Following Tuesday's game with Tranmere Rovers, sport writer and Total Tranmere podcaster Paul Harper shares his Match Report;
Walsall grabbed themselves a well-deserved point from their visit to top-of-the-table Tranmere Rovers with a 0-0 draw at Prenton Park.
Walsall grabbed themselves a well-deserved point from their visit to top-of-the-table Tranmere Rovers with a 0-0 draw at Prenton Park.
On a cold and blustery evening, conditions weren’t ideal but
the visitors acquitted themselves well and could count themselves a tad
unfortunate not to have gone away with all three points having spurned the best
of the game’s chances.
The first chance of the game fell to Tranmere on 9 minutes.
A cross from the left by Adam McGurk was met by the head of Ash Taylor whose
effort flew over the crossbar.
The Saddlers should have taken the lead on 17 minutes. A
lapse in concentration saw Rovers goalkeeper Owain fon Williams play the ball
out straight to Will Grigg. The striker raced through one-on-one with the
Welshman but his finish was a poor one and the ball went wide of the target.
Midway through the first half, Aaron McCarey saw his first
action of the game as he made an excellent save to deny Cole Stockton. The
young Tranmere striker turned his marker before unleashing a powerful drive
which McCarey tipped around the post.
Grigg caused the Tranmere defence all sorts of problems as
the first half drew to a close. Twice he broke through down the left only to
fire efforts from narrow angles across the face of the goal and wide. Jamie
Paterson fired just wide from 25 yards just before the break but the two sides
went in level at half time.
HT: Tranmere Rovers 0 Walsall 0
Walsall began the second half as they had ended the first.
Fabian Brandy almost finished off a quick counter attack as play went from one
end to the other within seconds. The striker received the ball on the left edge
of the penalty area but his curling shot was tipped around the post by fon
Williams.
The same player was asking the referee for a penalty on the
hour-mark. His goalbound effort deflected wide off Ben Gibson with Brandy
claiming the defender has used his hand. The referee rejected the claims and
gave a corner kick.
Rovers began to pile on a bit of pressure as the game wore
on, but McCarey remained largely untroubled. Zoumana Bakayogo couldn’t control
his header from a fierce Jake Cassidy cross before Andy Robinson poked the ball
wide from a Paul Black cross and so the game finished goalless.
FT: Tranmere Rovers 0 Walsall 0
ATT: 4,717
REF: J, Simpson
Tranmere: Fon Williams, Holmes, Taylor, Gibson, Bakayogo, McGurk (Kirby
78), Harrison, Palmer (Power 86), Robinson, Cassidy, Stockton (Black 64).
Unused
substitutes: Mooney, Kay, Goodison, Eccleston.
Walsall: McCarey, Taundry, Holden, Featherstone, Grigg (Adam Chambers
89), Paterson, Hemmings (Baxendale 78), Brandy (Bowerman 78), Downing, Taylor,
Mantom.
Unused substitutes: Jones, Grof, Benning, James Chambers.
By: Paul Harper