The Bescot trudge in the mud Pantomime

By 4two & OneNil
January 4 2003

The Panto season was in full swing today, with the abysmal Bescot playing surface giving Roper, Aranalde, Carbon, Simpson and Junior the perfect stage for them to compete for the role of most farcical performer in what was an awful team performance.

Walsall Vs Notts Forest <

Walsall 0-0 Reading

	Location : Bescot Stadium. Positions: Walsall 19th Vs 6th Reading (Both Div 1)
	None.
	Yellows - Newman 90' (Reading) & Zdrilic 68, Matias 78, Leitao 90 (Walsall) Reds - None

Walker, Bazeley, Roper, Carbon, Aranalde, Corica, O'Connor, Simpson, Wrack, Leitao, Junior Subs; Ward, Hay, Martinez, Matias, Zdrilic

Hahnemann, Shorey, Brown, Mackie, Murty, Tyson, Newman, Harper, Igoe, Cureton, Butler Subs; Watson, Forster, Hughes, Salako, Henderson

Jimmy Walker, wins TheSaddlersFC man of the match award, for a string of superb saves to earn the Saddlers a replay. He also coped well with the tricky conditions when it came to his kicking.

Match Report by Onenil

Walsall 0-0 Reading Outplayed, outclassed and outfought; Walsall surrendered the home advantage of the tie with a disappointing bore draw at Bescot today.

The Saddlers never looked like scoring and it will need a dramatic improvement at the Madejski Stadium on Tuesday 14th if they are going into round four.

Colin Lee made two enforced changes from Wednesday's draw at Forest, bringing in Matt Carbon in place of Ludo Pollet and Steve Corica in place of Gareth Ainsworth, both of whom have returned to their clubs after loan spells.

Reading included ex Saddlers Martin Butler - booed throughout - and Marcus Hahnemann but there was no room in the 16 for Adrian Viveash.

Reading began dangerously, with Darren Wrack clearing a corner from Nathan Tyson but the Saddlers forced two corners of their own - taken by Fitzroy Simpson - both of which were easily cleared.

However it was the Saddlers who registered the first shot of the game after 13 minutes when Carbon volleyed a Simpson cross high over the bar.

The away side responded immediately; Jimmy Walker was forced to punch away a cross from full back Nicky Shorey before catching a left footed volley by Ricky Newman. Then Jamie Cureton glanced a Shorey cross just wide.

Walsall finally responded to the Royal's onslaught after Carbon managed to clear a cross shot from Tyson; Firstly, Bazeley got forward only to see his cross blocked by Brown, then Leitao latched onto a flick from Junior, held off Mackie and raced into the area, only to lose control as Hahnemann dived at his feet. On 28 minutes, Reading were inches away from breaking the deadlock. Butler beat Roper to a through ball in the area and prodded the ball past Walker, only for the ball to rebound off the inside of the post to Cureton who was denied on the line by a fantastic block from Walker and/or Aranalde.

Reading were shooting goalwards whenever they had a chance, in complete contrast to the Saddlers who were trying too much to play fancy football. This tactic almost paid off again for the visitors as Cureton saw one shot saved by Walker, another fly just over and a third blocked by Carbon.

In injury time, Walsall wasted a free kick in a decent cross position when Simpson's cross failed to beat the first defender.

HT 0-0

Reading began the second half as they did the first, this time ex Arsenal youth player James Harper volleyed a cross by Igoe over the bar. The game then became even more scrappy and home boss Lee decided to change things, bringing on Zdrilic and Matias for the ineffective Corica and Junior.

Zdrilic's first contribution was to earn a (rather harsh) booking, bringing down Graeme Murty after losing possession. Reading manager Alan Pardew then brought on Nicky Forster up front in place of Cureton. Butler then headed wide and Walker was forced to catch an effort from Forster. On 74 minutes, Walsall finally recorded an effort on goal as Hahnemann caught a header from Aranalde. Walsall's other sub was booked on 78 minutes, the Spaniard Matias bringing down Murty.

Walker then pulled off a miraculous double save, palming away a header from Butler and then denying the follow up - however this wouldn't have counted as the linesman had his flag up for offside.

Reading brought on John Salako for Tyson but it was their other sub - Forster - who next forced Walker into a save. With three minutes to go Matias volleyed a header down from Leitao well wide with his right foot. Then the Portuguese striker was put through on goal only to see the offside flag go up. Marin Butler was roundly booed as he was replaced by Darius Henderson before the Saddlers came close to snatching an unlikely victory.

Leitao was brought down on the edge of the area by Brown - which resulted in an edge of area skirmish involving about a dozen players. Leitao and Newman were promptly booked. Wrack stepped up and curled his free-kick over the wall but, with Hahnemann beaten, the ball rebounded off the bar and back into play.

Man of the Match - Walker made some stunning saves and earned the sponsors Man of the Match award as well as TheSaddlersFC star man accolade.

FT 0-0


	Player Ratings by 4two. Walker 9, Bazeley 7, Aranalde 5, Roper 5, Carbon 6, Wrack 7, O'Connor 7, Simpson 5, Leitao 6, Junior 5, Corica 7, SUBS: Matias 6, Zdrilic 5. Jimmy kept the Saddlers in the cup single handedly. The defence offered one of its worst performances in ages, while Carbon, Roper and Aranalde all looked uncertain and their distribution and reading of the game was abysmal at times. Roper and Carbon both made timely challenges throughout the game but it was their inconsistency that was most frustrating. Corica looked most likely to create an opening, but the conditions didn't suit him or the out of sorts Junior. O'Connor led by example and worked hard, but Simpson wasn't able to match him and the Saddlers lost the midfield battle. A Poor team performance
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	4two: Reaction - Too many individual mistakes that could have been punished by a better side were all to visible for my liking. Im also concerned about how we are going to get around the state of the pitch. Corica, Junior and Jorge are not suited to it, and you have to ask whether they should be played if the surface doesn't suit them. Maybe Birch, Zdrilic and Wright should come in and offer more steel?
	Techno: Reaction - All i can say about today's performance was S**T. I was at forest and the first half was pretty similar but the second was fantastic, where was the team from that half today ???????. Also why r we still letting the Villa play on that mud bath, i dread to think what state it will be in against the dingles, Well had my moan but it is frustating watching the saddlers at the mo
	PaulG: Reaction - Why do we try and play intricate football through that mudbath? If we had forwards that could move off the ball and recieve and hold up passes like Reading do we could play longer balls over the mud. Junior and Corica are simply lost on that surface.

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