Yesterday evening Walsall Football Club made the short trip to Coles Lane to take on Sutton Coldfield Town in the first round of the Birmingham Senior Cup. Bescot Banter columnist Hillary Street-Ender was in attendance, and shares his match report below.
Playing our young lads in a competition such as
this has to be a good idea, as facing opponents of their own age in regular
league games is one thing but coming up against players who are, perhaps, out
to prove a point offers a different challenge. The Royals’ side – if the stats
in the programme are anything to go on – is made up of a core of hard-bitten
first-team regulars plus a smattering of younger players and Town manager Neil
Tooth had commented that their league form has been such that he’s had to stick
with the starting eleven, as far as possible, that’s done so well so far so
wants to use this fixture to give game time to a few other lads. We kick off
and the confident-looking home side attack from the off, looking pacey and
dangerous and, as is always the case with this type of game, wanting to knock
the Football League side out of it’s stride as early as possible. They don’t so
much knock us out of it as we fail to get into it and it isn’t long before the
Saddlers trail to a header from the unmarked Robinson, who finds the net with
little trouble. Not a great start but only fifteen minutes have elapsed so no
need to panic yet. The twenty minute mark passes just before we go further
behind when youngster Nadat cuts inside and fires an excellent low finish wide
of MacGillivray to make the scoreline a fair reflection of the play we’ve seen
so far. It’s not been good but from this point we begin to look threatening in
attack and the game becomes a more balanced affair. We halve the deficit just
after the half-hour when Morris tucks away a low, angled shot after finding
space in the area and we level just prior to the break when keeper Evans
parries a shot and Reid is on hand to slide home the loose ball at the end of a
spell of sustained pressure. We end the half playing much better than when we’d
started and probably just about meriting being level as the players leave the
field.
Having watched the first half from the main stand
I take up position near the goal we’ll be attacking in the second period and
wait for us to continue in similar vein, except it never really happens. We
have our fair share of the ball in the Royals’ half but do little with it with
and possession is squandered at an alarming rate. Our horrendous defending of
the first twenty five minutes is apparent and the back four regularly falls
apart like the first Weetabix in a new tube. Sutton’s third arrives as we enter
the final thirty minutes, courtesy of a shot lashed into the top near corner –
a very decent finish – with Nadat notching his second of the evening. Five more
minutes and things become even worse as the home side adds a fourth, Town
attacking at will and looking likely to find the net every time. The game is
now well and truly lost and the Saddlers fans present are hoping that the
scoreline doesn’t take on a truly embarrassing look. We’re into the final ten
minutes when Sutton net a fifth and us Saddlers just want it all to end. Morris
grabs a consolation effort for us deep into stoppage time but it doesn’t alter
the fact that our lads have been well and truly shown up.
The Birmingham Senior Cup offers our lads a
realistic chance of winning a trophy of very long-standing and gaining a
winner’s medal without playing all that many games. You’d never have guessed it
from this performance.
F/T: Sutton Coldfield Town 5 (Robinson, Nadat (2), Sheldon, Brown) WALSALL 3 (Morris (2), R.Reid)
By: Hillary Street-Ender.