Following Saturday afternoon's trip to Bury, columnist Sam Wright shares his Match Report;
The game got off to a rapid start, with both teams getting an
early touch of the ball. Bury were first to work the keeper after just 2
minutes when they pulled a routine save out of David Grof. However it was to be
the Saddlers who bagged the first goal, as Will Grigg pursued a loose back
pass, and the keeper fired his clearance off his back and towards goal. From
there he just had to poke it home, despite the ‘keepers efforts to pull him
down, begging the question; If he missed, would it have been a penalty to put
us 1-0 up against 10 men? He didn’t care though, the Saddlers lead on 6
minutes.
This had the fans in great spirits, and we were urging the
team to go on and put a few past what we presumed would be a very poor Bury
team. However, they proved to be a better challenge than we had expected, and
levelled just 4 minutes later. Dominic Poleon working his way in from a wide
position to fire well into the far corner. Lackluster defending costing us once
again. Bury 1 Walsall 1.
Afterwards though, and it hurts to say it, Bury dominated the
first half. For the real first time this season we looked like a lower table
team as our passing game really suffered, and the ‘lump it down the middle’
technique somehow managed to sneak in. The home side pulled two more great
saves out of Grof, the second of which once again caused by very poor defending
as Butler let his man turn
Andy Taylor went off injured after almost half hour and was
replaced by the returning James Chambers, who had a solid game throughout.
There was one more big chance to come in the half to Bury though, as the ball
was looped over Grof’s head, only for Butler to fly across and head the ball
off the line to deny a certain goal. The only effort we could manage was a pop
shot taken by Cuvelier which flew a good way wide. Half time, we were happy to
still be level.
HT: Bury 1 Walsall 1
The Second half started in the same way as the first, with
Bury having another early chance. Hopper was once again let to turn and shoot
in the box after poor defending from Butler, but his effort cannoned off the
post. The next 15 minutes or so can be summed up in few words; Poor passing,
Bury keeping possessing, worst football of the season.
The change we had all craved finally came after 65 minutes
when Bowerman came on to make it 4-4-2, replacing Baxendale, who had a poor
game by his standards. However it failed to liven up our tempo and we remained,
unfortunately predictable and flat. Lucky though, by this time Bury were also
running out of ideas.
Bowerman did have a good chance, but decided amazingly to go
down to win a freekick, which he wasn’t awarded.
Bury created a few more good headed changes which they failed
to convert. They only real chance in the dying minutes was freekick for Bury
which was wasted. As the game moved into stoppage time, Cuvelier went down and
stayed down for around 2 minutes, assuring the game was to die out slowly and
indeed finished 1-1.
At the end of the day it is an away point in a tough
division, but it is more the performance that will disappoint those who also
travelled up to Bury. The first real signs of ugly football were creeping in,
and the defence was not good enough to allow us to ‘hoof’ the ball forward and
sit back. We need to move on and make sure this is a one off, and it will soon
be forgotten. Roll on Lincoln City in the cup.
FT: Bury 1 Walsall 1
My MOTM: David Grof
ATT: 2,514
REF: Mark Heywood
By: Sam Wright