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Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Reports and reaction from the 2013-2014 season as Walsall finished 13th in League 1
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sallian
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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Tue Oct 22, 2013 10:04 pm

From the Swindon Town fans:-

"...First thing, Walsall were easily the best team here this season, worked as a team, pressed in bunches and didn't let us move further than 5 yards outside our box...."

"...I don't want to take anything away from Walsall though. Fully deserved the win and should have won by more. Tactically the best team we've played this season by a distance..."

"...1-3 flattered us. Walsall had done their homework.....Walsall looked a really good team who employed good tactics, kept their shape and were sharper all over the pitch. I can hardly recall one tackle by a Town player..."

"...Walsall looked sharp, strong, fast, and gave eachother options on the ball whilst depriving us of any..."

"...it has been a long time since a team turned up at the CG and ripped us apart like Walsall did..."

and their board is full of this.

This is all compounding my regret for not going by a factor of 10. This is a big lesson for me in regret...although its only a game of football...it shows how relatively trivial things can torture your mind!

If someone invents a time machine...frkkn let me know.

Whoever contributed in anyway whatsoever in me not attending this match....Trains being unreliable and the doubts that created, rip off train fares, pollution maybe giving me headaches, lack of public announcement on all media that this game was on....etc Then watch your back and don't feel safe!

BathSaddler
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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Tue Oct 22, 2013 10:09 pm

bangsection wrote:
BathSaddler wrote:I'm not even sure they had us watched if the interview with the assistant plank was anything to go by.


Cooper watched us on Saturday and was rather complimentary in his pre-match comments. We tend to play better against good teams away from home because they can't face playing a containing game in front of their expectant fans against "little old Walsall". More fool them.


I stand corrected, Bangers. More fool them indeed.

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Tue Oct 22, 2013 10:13 pm

After watching the game last Sat, I was extremely enthusiastic. First game I have watched this season. We were unplayable at times. This result does not surprise me at all. If I could have been there, then I would have. No disrespect to those fans who also weren't, but my excuse that I am in Valencia I feel is rather valid. Anyway, PLEASE somebody give an account of their experience at the County Ground tonight. Good with the bad.

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Tue Oct 22, 2013 10:15 pm

BathSaddler wrote:I'm not even sure they had us watched if the interview with the assistant plank was anything to go by.


Mark Cooper was at our game v Stevenage

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Tue Oct 22, 2013 10:19 pm

HaarlemPaul wrote:After watching the game last Sat, I was extremely enthusiastic. First game I have watched this season. We were unplayable at times. This result does not surprise me at all. If I could have been there, then I would have. No disrespect to those fans who also weren't, but my excuse that I am in Valencia I feel is rather valid. Anyway, PLEASE somebody give an account of their experience at the County Ground tonight. Good with the bad.

They'll have to sober up first, and get home!! :mrgreen:

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Tue Oct 22, 2013 10:22 pm

Hugely proud of that squad of players tonight, sounded like everyone had a blinder. Dean Smith must take a massive slice of the plaudits though. Tactically he got it spot on. It must have been tempting to remain unchanged after Saturday, much like he's done recently in the reverse scenario when we've played superbly away from home, and then nullifying our attack in the home games with that extra midfielder in place.

Having Featherstone in the midfield for away games is crucial, especially against the better sides in the league. We retain the ball far better, frustrate the home players and supporters alike. If our wide players and breaking midfielders can support Westcarr like they did tonight, it adds that attacking dimension to this formation.

The temptation must be to stick with this team again. I just hope Sawyers comes in for Featherstone, giving us that extra attacking threat at home.

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Tue Oct 22, 2013 10:27 pm

Fair play (Welsh expression of approval) to the Swindon fans for being so generous in their praise and giving us full credit. Not one mealy-mouthed, grudging comment about our team - just a few (!) about theirs :mrgreen: . They've gone up in my estimation. :D We've gone up, too (in the League :mrgreen: ).

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Tue Oct 22, 2013 10:30 pm

Exile wrote:
HaarlemPaul wrote:After watching the game last Sat, I was extremely enthusiastic. First game I have watched this season. We were unplayable at times. This result does not surprise me at all. If I could have been there, then I would have. No disrespect to those fans who also weren't, but my excuse that I am in Valencia I feel is rather valid. Anyway, PLEASE somebody give an account of their experience at the County Ground tonight. Good with the bad.

They'll have to sober up first, and get home!! :mrgreen:

Summary: all good. No bad.
:? Well, we didn't keep a clean sheet....where's me tin hat! :P

BathSaddler
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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Tue Oct 22, 2013 10:36 pm

SWS1 wrote:Fair play (Welsh expression of approval) to the Swindon fans for being so generous in their praise and giving us full credit. Not one mealy-mouthed, grudging comment about our team - just a few (!) about theirs :mrgreen: . They've gone up in my estimation. :D We've gone up, too (in the League :mrgreen: ).


I completely agree with this - fair play to them. However, we must simply have been THAT good on the night. A joy to listen to on the radio.

Coventry is going to be one hell of a game and a very tough one indeed.

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Tue Oct 22, 2013 10:38 pm

Exile wrote:
HaarlemPaul wrote:After watching the game last Sat, I was extremely enthusiastic. First game I have watched this season. We were unplayable at times. This result does not surprise me at all. If I could have been there, then I would have. No disrespect to those fans who also weren't, but my excuse that I am in Valencia I feel is rather valid. Anyway, PLEASE somebody give an account of their experience at the County Ground tonight. Good with the bad.

They'll have to sober up first, and get home!! :mrgreen:



haha, I'm starting to feel that I might regret the morro and I wasn't even there!

Fair play though to the Swindon fans and their praise. = massive feel good factor to us long suffering Saddlers fans.
Wherever I go in this world, I get the same puzzled looks??? Who do you support? Man U? Chelsea? small club? NO!!! Midlands! ah Villa? NO!!!! Walsall.
Who (in godverdomme godsnaam) are Walsall???
Only the best footballing team the north side of catalan. :D

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Tue Oct 22, 2013 10:47 pm

Fantastic result.

Bring on Saturday. I know if Coventry hadn't had -10 points they'd be above us. Who cares if we play a team with more points than us anyway


[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGE4dnrPPZQ[/youtube]

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Tue Oct 22, 2013 11:10 pm

Just got back, holy cack what a game, could of easily been 5 or 6 for us. Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE had a blinder - from O'Donnell to Westcarr, they all are a credit to the shirt.

Well worth £25, I was on the edge of my seat. Offer them all 4 year deals, they deserve it. Ashley Hemmings was absolutely extraordinary, what a shift he put in today, kept leaving their defenders for dead.

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Tue Oct 22, 2013 11:20 pm

Just back from the county ground. What a performance. Continued where we had left off in previous away games,but this was even more impressive from an attacking perspective. We were solid all over the park. Despite his error on Saturday, o donnell is getting better and better with each game.deserved a clean sheet. Was rarely tested. The back four were once again immense. Never put a foot wrong all evening. The 5 man midfield once again worked a treat. Chambers, Featherstone and Mantom were exceptional with Bax and Hemmings constant threats down the wing. westcarr again worked the channels well and never wasted a ball.linked the play up well and deserved his goal. On this evidence,Smith is spot on, we don't need another striker, we have goals in the team. If not for their keeper it could have easily been 5 or 6. Top 6...now let's stay there.

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Tue Oct 22, 2013 11:25 pm

Just like to say i have finally

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLnWf1sQkjY[/youtube]

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Tue Oct 22, 2013 11:28 pm

After all this praise and a great night to be a saddler,please lads don't let this be the lord mayors show with Coventry coming on Saturday. :D

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Tue Oct 22, 2013 11:31 pm

Whoever sent this text in to BBC Wiltshere is a hero, it was a long the lines off...

"Should give your lads O levels, because we just gave you a proper lesson. Up the Saddlers"

Or something along those lines, made me and my dad piss ourselves on the way back up the A419.

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Tue Oct 22, 2013 11:33 pm

What an absolute monster of a performance - easy to say it in the heat of the occasion, but that might well have been the best away performance I've seen from a Walsall side.

The fact that their goalie had the game of his life and we still scored three says it all. It genuinely could have been six or seven quite easily.

Glad to see us get a fair amount of praise from Swindon fans too. Not easy to dish out praise when your team's just lost, so that counts as more evidence of just how good we were.

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Wed Oct 23, 2013 7:36 am

What a fantastic performance last night. As others have said the scoreline really flattered what is obviously a very good Swindon side (first home defeat of the season)
It could easily have been 6 but for heroics from their keeper who made blinding save after blinding save.
The midfield should be given special mention as all 3 --Chambers/Mantom and Featherstone were superb.

The only downside was yet another howler from O'Donnell for their goal. At 3-0 up with 10 to go it did not prove costly on this occasion but other times it may. He simply does not know when or not to come for crosses. This time he seemed to come out then hesitate and go back. Of course it was too late as the ball was in the net.Yes everybody makes mistakes but after the dropped cross on Saturday that almost let a poor Stevenage team back in the game..

As I said though this should have been 6-0 but for their keeper. Again most Swindon fans we spoke to agreed.

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Wed Oct 23, 2013 8:47 am

m&m wrote:The only downside was yet another howler from O'Donnell for their goal. At 3-0 up with 10 to go it did not prove costly on this occasion but other times it may. He simply does not know when or not to come for crosses. This time he seemed to come out then hesitate and go back. Of course it was too late as the ball was in the net.Yes everybody makes mistakes but after the dropped cross on Saturday that almost let a poor Stevenage team back in the game..


Noone wants to be negative after a performance like that, and O'Donnell seems to have almost all the tools we need for us to have a good goalie on our hands, but it is definately something he needs to improve on. I've not been convinced by him on crosses since the first game - hopefully he's working on it. I'm sure Cutler will be aware of it.

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Wed Oct 23, 2013 9:28 am

Superb performance. Domination from start to finish and we went for it. I was glad to see Featherstone re-installed for this as we all know that the three in the middle aid us away from home. Everyone put a shift in and it showed. We could've easily been 5 or 6 up if it wasn't for their keeper. MOTM had to be Hemmings. He was unplayable at times and well, what a strike for his first!

Team ratings:
O'Donnell - 7 - quiet night for him, dealt with everything comfortably bar their goal.

J.Chambers - 8 - superb again, faultless
Butler - 8 - him and Downing kept a decent striker force quiet for the majority of the game. Job done
Downing - 8 - see Butler
Taylor - 8 - Superb defensively and got forward well. Seems to keep getting better

A.Chambers - 8 - A typical Adam Chambers performance!
Featherstone - 9 - He got everywhere on the pitch, rarely wasted a pass, battled when they had the ball and got forward too. Just about pipped to MOTM by Hemmings.
Mantom - 8 - Enetergetic performance, got forward well and full deserved his goal

Baxendale - 7 - Decent performance from him. Very tricky for Swindon to deal with.
Hemmings - 10 - His best performance in a Walsall shirt. He play unplayable last night. Quick, tricky and constantly a threat. Two goals too, MOTM.

Westcarr - 7 - Lead the line well and brought others into play. Seems to be improving with confidence and starting to prove his critics, me included, wrong.

Subs
Gray - 7 - looked sharp when he came on. Still has that touch of class.
Laklovic - 6 - not much time to make an impact
Hewitt - 6 - same as Laklovic


Overall, great performance and a thoroughly deserved three points. I'm very glad I made the last minute decision to make the trip. The only dissapointing part if the night was the fact that we only scored three. Well done to Deano and ROK who got the tactics spot on, and of course, the team as they all were superb last night.

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Wed Oct 23, 2013 9:39 am

Wyrley_saddler wrote:Westcarr - 7 - Lead the line well and brought others into play. Seems to be improving with confidence and starting to prove his critics, me included, wrong


Nothing has changed in his performances, just people's opinion of him.

