Scunthorpe (H) 11 February 2006 - League

[Jorge14]

Expect a totally different Walsall side to be on show...

A side who need to prove themselves to a new manger, and if they don't, then no doubt the fans will be just as quick to criticise them.

This is our high noon on Saturday - win and we can get a new manager in who will be able to drag us up the table. Lose, and the new manager has a job just as big as Colin Lee had in 2002.

However, I fancy a 2-2 draw. I can't see our makeshift defence being able to handle Billy Sharp.

[dler]

A win and we could be only 12 points from the play-offs. Woo Hoo! :wink:

[Mister Pink]

I read a report on Ceefax of Scunthorpe's defeat at Colchester last night, which suggested that they were the better team throughout and were unfortunate to lose. It also said that their right winger gave the Colchester defence a torrid time. Given that Daniel Fox has struggled against decent wingers all season, I fear he could be in for another embarassing afternoon. 3-0 (Scunthorpe).

[coxy_saddler]

WALSALL 3
SCUNNY 1
KEATESY, TIMMS, SMITH.
With a great atmopshere too..Back to going to bescot with joy now the **** has gone :D
COME ON YOU REDS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Neil Ravenscroft]

Preview now on line.

[WarsawPact]

Interesting that a 2 goal win for Scunny would even up our record against them - resulting in 11 wins, 11 draws, 11 defeats and same number of goals scored by both sides - although they haven't won in Walsall since the 60s.


Having said that, I hope we stuff 'em.

[1933]

Walsall 2 westwood, devlin

Scunny 1

[Stu]

I've spent all week saying we've failed to score in 6 of our last 8, so, following that pattern.

Walsall 4 - 1 Scunny

[Wyrleysadler]

Walsall 2 - James & Keates
Scunny 1 - Sharps

[Duke]

home win nuff said

[toffo]

Oh sh*t 1-0 down :(

[toffo]

DEANO DEANO DEANO 1-1

[Henlow Saddler]

2-1 down now

[sean511]

rubbish today, we should have won. The ref was a waste of space and should have been shot. Scunthorpe were playing basketball! They kept handling the ball! Great goal from barrowman. we couldn't have done much about their goals. I would like to see the devlin sending off again but there did seem a bit of contact with his elbow.

[LankeySaddler]

Devlin admitted the elbow to Halsall as he left the pitch!! Had to be a red card!!

[sean511]

should be more professional than that with all of his experience

[Tez66]

Devlin admitted the elbow to Halsall as he left the pitch!! Had to be a red card!!

Another example of the so called experienced pro's letting us saddlers down. If we were not so desparate he shouldn't wear the shirt again ! :evil:

[Cully]

Devlin admitted the elbow to Halsall as he left the pitch!! Had to be a red card!!

Unfortunately I missed the first half due to my youngest sons football committments and so was spared what was reported as a miserable first half. Liked what I saw of Pablo Mills, both he and Roper produced a good solid performance at the heart of the defence and will undoubtedly give us a few more options at the back. Whilst not being a fan of Keates, his effort alone was outstanding and Barrowman looked useful with his willingness to put himself about.

The disappointment today was not the fact that we didn't win but that Devlin got himself sent off for his deliberate elbow. What I cannot understand however, were the number of fans who stood up and applauded him off the field, surely he can't have that many relations at the match, I just think think he was a twerp.

[King Crimson]

To be honest, at the final whistle, it felt a bit like a win, given we were 2-1 down and down to 10 men.

Some encouraging signs from certain players. I thought Mills played well, as did Keates. When Grant Smith was playing in central midfield I though he looked much better than out wide. I think we missed Fox today big time. Mark Wright struggled all afternoon, and it was clearly part of their game plan to put him under pressure.

Both goals we conceded were disappointing. We seemed to switch off as a result of Timms' injury for the first. As for the second, the free kick itself looked harsh to me, and the players appeared bemused how the shot had got through.

Some poor decisions by the ref, some gamesmanship from their players and indiscipline by one of ours who's been around the block long enough to know better.

All in all, I think there are seeds of recovery here.

[Neil Ravenscroft]

Match report on the front page. Tend to agree, Crimson!

[Bristol Fan]

Merson's gone, but I can't honestly say we saw an improved performance. Thought we were rather fortunate to scrape a point and Scunthorpe were the better team.

Same old story at the back, two very sloppy goals to concede. The ref had a poor game but you can't blame him or their players for carrying on after Timm pulled up, it would be rare to see anything else given the position they found themselves in. If it had been the other way round and one of our players had kicked the ball into touch, I'd have been very disappointing.

Couldn't see what Devlin did, but given the way their player looked as he came off, he clearly did elbow him, so the only question is intent. Very stupid thing to do if he did it deliberately. (He didn't admit doing it as he came off, by the way, he was saying that their player had elbowed him as well.) However, we played our best stuff after going down to ten men.

Merson's legacy meant that Wright had to play at left back, which caused us problems. I'd have swapped him and Smith round, since Smith did nothing of interest on the wing and Wright's pace would have been more effective. Really hope that Fox returns on Tuesday - anyone know the extent of his injury?

Both goals were excellent (Merson would have called them "worldys"), was frankly amazed to see Barrowman take his so well, given that he offered nothing beforehand. What's happened to Constable?

Playing Keates and Osborn together in the middle didn't work, which is a pity since Osborn's probably been my player of the season and Keates seems to be a must-pick, so one of them will have to miss out.

Mills played well at the back. Seems to combine the good points of Westwood (ie control of the ball and distribution) without the bad (ie he can head the ball and win tackles). Will be difficult to know what to do on Tuesday with Gerrard available again. It would be a brave decision to leave him out, but equally brave to drop either Roper (who admittedly wasn't at his best) or Mills.

A valuable point, but I can't help but wonder where the six wins we probably need to stay up are going to come from. Bristol and Swindon are both in the relegation zone but only one point behind us and I can't see either of them going down - so there's a hell of a lot for the new manager to do.

[stig231]

Agree with Bristol and King Crimson that it wasnt a vastly improved performance but happily take the point all things considered.

I really wasnt impressed when Keates re-signed but you couldn't argue with his performance today , man of the match by a long way.
Thought Mills did well and this may not be a popular view but I'd go with Mills and Gerrard on Tuesday.

I thought Barrowman did Ok , held the ball up well at times , looked to have a bit of pace and took his goal very well. There looks to be a lot for the new manager to work with there.I wish we would go for some more of this sort of player in the future , i.e released/not quite good enough for Prem clubs a la Gerrard and Fox , instead of the over 30's looking for a club cos they are homesick/fed up of commuting etc.

Which brings me on to Devlin , why on earth did people clap him off?? He did absoluetly nothing in a game in which Halsall said he wanted experience . Well if the likes of Devlin and Osborn was was the experience he was looking for I think we are better of without them.Osborn , also booked for a petulent trip when he should know better , for me wouldnt add anything to a midfield that couldn't be done by Smith, Keates or Leary when all available.Yes he had a good start to the season but hasnt had a decent game in months.If he floats another free kick into the keepers hands from a promising position I'm gonna scream!

Very worrying is that of our 15 remaining games 9 are against teams in the top half and only 6 against teams in bottom half and with our next 3 away games against the top three it looks even tougher for a new manager than I thought.

[Salop Saddler]

No better than anything else I've seen. Lucky to get a point in the end.

[geoffwhiting]

What ? Anything less than a point would have been an absolute travesty.

The way Scunthorpe play the game, loads of niggle, pulling, kicking, hand balls, is not going to get any plaudits from this Saddlers fan. A half-decent Ref would have clamped down on them and maybe they wouldn't have finished with 11 players today.

Deserved point for us, absolutely no doubt, and although Oakes saved us in the closing stages with a quite amazing save, I thought we deserved more.

As for the comments on why Devlin was applauded off, for me it was because the red-card decision was hasty and plain wrong. I eagerly await seeing the replay on TV to see if I am wrong, but I hate to see players go down in two-stages like this guy did today !

[Stu]

Not very good as has been said, I hate to say it but the legacy of Merson's completely unbalanced squad haunted us today again. No left back, no striker and boy could you tell.

Barrowman ran around a bit but didn't look threatening, but his goal was taken superbly. Wright looked so unsure of himself, which is understandable.

I'm disappointed that Constable didn't feature in the 16, I know he is raw and looks out of his depth at times, but he is the only lad we've got who looks like scoring goals.

Currently, we don't have a recognised striker who has started more than 10 games in his career which is a bloody worry.

Positives are there to be drawn though... For a team visibly low on confidence, to twice come from behind shows some character and bottle, that is something that can be built on.

[Salop Saddler]

As you say Geoff, the difference between us getting a point and nothing at all was the saves Oakes pulled off. In my opinion the performance was, overall, no better, nor no worse than I've seen in a majority of Walsall games this season, and we got what we deserved, a point which isn't good enough against a side like Scunthorpe.

I really do hope that the mantra which has been plugged on here for more than a little while now does come to some kind of fruition, that being, once we have a manager with just half a brain, this squad is good enough to be much further up the table.

[Stu]

As you say Geoff, the difference between us getting a point and nothing at all was the saves Oakes pulled off. In my opinion the performance was, overall, no better, nor no worse than I've seen in a majority of Walsall games this season, and we got what we deserved, a point which isn't good enough against a side like Scunthorpe.

I really do hope that the mantra which has been plugged on here for more than a little while now does come to some kind of fruition, that being, once we have a manager with just half a brain, this squad is good enough to be much further up the table.

The difference between a point and 3 was also the width of a crossbar and a goal line clearance. Works both ways Salop.

Regarding the last paragraph, do you really believe that the ability of this squad is not better than our league position suggets? However, anyone who thinks there will be an 'overnight' improvement is living in cloud cuckoo land as we've been left with an unbalanced squad whose confidence is lower than Babs Windsors nipples.

[fensaddler]

We were hobbled by injuries and suspensions to key players today - exposing the lack of cover, particularly at left back, that Merson's trading left us with. We had a young left back/central defender on our books and we let him go because 'he wasn't good enough'. In the light of recent problems, damn stupid. As a consequence Mark Wright has to play completely out of position, and in his place on the right of midfield we had an utterly ineffective and subsequently not even there Paul Devlin. Wright would have been far more effective there, doing what he always does and running with the ball at the opposition. Pray for Foxy to return, because without him we are really out of shape. However, on the plus side, Oakes made some fine saves, Mills and Roper played well, Pead was generally sound, Keates was brilliant, and frequently well supported by Smith, and Barrowman improved considerably once he had his goal. With some better luck with injuries and suspensions, and a decent manager to organise things, we should get clear of trouble - but it will be an anxious few weeks.

[geoffwhiting]

I don't think it could ever be a good game against overly physical opponents like Scunny were today. It's not our style or our strength, don't think it ever has been, but as Stu rightly said, we battled back twice and that showed some character, and we could have won it.

As for the Oakes saves, yes they were good, the last one was miraculous, but he gave them the chance by parrying the first shot instead of pushing it wide. He also should have done MUCH better with both goals, so he was both a sinner and a saint today.

[Salop Saddler]

No, I don't Stu. We are exactly where we deserve to be based on the thirty one games we've played so far this season.