MK Dons (A) League One Sunday 28 Dec, 3pm

[JonnyOwen]

The game today reminded me of the Swindon game away last season, defensively resolute and counter attacked with direct pace and power.

Great win. MK's ground is so nicely built - such a shame that MK Dons is in that stadium and not a real team. It was eerily quiet at times, like quiet to where you feel people were actively trying to keep the noise to nothing when you consider there were 9000 people there.

[SoccerHQ]

With Cain, I honestly think it's been a masterstroke.

O.k he isn't the finished article but look at the record since he started playing from Crawley away. Would the team have picked up the same points with Flanagan or Clifford playing, I doubt it.

I think Cain has helped Adam Chambers aswell with his mobility. It's a good pairing for this level.

[Big Dave wfc]

Good performance, with a hefty slice of luck in the 4th minute which played right in to our hands.

From then on all we had to do was soak up the pressure and hit them on the break. For the rest of the first half they had a lot of the ball, but we stood firm. Grigg rarely threatened, nor did bowditch thanks to the fact that our two excellent fullbacks starved their forwards of any decent service.

2nd half they started well as expected, but we stood firm, and as their desperation grew, they left huge gaps at the back, again playing in to our hands and allowing us to hit them on the break. Aside from Bradshaws two goals, Cook came very close twice and Forde was guilty of wasting another couple of good breaks.

Smash and grab? Yes, but mk dons were surprisingly poor.

If we'd not got that early goal, we'd have struggled, but it gave us a platform to play to our strength away from home.

I thought o'Connor was superb, barely put a foot wrong, same for Taylor and the Chambers brothers.

Cook and Forde enjoyed the large pitch with space to run, and Sawyers, after a poor first half, started to find space in the 2nd and improved.

Cain was solid without being spectacular and Bradshaw was in the right place at the right time, and nearly had a 3rd.

Don't understand why their keeper wasn't sent off as we scored our second, he deliberately handled the ball outside the area trying to prevent a goal scoring opportunity, thankfully Bradshaw still scored, but the keeper was only given a yellow card. The ref was generally poor, showing a lot of inconsistency.

A word for the stadium, it is excellent, probably the best I've ever been to. Roomy, comfortable, great views, and when more than a quarter full, the atmosphere must be great. How I wish we had a ground like that, and such a shame that a club that shouldn't exist has a ground like that.

Can't even believe you dare post let alone give a match analysis! You said something along the lines of mad are the fans who think we stand a chance against mk!

Well there you go a well deserved 3-0. Maybe we will maybe we won't make the play offs none of us have a crystal ball but to say we do t have a chance, you don't have rattle off some garbage, suggest you do what I said last time, shut your pie hole forskin breath

[Welsh_Saddler]

Don't understand why their keeper wasn't sent off as we scored our second, he deliberately handled the ball outside the area trying to prevent a goal scoring opportunity, thankfully Bradshaw still scored, but the keeper was only given a yellow card. The ref was generally poor, showing a lot of inconsistency.

According to the BBC statistics the only booking of the game was Bradshaw, for over-zealous celebration.

[Exile]

Had two dreams about this game last night. In the first we got thumped 5-0, in the second we won 8-5. Waking up to see we won by the margin was surreal.

We'll done Deano and the lads; perfect riposte to Boxing Day.

[aaaae]

Don't understand why their keeper wasn't sent off as we scored our second, he deliberately handled the ball outside the area trying to prevent a goal scoring opportunity, thankfully Bradshaw still scored, but the keeper was only given a yellow card. The ref was generally poor, showing a lot of inconsistency.

According to the BBC statistics the only booking of the game was Bradshaw, for over-zealous celebration.

Didn't one of the Chambers get booked for hacking down Grigg?

[Welsh_Saddler]

Don't understand why their keeper wasn't sent off as we scored our second, he deliberately handled the ball outside the area trying to prevent a goal scoring opportunity, thankfully Bradshaw still scored, but the keeper was only given a yellow card. The ref was generally poor, showing a lot of inconsistency.

According to the BBC statistics the only booking of the game was Bradshaw, for over-zealous celebration.

Didn't one of the Chambers get booked for hacking down Grigg?

Regrettably I wasn't there, but both the BBC and Sky websites only show Bradshaw's booking (unsporting behaviour).

[latviancheese]

Great to see such a positive reaction to the Boxing Day shambles. Not surprised to see Henry taken out of the firing line but he has done well, though. I was, however, surprised to see Purkiss relegated to the bench. He was one of the few to emerge with any credit against Swindon.

