Let’s face it, this was the day that probably finally sealed our fate this season. Against a team that was workmanlike, but not outstanding, too many players capitulated.

The Saddlers lined up Oakes, Wright, Gerrard, Roper, Fox, Devlin, Leary, Mills, Keates, Constable and Claridge, in a 4 4 2.

Walsall even managed to start this game off reasonably, not looking in that much difficulty and, with Claridge either holding the ball up well or buying a free kick when we went forward, we even looked like creating something (without ever quite doing it). However, from the moment Keates and the, quite frankly, appalling Fox contrived to give the right winger enough room to turn a supertanker to make the cross for the first, as Wright stood too far off his man, whatever confidence drained away completely.

The other two goals were just as bad, as Keates lost the ball half way inside his own half, Fox was nowhere and Roper duly gave away a penalty with one of “those” tackles he does occasionally. The late third again came from a cross from the right, with no one closing the player down and Wright left isolated against a 6 foot 4 inch defender.

As for the team:

Oakes - was my Man of the Match, as it would have been far, far worse without him.
Wright - despite the criticism, did some things OK. Did far too many badly, however.
Gerrard - I’d drop him. His positioning and marking were poor for him.
Roper - Was Roper. The pick of a poor defence.
Fox - He either needs shipping out or a huge kick up the backside. He was terrible and must leave everyone regretting we don’t have another full back on the books. He gave the winger so much room it was unbelievable.
Devlin - Was rubbish on the wing and I can’t remember him even trying to beat his full back once. He did improve a little when he went up front.
Mills - Terrible. A shadow of the player he was before the suspension.
Leary - Pick of the midfield, but that doesn’t say a lot, to be honest.
Keates - You can run around all you like, but if it’s completely unproductive, you might as well not bother.
Constable - Looked what he is - a non League striker. Never looked like getting on the end of anything, his runs and positioning were terrible. Had one chance and blew it completely.
Claridge - Blameless. Never stopped trying and gave us the only bits of quality in the starting eleven. If not for Oakes, would have been my MoM.

Subs:

Demontagnac - Did some useful things, but ended up with yet another yellow card for an appalling scything down of a player when he got frustated.
Osborn - Gave us some much needed class and composure when he came on, but all too briefly, because of the injury.

Ah well, welcome to Divsion 4, folks.