Following last weeks
unfortunate throw away against The Blades and the
calamity at Swindon in midweek, the Saddlers won to
kick any doubts over their form into touch.
Opening the game well against a side with a
formidable defensive record, Walsall went onto the
front foot and dominated much of the opening period.
Bradford`s defence hadn`t been breached on the
road since October 3rd, but it took just
eleven minutes for the Saddlers to
notch the opener when Tom Bradshaw
took in his stride a deflected drive
from Milan Lalkovic and fired in the
opener, the ball arriving at his feet via a
ricochet off Clarke, and managing to successfully
drive the ball past Bantams keeper Ben Williams
!
Soon after and Clarke was lucky to receive just a
ticking off from the referee after shovING an elbow
into the face of Bradshaw. The
cards stayed in the refs pocket and just a free
kick was awarded.
You sensed that Bradford may have had more to
offer than they were showing as the Saddlers
utterly dominated the 1st half, although there were no
real goalscoring opportunities.
After the break Bradford were more
pumped up and we became second best for long
periods, and there was no
real surprise when the visitors drew level
on 64 minutes; Lee Evans volleying home
after some
clever work from Billy Clarke, who
headed down allowing Evans to level the scores.
Usually go on to the back foot and hold on for a
point, but today was different.
You could be forgiven for wondering if a winner would
originate fro anywhere, but when space opened
up for Romaine Sawyers with just 18 minutes
remaining, he played in Lalkovic who lashed home.
A bad tempered ending saw 3 of the Saddlers back 4
receive yellow cards, while Clarke was booked
scything challenge on Bradshaw. But we held on to
earn a most welcome 3 points.
!
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