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No Can Do: Swindon Town 0-0 Walsall

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Walsall had to settle for a share of the points on Saturday as they drew 0-0 with Swindon Town.

A bumper away following were in full voice throughout but couldn’t ignite the Saddlers to find the back of the net.

Emmanuel Ledesma sat behind Jon Macken as Marco Gbarssin replaced Paul Marshall in midfield as the only change to the line-up.

It was a slow start for both teams and they found their rhythm.

Richard Taundry did well on 14 minutes as Mike Grella pounced.

The Robins then had two corners in quick succession, with Mike Grella and Matt Richie on hand again to take advantage but their shots went wide and into the netting respectively.

The game was scrappy so far as the half was already half gone.

Ledesma did well on 25 minutes after some solid work by Richards and Gbarssin, but Richard Taundry rushed the chance was the ball landed on the top netting.

Matthew Richards then got a foot on the ball in front of goal as David Prutton looked set to score.

It had become increasingly evident that the formation was not working up front and Macken was struggling on his own. It was more like a 4-6 set up.

Gray passed to Taundry who blasted over (again.) The midfielder doing well but needed to take more time with his chances.

The midfield then got some good passes in, but any good work by them went wasted.

After some good work by Julian Gray and Tom Williams ended in Gray being shown a yellow card. Frustrated, he voiced his dismay at the decision to give the home side a throw in.

The half came to a close with nothing of real substance to report.

Julian Gray started the half as he finished the first. The fired up left winger was unhappy at the referee and was at risk of being dismissed. Nicholls was lined up as his replacement and Gray was quickly substituted.

Ledesma hit the top netting after good work from Richards and Taundry.

Darren Byfield then came on for Ledesma.

The game then ticked down with most of the possesion coming from the home side. Although, the ball fell in Walsall’s territory the dangers were few and far between and the game remained placid.

Lescott went down in the final minutes and, unable to continue, was replaced by Darryl Westlake.

There was a huge let off in the final minutes as the ball smacked the crossbar of the Walsall goal as Michael Rose looked to score. Thankfully it bounced out of the goal and Lancashire kicked it away to safety.

An even share of the points and was a fair reflection on the game. Walsall are still out of the relegation zone and kept their third clean sheet in a row.

mith now must urgently turn his attention to the striker problem and get the Saddlers scoring.

Smith said of the game to the official site: ‘We came here with a game plan; the onus was on them to come at us, but we did what we had to do. The only disappointment was that we didn’t pass the ball as well as I know we can.’

We now look ahead to tomorrow night’s clash with Leyton Orient.

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