Yeovil Town (A) League One Tues 3rd March 7.45pm

[SWS1]

Result: :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D
Ratio of attempts to goals: :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :( :(
A very good 3 points but it's obvious we still have problems actually scoring. And winning at home. Sort out both and we is a shoo in for the playoffs. But I ain't optimistic.
Still, I think we have an excellent chance at Wembley as a) it's our kind of pitch, b) we're away and c) it's on the telly!! :mrgreen:

[JonnyOwen]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NwJhuYL49k

[Welsh_Saddler]

Well, I got permission to go almost at the last minute - just got back, still trying to warm up. We made quite hard work of winning against a Yeovil side that honestly didn't have our degree of skill and build-up movement. Three points is very welcome, but really it should have been 0-3 or 0-4 rather than the 0-1. Bradshaw's penalty attempt was weak, he tried to place it low down, but Loach saved with some ease. The home crowd behind the goal took great delight in finding 50 or so torches which they used to try and put Bradshaw off - not sure whether his miss had anything to do with that. Yeovil's penalty (at the same end) attracted no crowd participation, but O'Donnell pulled off a cracking save. Oh, and while we're on the subject of Richard O'Donnell, I think he's currently negotiating renewal of his contract - for my money whatever we are paying him it's not enough. He honestly kept us in the game tonight with several top drawer saves besides the penalty. Man of the match in my book tonight.

As to the team formation, I have to say that Dean Smith did ring the changes, and not just in the starting line-up but during play as well. Baxendale started on the left wing, as befits his No. 11 shirt, but before long he had switched to the right wing and also moved infield to make good runs at Yeovil's defence - he was very unlucky to see one of his attempts bounce back off the far post in the second half, with Loach nowhere.

It's been commented on above that the stats suggested we were having "shots in" - well, yes, it did get a bit like that, with Sawyers, Hiwula, Bradshaw and Baxendale all buzzing round the edge of Yeovil's penalty area looking to have a go. One of Baxendale's forays ended up with (in my biased eyes) him being tripped on the edge of the area, but the Assistant referee
immediately flagged the other way, and the ref booked Baxendale for diving - a bit harsh, I thought.

Defence-wise, we did ride our luck somewhat...Taylor had a very solid game on the left side, but Purkiss tended to venture a bit too far forwards at times, and as a result Yeovil's left-side forwards had quite a few opportunities which were all snuffed out by O'Donnell, thankfully. Yeovil's aerial attacks were usually met by a Chambers head, and that couldn't have been easy because there were a couple of Peter Crouch-like lumps in Yeovil's forward line. (In their defence, too!!).

Sawyers seemed to have a floating role - he could surface anywhere between the penalty areas, and on either side of the pitch. His control can be sublime at times, and it was interesting to see his reaction when something didn't quite work out - he was really exasperated at himself, it's obvious he wants to improve but sometimes it just doesn't come off. The same with Jordy Hiwula - he often dribbled and teased his way into a good shooting position but fluffed his shot....but the positive thing about all our forwards was that they were certainly not afraid to have a go. I enjoyed the interaction between the Walsall supporters and Reece Flanagan when he was called upon to take several corners in quick succession in the second half.

I haven't checked the "official" statistics, but it seems we had more accurate and inaccurate goal attempts at Yeovil than in our last three or four home games put together. This is Dean Smith's conundrum......to replicate the success, attitude, attacking policy, call it what you will, but to replicate all of that in our home games. Over to you, Deano!!!

[Guest]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NwJhuYL49k

Well done, RO'D!

[belgiansaddler]

It's the Walsall way. Pleased for the faithful few who went

[hullsaddler]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7NwJhuYL49k

Well done, RO'D!

Superb save down to his left!

[portlandbill]

Good pitch.Good ref.Great keeper.Possession first half was wrong way round on the BBC website. We had the majority, Yeovil were not in the game until they won a penalty, the miss seemed to inspire them.
My Weymouth and Chelsea supporting mate was very impressed by Reece 'Chesney'Flanagan,and thought he would be man of the match until O'Donnell' late match winning heroics. He chipped in a fabulous ball which we should have scored from.
Baxendale did a really impressive turn stitching the Glovers defence like a kipper.Definitely tripped on the edge of the box.The lino decided wrongly he had dived. Unlucky as it was great skills. He did however have a good game.
Sawyers also looked very classy and does move about the pitch popping up in various places.He also retrieves a lot of balls not by heavy tackling but by clever jostling and nipping in.
Even Grimes looked good in his short appearance and could have( should have) scored at least one.
My only critisism is we don't look sharp enough in the box and need too many touches.
Not a classic but an exciting game, shame we are unlikely to play them next season, only because it is only 40 mins from Weymouth and has great parking!

