Well played FattyA trip to the Black Country to take on Walsall who we belted twice last season. They are showing signs of recovery having been bottom virtually all season, which meant that Chris Hutchings got sacked. Their new manager is Dean Smith who I’ve never heard of, but since he came in they are now in striking distance of safety. The Banks’s Stadium is the relatively new name for the Bescot, which is what it was called the last time I went there – to see a gig by The Wonder Stuff in 1991ish. So, Welcome to the Cheap Seats...
When we were rubbish at Hartlepool, Nigel kept the same starting XI and subs for the next game. In that game, we won 4-1 and so he decides to tinker. Yes, we expected Barnard and Schneiderlin to play but we did not expect Alex Chamberlain to be on the bench with Chaplow playing down the right hand side. I can see the value of playing all three central midfielders if you have two attacking wingers as well but no, much better to play someone out of position. The Gulyman was injured and his place on the bench was taken by Ryan Dickson who had found time to train this week, in between trying to save Plymouth Argyle on Twitter. Also present was the returning Iffy Forecast who became the latest keeper to sit on the bench and wonder what Kelvin has to do to get dropped. When Ollie Lancashire left Saints and signed for Walsall, it was on condition (a Walsall Pact if you will) that he played in every single game against Saints on account of him being shite. The pact was honoured and he took his place against us.
We didn’t have to wait too long for Chaplow to be back in the centre of midfield as Schneiderlin got forward and hammered in a shot which was saved by Walker (Size of a Cow – that’s enough Wonder Stuff references) and Morgan was clattered by a defender as he shot and came off worse. He limped on for a couple of minutes before being replaced with Dany N’Guessan who, being naturally left footed, went to the right while right footed Lallana stayed on the left – yes, it still bugs me and will continue to do so until Nigel tells me why he does this.
Two more chances quickly followed by the quarter hour mark as Saints dominated with both Barnard and Sir Rickie testing the keeper with angled shots that he saved relatively comfortably. Saints were creating chances with decent build up play revolving around the front two, Lallana and N’Guessan who never really looks like he knows what he’s doing.
Also not knowing what he was doing was the referee who intercepted a Walsall clearance with his backside and passed to Sir Rickie who again fed Barney who forced another save from Walker who was already beginning to get a bit fat and annoying. Walsall managed the odd foray into our half and had a couple of half chances, first with Ledesma taking time off from diving about to fire over from miles out and then Gray cutting in from the right wing and firing just wide of the far post. If it had been on target then I have no confidence that Kelvin would have saved it.
The rest of the goalless first half was played out with a constant stream of pressure towards the Walsall goal but Walker and his defenders, including Ollie Lancashire managed to stand firm in the face of further efforts by Hammond and Jaidi.
The procession continued at the start of the second half with a nice move between Harding, Lallana and Barnard leaving Chaplow with a chance which he fired over. Jaidi then nearly made it 2 goals from 2 games when he rose like a very large salmon and headed just over the bar. Then the most agonising near miss as Fonte hammered goalwards with an effort that had ‘GOAL!’ written all over it but he may be a fat bastard but he’s still got his reflexes and Walker somehow stuck out a foot to keep it out. Bastard.
The Radio Solent fed that I was listening to through SaintsPlayer then packed up and we were very kindly given conmmentary from Fratton Park – so, I moved as quickly as Alex Chamberlain flying down the wing and switched to the Walsall commentary on Raydio Brummie which echoed the Exeter commentary from a few weeks back by being both funny and incredibly biased at the same time.
Whilst this change of Radio stations was taking place, unbelievably.... but totally believably, we managed to go 1-0 behind as Jaidi misjudged a bit punt upfield and only managed to head it into the path of Jon Macken whose lobbed finish was made easier by the fact that Davis was 20 yards out of his goal, completely in no mans land. He may have well have been in Nomansland which is on the A36 to Salisbury. Jon Macken was on the bench at Man City once when Stuart Pearce wanted to send on a striker to try and rescue a game – he sent on David James, a then 35 year old goalkeeper instead as he thought he’d have more impact. Anyway – piss take aside, he’s just scored against us.
The sub was then subbed with Chamberlain coming on for N’Guessan and he put the fear up the Walsall defenders with a run and cross from the right which Barnard headed goalwards where it was cleared of the line, moments before Chaplow steamed in to try and add the final touch. Lallana then got the left bye line and pulled back for Sir Rickie to hammer goalwards and see his shot deflected wide. It’s not going to happen is it....
We lobbed big Radhi up front for the last five minutes and he came as close as anyone when another Chamberlain cross was headed skywards by a defender and Jaidi connected well with a left foot volley which flew narrowly wide. We had a penalty shout for handball and Barnard firing just wide – Jimmy Walker was announced as Man of the Match and the final whistle blew. Unbelievably, given the totally one sided nature of the preceding 90 minutes – we had lost.
Jesus... as losses go, this one is pretty unbearable. We spend the game peppering their goal, fatty saves everything and we lose 1-0, ridiculous. We created a lot of good chances with decent football and on its own it could be written off but we seemed to have slipped into an away game malaise of sorts with poorish results in the last 3 away games. All 3 of these games have been different with different problems – Peterborough our defending was woeful, Hartlepool we never got going, Walsall we missed a load of chances. Should have got 9 points, instead we got 2. You could argue that we were unlucky today but the bottom line is that we lost and it’s an abysmal result against a spirited but really, really limited side.
Well – we still have two games in hand on second placed Bournemouth but tonight’s was a banker and we blew it and the 6 point gap suddenly looks a bit larger. I had the next game (away at Colchester) down as a draw but a draw is no longer good enough for that fixture. It’s hard to see how Nigel can freshen the side up as there are no options up front with Forte and Guly being injured and Morgan’s injury means the midfield picks itself as well. The defence, in all honesty, doesn’t need changing so expect Richardson and Dickson to start.
Bollocks!!!
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