Burton Albion (A) Mar 2nd, 3pm

Good news is that Gillingham play Oxford next week, and then Bristol Rovers on the Tuesday. Somebody must drop some points. We just need to beat Fleetwood, then Portsmouth…

Thoroughly enjoyed the game - and can’t fault the team for effort. Special mention to Josh Gordon who was outstanding - played the lone striker role as it should be played, and never let their defence settle. Defence looked solid, and distribution out of defence was good - kept Burton under pressure for most of the second half. You could argue that it was 2 points dropped, but a clean sheet away from home and more importantly the supporters were clearly getting behind the team - another step in the right direction and a step away from the mess of the last couple of months.

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Poor first half, thought we could have snatched it second half. Strange from Keates not to make any subs but I suppose the forward line were linking up quite well so wanted to persevere with it. Disappointed but a good day out.

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Decent result. I wouldn’t have risked making changes either and upsetting the apple cart as that is the most solid defensively as a team we’ve looked maybe all season.

Not sure it’s enough with fixtures to come though.

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Pleased with a point, it’s certainly going to be more exciting than a mid table finish that’s for sure, if we had shown the commitment and effort we are showing now about 3-4 weeks ago, we would be ok, pity the club didn’t do anything about it then? oh well bonzo saved on moc’s wages, it will pay to keep his electric gates working over the summer, i fear we will need something a bit special in the coming weeks, against some of the top sides, you can only get so far on commitment and effort, but as long as they are trying then we can’t ask for more “UTS”

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Second week running they left nothing on the pitch

Deserved the win based on second half performance but a clean sheet is massive progress

Devlin my motm but Kinsella and Gordon close behind putting in challenges to really lift the fans.

Playing 5 in front of the back 4 looked solid

kept shape really well and left no space between the banks of 4 and 5

Flash led the line well and deserved a goal and Jarvis and Zeli combined well best I’ve seen them play to date

Last 2 games have made me believe we are not out the fight

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A good point I think and what a boost to keep a clean sheet and look good defensively.

Credit to Dean Keates. I’ve been critical but these last couple of matches have seen a real turnaround. I don’t buy this “it’s all down to MOC”. People did the same to Smith when he brought in O’Kelly. Here’s the deal - a good manager properly credits the contribution of his staff, but he takes the plaudits for putting that team together. So if MOC has had a really positive impact, well done keates for bringing him in and working with him.

Credit to the club as well. Rather than rush into sacking keates, I’m guessing they’ve all sat down and discussed what could be done to change things and they’ve backed him by freeing budget to bring in an assistant.

Let’s hope it’s enough and not too late.

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https://www.skysports.com/watch/video/sports/football/teams/walsall/11653305/burton-0-0-walsall

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Yes a positive display. How important is that clean sheet!!! Lads put in 110% .you can ask no more. We were unlucky not to win this game . And especially second half we started to look like a TEAM . Devlin , dobbo and Gordon were immense today . We was organised at the back Guthrie had a great game and scarr had his best game and looks like he is finding his feet now . Saddler and proud today . Great support from 1200 or so today in great voice. UTS

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Wow that looked like a completely different team to the one i saw at Coventry

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Encouraged but disappointed. We really needed 3 points today.

The table might look worrying as do the fixtures to come but you can’t help but be massively encouraged by the last 2 games .

I thought we were 95% to go down after Coventry . Now , i’d say 50/50 but it’s crucial we pick up something next Saturday.

It’s all a monumental difference from the Rochdale , Wimbledon , Coventry performances .

NOT hoofing the ball but trying to play football via the wingers , huge spirit and commitment to the cause and today you have to say we were very well organised .

The fans were superb , especially for the first 20 of the 2nd half and the team undoubtedly fed off that .

Special mentions to Guthrie , Dobson , Kinsella and Gordon , all excellent .

Scarr much improved too .

It’s going to be tight but when you show as much passion as today , you can actually look forward to games again .

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I could have written that…I would add Devlin to your list of best performers. Well done the team.

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First half was poor - much improved second half.

There was a lot of effort by everyone on the pitch - but not much quality. The only real flashes of quality were Zelis turn and cross for Jarvis, and Jarvis ball in for Gordon.

Other than that… pretty much a battling performance. Can’t question the commitment today, but not much in terms of quality.

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After a fairly turgid first half from both teams we played much better after the break and probably deserved to win the game.
Lots of positives though as we actually kept a clean sheet and there seemed to be a togetherness amongst the players.
Not making half a dozen changes every week helps.
Great support today from the 1200 Saddlers fans who appreciated the teams effort.
If we are going to stay up we need this togetherness with the players and fans.
It works both ways and if us fans can see 100% on the pitch we will get behind the team to hopefully ensure league one survival.

That was a solid performance and one we need to build on next week and get some momentum going. There was movement all over and we remained in control of the game both defensively and offensively, we looked like we had a plan. Had the best chances of the game and could have won but winning at home and drawing away would usually get you in the playoffs so it’s not bad form.

First half was a tight affair but as Burton did in the first game they were quick out the blocks and closed us down well. Once we rode that pressure we took control of the game and Zeli and Jarvis came into the game more. Gordon was tireless and the midfield 3 worked hard to restrict them playing through the middle. As I say a solid performance.

It’s not all doom and gloom. Wycombe in 12th are on 43 pts, I can see them and Accrington falling out the pack as the season goes on. Nothing to panic about. While we’re playing the bigger sides the others will play each other and that can work in our favour if we can pick up points.

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did we take the 1200 expected?

Very unlucky not to win today a much improved performance all round with every player fighting for each other like the start of season.

Looking at the table you could see almost every team in the bottom half could be dragged into this. Fleetwood game is now massive, win that and we will keep our heads above water for now

Unlucky after a very positive second half. Anyone that didn’t go just ignore the so called Report on the BBC site which is rubbish.
Joe Masi of E&S Report is spot on.
For the first time in some time (Bradford apart) we looked like a team that could play some football and put the opposition under pressure and also defend.
Hard to be critical of anyone in the team and some of them were 9 out of ten and following the example of last week the effort and commitment was very clear to see.
Their keeper got MOM and you could see why for a couple of saves that denied us 3 points.
Table doesn’t look good and our goal difference doesn’t help but today makes me believe that we have a chance. There are now a batch of teams above us that are within our grasp so we have given ourselves the chance to compete and hope that one or two of those have a bad run over the next 2 months whilst we continue to hold our own.
Well done to our fans. Noisy and supportive and the players can’t fail to notice that level of support. Can you think of many clubs at our level that would take around 1200 fans to support their club after what has happened on the field in 2019 (BBC before Bradford City). Take my hat off to them/us.
Who says we don’t care?
UTS.

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