I disagree, i thought Purkiss was exposed against Swindon, and MK Dons are also a side full of pace. It turned out to be a mini masterstroke anyway. Perhaps he didnt have the legs for another game anyway.

Still, that win today has put a smile on my face, as im currently bogged down with a chest infection Bradshaw is the perfect tonic.

UTS

[SoccerHQ]

Pretty happy to see Grigg start today, Chambers and Downing are comfortable against players with limited pace.

Afobe would've been a whole different challenge, cheers you fat Scouse Idiot Robinson. :)

[PT]

Result of the season so far. Brilliant response to Boxing Day.

Half way through the season and half way up (or indeed down) the league.

In a typically Walsall way we have only been beaten by two teams from the top half and yet have suffered five defeats at the hands of those in the bottom half. With four of our next five games against sides from the bottom half, January is mossiv in deciding whether we mount an unlikely promotion charge or have to settle for mid table. On paper after today, it should be the former but today demonstrates that applying any kind of logic to the potential fortunes of Walsall FC is futile. And I guess that's why we love it!

[SWS1]

My guess is a loss win or draw for either team. This accurate guess is based on reading the selective statistical analysis of the leading experts in the field of selling books with catchy titles to teachers and road surface cleansing technicians. Recommended further reading includes Russell Grant's guide to the cause and effect of wearing sparkly jewellery on the outcome of a football match and Russell Brand's latest tome entitled 'Suck my stump West Am bitch'.

Message board to be joined by contributors from Ulan Bator after the game who recognise SMITHOUT as the one true messiah.

:lol:
Nice one - or two.
:lol:

[SWS1]

When I saw the Swindon result, I thought "Where did THAT come from?" as we were playing well, with confidence and keeping things tight.
When I saw the Dongs result, I thought "Where did THAT come from?" as we seemed to have lost our mojo (on Friday). Makes you wonder whether it really was "the day off" wot done it. :shock:
Whatever you do, don't support Walsall for a quiet life! :lol:

What a result! :D Made my week - only two days of disappointment before redemption! :D

[Wragbyred]

[quote="philthesaddler"]Good performance, with a hefty slice of luck

If we'd not got that early goal, we'd have struggled

Cook and Forde enjoyed the large pitch /quote]

So Downings slip on Friday was not unlucky but the managers fault?
How do you know we would have struggled?
Mk pitch is only 1 yard wider than the Bescot

[Ancient Moaner]

Two pages, where there thousands at Franchise today or something?! :lol:

Brilliant result, loved it when Walsall smash that fraud of a club. Going to be an interesting second half of the season methinks as long as Bradshaw stays fit.

Edit: Anything you want to say Ancient Moaner? :wink:

Resting at home after a miserable trip to the Bezza followed by a TIA, just got in from Wigan General again, it's 12.09 Monday morning and my gob has been truly smacked, a win which must rank along with that similarly famous 3-0 victory at Sunderland all those years ago when we had gone on a 17 match losing streak. All those coupon certainties well and truly scuppered, what is it about Gurrole Worsul? We always do it, the most guaranteed home win on the coupons and we blow it, the bookies will be even richer tonight!
Well done the lads, makes up for the humiliation of Boxing Day!
UTS

[philthesaddler]

Can't even believe you dare post let alone give a match analysis! You said something along the lines of mad are the fans who think we stand a chance against mk!

Well there you go a well deserved 3-0. Maybe we will maybe we won't make the play offs none of us have a crystal ball but to say we do t have a chance, you don't have rattle off some garbage, suggest you do what I said last time, shut your pie hole forskin breath

Oh cack sorry, having an opinion precludes me from, err, having an opinion? Makes sense.

I wouldn't put today down as a well deserved 3-0. That wasn't a 3-0 performance.

We turned up and were gifted a very early goal against a good side. In betting terms, we had a 1-0 handicap. An ideal position to be in, we didn't have to try and win the game, we could sit back and ride our luck and wait for gaps to appear as they got more and more frustrated.

Some would say, it was an ideal set up for an away game.

Morons, on the other hand, think we went there and played them off the park. Had we not been gifted an early goal, this would have been a very different game, but that's football, you get some good luck, you get some bad luck.

I am of the opinion Dean Smith will never get us near the top 6, which I believe should be our realistic target. He might even get us embroiled in a late season relegation battle if we get a few injuries thanks to his policy of building and maintaining a squad containing 8 full backs and just 2 strikers.

Too many walsall fans are happy to accept mediocrity season in season out. To you guys, 11th is a great season, to me it's not. You are the reason this club never achieves anything because you are simply happy with not failing, success is not finishing last to you. You sound like Villa fans FFS.

