Torquay fans leaving Bescot Stadium yesterday must have been very disappointed at their team being robbed of two points their performance had richly deserved. Let’s face it, Walsall were not just bad, they were terrible.

The fans had certainly done their bit, turning the stands into a sea of red, releasing hundreds of balloons and cheering wildly as the team ran out, but the ground was soon quietened by the sheer ineptitude of the performance.

Merson decided to change things round again, starting with a strange looking 4 4 2, consisting of Oakes, Gerrard, Emblen, Roper, Perpetuini, Wrack, Osborn, Pead, Merson, Joachim and Leitao. On the bench were Wright, Murphy, Fryatt, Surman and Standing, so neither Joe “Two More Years” Broad, nor Kris Taylor could make the squad.

The midfield immediately decided to make itself as inconspicuous as possible. Wrack ran about a lot, achieving precisely nothing and not going past his full back once, Pead was, quite frankly, dreadful and Merson touched the ball 8 or 9 times in the entire half and only failed to give it straight to the opposition once. Osborn was completely overwhelmed trying to play against five opponenents at the same time as covering for a defence that was shambolic.

Emblen and Roper struggled to cope witht he pace, power and running of Akinfenwa, but, fortunately, his finishing was abysmal, as he miskicked twice when it looked easier to score, put a header wide that should have been on target at least and hit the post. Gerrard looked OK in defence, but his distribution was hopeless for a full back, Perpetuini looked as if he’d get a nose bleed if he passed the half way line and the two strikers just weren’t seeing the ball at all. Our only chance was a half one that Jorge made a mess of. The keeper? We’ll come to him.

All through the half it was crying out for some pace down the flanks, with Wright and Surman on for Wrack and Merson. Did we get it? Did we hell. The second half started as badly as the first.
Eventually, it got worse. A long punt forward was dropping over Roper’s head, Oakes clearly called for it, didn’t quite get there and both players allowed Akinfenwa to muscle through and tap home. Quite possibly one of the worst goals I’ve ever seen conceeded.

The Saddlers continued to lumber on, virtually playing with ten men, as the clearly unfit Merson strolled up and down a ten yard stretch of the left wing, moaning about not getting the ball directly to feet and chasing nothing.

Eventually, the uncomfortable Emblen was replaced by Wright, Pead went to right back and Gerrard to centre back. The defence looked a little more solid, for a short while.

With most of the crowd in the middle purple around me crying out for Surman to come on for Merson, he finally brought Leitao off for Fryatt. Unbelievably, his first contribution was to work a play with Wrack down the left which resulted in him smashing the ball into the roof of the net. A completely undeserved equaliser.

For the next ten minutes, we actually played football, with Wright causing them trouble down his flank and their keeper making on excellent save from Joachim. It did’t last, however, with Torquay spending the last five minutes plus injury time camped in the Walsall half. The defence looked as shaky as when Emblen was on and only two superb saves from Oakes prevented Torquay getting the winner they richly deserved.

Man of the Match? You’re having a laugh! Gerrard got it and his only real competition was Osborn, who never stopped trying, and Oakes . It says much that it would be between three players, one of whom gave away a goal and two who might have done with one complete howler each.

The rest? Pead was really, really dire in midfield, but at least looked more comfortable at full back, Emblen was awful, Roper was Roper, but looked unfit, Perpetuini gave us nothing going forward, although, to be fair, his path was often blocked by a large obstruction wearing the number 10 shirt, Wrack was pointless and should have come off, Wright was lively and the three strikers (including Fryatt) had so little possession, it’s hard to judge. As for Merson - that was one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen in a Walsall shirt, He wasn’t fit, it showed and there was no way he should have been on the pitch, as we were playing with ten men.

The positives? Wrexham lost a game I thought they’d win and the Football League have kept us up by deducting ten points from them - and that’s the only reason.