Walsall 0 Yeovil 1
Tuesday 23rd February 2010, 10:00PM GMT.
Walsall were KO’d by former loanee Sam Williams as Yeovil’s early sucker punch floored the Saddlers at the Banks’s Stadium.
Williams’ fifth minute goal – after goalkeeper Clayton Ince spilled Gavin Tomlin’s cross – gave the visitors only their third away win of the season and ended the Saddlers’ hopes of claiming three successive wins.
Troy Deeney came close in the second-half, but Yeovil were comfortable victors.
Sam Adkins made his home debut for Walsall, but there was little to take from a desperately disappointing performance.
Dean Bowditch had already gone close before Williams stabbed in from six yards, after a mix-up between Ince and Manny Smith.
The Saddlers further struggled to impose themselves, as Yeovil held them off.
A lacklustre first-half was followed by a frustrating second with Walsall failing to seriously test Alex McCarthy in the away goal.
Williams fired over after Ince had saved from Bowditch before Deeney and Alex Nicholls were off target, as the home side couldn’t find the equaliser.
UK Sport
Latest Blog — A week is a long time in football
This time last week we were staring down the barrel, third from bottom with a worse record than at the same stage last year, writes Saddlers blogger Mark Jones.
Saddlers Blog
Business Awards
Book a Business Awards table
Join our celebrations of the region's best in business on Thursday March 22 - book your table now
Lifestyle
Interactive Dining Out map
Hundreds of reviews by the Express & Star and Shropshire Star's teams to help you decide where to eat.
entertainment
All the film reviews
Before you plan a trip to the pictures, get our critics' verdicts on all the latest movie releases
OUR NEW APP
Get the new E&S app
Download the Express & Star’s new app to your iPad or iPhone to get one week of access to our digital newspapers absolutely FREE.
expressandstar.com
Popular sections
Useful links
Well Well walsall looked like a club with no future more and more fans are staying away and why not the whole club stinks. i know the performance is down to the manager but the buck must stop with bonser.
again bye bye walsall
Report abuse
Could you explain how we “failed to seriously test” their keeper…?
How do you define “seriously test”?
He didnt have a shot to save!
I doubt picking the ball up from behind the goal and kicking it is regarded as a “test” of his goalkeeping skills.
Report abuse
What a disappointment! After a great performance vs Leeds and a hard-fought win vs Brentford, we can’t beat Yeovil at home! You have to seriously doubt the players’ attitude and pride in playing for Walsall. We have struggled to score goals this season because we lack creativity in midfield – what has happened to Bradley? He doesn’t even look 3rd Division standard any more. We need to get Steve Jones back in the team; we should play 4-5-1 vs Southampton on Saturday. My team would be: Gilmartin; Westlake (if fit), Smith, Macdonald, Vincent; Nicholls, Richards, Taundry, Gray; Jones; Deeney. Subs: Ince, Hughes, Sansara, O’Keefe, Byfield, Adkins, Till (or Bradley).
Report abuse
I sat in Sub-Zero temperatures last night and witnessed a truly depressing awful tepid brand of football served up by Walsall. Who says winning breeds confidence? Without Ince we would have lost 6 or 7 nil, despite his blunder he still made a host of top stops to deny a RAMPANT Yeovil. The club has completley lost it’s focus and direction, it’s not the club i used to look forward to watching but an immitation of a football club!
Report abuse
Inconsistency is the name of the game. I just hope that when we settle down it’s onto the winning side of our inconsistency not the losing side. Only 1 shot on target is poor. Can’t blame the conditions either – they managed 9!!
Report abuse
A mate who hasn’t been for while came along with me last night. Buoyed by recent results, he decided to return! Like many, he is a little disillusioned at the moment.
First off the crowd was embarrassing and the match wasn’t fit for League 2, never mind League 1 (sorry that’s an insult to Yeovil, they did well).
I don’t accept the excuses of the pitch as both teams have to play on it! It is also embarrassing and won’t help us win at home, but it’s the same for both teams!
I couldn’t quite understand the changes CH made again…..becoming a worry that!
My mate won’t be coming again…..he might have the right idea….I just don’t get this team, the inconsistency can’t just be down to ‘lots of games in Feb’????
On a positve note, we have a rest next week…..I am really looking forward to seing the following team play……if CH can just get them fit and switch his brain into picking our best 11.
Ince (only just ahead of Rene, needs to cut our recent mistakes!),
Weston (best right back we have, Westlake ok, but with young central defence we need some experience)
Smith & MacDonald (look good togther and eveloping good partnership),
Vincent,(balances out Weston)
Jones (we have really missed his flare!) Taundry (busy greay to watch, tackles)
Mattis (steady, reads game)
Gray (we need his crosses)
Byfield (good in the air, but not the tallest, only just nicks in front of Nicholls)
Deeney (just keeps scoring)
Lads – those that played on Tuesday, you really need to look at your performance, if you can’t make the pace of a game you need to tell the gaffa………suggest you train harder………..fitness is everything!
I rarely try to predict the outcome of games, because I often get it wrong, but if you play like that again on Sat, you will get thrashed!
However if play like you can and the Saints pitch is a good one, you can win. Right now I would settle for a draw.
SO FRUSTRATING!
Report abuse