By Admin@SwiftHalf
January 2 2005

Two average teams, with 22 average players played out an average football match in front of an average crowd of 6021.

^THETEAMS

^{Walsall: Murphy, McShane, Bennett (Aranalde 90), Emblen, Wright, Broad, Osborn, Standing, Merson, Leitao, Robinson (Fryatt 60). Unused: Paston, Herivelto, Kinsella.}

^{Doncaster Rovers: Warrington (Jones 90), Ryan, Albrighton, Foster, Mulligan, Green, Ravenhill, Doolan, McIndoe (Blundell 65), Johnson, Roberts. Unsed: Morley, Ipoua, Fenton.} 

^THEGOALS

^{Doncaster - Bennett scores an own goal after 9 minutes. Rovers benefit from the chaos and panic in the Walsall area}

^{Walsall - Michael Standing scores the Walsall equaliser after 21 minutes. He thumps home a ball which rolled to him on the edge of the area.}

^MATCHSUMMARY

^{Donny looked bang on form for the first 30 minutes. They knocked the ball around well. Their goal was well deserved. The usual confusion reigned as we struggled to deal with a routine cross; Julian Bennett stuck it into his own net. It took us about 10 minutes to hit back with a rocket propelled Standing pile driver from 18 yards out. It turned out to be an entertaining game; both sides had some excellent chances. We had a double penalty appeal turned down. Rovers had 3 successive shots blocked on the line. Matty Fryatt flashed a late effort across the face of the Donny goal. Draw was a fair result.}

^{IMPORTANTNOTES}

^{Bennett went off with a head injury; Jorge also suffered a knock to the head, but appears to be ok.  Merse played a full game; will he play another 90 minutes in just 48 hours? The same can be said for Ozzie who was quietly effective throughout the game. Herivelto wasn’t used – AGAIN.}

^THEPOSITIVES

^{We managed to get back in the game early on, and didn’t let Donny capitalise on their lead like Tranny did the other day. Matty Fryatt made a come back and certainly made an impact.  Apart from that, the only other thing we can think of is that we weren’t subjected to a full 90 minutes of Zigor Aranalde’s defending, but Mark Wright more than made up for his absence.}

 

^THENEGATIVES

^{The Bennett injury, chaos when defending crosses, Merson is looking knackered, and Robinson looked blunt. We are also putting good balls in to the box, but no one is able to turn them in to goals.} 

 

^{PLAYERREPORTS}

^{Murphy |  Several stunning saves proved that Mr Murphy is actually a good goalkeeper. MotM today, no doubt helped by the four pairs of keeper gloves he carried onto the field with him.}

^{Wright | Another example of why wingers shouldn’t be converted to full backs. Good going forward but backed off McIndoe far too much early on.}

^{McShane | Looks better at Center Half than he does at fullback. Did an alright job today. An average performer.} 

^{Emblen |  A solid display from Dr Evil. Looked a danger in the opposition penalty box on set pieces.} 

^{Bennett |  Walsall's resident hard man rarely goes down injured, today he played left back and took a right kicking. eventually forced off with a head injury. Better in the middle but still reliable as ever at full back.}

^{Broad | Will be pleased with his contribution. Short of competitive practice, but did a job in the absence of Wrack. Will be sad that the early match rain made his funky hair style a mess.} 

^{Standing | Continues to improve and scored a right corker. He is able to relieve pressure on the defence by running at the opposition}

^{Merson | No where near his creative best, looks jaded and in need of a rest (and a shave).} 

^{Osborn | An impressive outing for the skipper (though why is he captain?! he's not a leader and he's not exactly lucky). He cajoled and got stuck in. His reputation for wayward passing looked false.}

^{Leitao | One of the poorest performers on an average day. Just doesn't look like scoring, and isn't contributing to the team as much as he used to. (SwiftHalf suggests Merse drops Leitao, hence providing the Portuguese with a proverbial kick up the backside)}

^{Robinson | Struggled to get in to the game and was very Gary Birch-ish. Taken off for Fryatt midway through the half. Might be a bit a tired or maybe Leitao's ineffectiveness is rubbing off on Marvellous.}

^{Fryatt | Looked lively and keen, which is just what we needed. Had a couple of good penalty claims turned down. Looked like he really wanted to agitate people (especially the ref). Maybe he didn't get what he wanted for Christmas. Retro 70s style haircut has appeared since he got injured..maybe he was unable to get to a barbers?}

^{Zigor | Was only on for a bit, but still managed to get a few gypo chants from the Donny fans. Looked eager, maybe getting dropped has woken Ziggy up? We missed his crosses today.}