[Gary B]

Vale gain a point with a late equaliser from emergency striker Clayton Fortune.

Despite suggestions that the likes of Briscoe would be on the bench Foyle opted for a more experienced group of players to sit this one out. Goodlad was in goal (and his parents were behind the goal) with McGregor, Walsh, Pilkington and James at the back. Cummins, Sonner occupied the midfield and Birchall and Smith were on the flanks as last week, with Constantine being the lone striker. Hector Sam made a welcome return to the bench.

There were so few incidents of real note if this dire game that making a viable list is tricky. On 4 minutes Birchall crossed from the right to Constantine, whose shot hit Mills before being cleared.

Vale embarrassed themselves when an intricate free-kick routine between James and Birchall ened with the ball being cleared rather easily.

On 37 minutes Togwell wide from a cross by James.

On 40 minutes Sonner needed treatment for a bleeding face when caught by the boot of ex-Vale man Simon Osborn.

The half ended with neither side achieving ascendancy with neither keeper really calling on the keepers to extend themselves.

Sam replaced the injured Constantine for the start of the second half.

Walsall looked slightly the livelier side at the start of the second half and on 55 minutes they took the lead. Grant Smith crossed from the left and the ball fell to Constable who fired home from inside the box with Goodlad rushing in vain to try to close him down.

One minute later Cummins had just about Vale's first serious effort on goal when hitting shot powerfully at the keeper.

Vale began to dominate proceedings in an attempt to equalise and Togwell and Cummins both had efforts on goal.

For Walsall Constable came close on 75 minutes but his effort was headed clear by Pilkington.

On 79 minutes Fortune replaced Jeff Smith, having a much quieter game than last week, and joined Sam in attack.

On 87 minutes Fox, a Vale target last Summer, had possession of the ball but lost it under pressure from Birchall. Walsall Boss Broadhurst claims the ball was then played forward by Birchall to the offside Sam. A viewing of the incident on TV this morning shows that the linesman got it right in brilliant fashion - how I will never know. If you look at the TV film it shows that it was actually Fox who passed the ball to Sam and therefore it could not have been offside. Birchall did not play it and it was therefore not offside. Sam laid it off gently to Fortune and his shot found the corner of the net despite the keeper's attempt to save. I think Oakes should have done better. No matter - the Vale fans behind that goal were jubilant.

In added time Walsall had the ball in the Vale net but the ref disallowed it for a foul, much to the annoyance of the Walsall fans and players.

Vale had a bumper 57% of the possession, 5 on-target efforts to their 5, 2 off-target to their 5 and 5 corners to their 2. Constable was booked for Walsall and McGregor and Cummins for Vale. We were originally supposed to be having experienced ref Andy D'Urso but in the event we had Prem ref Chris Foy, which is what it said on the programme. He did not represent the best Prem standards particularly well. If my voice had not given out on me I would have been reminding Foy of this during the game. The attendance was 4876, including a very good following from the Vale.

Last week we saw Vale play well in a brilliant game against Swansea. This game was pretty dire and the Vale were not good. Walsall looked like a doomed team but so did Vale. Walsall have been in freefall recently and have much to do if they are to survive. They seemed to lack all of the qualities required for success, including ability and passion. They have just played three consecutive home games inside a week but have only yesterday's point to show for it. They had few efforts on goal but that was also true of the Vale. When we had an on-target effort on 56 minutes I immediately made a note of that by looking at my watch as it was our first effort on goal requiring the keeper to do anything. Hard to understand why we played this way again against poor opposition. The whole team looked rather lethargic compared to last week. Birchall and Smith did not terrorise the full-backs in the way they did against Swansea and the midfield three did not make much impact. The defence coped comfortably with the limited challenge offered to them by their opponents. Goodlad did not have a lot to do. Hector Sam tried hard in the 45 minutes he was on the pitch but has clearly lost pace during his absence.

The most exciting event of the afternoon was a fire in the kitchens at Bescot Stadium at around 2pm but all was put right in time for kick-off.

We had the usual struggle getting away from Bescot despite the small crowd. This is yet another ground built not so long ago without full consideration having been given to exit arrangements for vehicles.This does not give much encouragement to fans to park at the ground, though many Walsall fans obviously do so.

Bournemouth on Monday. We won down there earlier in the season and should stand a fair chance of completing a double. We may be short of strikers. Briscoe will probably play. It would be great to finish on a high-note and end up around 10th. For once I shall be watching with the top brass in the Directors' Box. Perhaps it is just as well that I have lost my voice as my shouting would not be welcomed over there.

Eddie

[ChrisR]

Don't know why you struggled to get away Eddie. We were pulling onto the motorway just as the theme tune to Sports Report on Radio Five was playing!

[RobW]

B)-->

Despite suggestions that the likes of Briscoe would be on the bench Foyle opted for a more experienced group of players to sit this one out. Goodlad was in goal (and his parents were behind the goal) with McGregor, Walsh, Pilkington and James at the back. Cummins, Sonner occupied the midfield and Birchall and Smith were on the flanks as last week, with Constantine being the lone striker. Hector Sam made a welcome return to the bench.
[/quote]

You have to question the manager's tactics at times. I mean, picking only ten men: it's a fundamental error and a recipe for disaster.

