Walsall 0-3 Wolves

It has been said before that the form book goes out of the window when it comes to local derbies. Today Walsall and Wolves served up pretty conclusive evidence that this hypothesis is nonsense, as the form team in the division ran out comfortable winners against a Saddlers side who, in recent weeks, have taken the ‘L` out of ‘LUCK`, only to replace it with an ‘F`. So while the visitors took another big step towards returning to the Championship, the home side took another big step towards confirming we won`t be following them up there via the playoffs.

It`s not all down to misfortune however, far too often it`s simply down to our own unwillingness to have a go at the opposition. Watching the Saddlers work the ball into goalscoring positions this season can be compared to trying to watch a HD video of a person falling over on Youtube, but through a dial-up internet connection. It could and should take seconds, but ends up taking forever, and sometimes doesn`t happen at all. The fact our two best chances of the match were both free headers by Febian Brandy, possibly the smallest man on the pitch, speaks volumes about our penetrative possession football.

A surprise team selection from Dean Smith saw the out of form Downing dropped to the bench in place of James Chambers, who slotted in at centre back, with Andy Taylor returned for Mal Benning, and Troy Hewitt was given a rare start in place of Craig Westcarr, while Nicky Featherstone (who produced possibly the worst display by a Walsall central midfielder since Richard Taundry) continued to deputise for the suspended Sam Mantom.

The first half hour was very hustle and bustle from both sides, but with very little quality. That changed however in the 31st minute when a clever ball from Michael Jacobs found James Henry on the right, who crossed low for Nouha Dicko to nip in infront of Butler and put the visitors ahead.

This did seem to wake the Saddlers up, with our best chance to equalise before the break coming shortly afterwards when Hewitt curled wide from the edge of the box.

We needed a quick start to the second half, but got the exact opposite when Wolves doubled their lead within three minutes. Another right wing cross from Henry found somehow found it`s way to Dicko, who finished from close range. Even at that point it felt like the game was all over, with Walsall struggling to create anything of not, the two aforementioned Brandy headers being the best we managed.

The scoring was complete with 25 minutes to go when Sako curled home a quality free kick to put the game to bed.

So another home defeat and the season really does look over now. It does however give us two extra months to start preparing for next season. Let`s make sure we use it wisely.