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We drove the scenic route down the A34 to Walsall avoiding the M6 car park, enabling us to sample the delights of a 500-year-old pub, Ye Olde Leathern Bottle in Wednesbury.
The Exmoor Gold and a chat with the friendly but pessimistic locals went down a treat.
The only negative was no food served on Saturdays.
Then it was on to Banks’s stadium which has replaced the old Fellows Park ground, which was never a happy hunting ground for Wanderers in the 1980s.
For the food connoisseurs amongst us, Walsall FC have launched their own brand of the health snack – pork scratchings.
The away end was packed to the rafters with rejuvenated Bolton fans in good voice.
Chris Taylor came in for the suspended Jay Spearing and he was on the receiving end of a stray elbow in the 15th minute as Walsall were reduced to 10 men. The signs were good at this stage.
What could go wrong? For the rest of the first half, it looked like we were the team down to 10 men as Walsall outfought and outran us, taking the lead with a scrappy, poorly defended goal.
We dominated the second half but could not score, not helped by a man-of-the-match performance from their goalkeeper, Neil Etheridge, or referee Trevor Kettle who maintained his 100-per-cent record of sending off a Wanderers player.
A yellow card for coming on too soon as a substitute was ridiculous when a quiet word would have sufficed.
While Sammy Ameobi can be clumsy, how did the officials miss the blatant trip in the box in the dying minutes?
So we maintained our miserable league record at Walsall and suffered our first defeat.
We’re no longer top. Days like these will happen during the course of a long, gruelling season.
It’s still early days as teams are establishing what kind of season they are going to be in for.
While losing a match is disappointing and frustrating, it is not terminal.
How we bounce back is important.
Phil Parkinson is doing his best to cover the injuries and weaknesses in the team, like lack of width.
The biggest challenge is the lack of creativity, particularly when up against packed defences. Let’s hope he can find the answer.
Source
The Exmoor Gold and a chat with the friendly but pessimistic locals went down a treat.
The only negative was no food served on Saturdays.
Then it was on to Banks’s stadium which has replaced the old Fellows Park ground, which was never a happy hunting ground for Wanderers in the 1980s.
For the food connoisseurs amongst us, Walsall FC have launched their own brand of the health snack – pork scratchings.
The away end was packed to the rafters with rejuvenated Bolton fans in good voice.
Chris Taylor came in for the suspended Jay Spearing and he was on the receiving end of a stray elbow in the 15th minute as Walsall were reduced to 10 men. The signs were good at this stage.
What could go wrong? For the rest of the first half, it looked like we were the team down to 10 men as Walsall outfought and outran us, taking the lead with a scrappy, poorly defended goal.
We dominated the second half but could not score, not helped by a man-of-the-match performance from their goalkeeper, Neil Etheridge, or referee Trevor Kettle who maintained his 100-per-cent record of sending off a Wanderers player.
A yellow card for coming on too soon as a substitute was ridiculous when a quiet word would have sufficed.
While Sammy Ameobi can be clumsy, how did the officials miss the blatant trip in the box in the dying minutes?
So we maintained our miserable league record at Walsall and suffered our first defeat.
We’re no longer top. Days like these will happen during the course of a long, gruelling season.
It’s still early days as teams are establishing what kind of season they are going to be in for.
While losing a match is disappointing and frustrating, it is not terminal.
How we bounce back is important.
Phil Parkinson is doing his best to cover the injuries and weaknesses in the team, like lack of width.
The biggest challenge is the lack of creativity, particularly when up against packed defences. Let’s hope he can find the answer.
Source