Boring, boring Walsall - Reserve report.

By 4two
February 17 2004

We take a look at Monday afternoons reserve team performance against Hull City.

 

Walsall - Petterson(< Pictured) , Willetts, Harkness, K Taylor, Bennett, Caines, Wright (Demontyagnac), Jamerson, Hawley, D Taylor. Subs - Platt, Wheeler, Dann, Coleman

Hull City - The line up given out on the team sheet was amended before kick off. No confirmation on the official Walsall or Hull sites on what the line up was.

Both sides fielded relatively young teams. The most experianced outfield players on show were Pedro Matias (Walsall) and former Saddlers striker Jamie Forrester (Hull).

Hawley was deployed as a loan striker while Mark Wright, Kris Taylor and Nathan Jamerson played at the heart of the midfield with Daryl Taylor and Pedro Matias out wide.

Neither side managed to stamp their authority on what was an unentertaining game lacking any clear cut chances. Taylor, Hawley and Jamerson all had half chances but failed to make the Hull keeper work.

Daryl Taylor was getting a lot of room out wide, beating his man but putting poor balls in to the penalty box and wasting good opportunities.

Pedro (< Pictured) had a quiet game, but also had our best chance of the game in the first half when he flicked the ball over his marker only to blaze the ball high and wide from 8 yards out.

Hawley went on to have a long range effort in the second half, but chances for the Saddlers were sparse. The best Hull chance of the game was created by Forrester who fired wide from 25 yards out.

The Reserves kept possession well and played some nice tidy football, but just like the first team they lacked the killer instinct to win the game.

The most interesting aspect of the afternoon was seeing the various faces in the crowd. Chris Nicholl, Dean Keates and Paul Taylor were all sat in the stand. While Colin Lee was accompanied by 2 unknown people in an executive box. One was a young man casually dressed, while the other one was quite a bit older dressed smartly in a suit. Player and agent? Who knows. We will have to wait and see.

Player Form

Petterson - He wasn't really called upon, but kept talking to his back 4 who seemed to have confidence in him. His kicking let him down at times.

Willetts - A good performance, but his distribution was poor.

Harkness - An impressive performance from the youngster. Looked comfortable on the ball. One for the future.

Kris Taylor - Captained the side and put in a Man of the match performance. Linked up the play well.

Caines - A commanding performance. Did well keeping tabs on a lively Forrester.

Bennett - Good in the air, strong in the tackle. A man of the match contender.

Jamerson - Looked good on the ball and kept possession well. Linked up well with Taylor, but tended to let the game pass him by in the 2nd half.

Hawley - Struggled on his own up front. Worked hard, deserved a goal for his efforts.

Matias - Unimpressive considering his first team experience. The odd touch of class, but a disappointing performance.

Daryl Taylor - Had the confidence to run at defenders, but lacked the ability to finish his good work off.

Wright - Struggled to come to terms with a central role in the first half. Improved in the 2nd.