Considering how poorly we have been playing this season and our lowly league position I thought we brought up a decent following, I estimate about 750.
Walsall started the game better and dominated for first 20 minutes, most of your attacks seemed to be coming down your left wing with good interplay between your players down there. You should have taken the lead in the 15th minute, Rickets was left totally unmarked in front of goal with only our goalie to beat, I was right behind that goal and was very surprised to see him somehow head the ball wide…it seemed as if he was trying to put the ball into the side of the goal when a firm header on target would surely have put Walsall 1-0 up. About 3 minutes later our back four AGAIN made a mess of things and a through ball found one of your forwards through wide left of area, our goalie Phil Smith decided to go for it but AGAIN this season made a terrible misjudgement and didn't get to the ball first, your player got to the ball and crossed while our goalie was furiously back peddling, don't know if it was a shot or header but somehow Smith got back in time to make a brilliant save on the line but unfortunately he only palmed it straight to Rickets who had the easy task of side footing into the net…1-0 to Walsall. Rest if the half was even steven.
Second half we came out fighting and for long periods we were the better team and had a lot of possession, but it seemed every time we got near your area we always tried one pass too many instead of having a go and taking a shot. Our centre forward Cox had some half chances but was not at his usual clinical self. I thought your defence looked quite strong and definitely kept you in the game, we bossed midfield but didn't have that cutting edge and you were always looking for a breakaway second goal. For such a young lad your goalie looked assured and confident…a good prospect I would suggest, and he didn't make any silly mistakes as I had hoped before the match!
I thought Billy Paynter our big bustling centre forward was our best player and seemed to cause you a lot of trouble. As I predicted to sadlad at half time we took off midfielder Easton and brought on our tricky left winger McNamee who I thought looked quite dangerous but wasn't on long enough to make a difference…he should have played from the start but unfortunately we went for a more defensive line up with no real width.
Near the end we made a tactical substitution and took off our left back Timlin and brought on midfielder Nalis….cant quite understand why we took off Easton then unless he was injured?
We kept pressing and your goalie seemed to be getting better as the game went on and you could see his confidence soaring…that game will have done him the world of good!
It was now obvious that we were leaving huge gaps at the back and when your player got the ball on the right in the 90th minute we only had 2 defenders back…an inch perfect cross was put in and Nicholls was unmarked to head powerfully straight at Smith….I was very disappointed in our goalie AGAIN as in my opinion he let the ball go straight over his head and through his hands, all he did was flap at the ball…so even though the defence let him down badly for both of your goals I am convinced a good goalie with confidence would have prevented both your goals!
I was then pi$$ed off to see one of our players FINALLY take a chance and shoot at goal, it was a brilliant goal but if only if our players had taken a chance and tried shooting before we might have got something from the game? The main culprit for us on Saturday was our midfielder Lee Pea****, I thought he played well overall but the times he had a shooting chance and always tried to make that final killer pass into your box was sickening to watch as none of his final balls came off, he should have just blasted it on several occasions and who knows what might have happened?!!
Overall and after thinking about the game for 2 days, I think we deserved to get something from this game…but fair play to Walsall, you came off the back of some disappointing results and ground out a win. We seem to have lost that winning mentality and are playing without belief. We now desperately need a manager to come in and instil some discipline, belief and confidence into our players. I think we urgently need a new keeper as our 2 have now lost all confidence (something I mentioned in my pre match post to you all). We also need a new central defender as we always seem to concede 2 goals per match and have only kept one clean sheet this season, and we need at least one more decent midfield player.
Lazaat
