Walsall Wood vs Gresley FC
1. Paul Hollis 2. Craig Tucker 3. Pete Collins 4. Lee Stretton(c) 5. Sam Rose 6. Andy Dunne 7. Sam Worth 8. Dave Williams 9. Tom Read 10. Chris Burnham 11. Joe Swift.
Subs: 12. Matt Draycott 14. Darryl Towle 15. Ash Franklin 16. Adam Mewis
Teams that travel to places like Walsall Wood on a cold and blustery Tuesday night, with a couple of first team lads in their side, are under no illusion that they are in for a battle.
We stressed the need to start strongly and grind a result out and show some mental strength. Having switched back to a 4-3-1-2 with Dave Williams back in the side we started the game with the wind behind us looking to use it to our advantage.
Unfortunately you can't legislate for conceding a goal in the opening 60 seconds but that's exactly what we did with a back pass being intercepted and a very soft goal and a very sloppy start.
Now we needed to dig in and come out fighting but what was to follow was the worst 45 min display possible. We looked ragged with no team shape whatsoever, and worst of all we were second to everything with the tackles we did make being half hearted at best.
Walsall were closing players down and having a lot of joy with long balls over the top and from the full backs. More slack defending resulted in a second for Walsall when another long ball beat the offside trap for a simple lob over the keeper and we were now really up against it.
We did produce a few good moves but few and far between with the wind carrying most through balls straight to the keeper.
On 34 mins some good work from Tom Read nearly had us back in the game but his shot hit the post from a tight angle and away to safety.
We were however given a lifeline on 39 mins when Dave Williams was upended in the box for a penalty which Andy Dunne duly smashed home and despite a dreadful performance up to this point we now had a chance to sort things at half time and turn things around 2nd half.
Unfortunately we shot ourselves in the foot just two mins later when another piece of calamitous defending found Walsall racing clear down the right, with the cross being easily dispatched and half time couldn't come soon enough. 1-3 h/t
At half time we switched to a 4-4-2 to match Walsall and give us width and knew we'd have the better of things going into the wind. Credit to the lads as they responded well and started to push Walsall back.
We nearly pulled one back when a Andy Dunne free kick was glanced on by Lee Stretton but couldn't quite find the finish. On 68 mins Sam Worth went through but his shot went wide and penalty appeals were ignored despite being clattered by the keeper.
Our 2nd penalty of the night did come in the 75th min when Tom Read was brought down in the box and Andy Dunne gave us a glimmer of hope from the spot. Matt Draycott was causing a nuisance after his introduction for the injured Chris Burnham, but whether we really deserved an equaliser is another matter...despite our dominance this half i can't recall the keeper having a save to make despite getting into some good positions there was no end product.
So a very disappointing night saw us travel back empty handed and a lot to think about. A footballer has to have a certain amount of ability but top footballers also have mental strength and that's something we may be lacking at times.
Can we go away on a cold Tuesday night and grind out victories and dig in when things aren't going our way..can we stand tall and become leaders on the pitch when the chips are down..can we play ugly at times.
This is a young team but these are the things they need to learn if they are to make the next step up, but one defeat doesn't make us a bad team, and hopefully we will see a positive reaction in the next game and put this one well and truly behind us.
