On Tuesday evening, Walsall Football Club travelled to the Ricoh Arena as they faced Coventry City in the latest Sky Bet League 1 fixture of the season. Cory Lees was in attendance, and you can read his match report below.
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Before the match against Coventry I thought that a draw would be a great result for us given the fact that we'd just had a tough game at Brentford and it was evident to see that our lads were feeling the effects of playing 3 games in a week.
Another heavy pitch beckoned and conditions weren't the best and with Coventry having a recent good run of form and not having played for 8 days, I'll admit I was a bit worried we would be well beaten.
The Saddlers were unchanged from the side that beat Brentford 1-0 in the FA Cup third round on Saturday and the game started as expected with Coventry, the only League One side with an unbeaten home record, dominating possession in the early stages and the slick conditions meant it was being moved around the pitch at a high tempo.
Both sides were struggling to create clear-cut chances but Coventry were showing the more likely to threaten a goal and the Sky Blues broke the deadlock nine minutes before half time.
George Evans gave away an unnecessary free kick in a dangerous area on the left and the resulting Joe Cole set piece was flicked on by Armstrong for Stokes to nod past Saddlers keeper Neil Etheridge from six yards.
Credit to the Saddlers though and pretty much straight from the restart the ball found its way to Bradshaw who got the ball on to his left foot and with a low drive beat home keeper Charles-Cook but saw his shot cannon back off the post.
SKY BET LEAGUE 1 | HALF TIME
COVENTRY CITY 1 WALSALL 0
Walsall registered the first attempt of the second half, when Romaine Sawyers fired a low drive wide of Charles-Cook’s near upright and with Rico Henry starting to find his rhythm, his pace was looking like it would start to cause problems for the home side.
On the hour-mark, Walsall made a double substitution, with Anthony Forde and Jason Demetriou replacing Lalkovic and Kinsella. At this point I thought the players were looking very jaded and the draw that I'd have been happy with looked impossible but how wrong was I!
The Saddlers found another wind and as Forde’s corner was flicked on by Mantom, it took a crucial challenge on the line from Sam Ricketts to deny Paul Downing a tap-in.
End to end football ensued and the in form Armstrong almost made it 2-0 on 71 minutes, but Etheridge produced an outstanding one handed save to turn away his low right footed drive.
And with nine minutes remaining the Saddlers hard work got their just rewards, Henry got down the left and his pin point cross found Bradshaw, who guided a wonderful left footed volley into the far corner for his 13th goal of the season and his 50th career goal in total.
SKY BET LEAGUE 1 | RESULT
COVENTRY CITY 1 WALSALL 1
GOAL | Stokes (34'), Bradshaw (81')ATTENDANCE | 15,671 (1,359 Walsall)
REFEREE | Mr. Tony Harrington | Cleveland
On a final note, after that result I think it's now time to start believing that promotion is a real possibility and Sam Mantom Epitomised the teams spirit and hard work on the final whistle as he dropped to his knees after what's been a tough few weeks for our boys, mentally and physically.
Remember we've just lost a long serving manager and there is constant speculation of players moving on, so from me and on behalf of all the other Saddlers fans, Well done lads, every single one of you, you deserve all the plaudits you get and should be really proud of the hard work you're doing for our 'Little' club.