Doncaster Rovers (H) Sep 15th, 3pm

Leaving the referee out of it for a minute I think Doncaster deserved to win.4-1 flattered them but we had beaten them 7 times in a row so I suppose it was pay back time. We were poor in midfield today Osbourne was very poor and Dobson wasn’t at his best. It happens sometimes and what happens next is the most important thing…Can we bounce back or will our confidence have been shattered? I hope it is not the latter but this is a very young and inexperienced (at this level) team.
I didn’t get a clear view of the penalty but DK says it was the correct decision. He has refused to comment on the rest of the performance by Mr. Coggins All I will say for those who follow these things he made Kettle,Haynes and co look worldbeaters!!!

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Just not at our best today. Ref didn’t help. Learn the lessons and move on.

Difficult game to watch and think Donny will be there or there about a purely because of there bastardry.

The ref was the worst I’ve seen in a while down at the Bonks and ruined what should have been a good evenly balanced game.

The penalty decision certainly hit a hand not quite sure who’s on first reaction it was a donny hand.

I agree with DK we’re wernt good enough today at Donny had tactics spot on but on another day and another ref who put a stop on their nonsense may have posed another result.

Pros
Thought Morris and Ferrier had decent games the rest were all a bit ‘meh’

Cons

Ferrier and Leahy scuffle
Back 5 looked a bit frail
General nativity acrossthe team

Couple of knee jerk reactions and not as bad as some may feel but is certainly a wake up call for DK and the boys and will be key to keep squad harmony together.

I do have a question on what people think on Cook and Ferriers strike partnership. Initially I thought there 2 styles would mesh well be over the past couple of games I don’t see a partnership forming? I think Ferrier at times can be selfish (not a bad trait for a striker as I want him to score goals) but feel he needs to play in others more etc

Thought Doncaster were a good side - very physical, lots of gamesmanship but plenty of skill too. We struggled to match them from the off - but when Ferrier scored I thought we’d build on that. But the penalty decision was the turning point - it knocked the stuffing out of us - looked a very poor decision from where I was - thought it was their player who handled. Hopefully the lads can learn from this and push on.

And oh yeah we missed Ozzy when he went off.

Ronan was a passenger when he game on not the game for him at all

Bad day at the office,move on,still a good start to the season.Its all about how Keates reacts to the defeat that counts.He may decide that it was just a glitch, and carry on with the 4-4-2 or he may completely change the system,he’s got options now,why wouldn’t he use them?

Think today proves how vital Dobson is too, one below par game from him and we lost that bite in midfield. Bloke is the heartbeat of this team.

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Yeah he got sucked into number 7s tactics showing his immaturity as a captain to that end

Saw on twitter that there number 7 made some gestures be interesting to kno if that was true or nonsense.

For me he played our team, the ref and the fans to perfection. First class wind up merchant and a decent player to boot. Just the kind of player you’d love to see in Walsall colours but hate to see in the opposition.

Still a ■■■■■ though.

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Sky highlights

https://drive.google.com/file/d/14x8n1Gga3Q7z2lM4xsOnTvaJrx6SY-Im/view?usp=drivesdk

Slow motion

Well that seems clear to me that it hits the Doncaster player’s hand first, which was my first reaction. At the very very least there is doubt there, so an unbiased referee can’t give a penalty in those circumstances.

Well it was my first match of the season today and, unlike some of you, I’m not particularly deflated or worried by team selections etc. I thought they were two fairly well matched teams who were seperated by two things;

i) The referee, who appears to have gifted them their first goal and then set up their third goal by refusing to give a blatant foul on Ferrier, not for the first or last two in the match. Add in some other incredibly baffling decisions, plus his willingness to put up with their bully boy tactics whilst handing out cards to our players like confetti, and (I don’t say this very often) we were playing 12 men.

ii) Finishing. They scored two excellent goals (the second and third) whilst Ginnelly and Ismail both missed similar level chances.

Of the players, I thought most did fine and played their part. The exception would be Osbourne who looked a yard off the pace, but then Ronan came on and looked a yard off Osbourne’s pace!

As for Leahy and Ferrier, I’m happy to see that. It means there is real passion to win in the team. They’ll be friends again this evening. Ferrier was having a tough match, being fouled repeatedly and the referee ignoring it, but Leahy was right to complain about him not tracking the player back which allowed the goal to happen. Right complaint,possibly wrong moment!

What I will say is that, as someone who backed Whitney and still thinks a lot of him, Keates has really brought something to the team. At 3-1, I thought that, if we got a goal, we were almost certain to get two. And throughout the team, you can see that everyone knows what they need to do. Fair play, he’s really got them on the up and the difference between seeing Ferrier upfront compared to Baka shows Whitney’s greatest weakness, in persevering with the latter.

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Unchallenged

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Ref shouldn’t be allowed to referee at any level ever again, never seen such a clueless tit at the Bescot! Completely lost control of the game after the awful penalty decision, we were lucky there wasn’t any red cards shown methinks!

One of those days. Got out bastardised today. They had a job to do and did it well.

Not too disheartened. It’s how we bounce back (or not) that matters now.

That was easily one of the worst refereeing “performances” I have ever witnessed. Absolutely diabolical.

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It sounds like we were outdone by a side even more of a bunch of B******* than us. Lessons to be learned by both the players and management team in how to keep your cool and composure in difficult circumstances.

I was not able to attend today but the fact that barely 4,000 Saddlers were there is extremely disappointing. I expected a few hundred more - not sure why they can’t be bothered to turn out.

Onwards and upwards to a better result at improving Oxford.

I said earlier I didn’t get a clear view of the penalty but how Dean can say it was right I don’t know!! It clearly should not have been given…the first hand to touch the ball was the Doncaster player. It was his hand that was used to push the ball onto Leahy.The referee, at best was only guessing…shameful decision.I hope Walsall make their views known to the FA.

It is not clear from the blurry video that the ball hit the Doncaster player’s hand at all, I will wait for a HD video before making a judgement but suspect that he spontaneous reaction of the players gives the game away. The three Doncaster players instantly appealed for a penalty, the three Walsall players near the ball did not appeal for hand ball.

Any better for you?

Never a pen!

Also, what did their player do to Leahy after the penalty was given?

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Watching, I can’t understand how a penalty was given from that. I’ll have to fall back to the generally observed default position: the ref was an incompetent knobber.

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