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Wed Oct 23, 2013 10:25 am

Wyrley_saddler wrote:Hemmings - 10 - His best performance in a Walsall shirt. He play unplayable last night. Quick, tricky and constantly a threat. Two goals too, MOTM.

I agree, it was his best performance in a Walsall shirt, and he was singled out by one Swindon fan on the radio as being the best player they'd come up against this season.

The pleasing thing is, he was nearly as good as that on Saturday, so seems to have really hit a purple patch of form. To be fair to him and his manager, the way he's playing makes him ideally suited to the system we play - their defence really didn't know what to do with him last night.

Smith's decision to sign Julian Gray could well turn out to be the best thing anyone's ever done for Hemmings' career.

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Wed Oct 23, 2013 11:35 am

Magic Man Fan wrote:
Wyrley_saddler wrote:Westcarr - 7 - Lead the line well and brought others into play. Seems to be improving with confidence and starting to prove his critics, me included, wrong


Nothing has changed in his performances, just people's opinion of him.


Nothing's changed. :)

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Wed Oct 23, 2013 11:36 am

Just shows it is worth sticking with these younger players. It is too easy to write them off too early - bit of experience and support and they've got a chance.

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Wed Oct 23, 2013 11:41 am

Magic Man Fan wrote:
Sadders wrote:My word - what a result. Never back against this side, specifically away from home. Sounds as though we could in the words of a Swindon fan 'had 10', brillant performance and result. If we can beat Coventry on Saturday I'll be jizzing my way to MK Dons the week after - should be taking a nice big following their.

Westcarr in... :wink:


Not sure if you heard WM, but Mike Taylor who was commentating said he doesn't watch Walsall often, but Westcarr was marvellous, for the way he finds space, and links midfeld to attack.

It only took him one game...


He should come more often then.

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Wed Oct 23, 2013 11:58 am

saw the Swindon goal this morning and it's very harsh to be blaming O'Donnell for it. I'd have been pointing the fingers at the defenders more so. i'm a gk myself though so i'll always back a keeper when ever possible

if people are to blame him for the goal, then at least mention the good save he made later in the game from ranger. heard it was point blank. give him credit rather than knocking him all the time

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Wed Oct 23, 2013 11:59 am

From another indepemdant journalist:

"It was interesting comparing Ranger and Westcarr.
While Ranger was always a threat on the ball and showed some lovely touches and skill, Westcarr seemed more aware of his team mates and brought them into play whenever he could. His experience, guile and intelligence proved to be the difference between the two teams."

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Wed Oct 23, 2013 12:08 pm

WarsawPact wrote:From another indepemdant journalist:

"It was interesting comparing Ranger and Westcarr.
While Ranger was always a threat on the ball and showed some lovely touches and skill, Westcarr seemed more aware of his team mates and brought them into play whenever he could. His experience, guile and intelligence proved to be the difference between the two teams."


But he doe run around enough.

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Wed Oct 23, 2013 12:11 pm

WarsawPact wrote:From another indepemdant journalist:

"It was interesting comparing Ranger and Westcarr.
While Ranger was always a threat on the ball and showed some lovely touches and skill, Westcarr seemed more aware of his team mates and brought them into play whenever he could. His experience, guile and intelligence proved to be the difference between the two teams."

that would suggest the journalist watched a close game between 2 well-matched teams, as opposed to a 1-sided drubbing.

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Re: Swindon Town (A) League One Tue Oct 22nd, 7.45pm

Wed Oct 23, 2013 12:14 pm

paddy wrote:saw the Swindon goal this morning and it's very harsh to be blaming O'Donnell for it. I'd have been pointing the fingers at the defenders more so. i'm a gk myself though so i'll always back a keeper when ever possible

if people are to blame him for the goal, then at least mention the good save he made later in the game from ranger. heard it was point blank. give him credit rather than knocking him all the time

I agree completely!

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