Walsall 2-2 Crawley – Report

As we now enter the final two months of the season, points are not going to be handed to us – How we react to those challenges will shape the careers of these current young men….if Saturday is anything to go by these young men already have the fight, desire and courage to go far within the game…We knew that and it seems the national press are starting to take note.

Manager Dean Smith kept faith with the starting X1 that had played the previous 4 games and at times the young guns of Walsall looked jaded on a heavy pitch (that pitch could be our downfall!)

Lets be fair the first half was truly dreadful with the only real chance of the half falling to Craig Westcarr. Paterson teed up the former Chesterfield man but his 20 yard free kick ended up in Chesterfield – it was that bad!

The second half sprung into life – couldnt have been worse than the first half.

Proctor’s first effort for Crawley ended up wide of McCareys post and seconds later Brandy’s shot was well saved by Jones in the Crawley goal.

Crawley found themselves infront after 50 minutes. Good work down the middle from Proctor saw him riggle away from the Walsall midfield and drilled an unstoppable 25 yard shot past the helpless McCarey.

Finally both teams started to go for it!

Jamie Paterson ran past 4 Crawley defenders before unleashing a shot from the edge of the penalty area which hit the frame of the Crawley goal and somehow managed to bounce to safety.

Then the unthinkable…Matt Sadler superbly crossed the ball to the back post where Adams nodded the ball across the face of goal to produce a world class save from McCarey, however the hosts failed to clear and Paul Hayes prodded the ball home from close range.

I found myself scratching my head and working out how we had found ourselves 2 goals behind. Neither team deserved to be leading let alone by 2 goals!

With the clock ticking down hundreds of Walsall fans were leaving the ground thinking it wasnt our day, what happened next is something that the remaining fans will never forget.

Paterson ran down the left, cut inside and his shot towards goal took a massive deflection past Jones and gave Walsall what seemed just a consolation goal.

60 seconds later Andy Taylor ran down the left, very similiar to Patersons run moments earlier and whipped in a sublime cross that was missed by everyone except our international superstar…Will Grigg who fired in from 5 yards to score his 19th goal of the season and to send the Walsall fans mad! The noise from The Banks’s is the loudest I have known for many years and it turned into a local mosh pit in the Tile Choice Lower as everyone jumped on top of each other! Mental!

At 4.45pm Walsall 0 Visitors 2 (90 minutes)
At 4.49pm Walsall 2 Visitors 2 (94 minutes)

This group of lads just keep fighting until the end, even when the odds are stacked up against them. Dare I say it this has all the hallmarks of a promotion side and a side very similiar to when Sir Ray was pulling the strings.

The introduction of both Nicky Featherstone and Ashley Hemmings changed the game for me and shows why our squad depth is just as important as our first team. Its a team game!

We now turn our attentions to Hartlepool and the fightback on Saturday will feel greater than a win and give the lads even more confidence as we head into the final few games of the season.

Whatever happens from here on in, these group of lads lead by Dean Smith have exceeded expectations this season and have injected pride back into this town…..