Walsall won a match
If we could have any Christmas wish, we would all ask for Jeff Bonser to sell the club but a Walsall win felt just as rewarding.
Febian Brandy scored the only goal of the game to give Walsall their first win since September….17 games later.
Boss Dean Smith made one change from last week. Skipper Andy Butler replaced Dean Holden in the heart of defence. Holden dropped to the bench and was joined by a fit again Flo Cuvelier.
Man of the moment, Febian Brandy was instrumental in all the good chances we created and it gives us slight optimism with the return of Flo to play alongside the man of the moment.
It was that man Brandy that had our first attempt at goal.
On loan Craig Westcarr set Brandy free into the box but he dragged his shot wide. An early indication that Walsall wanted this more than our opponents.
Former Saddler, Jabo Ibehre stopped the hearts of many when he fired a shot past Aaron McCarey only to see it rebound off the bar. This was probably Colchester’s only real chance of a lacklustre first half.
On the hour mark Walsall got their reward.
A brilliant through ball from Sam Mantom set Brandy away. Brandy managed to hold off from two Colchester defenders to run twenty yards and slip the ball past Cousins in the Colchester goal. A superb finish from a striker in form – an indication that he does have pace, strength and ability to finish…something we havent seen from a Walsall striker recently.
Myself, like many felt that a 1-0 cushion wasnt enough but against a poor Colchester side it was.
We hung on for the win and also kept a clean sheet.
It wasnt pretty but we will take that and now hope we can build on this.
However this result only papers over the cracks rather than solving the long term issues at Walsall…its a start.
There were only 3,006 fans there and the club cant put this down to Christmas syndrome. This is a strong indication that the loyal faithful are disgruntled with the current set up and performances of late. Lets hope that our first win in 17 games encourages a few more through the turnstile once more.
As most of our relegation rivals had the day off due to postponements it was vitally important that we got the three points. I have always had the mindset to have points on the board rather than games in hand and with us now 5 points clear we now have a slight advantage going into the busy Christmas period.
Tis the season to be jolly….
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