[Welsh_Saddler]

Too many walsall fans are happy to accept mediocrity season in season out. To you guys, 11th is a great season, to me it's not. You are the reason this club never achieves anything.

Optimistic Walsall fans are the reason the club never achieves anything - I've never heard such a load of claptrap. :roll:

[Guest]

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M1aO2lpgM8s&feature=youtube_gdata_player

[ChopperWFC]

Couldn't make the trip yesterday as looking after the nipper but then turned out I could make the footy just not the travelling bit on time . Decided to go to Kiddy v Southport last minute. Awful football on a pig of a ground. However the catering was sublime !!!
Anyway well done to the lads that's as good a result you can get and all the better as it was Franchise. Can't wait for El Classico . :D

[Big Dave wfc]

Can't even believe you dare post let alone give a match analysis! You said something along the lines of mad are the fans who think we stand a chance against mk!

Well there you go a well deserved 3-0. Maybe we will maybe we won't make the play offs none of us have a crystal ball but to say we do t have a chance, you don't have rattle off some garbage, suggest you do what I said last time, shut your pie hole forskin breath

Oh cack sorry, having an opinion precludes me from, err, having an opinion? Makes sense.

I wouldn't put today down as a well deserved 3-0. That wasn't a 3-0 performance.

We turned up and were gifted a very early goal against a good side. In betting terms, we had a 1-0 handicap. An ideal position to be in, we didn't have to try and win the game, we could sit back and ride our luck and wait for gaps to appear as they got more and more frustrated.

Some would say, it was an ideal set up for an away game.

Morons, on the other hand, think we went there and played them off the park. Had we not been gifted an early goal, this would have been a very different game, but that's football, you get some good luck, you get some bad luck.

I am of the opinion Dean Smith will never get us near the top 6, which I believe should be our realistic target. He might even get us embroiled in a late season relegation battle if we get a few injuries thanks to his policy of building and maintaining a squad containing 8 full backs and just 2 strikers.

Too many walsall fans are happy to accept mediocrity season in season out. To you guys, 11th is a great season, to me it's not. You are the reason this club never achieves anything because you are simply happy with not failing, success is not finishing last to you. You sound like Villa fans FFS.

Lol that's how to embarrass yourself, season before last he got us near the play offs did he not? We are 3 points off the play offs now, is that correct? A relegation fight what the hell are you drinking?

I don't accept failure, I just appreciate the fact we are up against it for a number of reasons, poor budget being massive compared to even some in the league who will happily get themselves in debt to get promoted, we were the better team on the day yesterday and that is not deniable.

You just can't wait for us to slip up and your a so call supporter, it's pathetic!

[Walsallone]

oh dear Phil what a silly post.Big Dave is right -you have no idea about the game. To claim our victory yesterday was down to luck yet our defeat on Boxing day was down to mismanagement is rubbish. You could equally claim the opposite-our defeat was down to luck and our victory down to superb management. My view is that we lost because for 10 minutes we were outplayed by a good team and we won because we played well for 90+minutes against a good team.

[WFC_Rob]

I am of the opinion Dean Smith will never get us near the top 6, which I believe should be our realistic target. He might even get us embroiled in a late season relegation battle if we get a few injuries thanks to his policy of building and maintaining a squad containing 8 full backs and just 2 strikers.

Blimey, talk about glass half empty. There's no more to say we'll end up struggling than there is to say we'll make a charge for the playoffs. Personally, I prefer just to enjoy the reasonably decent run we're on at the moment - Swindon aside, of course.

[SWS1]

It urines me off a bit when we start getting at each other instead of discussing footy-related issues. It is perfectly possible to have differences of opinion about whether Smithout or Smithin should be manager, whether we are employing the right tactics, which players had a good game, whether this or that player deserves a contract, whether we deserved our win or were lucky and so on, without fulminating about the personal qualities of the opinionees. There is no good reason to question the motives or even the parentage or brainpower of the holders of those opinions, except, possibly, as a leg-pull. It is, of course, possible to question the source and validity of the evidence for those opinions (in a suitably professional way).
One thing I will say is that I do respect the opinions more of those who get to matches and are therefore able to form many opinions on players and tactics from first hand experience. As I am too far away to get to more than a few games a season, I try to limit my comments to various expressions of joy or despair, as appropriate, along with general opinions not related to matters whereof I do not have cognisance (stuff Oi dow now about).
I now have the dilemma of trying to decide which emoticon (smiley) to employ at the termination of this diatribe.
Hmm. Too hard.

[WFC_Rob]

I've only just seen that they were 12 unbeaten before we beat them. As far as a response to a 4-1 home defeat are concerned, it doesn't get much better than that.