[tinned]

Smith shook it up and got a result, will anyone give him any credit for that?

I for one am sick of hearing Smith getting slated for having no plan B, well he did tonight and he deserves credit for that! We aren't going down and thank god we aren't going up so why not try some new ideas out and see how it works.

Smith has done wonders for this club and its about time he got some credit.

What? One of the worst home records (over more than one season) for a long time? Cracking.

Same question as ever who would do better we are a division two club in terms of wages and attendances, my guess he doesn't get a whopping salary either, bring back Dog Face, Merson or Jan ??

Perhaps if the results/performances over the past two years were better then we would get bigger gates and be able to offer better wages! The last two years of home games is no way going to entice more to attend regularly.

Why, to some, does changing manager equal having a Merson or Hutchings back? We could easily get a Money or Graydon.

[tinned]

Smith shook it up and got a result, will anyone give him any credit for that?

I for one am sick of hearing Smith getting slated for having no plan B, well he did tonight and he deserves credit for that! We aren't going down and thank god we aren't going up so why not try some new ideas out and see how it works.

Smith has done wonders for this club and its about time he got some credit.

What? One of the worst home records (over more than one season) for a long time? Cracking.

One of the best away records. If he can sort us out at home, which I think is more likely than us losing our away form then we're in with a promotion shout. Well done Deano. When we lose and you criticise I kind of get it, when we win... give it a rest.

You have much more faith than I that Smith will sort our home form out, rather than lose the magic touch away from home.

If I criticised when we lost but shut up when we won I'd have comments about only posting when the result suited my argument. Over the past two years I have gradually come to the conclusion that Smith is not the answer. The odd favourable result does not change my thinking (a long term upturn in performances/results would obviously change my views). Fingers crossed, eh?

[sandysaddler]

http://youtu.be/Fbdyv6KMlas

[Guest]

Excellent highlights!

[Asps]

A great result. All forgiven until the next home match. :mrgreen:

[philthesaddler]

Jesus, Yeovil look piss poor, no wonder we managed to win

[Walsallone]

Typical Phil-don't give us any credit at all! Still not as daft as our "lucky" 3-0 demolition of MK Dons!

[philthesaddler]

Typical Phil-don't give us any credit at all! Still not as daft as our "lucky" 3-0 demolition of MK Dons!

We were lucky at MK Dons - and just look at the chances we conceded last night, and were it not for a poor bit of goal keeping we'd have probably lost that game 1-0.

[aaaae]

Typical Phil-don't give us any credit at all! Still not as daft as our "lucky" 3-0 demolition of MK Dons!

We were lucky at MK Dons - and just look at the chances we conceded last night, and were it not for a poor bit of goal keeping we'd have probably lost that game 1-0.

A 3-0 away win is lucky! FFS - get a grip man!

[Welsh_Saddler]

On one of the Yeovil forum message boards it states that the player that Bradshaw had that early clash with was taken by ambulance to hospital, and had lost several teeth with the possibility of a fractured cheekbone. There seems to have been no malice in the challenge - Bradshaw suffered a fractured eye-socket, it was just one of those unfortunate head-to-head bangs that happens from time to time. The referee did talk at length to Bradshaw, but no card was shown.

[tinned]

From seeing the footage I can't for the life of me see why they were so incensed about the collision. it was just two players going innocently for the same ball.

[reedswood sadler]

A welcome 3 points glad to be proved wrong after that match sat thought we would blow it. Yes we should beat yeovil but that applied to vale and orient as well and look what happened there.Just watched highlights big thank you to odonnell get him signed up quick.

[Welsh_Saddler]

From seeing the footage I can't for the life of me see why they were so incensed about the collision. it was just two players going innocently for the same ball.

I totally agree. Unfortunately the highlights don't show Baxendale's booking, which I feel was quite unjust. He was booked for "diving", but in reality he played the ball past the Yeovil defender, and I was close enough to hear the familiar sound of boot against boot, that kind of click-clacking noise, and Baxendale ended up spreadeagled on the pitch. The linesman immediately flagged but pointed his flag in Yeovil's favour, and the referee booked Baxendale. :roll:

[scott_powell]

Typical Phil-don't give us any credit at all! Still not as daft as our "lucky" 3-0 demolition of MK Dons!

