it proved fruitful for his team.
Ronaldo motivated to keep playing at top level
Cristiano Ronaldo has no intention of stopping as he says he is still motivated to compete with the "young lions" coming through in the game.
Ronaldo is reportedly considering signing a contract extension to keep him at Al-Nassr until June 2026, taking him past his 41st birthday.
The Portugal international has scored 42 goals in 41 appearances for the Saudi Pro League club this season, and he insists he is still motivated to keep going.
Speaking on the Whoop podcast, he said: "I feel proud to have this age and still compete at the highest level. It's great, and it gives me motivation to carry on.
"If you look at my career for the last 20 years, my level is high. If you are top for 20 years, it's unbelievable.
"I do that, and I continue to do that. For me, it's a big achievement."
Ronaldo has scored an incredible 891 goals in his career and is the all-time leading scorer in men’s international football with 128 goals.
"My biggest motivation is to carry on," he added. "It's not easy to be at this level.
"To still push, to still motivate, to carry on, to score goals, to be in good shape, to compete with the young lions that are coming and that when they play against me, they want to show me that they are stronger and faster than me.
"You have to prepare very well, not just physically but mentally, too. This is the challenge.
"Talent without work is nothing and work without talent is nothing. They have to work together at the same time. I have both. I can't say that I have more of one than the other.
"Small details will make the difference. Consistency is the most difficult thing.
"Are you willing to do that? That's the main point, because everyone wants to be Cristiano, but doing it is difficult. Discipline is the most difficult thing."
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