Cheltenham Town (A) League 1 Saturday 12/4/08.

[latviancheese]

MAKE THAT TWO. GERRARD

[handsworth saddler]

Get in!! We can do this!

[WFC_Rob]

Roper's gone off with what apparently looked like a very bad injury.

[Goose277]

Got a ticket at 0930 this morning, only circa 200 left and were selling fast.

We cannot get any more than the 1100 allowance - the reserve allowance has gone to home fans.

1090 Saddlers
5309 total

2-0 Walsall
Mooney & Gerrard

Can you PM me tonights lotto numbers Asps :D

[latviancheese]

Roper's gone off with what apparently looked like a very bad injury.

Over the top takcle from Gillespie goes unpunished, typical of the refs in this league.

[Goose277]

Where's Norfolk??? I look forward to him keeping us updated.

[saddler lou]

1-2

Cmon Walsall

[saddler lou]

Ishy came on as sub for Holmes, now he has been subbed by Deeney because of injury

[Goose277]

Full Time 1-2

Well done lads. The dream is still alive :D :D :D

[Guest]

Yeeess...

[handsworth saddler]

Full Time 1-2

Well done lads. The dream is still alive :D :D :D

I agree!! Bring on Rovers

[WFC_Rob]

Great result and means our season carries on for at least another game. It's a bit concerning to hear that we had 3 players go off because of injury though. :?

[latviancheese]

Great result and means our season carries on for at least another game. It's a bit concerning to hear that we had 3 players go off because of injury though. :?

Thats what happens when you play scutters like cheltenham.

[Whitti Steve]

Good win. Didn't enjoy too much - terrible view from Row A by the corner flag :twisted: but a win is a win and Percie kissed me :oops:

[El Cid]

Mooney`s goal, sorry not very clear.

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=o0RXUMnxKps

[Four Oaks Saddler]

A fairly comfortable win in the end, despite a nervy last few minutes (as usual).

Here's the way I saw the team's performance:

Ince - not really tested, but did well when called upon (kicking aside, obviously).
Weston - recovered from an early error to put in his usual steady performance. Got forward to good effect.
Gerrard - steady, although had the odd jitter here and there
Roper - the better of the centre halves for me, before he went off. Victim of a nasty-looking tackle (from where i was sitting).
Taundry - again, steady. Overplays on occasions when a simple hoof would do.
Sonko - quiet, drifted in and out (probably more out than in).
N'Dour - set himself high standards last week, and didn't reach them this week. Still, confident on the ball and always looking for the pass even if it didn't always come off.
Dobson - busy in midfield, adequate in defence as a stop-gap. Wouldn't want him playing there every week.
Holmes - you can see this boy has quality, it's just a shame he was restricted by the clogging tactics of Cheltenham (job done I suppose from their perspective).
Betsy - a different player in the last two games. I'd all but written him off, but he's making intelligent runs and bringing other players into the game.
Mooney - the best performance i've seen from him in a long while. I've been doubting his ability to earn a new contract, but performances like today's give me food for thought.

Bradley - Not the player of earlier in the season, but a cool head when needed.
Ishy - A few nice touches, but no real impact
Deeney - Needs a spell out on loan. Beavers away, but to little effect.

The 3 injuries are a worry, but i'd have thought Holmes and / or Ishy will be available for Tuesday. I think we've seen the end of Roper for the season though. Another poor set of officials in what seems to be an endless conveyor belt of cack. There was so much they appeared to miss.

I fear our second wind has come too late for the play-offs, but it's nice to see abit of pride and fight back in the shirt.

[Cheesebag]

Like Luton away I didn't think we really got out of 2nd gear (didn't really need to) yet it would not be walsall without the nervy last 15 minutes.

[Jorge14]

Decent enough performance, and a pleasing result. It keeps us alive for another week - all we can do is keep winning, if Leeds don't get any points back it is perfectly conceivable that they will drop a few points.

It was the best game I'd seen Betsy play; he looked like the intelligent, skillful and confident player that he was billed to be. It is a shame we haven't seen that more often. The other loanee, Holmes, again looked a class above. Surely, more so than any other player in recent times, he is the player where a healthy transfer fee would be more than acceptable. To get a player of his ability, or to at least make our best effort to persuade him that he should come to Walsall, chase promotion and start 40+ league games, would be a massive and impressive statement of intent for our promotion effort next season.

Dobson did well at the back, and really the only time he was badly caught out was for the goal. As was said above, I wouldn't be happy with him there all the time, but he is an honest, hard-working player who I'd suggest is playing his way towards a new deal for next season. As may be N'Dour, who I thought displayed a nice range of passing. I'm still a little worried that Eddy tends to 'panic' a little too easily in possesion or when he is going into a 70-30 challenge.

I hope that Roper's injury isn't too bad, because going off on a stretcher shouldn't be the way his long Walsall career may end.