We were lucky at MK Dons - and just look at the chances we conceded last night, and were it not for a poor bit of goal keeping we'd have probably lost that game 1-0.

What an absolute fool you are.

[Whitters]

Jesus, Yeovil look piss poor, no wonder we managed to win

Great highlights.
Yeovil don't look poor at all phil - watch it again.
Was our goal partly a goalie mistake - he looked great then dodgy?

[Andy_Petterson]

Jesus, Yeovil look piss poor, no wonder we managed to win

Great highlights.
Yeovil don't look poor at all phil - watch it again.
Was our goal partly a goalie mistake - he looked great then dodgy?

Yes. Looked like a mistake to me.

[Wragbyred]

Typical Phil-don't give us any credit at all! Still not as daft as our "lucky" 3-0 demolition of MK Dons!

We were lucky at MK Dons - and just look at the chances we conceded last night, and were it not for a poor bit of goal keeping we'd have probably lost that game 1-0.

philthedingle with his usual comments after any Walsall win, no mention of the chances we created, or that the Yeovil keeper was MOM
Gets quite tiresome after a while.
If we had lost it 1-0 it would have all been Dean Smiths fault, nothing to do with the players not doing the job they are paid to do.

[ShropsSaddler]

From seeing the footage I can't for the life of me see why they were so incensed about the collision. it was just two players going innocently for the same ball.

Now my first reaction was that, if that had been our defender and an opposition player, I'd be incensed.Bradshaw was second to the ball and was a little late in the challenge. It's one of those that you want your player to be going in for but, in the modern game, it's just not allowed. I'm not suggesting any malice, but as an away player, I think we can count ourselves a bit lucky that he didn't get sent off for that.

Two other things struck me about the highlights. Firstly, I don't think it was a keeper error for our goal. Hiwula hits the ball low and hard from relatively close in. I don't think the keeper has time to get down. It's one of those that could come off your leg and it looks a good save, or it goes in. Anyway, even if it was his error, a couple of the other saves he made were goal-savers.

Secondly, I thought the booking of Purkiss was harsh. He stuck his foot out for a challenge but got it wrong. No malice, no aggression, no intent. He knew straight away it was a penalty and didn't protest. So why book him? And yet, as far as I could see, the keeper didn't get booked for our penalty? Again, in the modern game, that challenge is at least a yellow.

Oh, one final thing, O'Donnell was superb. It's great to see how he has progressed into an excellent keeper. A huge pat on the back to Dean Smith for seeing the need for a good coach and for seeing the potential in RO'D, for Neil Cutler for all the work he's done and, of course, to RO'D himself for really making the most of his abilities.

[paddy]

From seeing the footage I can't for the life of me see why they were so incensed about the collision. it was just two players going innocently for the same ball.

Watching the highlights it was right in front of the linesman, and there was no reaction from the other Yeovil players, or bench. Moaning about it after the game just looks like sour grapes

[SWS1]

The highlights make it look more even than the statistics seem to indicate. It's certainly true that, but for some excellent saves by RO'D, Yeovil could well have had 2 or 3 goals. Equally (although the highlights don't really show this), but for their goalkeeper (and maybe a bit of weak finishing here and there) we could possibly have had 4 or 5. This is all a bit academic (near misses don't count!) and we still seem to have a lot of difficulty turning possession and chances into goals; it's been the same more or less all season. However, if DS can keep O'Donnell and the core of this (relatively) young team together, and they make the kind of progress one would hope (especially in the finishing department), the future could be bright. Just a bit (a bit) of extra bulk/muscle on some of them could make a world of difference!
Lots of ifs and buts there, but you have to be optimistic to support Walsall, n'est-ce pas?
:D

[Guest]

From the Western Gazette:


The Glovers were comprehensively outplayed in the first half as a Walsall side that had gone into the game without a win in four games cut through the home defence like a hot knife through butter.

Read more: http://www.westerngazette.co.uk/Terry-S ... z3TZOexUWV

[aaaae]

The Glovers were comprehensively outplayed in the first half as a Walsall side that had gone into the game without a win in four games cut through the home defence like a hot knife through butter.

[UTS mode]Pah! The knife was barely lukewarm and the butter had been left out of the fridge on top of the oven![/UTS mode]

:mrgreen:

[NEWPORT SADDLERS DAD]

This has convinced me that ROD should be player of the year.Without him this season could well have been a disaster.