Yeovil (H) - 3rd December 2005 - FA Cup Round 2

[geoffwhiting]

I agree with most of that MMF, but I thought we lost it terribly in midfield second-half. But for some woeful finishing on Yeovil's part, and a couple of heroic off-the-line clearances (both from Pead I think) we could well have conceded, and then maybe gone on to lose as Yeovil were well in the ascendancy.

Ishmel and Daryl Taylor did well, but we were looking far too stretched, getting over-run and giving the ball away far too much in midfield, so the introduction of Kris Taylor to bolster the midfield was the right thing to do, though it should have been done 15 minutes earlier to relieve the pressure that was building on us.

Once KT came on, we seemed to steady the ship and take the game to them again, and when Jorge's goal came it was just absolutely stunning, just T_R_E_M_E_N_D_O_U_S !

That must be the best goal - by quite some distance - that Jorge has ever scored for us - I was right in line with it and I was off my seat well before it whistled past their keeper, a dead cert from the moment it left his boot.

At half-time I said Roper was my Man of the Match, and in fairness to him he was an absolute rock throughout. But by full-time Jorge was without any doubt MoM for me, his work rate was great throughout but seemed to build to greater heights second half, he was involved all over the pitch, and the stunning goal was a fitting reward for his fantastic effort, fully deserved.

Had Matty's late strike gone in, it would have been a deserved reward for him too, it's hard to tell from my angle, but it must only have missed the far post by a whisker.

Interesting and exciting game today, fairly end to end stuff played at high-tempo much of the time, and Yeovil have to take credit for their part in giving us really good value for money today.

Much more of the same please ! :D

[Magic Man Fan]

I agree about the midfield in the second half but to be fair the whole team was on the back foot at that point. I didn't like the way we sat back and let them come at us.

We did that at their place in the league and crumbled. The pleasing thing was we didn't do that today when it could have easily happened again.

I can't believe the woman that sits in front of ucow (which ucow echoed!) said it was a boring game! I didn't think so at all, especially in the first half which she complained about.

[geoffwhiting]

I can't believe the woman that sits in front of ucow (which ucow echoed!) said it was a boring game! I didn't think so at all, especially in the first half which she complained about.

I listened in to Radio WM during the game, we had live commentary, and the WM commentator was raving about the game, remarked that it was the quickest game he'd seen in ages. How a contest like that can be described as boring I'll never know.
Maybe she should stick to shopping on a Saturday afternoon! :D

[Saddler Jim]

The game was good value for money today,I thought we controled the game in the first half but let them come on to us in the second for about 25 minutes then started slowly to regain control again,the second goal came just at the right time,and boy o boy was it some goal,the admission price was worth it, just for that alone,after that we could have another couple,wene twice we had players clean thro only to miss both times,of the players all but ozzy I thought played well,ozzy has had better games but has had worse as well,we have now seemed to have stopped conceding goals at home and are now winning games,if they could only start getting results away,we could still go very close in the league.the only one downturn about today is that I had a bollocking of Cal for saying in a previous that she did'nt need an excuse for getting p***sed :wink: :wink: nice to see the 2 Daves Ian, Cal MMF,AC,evo,Darren and his dad(Bob Fossill)Cheesebag jammy devil,and geoff,nearly forgot Walsall1984 as well,look forward to the home match and seeing you again.

[Jorge14]

A good FA Cup game - scrappy, yet well deserved victory, crowd (eventually) in good voice, and the prospect (for a short time at least) of dreaming about a day out at a big ground, or getting one of the big teams at the Bescot and beating them.

Rene did okay - he flapped a couple of times, and looked nervous at set pieces, but thats no surprise against what was a very physical Yeovil side. He kept his first clean sheet of his career, though he's got to thank Peady and Ropes especially for that.
Pead had one of his best games for us, he never looked troubled and popped up to clear off the line 2 or 3 times.
Roper picked up a knock with about 15 left, but he had been dominating all afternoon.
Staunton started well before his injury, and Gerrard replaced him with typical no-nonsense style.
Bennett was the weak link at left back. I think he is a great prospect at centre half, but he lacks the distribution and positional sense that is vital for a full back. In honesty I would rather see Fox back at left back with Taylor in midfield. All of Yeovil's attacks came down their right, Bennett handled the aerial threat well as you expect him to, but on the ground he is a little too rash for that position.

