To Wycombe and Back

Well 40% of saddlers voted that they expected a draw well done you guys (and gals), the 40% who said home win you are going to need help before the season is out.

Walsall in truth did not give Wycombe a clear chance, and Wycombe went the full 90 minutes without creating a neve jangling moment.

I feel slightly aggrieved that we did not win after all we did creating some good chances in the first half.

We made a great start to the game, and created three decent chances within the first six minutes. This suprised me as much as it did Wycombe. Although Wycombe had pulled the first suprise naming three forwards (Mooney, McGleish and Easter )in the starting line up.

However in true Saddlers style the cataloge of misses started with Hector Sam who had a free header well saved by Ricardo Batista before he was put through moments later one-on-one by Kevin Harper.

Once again Hector had all the time in the world only to shot straight at Wycombes keeper Batista, with the keeper saving well with his legs.

Then to complete the trio of chances, Harper was picked out well by Michael
Dobson ( that could have silenced a few of his critics) but his free header went high and wide.

Wycombe started to wake up and come more into the game, and after 24 minutes Scott McGleish hit a volley from 30 yards that flew wide.This seemed to excite the Wycombe faithful.

Walsall had another glorious chance five minutes later when Martin Butler put Kevin Cooer one-on-one with Ricardo Batista. Result another miss!!!

Wycombe started the second half stronger
and we returned back to our defensive strenghts. A Stefan Oakes free-kick on 56 minutes, was shot straight at keeper Clayton Ince, No problem for the big guy, but this turned out to be there best chance.

We had a decent chance against the run of play on 62 minutes. A long-ball forward put Martin Butler in on goal but his finishing deserted him, should we be worried !

Walsall were camped in their own half for long periods. However our strong defense and Wycombe's lack of idea's in the final third ment the game had really turned into a dull stale mate.

Despite this things could have been all very different. The last real chance of the game fell to Martin Butler, but again keeper Batista did well to smother at his feet with 10 minutes left. The extra two points would have made the table a whole lot more enjoyable.

Wycombes Line-ups
31 Batista
18 Golbourne
26 Crooks
25 Stockley
8 Oakes
4 Martin
15 Doherty
30 Grant
17 McGleish (Ainsworth 83)
16 Mooney
9 Easter
Substitutes
32 Young
2 Christon
3 Palmer
21 Barnes-Homer
7 Ainsworth (McGleish 83)
Walsall's Line-ups
1 Ince
4 Gerrard
3 Fox
5 Westwood
24 Dann
8 Dobson
19 Cooper (Cederqvist 87)
18 Harper (Wrack 52)
12 Keates
10 Sam (Pead 65)
9 Butler
Substitutes
41 Bossu
2 Pead (Sam 65)
20 Demontagnac
7 Wrack (Harper 52)
16 Cederqvist (Cooper 87)


Attendance
5625

Wycombe Wdrs. Cards
Easter 49 unsporting behaviour
Grant 75 unsporting behaviour
Walsall Cards
Cooper 52 unsporting behaviour
Dann 55 unsporting behaviour

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.