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Watford dominated the opening 45 minutes of the game. They were comfortable
on the ball, good coming forward and were keen to create chances.
The danger signs were there early on when Watford were finding a lot of space
out wide, which eventually led to Mahon hitting the bar after a Samways mistake.
Our passing in the opening 20 minutes was shocking. Balls were under and over
hit allowing Watford to retain possession and camp in our half. The inevitable
goal came on 14 minutes when the Ball fell to Paul Cook inside the 18 yard box
after a Samways drag back had gone horribly wrong. Cook shot at Walker, who was
deceived by a Zigor Aranalde deflection.
The Saddlers continued to serve up the unattractive brand of football we have
become accustomed to. Samways, Osborn and Emblen don't
have one offensive bone in their bodies. Emblen was about as useful as a
Subbuteo player in midfield. His immobility and style of play added nothing to
the team. Samways and Osborn were content with passing the ball backwards and
side wards when we needed to get back in behind the Watford defence.
It wasn't all Watford in the first half, we did have our chances. Leitao and
Wales managed to lose their markers on a number of occasions, but could only
manage weak shots, or were thwarted by the inform Pidgeley. The best chance fell
to Leitao who smashed his shot straight at Pidgley when all he had to do was
stick it in either corner to equalise.
Half Time - Walsall 0-1 Watford
Things did get better in the 2nd half, mainly thanks to the introduction of Kris Taylor.
Taylor's range of passing was a breath of fresh
air. He was pinging 20 yard passes to feat of Leitao and Wales, brought Zigor
and Bazeley in to the game and He provided our front men with the service they had lacked in the
first half.
Taylor's crunching tackle on Devlin just after
his introduction highlighted his will to win, something his team mates were
lacking in abundance.
Watford's best chance of the half fell to Cooke
who's shot was off target.
The Saddlers went on to have a series of good
chances. Leitao was one on one with the keeper and appeared to have his ankles
clipped from behind in the penalty box - no penalty awarded.
Emblen saw his long range effort tipped around
the post by the keeper, while Wales had 2 half hearted efforts from the edge of
the box.
Matias and Wright were introduced in the second
half as we went 4-4-2. We put Watford under a lot pressure in closing moments.
Matias had a chance to level things late on but he volleyed his effort over the
bar.
This was another case of total
rubbish rather than total football .
Full Time - Walsall 0-1 Watford
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