Walsall skipper James Clarke had scored just two career goals before he joined the Saddlers in the summer, two months into his Walsall career and he’s already popped up with three.
He scored a worldie last weekend….and just like buses two come at once.
He followed up last weekends bicycle kick with a 30 yarder which went into the top corner! You can see the goal below…
Good morning Saddlers fans
— Vital Walsall (@VitalWalsall) September 29, 2019
Walsall boss Darrell Clarke made two changes from the side which defeated Scunthorpe last weekend as Matt Sadler and Elijah Adebayo came in for Gary Liddle and the injured Caolan Lavery.
The Saddlers started brightly and Wes McDonald continued to cause the Crawley full back problems as he turned him inside out for the first half. The Saddlers were 2-0 up before Crawley got started thanks to that worldie by James Clarke and Elijah Adebayo getting onto the end of Wes McDonalds cross to grab his first Saddlers goal.
Hopefully this will be the first of many for Elijah and he can kick on from here. He’s been one of our best players so far this term.
Crawley pulled one back just before half time as Roberts went to ground and their striker went down (six hours after the first connection). However the Saddlers restored our two goal cushion as Wes McDonald cut inside onto his right foot to curl a beauty into the far corner.
Surprisingly Clarke made early changes in the second half opting for experience of Liddle and Gordon. You felt that the Saddlers had done all their flair work in the first half and it was about being resolute in the second half. It took until the final minute for Crawley to grab their second, following a deflection. However the Saddlers held onto all three points and grabbed our third successive win, for the first time since August 2018.
Zak Jules was outstanding again at left back – probably our best player of the last month. He can easily play in the league above. Wes McDonald finally offers something that we have clearly been lacking and James Clarke continues to channel his inner Rivaldo. Long may it continue!
We now face a struggling Salford side on Saturday before traveling to a struggling Orient side the week after, get four points from those two games and we will continue to rise up the league.
Now let’s fill the Banks’s and get behind this side!
