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Walsall
Shocking Game
Only change from Huddersfield was Constantine in place of the
suspended Kandol.
Walsall had Ricketts upfront who looked as fat and unfit as usual.
The game was mostly played out like a very poor home game for us. We
had one end and half of one side and so were easily able to out-sing
the Walsall fans. We also had plenty of ball, partly because Ricketts
was constantly offside, but did bugger all with it.
Two main reasons;
Firstly, we lack width - aside from a couple of crosses from Hughes
and Richardson overlapping, we barely got to the byline meaning most
our forward balls were lumped forward from central positions.
Secondly, and I never thought Id say this, but we missed Kandol.
Despite being about 6 foot five, Constantine rarely seemed to jump and
like Beckford appeared happier to look for a flick-on that never came.
Even when we had free-kicks or corners, their keeper was generally
allowed to come and collect unmolested.
The only real incident of note in the first half was when one of their
players picked up a loose ball, thirty yards out and crashed it
against the underside of the bar and 84 year old Tommy Mooney put the
rebound in, but was given offside not convinced he was though.
Second half not much happened either we swapped Constantine for Flo
with 20 left but it made little difference and Casper only really
needed to make one save though one more than their keeper had to.
Then after a bit of a scramble from a corner, Mooney scored with about
15 left. Wise swapped Kishichev and Prutton for Howson and Thompson.
We still did little. We had one chance when Heath made a nuisance of
himself in the area and the ball broke to Beckford who hit it straight
at the keeper his first save after 85 minutes. A few minutes later
we got a free-kick from the midget ref, Thompson took it and it took a
massive deflection before dribbling past the keeper. Chant of 1-1,
its your keepers fault was a bit harsh.
Four minutes of injury time and I optimistically thought we could
still win it. Unfortunately it came juddering to a halt with what
looked like a serious injury to Douglas. He went down after running
out to block a shot and it was obvious it was bad, as Thompson who was
nearest, ran straight to the touchline to get the stretcher-bearers
and doctor on. When play did eventually restart, we didnt really seem
to have the heart to go for a winner.
Scores
Casper 6 Bugger all to do
Richardson 6 Causes more trouble for himself than opposition do.
Marques 7 Calm assured etc
Heath 7 Probably our most threatening attacker
Hughes 5 Not a full-back. Poor
Prutton 6 Quiet
Douglas 7 Was actually having a decent game til injury, had cut out
most over-optimistic passes.
Kishichev 5 Still looks short of fitness beginning to wonder if
his legs have gone.
Westlake 6 Solid, no more no less
Constantine 5 Shortest big bloke Ive ever seen
Beckford 6 Sporadic threat.
Highlight of game was an excellent WACCOE at half-time
Matt
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