Hull City vs Walsall - 45 Pathetic Minutes

By Neil Ravenscroft
November 6 2004

Walsall crashed to yet another away defeat today, despite dominating the second half. Pity they hadn't bothered to turn up for the first forty five minutes.

Paul Merson, in an interview for WM today, said that he was pleased because we are becoming harder to beat. Unfortunately, when we play a decent team, we are very easy to beat.

From the moment the defence were caught napping for Nick Barmby to score after just 9 seconds, the first half was a complete shambles. The team didn't look like getting back into the game, as an Aranalde mistake after 34 minutes let Stuart Edwards in to add a second.

It went from bad to worse, as a Mark Wright mistake left Junior Lewis with a shooting chance and he made no mistake. Paul Merson had a good header saved before half time, but the team were looking well beaten.

The second half was a completely different story, as Walsall dominated possession in an attempt to get back into the game. Michael Standing pulled a goal back after 3 minutes of the half, Paul Merson missed a complete sitter from an Aranalde cross, Aranalde himself went close and the recalled Fryatt had a chance blocked when he should ahve scored.

Howmuch of this was due to Walsall stepping up a gear, and how much it was Hull easing off, it was difficult to say, but the Walsall effort finally petered out.

Of the teams below us, only Torquay picked up any points today, beating Oldham at home 2 - 0, but the reality of the current situation is that we are looking at the bottom of the table, not the top.