Fight Back II thwarted : Clarets 2-1 Saddlers
By TheSaddlersFC Team
October 13 2002
Some fans and news agencies have suggested that the Saddlers were unlucky to have lost today's game and that a draw or even a victory would have been testament to the Saddlers performance. Gary Birch finally got his first Walsall goal, but the poor Saddlers finishing is what cost us today.
Burnley 2-1 Walsall
Goals: Blake '40 (Burnley) Davies 67 ' (Burnley) Birch (Walsall)
Man of the Match: Fitzroy Simpson (Walsall)
Burnley: Beresford, West, Cox, Gnohere, Branch, Little, Stephen Davis, Weller, Cook, Ian Moore, Blake. Subs: Grant, Payton, Maylett, McGregor, Briscoe.
Walsall: Walker, Bazeley, Hay, Roper, Aranalde, Wrack, O'Connor, Simpson, Corica, Leitao, Junior. Subs: Ward, Matias, Barras, Birch, Martinez.
Full Time : By 4two
The Saddlers were always going to be up against it in this game, but battled bravely and were unlucky not to be taking anything back to the Midlands. Robbie Blake put the Clarets in the lead on 40 minutes before Steve Davies doubled their lead on 67 minutes. Unfortunately O'Connor limped of Injured , and was replaced by Martinez
Gary Birch pulled one back for Walsall with 12 minutes to play, but the Saddlers were left to rue missed chances, Leitao could have had a hat trick while Birch, Junior and Corica also went close. Walsall pushed on in the closing minutes, but the fans were not going to see a repeat of last week as Burnley held out.
Match Report : By Alan Stokes
An excellent performance from the
boys today as we took control of the match from the very start. We created
chance after chance but were guilty of sloppy finishing. If Jorge had converted
his chance on 5 minutes we would in my view have gone on to be convincing
winners.
Burnley looked a poor team and their only threats came via the continual
long ball behind our center halves and fast breakaways.
The first goal was a lob over Danny Hay to the onrushing Blake who chipped
easily over Walker and the second from a breakaway down the right flank.
I think it very unfair to blame Zigor for the goal. From my view it looked as
though Walker made a real pigs ear of the initial shot. I may be wrong as it was
at the other end of the ground.
The second half continued as the first with us piling on the pressure and guilty
of missing good chances. Corica missed a couple,
Junior missed a hat trick and Jorge also missed a few.
After having fought back to 2-1 Jorge was guilty of missing a sitter from 6
yards with 10 minutes to go. Everyone was waiting for the ball to be smashed
into the back of the net but he didn't even make contact. In
Injury time Moore did break forward only for his effort only to hit the post, unfortunately
no fight back this time.
Reaction : By Alan Stokes
Reaction : Overall a good performance, plenty of chances created but sadly not converted. The backing of the Saddlers support was excellent throughout and our goal celebration mimicking Burnley "jig" was a classic. The players left at the end to a standing ovation that their performance deserved.