[Four Oaks Saddler]

Just to add, as i'd forgotten about it when writing my initial thoughts on the game, best wishes to the fan taken out of the ground by the medical staff.

[moaning saddler]

2-1 as predicted.

When I saw Beeby's name my heart sank. He has previous form at Saddlers matches and I prepared for the worst. However, Beeby's performance sank below even his normal standard of ineptitude. How Gillespie stayed on the pitch was baffling -he maimed Roper and then crocked Holmes, yet was deemed worthy of nothing more than a yellow. Having noted Beeby's total lack of control, Cheltenham then kicked Ishy out of the game for good measure.

Cheltenham reminded me of Boston last year - trying to kick their way to survival, but thankfully failing.

The defence was generally sound, with Ince putting in another confident performance. However, I hope Manny Smith can
step up to the mark, since Dobson is an accident waiting to happen, and was directly
responsible for Cheltenham's goal. Taundry put in one of his better displays, but seemed to
be left 2 on 1 on too many occasions in the 2nd half.

In midfield, N'Dour did OK, but looked a bit too "intelligent" for his colleagues at times.
Bradley did well when he came on, although never hitting his mid-season flow. Holmes attacked
their defence well in the 1st half. Sonko was terrible.

Betsy carried on from his performance last week, putting in a shift of energy and intelligence. Mooney continues to
frustrate me - a mixture of the sublime and the ridiculous. All of his "attempts" on goal
in the 2nd half looked about as convincing as a training ground knockabout.

Good support again today, with a special mention for the excellent entertainment provided by the
extension of the Matthews family situated around C1-4.

And that guy on the pitch at half-time was brilliant.

[Graydon48]

How far does the ball have to be over the line before its deemed a throw in.
It was clearly out before the clearance that led to their goal, and at over the line another 2 times that I saw but that curly haired tw@ didn't give a throw in.

[Whitti Steve]

How far does the ball have to be over the line before its deemed a throw in.
It was clearly out before the clearance that led to their goal, and at over the line another 2 times that I saw but that curly haired tw@ didn't give a throw in.

Sorry to blow your theory - I was sitting in line with the touchline, the "whole of the ball" was definately not out, I was arguing this point with a memeber of my family who was sitting a few seats further t'other way and missed their goal!

Definately not out.

[Percie]

Percie kissed me :oops:

Dunno about you but it made my day :D

[Exile]

Very happy with that victory. Too little, too late, though, I think.

[redsaddler]

Anyone see their manager going bonkers when they scored their goal? Made me laugh anyway!

[Graydon48]

Forget who posted it, but Cheltenham have done the double over Leeds this season, not bad for a team of "cloggers".
So that was a very good 3pts today despite hanging on by our finger nails at the end.
Ps just how many times did the comentators on "five live" mention Leeds going to arbiration on Wednesday.
Not once did they say Leeds didn't deserve to get their points back. Just gushed on about how interesting it would be if they got there points back.

[Bristol Fan]

A good win in a difficult game, we should have made it far more comfortable but somehow contrived to allow ourselves to be under the cosh for long periods against very weak opposition (who would easily have won had they had a striker worthy of the name).

Referee was atrocious. The "tackle" on Roper was an abomination, a nailed-on straight red - and wasn't even given as a foul. Careers have been ended by tackles like that.

Hope Holmes will be OK, he was terrific - won the penalty, provided the corner for the other goal, made a nuisance of himself all afternoon. Him and the four defenders were our best players - and Dobson did OK at centre-back in some ways after Roper was injured, but won nothing in the air (and most of Cheltenham's pressure came from Dobson not being able to win headers) so isn't really a serious option there in future I would say.

N'Dour... on the plus side, he saw a lot of the ball... on the minus side, I don't think he successfully completed a pass to a teammate in 9,456 attempts.

We're still just about clinigng on to having some hope (but today was the day Leeds were most likely to drop points I think) - and it was a satisfying, battling performance in difficult conditions - so bring on Bristol Rovers!

[Chomper]

Sounded like a good win yesterday against a difficult team. Wish Id have been able to go as we looked like we took a fair few.

I don't buy some of the people who think we've blown it. Not yet anyway. If we win our remaining games we will finish on 75 points. That's a great total and I think it will see us into the play offs. Whose to say that if Leeds don't get any points back on Wednesday it won't affect them in some way.

A few big IF's there but what the hell, we've nothing to lose. :D

[Duke]

very pleasing result , the injuries are a worry with our next game just 2 days away. nail biting times ahead.

UP THE SADDLERS

[Neuromantic]

very pleasing result , the injuries are a worry with our next game just 2 days away. nail biting times ahead.

UP THE SADDLERS

Hey, that's why you have a good squad.....


Oh wait, hang on....!


:mrgreen: