Oldham Athletic (H) League One Tue 14 Jan, 7.45pm

[Welsh_Saddler]

I'm back.....anything happened besides 1-0 ???????????? :D :D :D

[Soton Saddler]

They're all over us :?

[BarnsleySaddler]

I'm back.....anything happened besides 1-0 ???????????? :D :D :D

Not much!!

[DavidWFC2010]

Paddy Power saying 1-1, SkySports and BBC Sport saying 1-0 Walsall... You can get 7 to 1 on Walsall win at the moment. Is it definitely 1-0?

[Soton Saddler]

Brandy MOTM

[Welsh_Saddler]

Troy Hewitt on for Westcarr, 87 minutes. Yes, it's definitely 1-0......... :D

[Welsh_Saddler]

Oldham penalty 92nd min :(

[Soton Saddler]

Pen Oldham

[BarnsleySaddler]

Oldham have a penalty. Rats.

[Exile]

bullet dodged there!

[Welsh_Saddler]

SAVED!!!!!!!!!!! :D :D :D

Full time 1-0.....we'm in the play off zone :shock:

Brentford at home on Saturday :?

[Exile]

Full Time 1-0 Walsall. Well done the lads!

[Chomper]

Weem gewin up

[BathSaddler]

Saddle do nicely :lol:

A second penalty save by O'Donnell in 3 home games. A cult figure in the making.

[Registered Saddler]

Just to put it in perspective - Oldham have only lost one away from home since the end of October. And that was 1-0 at Brentford.

[SWS1]

This sounds like it was a mighty, mighty close-run thing :shock:
But we triumphed :D

[mosaddler]

get in...
predicted a 2-0(butler and mantom)

50% correct

:mrgreen:

[SaddlerSteve]

They're all over us :?

As soon as we scored we reverted to backing off and letting them run at us.
Really rode our luck throughout that second half.

Even before the penalty they had a clear shot on goal that was sliced way off target.

[newjersey exile]

I couldn't get any of the commentary - did we play well?

[SWS1]

I look forward to the reports as it seems quite a non-typical game for us: out-possessed, out shot (absolute number, not "on-target" efforts) and with a shed-full of fouls against us. This is unlike us this season, although we did get a lot of corners. I am really looking forward to the stringent and insightful analyses from the attenders... :D

[Welsh_Saddler]

I look forward to the reports as it seems quite a non-typical game for us: out-possessed, out shot (absolute number, not "on-target" efforts) and with a shed-full of fouls against us. This is unlike us this season, although we did get a lot of corners. I am really looking forward to the stringent and insightful analyses from the attenders... :D

Me too (look forward to the reports) - good write-up already on the Excuse & Star website :D

[philthesaddler]

It was a non-typical Walsall performance, in that we were under the cosh for long periods, but still won.

We did our very best to throw it away though, including a very poor last 15mins and an injury time penalty!

Still 3 points is 3 points, we need a big performance on Saturday to stop the Brentford express.

Brandy doesn't look fit yet, but will be good when he is, we also need to make sure we drill him in to doing his defensive duties. Baxendale, whilst he's been in poor form, works harder off the ball, and thats why he's preffered to Hemmings

[JonnyOwen]

Shows how far we've come.

A Walsall of old would of thrown that away and maybe even lost the game.

Would of liked to see Featherstone on though for the final 15 minutes, just like at Tranmere the game was screaming out for him to calm down the midfield, lower the tempo and help us retain possession.

[chestersaddler]

I thought that we played a very decent side tonight who out Walsalled us for the first half hour and could easily have been in front. We suddenly woke up and finished the half strongly. Lovely free kick from Taylor which hit the bar.
Second half was better and pretty even. Well worked goal. Brandy replaced by Hemmings and we went downhill for the last 15 minutes. we conceded three free kicks just outside the box, one of which produced a cracking save from O'Donnell. They then missed a sitter before getting the penalty which produced a great save. Nervy last few minutes, however, we had a chance to score but for a poor touch by Hewitt - maybe evidence as to why he hasn't featured much this season.
Sawyers is a joy to watch at times, great balance and rarely wastes a pass, but refuses to put his foot in.