[SaigonSaddler]

I'd just like to applaud Smith for his decision to rest the players on Xmas day, as it clearly directly resulted in our well rested players smashing the jaded McDongs.

Some of the MK reaction has been a little OTT:

"We're doomed, DOOMED"
"We should have rested on Xmas day, unprofessional, managerial incompetence of the highest order"
"We should wear more red in our kit - a key difference between the two teams"
"Walsall wore more hats in training, this played out as expected over the 90 minutes"

:D

[SaigonSaddler]

Can't even believe you dare post let alone give a match analysis! You said something along the lines of mad are the fans who think we stand a chance against mk!

Well there you go a well deserved 3-0. Maybe we will maybe we won't make the play offs none of us have a crystal ball but to say we do t have a chance, you don't have rattle off some garbage, suggest you do what I said last time, shut your pie hole forskin breath

Oh cack sorry, having an opinion precludes me from, err, having an opinion? Makes sense.

I wouldn't put today down as a well deserved 3-0. That wasn't a 3-0 performance.

We turned up and were gifted a very early goal against a good side. In betting terms, we had a 1-0 handicap. An ideal position to be in, we didn't have to try and win the game, we could sit back and ride our luck and wait for gaps to appear as they got more and more frustrated.

Some would say, it was an ideal set up for an away game.

Morons, on the other hand, think we went there and played them off the park. Had we not been gifted an early goal, this would have been a very different game, but that's football, you get some good luck, you get some bad luck.

I am of the opinion Dean Smith will never get us near the top 6, which I believe should be our realistic target. He might even get us embroiled in a late season relegation battle if we get a few injuries thanks to his policy of building and maintaining a squad containing 8 full backs and just 2 strikers.

Too many walsall fans are happy to accept mediocrity season in season out. To you guys, 11th is a great season, to me it's not. You are the reason this club never achieves anything because you are simply happy with not failing, success is not finishing last to you. You sound like Villa fans FFS.

Woe, woe and thrice woe. Who'd have thought we'd won at all. :|

Not going to add anything more inflammatory except that your recent submissions have been amongst some of the most venal, misguided and wilfully ignorant judgements I've ever read on this or any other football related messageboard. I can actually visualise you thrashing about in agony as each and every Walsall goal went in, fleeing in tears before the humiliation of the final whistle.

:oops:

[aaaae]

I'd just like to applaud Smith for his decision to rest the players on Xmas day, as it clearly directly resulted in our well rested players smashing the jaded McDongs.

Some of the MK reaction has been a little OTT:

"We're doomed, DOOMED"
"We should have rested on Xmas day, unprofessional, managerial incompetence of the highest order"
"We should wear more red in our kit - a key difference between the two teams"
"Walsall wore more hats in training, this played out as expected over the 90 minutes"

:D

Ahhh! Now it all becomes clear! Well done Deano.... :D

[PT]

I'd just like to applaud Smith for his decision to rest the players on Xmas day, as it clearly directly resulted in our well rested players smashing the jaded McDongs.

Some of the MK reaction has been a little OTT:

"We're doomed, DOOMED"
"We should have rested on Xmas day, unprofessional, managerial incompetence of the highest order"
"We should wear more red in our kit - a key difference between the two teams"
"Walsall wore more hats in training, this played out as expected over the 90 minutes"

:D

:lol: :lol: ( I'm getting into emoticons for 2015, just bear with me as I get the hang)

I was extremely short-sighted 8) in my view of having Christmas Day off and now feel a bit embarrassed :oops: having seen Mr Smith's longer term vision. :arrow:

I still have two gripes :evil: :evil: though. Charging us to watch the Boxing Day training session that set up yesterday's victory is the first. No doubt this was of Mr Bonser's doing and whilst it proved to be a valuable work-out for the players was just another money-making scam. Boo :idea: This, together with the club shop not stocking the away socks from our 1938 Golden anniversary season,has left me feeling sad :( , confused :? and green :mrgreen:

. /\,/\ and (.) the lot of them.

[DawleyDick]

I am flabbergasted. On the Football League Show last night when discussing our win over MK Dons they mentioned that we had paid a fee for Bradshaw!! I did not know that. Does anyone know how much we paid? Whatever it was, it was money well spent.

[SWS1]

Shock horror! :shock: Fee paid by Walsall? :shock: Come off it. :roll: Sounds as unlikely as Blackadder giving Baldrick a rise and a day off. :lol:
Anyone with information about this unlikely event, cough up the gen. We must be told! :shock: :?

[Sadsfan]

I assumed that they were talking about the compensation we paid the shrews, as he is under 24 and was offered a contract - so he couldn't go on a Bosman.