Well, well, well, with all the negativity surrounding on-off transfers, it's safe to say that no sign of negativity was present at the Banks's tonight.
Smith was bold in his team selection, opting for 20-year old new signing, Sam Mansom alongside Cuvelier in the middle and finally giving Bowerman a chance to shine up front from the start.
It was the Blades who had the better of the first half, although we showed discipline in keeping them at arm's length. Ched Evans created the better opportunities for the visitors, chipping just wide of Grof's near post & squirming a shot at Grof from the edge of the box.
We were disrupted temporarily as a knock forced the recently impressive Taundry saw Beevers come on in his place. Whilst Cuvelier and Paterson tried to wriggle free of the Blades' back four, we didn't test opposition 'keeper Steve Simonsen. The first half passed with us lacking a real cutting edge to make life difficult for the makeshift Sheffield United back four.
As we kicked off the second half, little did we know what a 51 minutes (more on that later) we had in store. Paterson picked up a knock within a couple of minutes of the restart, with Nicholls coming on in his place and before long, the stadium was buzzing.
A hopeful punt behind the Sheffield United defence saw Bowerman chase a lost cause and manage to win a corner with all odds stacked against him. From the resulting corner, a perfeclty executed training ground routine saw Hurst roll the ball to Mansom making a run to the near post and he chipped a classy finish into the far top corner. It was the spark the game needed.
Shortly afterwards, a well-worked passage of play down our right resulted in Bowerman's scuffed effort having to be turned around the post by Simonsen as we looked well in the ascendancy.
Walsall wouldn't be Walsall without a blip or two along the way and the impressive Evans held off Butler to backheel a pass to his feet into the path of the onrushing Williamson, who slotted past Grof. With Porter, Beattie & Hoskins still waiting to come on for the Blades, it looked like a tricky finish could be on the cards.
Things got better however as another hopefull ball in behind the Blades' back four was chased by Macken, who bustled his way between two defenders to drive a left-footed finish home. We now had another lead, this time with less time to hold on.
Again however, Utd pegged us back. Lancashire's attempted long ball to Nicholls was cut out and the ball was sent through to Evans in acres of space having beaten an embarrassingly poor offside trap. Despite stumbling, he hammered the ball beyond Grof to equalise once more.
If one thing impressed tonight, it was our bravery. Despite being pegged back twice, we continued to try to build more attacks. Some tidy play down the left freed Sadler to dink over the most teasing of crosses, which Nicholls met to guide beyond the desperate stretch of Simonsen. Now with less than ten minutes to go, holding on seemed to be the aim of the game.
The Blades did threaten and did pump balls into our box, but Lancashire in particular was immense in dealing with everything they threw at us - not least four strikers! We even threatened on the counter attack once or twice, as the imperious performance of Jon Macken allowed us to hold the ball up front and build from there.
Despite a long six minutes of added time (where that came from, I don't know), we held on manfully - much to the relief of some very nervous Saddlers fans.
Man for man, that was the boldest performance I've seen from a Walsall side this season. Macken was rightly given the man of the match award having been awesome throughout and notable mentions should go to Lancashire for a solid defensive display under the cosh, Sadler for being his usual classy self, and debutant Mansom, whose positional sense and eye for a pass relieved pressure a number of times.
Much was said about how the players' confidence took a battering after the result at Brammall Lane in August, but this was payback and then some. Perhaps this mini unbeaten run we're now on could prove to see us to safety after all.
By: Rob Jones