As new era’s go this hasn’t been a bad one so far.
This week the club reopened the early bird season ticket sales to coincide with new ownership of the club and we sold over four hundred season tickets in that time! Now for many neutrals reading this they won’t think that is a big number but from an average home attendance last season we have sold over 10% in one week – that is unbelievable!
Yesterday we had over 5,000 home fans, again an unbelievable number considering our opening game in League 1 last season saw 4,012 home supporters. 898 extra supporters have got the bug back and yesterday’s battling display by Darrell Clarke’s new-look team will leave everyone hungry for more.
The Saddlers made just one change from the side which beat Northampton last weekend. Out went the injured Danny Guthrie and in game Gary Liddle.
The first half saw the Saddlers pester and hunt down every Forest Green pass which saw last seasons play offside make numerous mistakes. Had Josh Gordon and Elijah Adebayo been more clinical then the Saddlers would have been in front at the break, however surprisingly we found ourselves behind.
A rare mistake from captain James Clarke allowed former Wolves player Aaron Collins into the box before he bundled their striker over. Joseph Mills put the penalty into the corner to give Liam Roberts no chance.
For the opening twenty minutes of the second half the game was flat so Clarke mixed it upbringing on James Hardy and Rory Holden. The Saddlers had chances after that with Hardy firing over from a good position.
Clarke then brought new signing Caolan Lavery on to switch to a 3-4-3 formation and the Saddlers finally got their rewards after an exquisite overhead kick from Josh Gordon hit the post before James Hardy tapped in the rebound.
The Saddlers maybe felt they should have won the game as Forest Green were there for the taking however the last two seasons we probably would have lost this game so four points from two games is a fantastic return given the overhaul of the playing side.
You can see extended highlights of the game below
