Samba Saddlers make it 4 on the bounce.

Walsall 2-0 Wimbledon (MK)

The Saddlers started off brightly, dominating the possession and hurrying the game along at a high tempo, denying the Dons a chance to settle. The opening five minutes saw a string of corners for the Saddlers, and a 20 yard O'Connor effort go wide of the Wimbledon post. Their were a number of niggly fouls and free kicks being awarded by the referee, which riled the Walsall fans and led to ironic cheers, but he could only call what he saw and fortunately for the Saddlers he some how missed Ian Ropers blatant hand ball inside the Walsall penalty box as he bundled the ball back to Jim Walker.

The Walsall pressure eventually paid off ten minutes in to the game,  Junior played a ball in to the box which Wrack battled to get on to the end of before  slotting the ball home in to the bottom right hand corner of Davis's goal.

Wimbledon came to the Bescot with a reputation of being hot in front of goal, but this worry was diminishing fast as Connolly wasted two good chances around the 20 minute mark. Then again, the Saddlers were proving to be no great shakes them selves despite  a lot of good forward play around the Wombles penalty area, they were unable to convert the possession in to either chances or goals. The Dons had flashed the odd cross across the Walsall penalty box but no one was able to get on the end of them. 

The Saddlers went in at half time knowing that Wimbledon could create goal scoring chances after Shippley had seen his point blank effort saved by Walker, in what was possibly the best save he has made all season. Jimmy must have had a fraction of a second to see the ball, and he produced an excellent reflex save from one of the divisions hottest forwards.

Everyone expected the Dons to come out all guns blazing for the second half, but instead the second half started as scrappily as the first had ended. It was however the Dons that had the edge, and they were the side that looked like grabbing the next goal. The Saddlers started dropping off on the edge of the their area, inviting Wimbledon on to them, while hoping to hit the Wombles on the break.

With 10 minutes of the half played, both sides had, had chances on goal. Walker saved a poor Connolly effort, Mcanuff blasted over the bar, and Junior had failed to convert a free header from a Sonner corner. It was end to end stuff with Walsall wanting get a second, while you had a funny feeling of that if the Dons were to get an equaliser they may well go on to take the three points.

Leitao and Junior were working hard up front, Junior showed further evidence of his willingness to adapt by chasing balls that 4 or 5 weeks ago he would have left for dead, while Jorge won a countless numbers of balls that were punted up field by Walker. The Dons defence did well to contain the two livewire forwards, with the young Jermain Darlington being the pick of the Dons defenders. The Saddlers back four were also having a good game. Roper and Hay were up against the divisions inform forwards, and they didn't let them selves down. The only problem the back four had was following either Shippley or Connolly out when they dropped off the forward line, because this tended to create spaces which Mcanuff and Reo-Cocker were looking to take advantage of.

The Dons were unfortunate that their influence on the game were nullified by a by a sublime Junior free kick which glided into the top left hand corner of the Wimbledon goal. It was Leitao who had won the free kick on the edge of the box, and Junior soon moved Sonner and Corica out of the way to finish the game off and grab his 8th league goal of the season.

At 2-0, with around 25 minutes  to play any other fans would have been confident that their side would hold on to a lead, but at  Walsall we know no lead is safe, especially when we are playing against a side who's previous six games have featured 30 goals, with 16 of them in the goals for column. The Saddlers still looked shaky, as the Dons pushed 4 men up front without any luck.

Five minutes after Juniors goal, Connelly saw his header go wide of the post in front of the 52 Wimbledon fans that we counted from the Purple Stand. Connolly seemed to be working hard, and was getting in to the positions but he  just didn't have the rub of the green.

Neil Shipperley was replaced by Patrick Agyemang with 15 minutes to play, but he failed to make any real impact and the game fizzled out as the Dons were unable to penetrate the Walsall back line who were still defending on the edge of their own area.

All in all, the Scoreline did not reflect how Wimbledon had played. They had knocked the ball around well at times, and had their periods of domination. On any other day we could be talking about a score draw, or a defeat for the Saddlers, but thankfully Jim Walker was in good form while Connolly and Shippley misfired.

Reaction : 4two -  A Clean Sheet and a Win against the form side. The Pitch is looking much better and I was glad we didn't change our style of play because of the pitch. Junior got an assist and a goal again, its now 4 home wins on the bounce and all looks good for the festive period.

 Reaction: LaneHeadSaddler - O.K., so we may not be in the same league as the 'big clubs' in terms of the size of the crowds, but I thought the support was excellent today. A gate of 6,569, which included less than 50 visiting fans shows that the Club's new pricing policy is paying off. Hope it continues that way (SaddlersNet)

Reaction: 7inchuknowwho : I'm happy to win even if we weren't spectacular, we had ago at that recently and we just kept losing so if we win and don't set place on fire who cares.

Reaction: BigTissue - Walsall put an end to the Franchise's little unbeaten run with a goal in either half. Wrack and Junior got the goals as David Connolly's goal burst came to an end, just in time to wipe that smug little smile off of Koppel and Murdoch's faces. Oh dear, what a pity, never mind. (BigTissus.co.uk Match Report - Wimbledon Rivals.net)

Reaction: TeamTalk - The Scoreline was harsh on Wimbledon, whose only real chance to reduce the deficit fell to off-form Connolly who once more headed Gray's cross into the crowd. (TeamTalk  - Saddlers)

Reaction: Ian Hemmings -we were a country mile better than Wimbledon except for the faze at the end of the first half when they realy should of scored 3 or 4 goals! i think that Grimsby put up more fight than they did!

i also felt that the ref wanted to be the star attraction of the game! i brought my season ticket to see the saddlers and a few good opposing players not prima donnas like frazer streton! the complete Muppet he tried his best to ruin a game! no wonder he isn't on the premier list of officials he wouldn't of looked out of place on pleck park!