Earlier this morning (Saturday) Walsall Football Club's Under 18's side took on the Wigan Athletic Under 18's in the latest of their Football League Youth alliance fixtures. With many thanks to Adjithegroundhopper, below is a brief review of the match.The last time I saw these two sides meet, was just under three years ago when they ground out a dire 0-0 , but fortunately today was a better game. I had planned to do two games today but due to having a fence being erected in the garden I had to cancel the later game, but this was a decent game so things didn’t go to badly. This game took place at the FA ground at Ray Hall Lane on a murky autumnal Saturday morning. Walsall came out in their red strip and Athletic in the blue and white.
The leaves fell onto the pitch during this game from the nearby trees and definitely reminded me that yet another year is ebbing away. Wigan looked poor in the opening stages and fell behind on 12 minutes, the player taking the pall around keeper and lashing the ball into a empty net. I stood on the far side during the first half and was attacked by a gang of flies so made a hasty retreat to further up the pitch where there was safety. Wigan had a couple of efforts but all from long range and barely troubled the Saddlers keeper.
H/T: Walsall U18 1 Wigan Athletic U18 0
At half time I had a stroll to the other side of the ground and saw Walsall’s manager Dean Smith loitering in a blue shirt, he disappeared after the game restarted as his senior side had Colchester in less than three hours time. Wigan continued to be on the back foot and fell behind again charging in from the left channel before sending a low angled strike into the far bottom corner. It was game over when Walsall lashed a high shot into the centre of the net. This finally woke Wigan up though , with their one meaningful shot flying high before ricocheting off the top of the post before finding the net.
F/T: Walsall U18 3 (L.Rowley, Reid, Shakespeare) Wigan Athletic U18 1
By: Adjithegroundhopper.
Website: adjithegroundhopper.wordpress.com
Twitter: twitter.com/adjigroundhoppa