Tony Sparano savours first Oakland Raiders win in over a year

The beleaguered Raiders secured their first victory of the NFL season - and first in just over a year - with a 24-20 home success over the Kansas City Chiefs on Thursday.

Derek Carr's game-winning touchdown pass to James Jones inside the final two minutes proved the difference and sparked jubilant scenes on and off the pitch at the O.co Coliseum.

And it is a moment that interim head coach Sparano hopes everyone associated with Raiders enjoys after all the criticism that has been aimed at them following the franchise's slump in fortunes.

"We learned a little something about ourselves," said Sparano.

"We've been in this end of the pool for a long time now and I kept saying [to the players] that eventually it's going to happen.

"And they just refused to give up, so my hats off to the people in that locker room - the greatest feeling in the world is to see them smile.

"It's been a long time since we had that feeling, but we"re going to take our time right now, we've got a couple of days off and get a chance to enjoy it a little bit.

"It's a hell of a bunch of guys - they don't stop playing.

"They play hard. We don't always do it right, but they play hard. And if you play with that kind of effort then good things will happen.

"I'm proud of them. The kids played well."
Carr's coolness under pressure late on also drew praise from Sparano.

He added: "The quarterback made a heck of play, James made a heck of play.

" It's a heck of a win for our football team, but certainly for Derek - a young quarterback against a good team like that, here on a big stage.

"Going out there and being able to put that drive together at the end and win a football game like that."