For the second year in succession, the Saddlers found themselves outfought and out-scrapped at home by a Brentford that looks like it could make the play-offs again, but this time they didn’t concede and ended up with a point.

Don’t get me wrong, Brentford are not a very good side, but they are very, very effective. Helped by a referee who got all of the major decisions right, but none of the minor ones, their spoiling tactics worked to perfection against a Walsall team struggling for ideas once Plan A failed to work.

The Saddlers lined up with a strange formation, a 4 4 2, with Merson on the right wing, Leitao on the left and Husbands up front with Fryatt. Taylor (rumoured to be because of a row with Merson before the game) and Standing (for no apparent reason) didn’t even make the 16, which meant the bench had a very defensive look to it with Staunton, Bennett, Kinsella, Wright and Gillmartin.

Brentford set their stall out straight away, making sure the game was very compact and that there was no room in the middle of the park. Merson had a free kick early on which brushed the post and showed a few nice touches, but just wasn’t seeing enough of the ball to be effective. Jorge on the left wing was a complete passenger, as the ball never went near him and Walsall were left trying to hit early balls to the front men, most of which were gobbled up easily by the outstanding (for the second year running) Sodje.

Brentford in general had the edge in the game and it was crying out for Husbands and Leitao to be swapped over. They weren’t and the only change came when Merson, of all people, mistimed a tackle in his own area, the player didn’t go over (fortunately, as some refs may have given it), and the player-manager pulled a groin muscle in the process. Wright came on in his stead.

Wright’s presence at least gave our play a little more pace for the few minutes left of the half, as we had been ponderous and turgid until then. The coaching staff (or Merson, depending on whether he was still getting treatment or not) obviously thought the same, as another change was made at half time, with Bennett coming on and playing on the left wing. Again, we can only presume Husbands was injured and there was really no other choice to play in that position.

Bennett did add some width and put over a some decent crosses at first, but he too began to fade out of the game in the second half, as did the whole team, to a certain extent, despite the extra width stretching the game more and putting Brentford under more pressure. We were not really creating chances, however, despite one header from Smith which dropped just past the far post and we were indebted to Ruddy for one good save and one excellent save before the end to maintain the 0 – 0.

All in all, it was a clean sheet, but the worrying aspect of the game was the fact that the opposition looked so much fitter, winning every 50/50 ball and always quicker into the tackle and the pass. We also contrived to look very shaky at every set piece and Merson needs to look carefully at what his coaching staff are doing. He had said that he thought we were very close to where he wanted us to be, but, to be frank, we just did not compete the way Brentford did.