Osborn had probably his worst game this season, and for the majority of this calendar year. He did fine in the first half but really struggled against Johnson in the Yeovil midfield who ran the game for 25 minutes in the second half.
Fox was busy and looks tidy enough in central midfield, but as I said above, I'd rather have him at left back when he can attack the ball trully.
Ishmel looked tired but did his job, DT showed plenty of pace - but he still can't trap a ball to save his life, and he loves the Cruyff turn... :wink: Still, he gave Miles a torrid first 20 minutes before the left back went off.
Leitao worked very hard as always, and his goal was superb. As Geoff said, it was a goal from the moment he struck it.
How people can criticise Fryatt is beyond me. The lad is head and shoulders above everyone at this club right now. He's a predator, he can run, he can hold the ball up, he's not scared of a tough challenge, and he's going to go on to much bigger and better things. Enjoy him in a Saddlers' shirt while we can!

All in all, an encouraging game. We are looking fairly unbeatable at home at the minute. We rode the storm of the first 25 minutes of the second half, but that was down to giving the very impressive Johnson too much time on the ball. They also hammered us down their right flank throughout the game.

MOM - Between Pead, Fryatt and Roper.

I'll take a pair of points from the next two games. We've never done too well at Oldham, and Forest are an annoying side to plan to play against. A mate of mine is a regular at the City Ground, and he says one week they can be head and shoulders above, or they can play well yet be dominated (like at our place in August), or they can be awful - sounds familiar!

[WFC_Rob]

What impressed me the most today was our ability to really dig in and work hard at the back, defending at all costs. For all the posession Yeovil had today, they rarely looked like scoring. Gerrard deserves to start the next game afer the performance he put in when he came on today, and Bennett and Roper were both superb at the heart of the defence.
I thought Daryl Taylor was much more effective than Ishmel today - Ishmel needs to be told to look around him a bit more as he tends to just put his head down and sprint down the wing - had he been more aware of what was going on around him today, we would have scored more than 2. The same applied for Fryatt on a couple of occasions, but his allround game was superb today, so I'll let him off!
Also, full credit to Merson for bringing Kris Taylor on when he did and taking Ishmel off - we were being beaten in midfield and having an extra man in there certainly made us a lot more solid for the last 20 minutes or so. On the subject of midfield players, their number 8 (I think it was Johnson) played very well today - their best player by a mile - he'd be great playing in the heart of our midfield.

[Magic Man Fan]

Is it Gavin Johnson who's gone back on loan to them?

He used to play at Hereford at the same time as my mate who raves about him. He went to West Ham last I think, he is on loan from there?

[Registered Saddler]

Lee Johnson, I think, son of the former manager now at Bristol City (that's all a bit complicated for quarter to one in the morning)

[Ace]

nice to see the 2 Daves Ian, Cal MMF,AC,evo,Darren and his dad(Bob Fossill)Cheesebag jammy devil,and geoff,nearly forgot Walsall1984 as well,look forward to the home match and seeing you again.

It's always a pleasure to serve you with the finest 50/50 tickets as well Jim! Sorry I couldn't provide the winner though... I'll have more words with Whalley in future! :wink:

[Duke]

the game was very simular to the league game at Yeovil
we controled the first half and at times sat back in the second this time a our defence made
the diffrence Pead Gerrard Roper and Bennett outstanding

[cal's a saddler]

Thoroughly enjoyed the game today. Felt very sorry for Bennett, would almost have had to give him MoM for taking that ball in his nether regions!!! but it was Roper's he was great as usual!

MMF, Lynn, the woman who sits in front of Ucow was joking about it being boring. Honestly!

[Cheesebag]

Enjoy your Chinese too Cheesebag. Great winning bet there mate.

Yum....from the Ruby in Chase Terrace.

We had friends over, some Bud and a couple of bottles of Merlot.

Nice night/morning :roll:

[Magic Man Fan]

MMF, Lynn, the woman who sits in front of Ucow was joking about it being boring. Honestly!

It sounded like she was being serious. I was going to say compared to some of the stuff we've seen this season that was a treat!

[Mike T.]

Just to confirm what has been said before I thought the whole of the back four (plus Gerrard) were superb and protected Rene very well. I am not sure about Foxy in midfield (only seen him once there) because I dont think our central midfield ever had control of the game which resulted in the severe pressure on the defence in the second half when I thought Ropes was excellent.
One other point - did people notice before Ishmel was subbed Merse also switched Jorge and Ishmel with Jorge going wide left presumably to counter their marauding right back. More tactical plus points or somebody else's ideas from the bench?
Another home draw for me - and save the away game at a Premiership big boy for the 4th round!! [/quote]

[derbysaddler]

good result, enjoyable game, thought the team worked well and stuck at the task.
SPLENDID goal Jorge! nice one.

[King Crimson]

Can't wait for the next round draw. Home please! If it has to be away, a Premiership giant (Man U, Liverpool) would do nicely. I could live without Millwall away, thanks.

Feck! :twisted: