Mansfield Town (H) League - Saturday 30/9/06

[fensaddler]

Well I post when we win, but there is really little more to add. I worried about over-confidence and tiredness for this one, but I shouldn't have bothered - Whatever DD has got going in that dressing room they should bottle it. Tactically brilliant to bring on Pead at half time - and as a result of bif wins when the chance presented itself, and scraping the points together when it didn't, we're in a really fine position. As other posters have said, we have the chance to put clear water between us and the pack in the next few weeks.

[shrewsbury saddler]

if ever you needed convincing of DD's ability,today would have done it.after that first half,who'd have thought bringing off a striker and replacing him with a midfielder not previously known for his attacking would lead to 4 goals?but it did.Pead was great-as was Roper and Butler's work-rate was outstanding.Ishy looked dangerous every time he had the ball at his feet.ref seemed to decide football is no longer a contact sport.
I can only see an awful injury run stopping us being champions.and now the team are fit and properly trained there's much less chance of that.

[philthesaddler]

Are we unbeatable at home in this league?

P6 W6 D0 L0 - F 16 A 0

Nah Useless, its the away games that count.

Await lots of posts tonight from Futuresoshyte, Zipped it, and Staffs.
Just to keep the match-thread numbers up, after all I don't know if you've noticed but.... nobody posts when we win. : :twisted: :D

Well say you win 20 of your 23 home games that 60 points straight away, average one point per game on the road, and 83 points puts you in the top 4, so away form definately is the key to winning the league. Bring on Chester.

My dad said he heard somewhere that Walsall have the best home record in the whole of europe or something this season? Any care to back this up?

[matty_walsall4eva]

yeah i heard that aswell

[Stalky]

When we were 1-0 up, I saw Scott Dann warming up and told my wife that he would come on in place of Dean Keates, who hadn't hit a decent pass throughout the first half. What do I know?

[Fray Bentos is God!]

When we were 1-0 up, I saw Scott Dann warming up and told my wife that he would come on in place of Dean Keates, who hadn't hit a decent pass throughout the first half. What do I know?

Hang your head in shame obviously!

[WFC_Rob]

Never thought we'd get a win, let alone a 4-0 win at half time. First half, we were dreadful. Hector Sam is just way too lazy - I hope Butler is paid a considerable larger sum than Sam, because of the two of them, he does absolutely all of the donkey work - chases lost causes, wins headers, holds the ball up and often creates chances out of very little. Sam does none of these things - he just gets the ball into his feet, turns and loses it.

I thought Roper had a pretty poor game today to be honest. He didn't win very much in the air until we were 3 goals to the good and him and Gerrard look a bit shakey playing alongside eachother. Westwood was solid once again, and Taylor improved as the match progressed.

Our first goal was a very good goal indeed. Peads run inside and Keates' pass meant that we were able to test the 'keeper and see Wright stick the rebound home. After that goal, everyone seemed to spring into life after being largely anonymous up to that point. Wrights cross for Keates goal was excellent and Dobson proceeded to stamp his authority on the game. I still don't think Keates is the answer, and thought Westwood and Butler deserved the man of the match award more than him, but goals are goals - what can you say?!

[Saddler4Life]

yer i agree i dont thi9nk ropes played too well nor gerrard, i think scott zi-dann should get a recall on friday and should stick with fox n taylor on the left they compliment each other so well.

[tinned]

I was in the bog at halftime and this bloke was telling another bloke about how he'd put a tenner on Wrighty to score first and a 3 - 0 win at 80/1. The bloke virtually told him to rip his slip up there and then. How gutted must that bloke have been when Gerrard netted the fourth ? 800 quid down the pan to a last minute goal :shock:

Terrible, terrible first half. The worst 45 minutes of football I've seen in a long time. We just cannot have Dobbo & Deano in the same midfield. If the fourth official had indicated more than 1 minute of injury time in the first half I would've thrown myself over the wall into the bottom tier. I wanted to go home.

Walking back to my seat at the start of the second half and I nearly chocked when I heard the substitution. I really thought DD had lost the plot. Well what do I know ? Inspired.

We apparently don't need to play well at home in this division in order to brush teams aside. I'm concerened with some of the performances but how can you argue with played 6 won 6 scored 16 conceded 0 ?

[Whitti Steve]

I was in the bog at halftime and this bloke was telling another bloke about how he'd put a tenner on Wrighty to score first and a 3 - 0 win at 80/1. The bloke virtually told him to rip his slip up there and then. How gutted must that bloke have been when Gerrard netted the fourth ? 800 quid down the pan to a last minute goal :shock:

Terrible, terrible first half. The worst 45 minutes of football I've seen in a long time. We just cannot have Dobbo & Deano in the same midfield. If the fourth official had indicated more than 1 minute of injury time in the first half I would've thrown myself over the wall into the bottom tier. I wanted to go home.

Walking back to my seat at the start of the second half and I nearly chocked when I heard the substitution. I really thought DD had lost the plot. Well what do I know ? Inspired.

We apparently don't need to play well at home in this division in order to brush teams aside. I'm concerened with some of the performances but how can you argue with played 6 won 6 scored 16 conceded 0 ?

Perhaps you could sell tickets in aid of UTS hosting fees if you decide to go ahead :lol: :lol: :lol: :wink:

[Manchester Saddler]

First game of the season and delighted to have seen an excellent second half performance.

When the Mansfield fans were singing "Top of the league - you're havin' a laff" in the first half, I almost agreed with them. Although we were better then them, we weren't brilliant. It was scrappy and boring.

But the second half was superb! Dobson was excelent in midfield and the arrival of Pead really opened things up. Roper and Gerrard at the back were unbeatable. Keates was excellent and deserved the MOM - pity whoever entered his name on the scoreboard couldn't spell his name - not difficult is it?

The last game I saw was the awful 2-0 defeat away at Blackpool last year! What a difference a decent manager makes!

4-0 - 6 wins out of 6 and not a goal conceded!

Mark my words - we will be Champions! We are far too good for this division and that's mostly down to Dicky Dosh injecting some belief and the will to win into the team!

[Duke]

Not sure what DD had in mind at half time , bringing Pead on for Sam .
Clearly something had to be done after a dreadful first half. in which we never created a chance and never looked liked scoring . Its a bit unfair to single any player out but Sam looked well out of sorts .

I like the look of Pead in that midfield role ,his excellent run off the ball and shot lead to the first goal. We had a bit of luck with the second dodgey keeper . The third goal followed an outstanding run and cross from Wright and what a great headed from Keates. It was great to see Gerrard score his first goal for the fourth he was chuffed and bet he's still celebrating.

An inspired subsitution changed the game completely Dobson had more time on the ball and looked a quality player. Westwood solid at full back again .

[Cheesebag]

Basically

First half :cry:
Second Half :D

[shrewsbury saddler]

I was in the bog at halftime and this bloke was telling another bloke about how he'd put a tenner on Wrighty to score first and a 3 - 0 win at 80/1. The bloke virtually told him to rip his slip up there and then. How gutted must that bloke have been when Gerrard netted the fourth ? 800 quid down the pan to a last minute goal :shock:

Terrible, terrible first half. The worst 45 minutes of football I've seen in a long time. We just cannot have Dobbo & Deano in the same midfield. If the fourth official had indicated more than 1 minute of injury time in the first half I would've thrown myself over the wall into the bottom tier. I wanted to go home.

Walking back to my seat at the start of the second half and I nearly chocked when I heard the substitution. I really thought DD had lost the plot. Well what do I know ? Inspired.

We apparently don't need to play well at home in this division in order to brush teams aside. I'm concerened with some of the performances but how can you argue with played 6 won 6 scored 16 conceded 0 ?

#Yeah I was sat just behind him.he ripped his his ticket up in disgust.he cheered up when he heard Wolves had lost 4-0.

[derbysaddler]

The impression I had from the game is if needed this side can step up a few gears to get the job done quite efficently. The first was indeed a boring affair with the midfield dying on its arse. DD rings the changes, and then the team just steps up and blows Mansfield away. Pead did a good job when brought on, Keates and Dobson improved greatly in the second half. Ince just never looks like conceding a goal. Great stuff!

Noticed the Mansfield fans in the corner couldn't behave themselves. Anyone know what get them whinging?

[Jorge14]

Noticed the Mansfield fans in the corner couldn't behave themselves. Anyone know what get them whinging?

Pedro...the big bad hooligan.

A cracking performance in the second half. This team reminds me so much of Graydon's side, except personally I think they are so much more talented. They remind of that side in that we can be workmanlike and not look like conceding for the majority of the game, and then grab a goal and go on to dominate the game. Keates's header was a beautiful goal, and his free-kick was awful! :lol:
Rice and Peas Ince was my man of the match, and I thought the back four/five (if you include Foxy) really grew as the game went on. It always takes Ropes an hour of his next game after he misses a game to get back into the swing of things.

Contemplated putting some money on Wright first goal scorer and 3-1...glad I didn't! :lol:

Onwards and upwards. I can see another 10 points coming in October...we could comfortably have a 5/6 point gap this time next month.

[geoffwhiting]

Well, the first 45mins was probably one of the worst 45mins of football ive ever seen. We were terrible. Gerrard barely won a header, Keates never found a man, Wright was poor, Fox was annonymous, and as for Hector Sam, well call himself a striker? Twice Butler did the leg work and won the ball brilliantly, it was crying out for his strike partner to make an appearance in the 6 yard box, but where was he? day dreaming 30 yards out. Plonker.

Then, wow, what a masterstroke by Dickie. Put pead in the hole, and gave that number 4 something to think about, giving Keater and Dobbo time to bring the ball down and pass it, Wright suddenly found some confidence, and Butler more than deserved a goal.

Are we unbeatable at home in this league?

Christ not again, if it's not "so-and-so is the worst player I've ever seen" it's "the first 45mins was probably one of the worst 45mins of football I've ever seen".

If either of those statements were true, all I can conclude is that you ain't seen much football Phil !

Yes, so the first half was below par for us, but Mansfield deserve some credit for stifling us like that. There is no divine right to be allowed to play how you want to, just because you are at home.

But to suggest even for a moment that it was "probably one of the worst 45mins of football I've ever seen" is totally over the top and frankly ludicrous - unless you were joking of course, but you weren't ....... were you ?

We've seen hundreds, even thousands, of worse halves than the first-half today. :x

[Magic Man Fan]

Carlsberg don't make Saturdays.....thank God!! If they did they would probably taste like gnats' piddle.

:lol: :lol: :lol:

That first 45 was bad but not a patch on some of the cr@p we saw last season or even at Lincoln just a few weeks ago. Difference is we're not letting poor performances affect us because we're not conceding because we're organised yet we're taking chances at the other end (when Sam isn't around which means people actually venture into the box!)

Pead for Sam when we're hardly creating chances? Dosh is a tactical genius...and that's why we will be promoted regardless of our deficiencies.

[YGA Saddler]

What a masterstroke from Dickie Dosh!!! We have one of the best managers of the lower leagues and its a credit to Jeff for getting him here.

MWAS gets stronger, thought he played well again today and capped it off with a goal. Hes worth more than £750,000. :wink:
Keatesy continues to find the back of the net, I think hes scored more already this season than he has ever done in anyother season. Yet another record.

I was worried that we wouldnt score goals when Butler didnt, but he hasnt scored in three games and we have scored 7!!

This is all getting a bit too easy isnt it? i told my dad today that I can see us achieving what Reading did last season but I shall keep it quiet.

UTS

[WarsawPact]

I think you have to give credit to Mansfield for our first half no-show.
Their 4-5-1 completely snuffed out our midfield, and I don't think we created a single chance.

Dicky Dosh evidently decided we had far too many strikers on the pitch, and replaced one with a midfielder at half time.
It did the trick as we scored within 5 minutes of the restart.

Mansfield switched to 4-4-2, but it was too late, as we picked them off with some good football and some poor goalkeeping from the Stags' No 1.

As all of our goals come from midfielders & defenders, perhaps we should play without any strikers next week.

[bez]

Are we unbeatable at home in this league?

P6 W6 D0 L0 - F 16 A 0

Nah Useless, its the away games that count.

Await lots of posts tonight from Futuresoshyte, Zipped it, and Staffs.
Just to keep the match-thread numbers up, after all I don't know if you've noticed but.... nobody posts when we win. : :twisted: :D

Well say you win 20 of your 23 home games that 60 points straight away, average one point per game on the road, and 83 points puts you in the top 4, so away form definately is the key to winning the league. Bring on Chester.

My dad said he heard somewhere that Walsall have the best home record in the whole of europe or something this season? Any care to back this up?

Malcolm Boyden on WM said we had the best record in europe the other night too, maybe thats where you heard it.

[Magic Man Fan]

Dicky Dosh evidently decided we had far too many strikers on the pitch

Just the one too many "strikers" WP, and his name was Sam.

An effective striker alongside Butler and they may not have made us look so toothless.

[sid swifty]

Thought keates headed goal was a class team effort.

[1933]

Thought keates headed goal was a class team effort.

In the same class at 'that' Argentina goal in the world cup :lol:

[Magic Man Fan]

Thought keates headed goal was a class team effort.

Yep, brilliantly worked goal including Wright beating someone AND crossing perfectly.

Who'd have thought it?! ;)

[latviancheese]

Thought keates headed goal was a class team effort.

Yep, brilliantly worked goal including Wright beating someone AND crossing perfectly.

Who'd have thought it?! ;)

:lol:

[Andy W Taylor]

First 45 was flat and our passing and movement not up to scratch, but we weren't really troubled at the back and went into game top of the league - so why were some people (mainly upper F2G) booing as the players went off the field at half-time?

Or have I got it wrong and it was their contribution that brought about the change in the 2nd half?

[Exile]

Kearns & CO on the radio said that Mansfield had come for a point, and it sounded like it during the first half, as we found it difficult to break down their 451 with our 442 - they'd obviously done their homework and identified the midfield as the potential weak link between the back line and Butler / Other. Stringing five across it as they did caused problems.

That said, there was no threat from Mansfield. In that respect they're like 80% of this division's team, and the fact that we're not a Championship team is neither here nor there - we are better than at least 80% of this league's teams, and the little X-Factor Dick Dosh adds that can turn it into >90% means we'll be up in May, even if we haven't got the ideal squad.

Moving to 451 to match their midfield sounded a gamble - certainly a surprise to WM, but it snuffed their midfield like a guttered candle, and allowed us to move forward more - cue goal, cue Mansfield's game plan collapsing round their ears, and three more goals.

You don't get nearly double the goal difference of the next best team by playing crap, you get it by playing better than the opposition, and that's all we need to do.

All Hail Dick Dosh & the Walsall revival.

[Neil Ravenscroft]

Match report

http://www.steveroy.com/walsall/

[Whitti Steve]

First 45 was flat and our passing and movement not up to scratch, but we weren't really troubled at the back and went into game top of the league - so why were some people (mainly upper F2G) booing as the players went off the field at half-time?
Or have I got it wrong and it was their contribution that brought about the change in the 2nd half?

Yeah - who-ever it was booing should be ashamed. At half time - no matter how poor we were - we were still unbeaten at home, no goal against and people should know by now that a game of footie is 90 mins. I was amazed and just glad that enough of us clapped them off to drown out some of the booing.