:)

[Jacko]

And a big vote of thanks to the spokesman for the Stoke-on-Trent Society of Pedants for that well thought out response to the match report. :doh1:

This post has been edited by Jacko: 16 April 2006 - 01:22 PM

[MarkyBoy]

Jacko, on Apr 16 2006, 02:21 PM, said:

And a big vote of thanks to the spokesman for the Stoke-on-Trent Society of Pedants for that well thought out response to the match report. :doh1:

Lost your sense of humour Jacko? I thought Rob's reply was a nice bit of humour, had me in a fit of laughter anyway! :happydance:

[RobW]

Jacko, on Apr 16 2006, 02:21 PM, said:

And a big vote of thanks to the spokesman for the Stoke-on-Trent Society of Pedants for that well thought out response to the match report. :doh1:

Christ! Sorry miss.

[Jacko]

Sorry Mark - it probably does seem funny to anyone else. I was just a bit annoyed that it was the only thing Rob could find to comment on in Eddie's report. The bloke is bloody poorly at the moment, no voice, bad throat, feeling totally grotty. Should have stayed in bed but bothered to do the Mailing List report because loads of people in exile tell him how much they rely on it. It's a blooming miracle he remembered what team we were playing and the score, let alone all the other stuff.

[RobW]

I really didn't intend to cause any offence. I am sorry if I have. I wasn't at the match, so have no comments to offer (and Radio Stoke didn't really cover it). It was just a joke. And I would have thought that Eddie would be able to take it - I know him from when I was at school.

[Jacko]

Sorry, Rob. It's just me being ratty.

[TheSage]

I, for one, in temporary exile in the beautiful city of Florence, appreciated Eddie's efforts - so all was not in vain.
However, I also saw the funny side of the response - so let's call it a draw.
From afar, I was pleased with the point. I thought that 54 was enough last week but 55 cements it beyond reasonable doubt.
We do seem to blow hot and cold which is why we are where we are. Good teams don't play well one week, then poorly, then great again, then abysmally. Tranmere & Walsall away? Swansea and MKDons at home? Where is the consistency?
I don't think that many of the players are up to it, week in week out. Too many only perform sporadically. Smith is a case in point.
It will be fascinating to see who we keep and who goes in the summer but as I've said before I think that Foyle has some hard thinking to do. Walsh? Fortune? Where is Abbey? Are McGregor and James up to it as full backs? Sonner - yes or no? The aforementioned Smith, Innes & Doherty? Sam - or has his injury wrecked his fitness? Matthews must surely, but sadly, depart.
It would be nice to finish the season with a flourish. It would also be nice to see both Swindon and Hartlepool go down, along with MKDons and maybe Rotherham. I don't like to see April/May peter out with a whimper so let's hope we can enjoy a few good performances before the close.

[Tosh]

Quote

It will be fascinating to see who we keep and who goes in the summer but as I've said before I think that Foyle has some hard thinking to do. Walsh? Fortune? Where is Abbey? Are McGregor and James up to it as full backs? Sonner - yes or no? The aforementioned Smith, Innes & Doherty? Sam - or has his injury wrecked his fitness? Matthews must surely, but sadly, depart.

Indeed, TheSage, Martin needs to earn his corn when the season ends and even more so during the summer. Who would you keep?

[TheSage]

That's the $64,000 dollar question isn't it?
I hope that Foyle has learned a few lessons this season. Last year, I recall, we were told that we had about 20 equally good players, any of whom could play in the first team. I don't think so.
The real question is - how much money do we have to spend on wages?
The injured crocks have baffled me for months. Apart from the well known suspects, where is Abbey and Rowland? Hulbert too has had a dreadful year.
If money is still tight, no doubt a few of them will continue here, but I would hope that we could do better.
Our dire goalscoring output needs addressing urgently.
I would certainly keep, if possible, Goodlad, Abbey, Pilkington & maybe Walsh. Probably Mcgregor. I am unsure about James, Rowland & Talbot, though it is harsh on the latter. Fortune? I'm not totally convinced but he's probably as good as we could get.
In midfield, I'd let go Innes, Smith & maybe Doherty. Keep Cummins, Togwell hopefully, Sonner and kick Birchall & Dinning up the **** as both can do better.
Up front? Lowndes is under contract, otherwise I'd let him leave. Leon is worth it for his goals but not general play. Husbands - offer him another year. Sam? Deserves another season but is he fit?
Have I left anyone out?
I reckon we have about 10-12 good-ish players, but we need 15-16 to climb the League.
The trouble is the ones we don't have are the ones who cost money! Forwards and creative midfielders, of whom we had 4-5 not so long back and now we have barely 2.
My ideal X1 would be something like -
Goodlad
Abbey
Pilks/Walsh/ANOther
ANOther
Birchall
Cummins
Togwell/Sonner/Dinning
ANOther
Leon
ANOther
I do not envy the manager at all.

[Tosh]

Ideally, I would keep

Mark Goodlad
George Pilkington
Danny Sonner
Michael Walsh
Clayton Fortune
Michael Cummins
George Abbey
Michael Husbands
Leon Constantine
Sam Togwell

[TheSage]

We're thinking along the same lines I think!
I imagine financial constraints might play a part in the Club's decisions.
But I still maintain that with good management we should be able to go close to matching the achievements of clubs like Luton and Colchester.
A quality striker would paper over a lot of cracks.