Sadlad on the weekend's travels
|
Walsall had a familiar looking line up from Tuesday as manager Chris Hutchings went for the same team and resisted the temptation to change the goalkeeper and Dwayne Mattis was fit enough to keep his place.A small band of travellers had made the trip on a clear if not chilly day in Kent. Walsall started bright enough in the first ten minutes or so and Darren Byfield, making a return to the club where he scored a few goals, took a shot from long range which went wide. Saddlers got the first corner of the game on 9 minutes . Clayton Mc Donald got in a header which was cleared from near the goal line and Deeney followed up with a block. Two minutes later the dangerous-looking Simeon Jackson got in a shot for the home side which Manny Smith blocked well. Gillingham then won their first corner which Clayton Ince gathered comfortably enough from Jack Payne.
Midway through the half Gillingham had taken most of the control of the game and Ince was called into action several times or the Gillingham forwards would shoot wide. Saddlers were relying on on punts up to Darren Byfield and Troy Deeney who were generally well checked by the home defenders. There were a couple of good blocks by the Walsall centre back pairing of Manny Smith and Clayton Ince and in the absence of injured captain Mark Hughes, are starting to have a good understanding between them. There was some good work by Byfield who won Saddlers a corner but Matt Richards floated the ball too close to the Gills keeper. Ince was the busiest of the two keepers and had to pull off further saves in the 41st and 44th minutes to see his team go into the interval with a clean sheet.
There was hopes that Hutch's half time team talk would inspire his men to put on a better showing but just after the restart Gills Andy Barcham got into a position to fire at goal but Ince made a comfortable enough save. Walsall did have a rare shot themselves on 53 minutes when Dwayne Mattis drilled in a right footed shot from within the box but it went well wide. Peter Till, who had something of a mixed afternoon, did get in one telling cross which was cleared by the Gillingham defence and at the other end Barcham tried his luck with a shot with the same wasteful result. Mc Donald made another great challenge in the box which had the home fans baying for a penalty and they did get the ball into the net but the whistle had thankfully already gone.
There seemed no way of Walsall breaking down Gillingham who looked well organised at the back and Walsall seemed to have so few ideas and you had the feeling that changes were needed.On 66 minutes Richard Taundry came on for a totally ineffective Mark Bradley and on 75 minutes Alex Nicholls came on for Peter Till. Taundry did have a pot at goal on 80 minutes which went over the bar. Nicholls at least gave Walsall something different into a team performance that was inept and three minutes later tried a shot himself which was blocked and four minutes later tried a shot which was saved. The four minutes of added time saw no real chances for either side and overall a really poor game to watch. Gillingham were the better of the two, carving out more chances and more shots on goal. Chris Hutchings seemed pleased with the point. For the fans it was a 0-0 bore. Mc Donald and Smith were jointly my men of the match for Walsall. Ince had plenty to do without any real chance of being beaten. |
LIVE SCORES