We wor bad tonight but were given a good game by a good side who will probably wonder how the he'll they left empty handed. The positive is that Oldham will take points of our rivals, I have no doubt.

I thought Brandy was just what we needed and will no doubt make a positive impact . I thought the swap for Hemmings was a bad move by Smith as we then had too many none tackling players on the pitch. I agree with JohnnyOwen, we needed Featherstone on at that stage. Goalie was great tonight. Westy had a quiet one.

UTS

[WFC_Rob]

Shows how far we've come.

A Walsall of old would of thrown that away and maybe even lost the game.

Would of liked to see Featherstone on though for the final 15 minutes, just like at Tranmere the game was screaming out for him to calm down the midfield, lower the tempo and help us retain possession.

Agree with all of that. Before tonight, we only tended to win the games we pretty much dominated. Tonight's was a case of winning ugly, which is no bad thing.

In the first half, we just didn't move the ball quickly enough. We got ourselves into really good positions around the edge of the box, but rather than having a pop on a slippy surface, we went backwards. To their credit, Oldham looked very similar to us in the way they played - they looked comfortable passing through midfield, if a little limited in the final third.

In the second half, we increased the pace slightly and after moving the ball with purpose on the edge of the box, Mantom scored. Problem was, we then sat back and basically asked them to throw everything they had at us - just as we did at Tranmere on Saturday. If that's how we want to go about things, we need to take Sawyers off and put Featherstone on.

No question, O'Donnell was man of the match - that was his best game in a Walsall shirt. He made three decent saves from dangerous free kicks, held onto a couple of crosses, and didn't spill a thing. The penalty save was the icing on the cake.

Hopefully we were deliberately off the pace to give Brentford's scouts a false impression of us. :D

[Pedagogue]

Firstly, credit to Oldham - going forward, they play some good football but, luckily for us, they have our "disease", only worse, - their finishing was dreadful (I'm pleased to say :D ). However, the tackling of a couple of their defenders was, to say the least, a little "agricultural". The offenders, Mellor and Kusunga, were rightly cautioned by the referee. No doubt they will be looking forward to their summer jobs on Blackpool beach.

We were a little fortunate to win this game but I'm not too bothered about that. It makes up for our generosity at Gillingham and Tranmere (and others). I was disappointed with the contributions of Lalkovic and Westcarr but the rest of the team was generally sound. O'Donnell had a fine game and, had the sponsors delayed their choice until the end of the game, he would undoubtedly have won man-of-the-match, instead of Brandy. The defence coped well with Latics' threat. The midfield did not play badly but their control of the game was patchy. Sawyers, in particular, did some nice things and then drifted out of the game for a while.

The big talking-point was, of course, the return of the prodigal son. The announcement of his name before the kick-off met with a mixed reception but he got a fully deserved standing round of applause from the Saddlers fans when he was substituted. He renewed his acquaintance with the Bescot turf on a few occasions, won a couple of free-kicks and generally worked hard. He certainly added a little bit of "fizz" to our attack and, when he is match fit, he could be a vital asset. We still need a decent striker though, no matter what Deano might say publicly.

Returning to the referee, I thought he had a good game apart from one major decision - their penalty. In real time, it looked like a very good tackle but, of course, my opinion may change if I get to see a tv replay. Fortunately, O'Donnell made a tremendous save from Rooney. I can't wait to read his Twitter comments! :mrgreen:

Bring on the Bees!

[chestersaddler]

Attendance 3,522

Magnificent effort by the townsfolk.

[stefano123]

For those of us on the south coast tonight, what was the reception like for Febian Brandy?

[Pedagogue]

For those of us on the south coast tonight, what was the reception like for Febian Brandy?

In my post, above:-

" The announcement of his name before the kick-off met with a mixed reception but he got a fully deserved standing round of applause from the Saddlers fans when he was substituted"

[chestersaddler]

For those of us on the south coast tonight, what was the reception like for Febian Brandy?

In my post, above:-

" The announcement of his name before the kick-off met with a mixed reception but he got a fully deserved standing round of applause from the Saddlers fans when he was substituted"

Not allPedders. There were some nobends in the upper booing him off.