Post by Sons FC on Aug 14, 2019 9:09:36 GMT
Blimey, that wasn't for the faint hearted. Walsall are a decent side...but you know what - so are we!
Seven changes from Saturday, only Dallison, Tunicliffe, Panuche and Josh (Docherty) staying in the team.
Not much in it in the first half but we played with a composure that is great to see, we played the better football and had some great interplay and passing. Walsall on the other hand were tentative and hesitant.
Great goal from Phil. Played down the left, nice ball from Ollie to Nadesan, slid across for Phil to knock in. Just about deserved. They forced a lot of corners but didn't threaten from any of them.
The keeper was a huge concern. He refused to come off his line. One clearing header from Tom was from about one yard out, the keeper was right there and didn't move.
Having said that, he had one absolutely tremendous save when we all thought it was a goal, so credit for that (not much else though).
Dallison and Tunicliffe were completely dominant at the back throughout (Dallison my MoM by some distance).
Everyone played well in the first half and although Walsal huffed and puffed a bit we were all aware that any shots on target could be a problem.
Second half, we came out flying and Tom got his first goal a couple of minutes after the restart from a front post header from a corner.
Walsall made a triple substitution and brought on what looked like their top players and they made a big difference.
The penalty was dreadful. The keeper did a superman impression and wiped out their player when we all thought the ball was going out anyway. Bizarre decision to even go for it.
Walsall were still cheering when we scored again straight from kick off - a cross from the left beat everyone and Nadeson was there at the back post to slide it in for his first goal.
Scenes.
We then took Phil off and I felt we lost a lot of our composure when he went off. At about 70 mins we sat back and tried to see it out. Desperate stuff.
We were playing so well and looking like scoring every time we attacked, so I don't know we stopped doing what was working.
They got a second from a quickly taken free kick that caught us out and their striker had a one on one with the keeper.
Special mention for the referee - my goodness he was awful. He favoured Walsall throughout and gave them every 50-50.
We decided to stop holding onto the ball or passing to our own players after that and we withstood attack after attack and yet they only had one more shot on target, another superb save from our keeper.
The support was tremendous and we sang and chanted non stop throughout the second half.
Overall, a nice stadium with decent facilities for the away fans.
We played very well indeed, with mainly a second team. Special mentions to the back four, Panuche and big Ollie, who all had great games, followed by Phil and Rees when he came on. Nobody played badly but they were the stand outs.
There is definitely something about the team this year that we didn't have last year. More confidence perhaps, cooler heads in tight situations, cleverer in front of goal, whatever it is it is making us very attractive to watch
The keeper really though is just not good enough.
Great night - sorry for those who missed it - you would have loved it.
GABRIELE CIOFFI'S RED ARMY!
Any way good report and lets hope we see another great performance against Scunthorpe on Saturday
You're right Alain and redtiger. I did think I was a bit harsh on the keeper - he pulled off two extraordinary saves. I am worried about his immobility on the line but as you both rightly say, he needs game time and experience. I have deleted the bold section from the original text.
GABRIELE CIOFFI'S RED ARMY!