Watford dominated the opening 45 minutes of the game. They were comfortable on the ball, good coming forward and were keen to create chances. 

The danger signs were there early on when Watford were finding a lot of space out wide, which eventually led to Mahon hitting the bar after a Samways mistake.

Our passing in the opening 20 minutes was shocking. Balls were under and over hit allowing Watford to retain possession and camp in our half. The inevitable goal came on 14 minutes when the Ball fell to Paul Cook inside the 18 yard box after a Samways drag back had gone horribly wrong. Cook shot at Walker, who was deceived by a Zigor Aranalde deflection. 

The Saddlers continued to serve up the unattractive brand of football we have become accustomed to.  Samways, Osborn and Emblen don't have one offensive bone in their bodies. Emblen was about as useful as a Subbuteo player in midfield. His immobility and style of play added nothing to the team. Samways and Osborn were content with passing the ball backwards and side wards when we needed to get back in behind the Watford defence.  

It wasn't all Watford in the first half, we did have our chances. Leitao and Wales managed to lose their markers on a number of occasions, but could only manage weak shots, or were thwarted by the inform Pidgeley. The best chance fell to Leitao who smashed his shot straight at Pidgley when all he had to do was stick it in either corner to equalise.

Half Time - Walsall 0-1 Watford

Things did get better in the 2nd half, mainly thanks to the introduction of Kris Taylor.

Taylor's range of passing was a breath of fresh air. He was pinging 20 yard passes to feat of Leitao and Wales, brought Zigor and Bazeley in to the game and He provided our front men with the service they had lacked in the first half.

Taylor's crunching tackle on Devlin just after his introduction highlighted his will to win, something his team mates were lacking in abundance. 

Watford's best chance of the half fell to Cooke who's shot was off target.

The Saddlers went on to have a series of good chances. Leitao was one on one with the keeper and appeared to have his ankles clipped from behind in the penalty box - no penalty awarded.

Emblen saw his long range effort tipped around the post by the keeper, while Wales had 2 half hearted efforts from the edge of the box.

Matias and Wright were introduced in the second half as we went 4-4-2. We put Watford under a lot pressure in closing moments. Matias had a chance to level things late on but he volleyed his effort over the bar.

This was another case of total rubbish rather than  total football . 

Full Time - Walsall 0-1 Watford