Bescot was the first stadium we visited on our 92 quest.  I didn’t do match reports then, and this match was so good, that I thought I’d do a quick MR.  I knew you’d be delighted.  Of course, the BBC’s Panorama programme overshadowed the match, getting “deep inside football” to show the corruption within the game.  Or so they claimed.  I’m glad I didn’t stay in to watch it.   Having now watched the highlights, what an appalling piece of journalism it was and what a very poor programme.

The night did not start encouragingly.  When I had phoned to buy my ticket, I was told I was “roit on the arf-way loyin”.  In fact, it was level with the edge of the penalty area.  Worse, it was roit next to a gangway, consisting of a quoit hoigh concroit wall with a metal rail atop.  I could only see the other end of the pitch by peering under the rail.  Worse, the view was then further blocked by a pillar and the dugout.  Not impressed.  It should really have been a “restricted view” ticket.

The Bescot’s a funny sort of ground.  I seem to recall that Walsall were the second club after Scunthorpe to build a new ground in the trend that started about 20-odd years ago.  If they were building it today, I don’t think it would look like this.  Apart from the newly rebuilt “Floors 2 Go” Stand at the one end, there are pillars at regular intervals.  It always strikes me as dark and dingy; weak lighting makes the pitch appear dark, and results in all the players having four shadows.

Pleasingly, Bolton played a strong team including the enigmatic Anelka.  The only player in the Walsall side who was in that first match we saw four seasons ago was veteran centre half Ian Roper. 

The match was a delight.  Walsall played good football, against Bolton’s strong running and greater nowse.  There were no cards shown thanks to the get-on-with-it efforts of the teams, and the sensible refereeing of Mr D’Urso.

Teams at this level often try to play decent football.  If this is typical of Walsall’s play, they are a good team indeed, probably the best we’ve seen at this level.  They have a nice blend of experience and youth.  There is an experienced backbone with Clayton Ince, ex-Crewe and Cov, in goal, Roper and Chris Westwood at centre back, captain Michael Dobson and the tireless Dean Keates in midfield, and the impressive Martin Butler up front.  Added to this is a very good selection of young players: Daniel Fox, Kris Taylor and Mark Wright all caught the eye, together with the lightning quick Ishmel Demontagnac who came on as sub.  Richard Money deserves great credit in pulling this together following the somewhat shambolic situation he inherited.

The match was incident packed.  The first half was highly entertaining and it was end-to-end stuff following a quiet first 15 minutes.  At one point, Walsall were really struggling as the hard running of Anelka and Vaz Te threatened to take them apart.  Some tremendous last ditch tackles kept Walsall in it, most notably when Dean Keates threw himself  in front of Vaz Te’s shot when it looked certain that he would score.  Gradually Walsall took a grip and Westwood hit the post from a corner.

At half-time, I skimmed through the programme and read with interest a feature on David Zdrilic, one of a season-long series on foreign players who have played for Walsall.  I was reminded of a conversation I had overheard when we visited Walsall in that first match four years ago.  Zdrilic had just joined Walsall then, and came on as sub.  Sat behind me were two archetypal Walsallians, one of whom was a regular fan and one who wasn’t.  The regular was describing Zdrilic’s background to his mate.  Now Zdrilic does have a spot in football history because he once scored 9 goals for Australia in a 31-0 win over American Samoa. 

Regular fan:  “He once scored 9 goals for Australia against some no-hopers.”

Other  fan:    “Who?”

Regular fan:   “Can’t remember ……. now, who was it?”

Other fan:     “Scotland?”

The second half was breathless.  The previously quiet Walsall crowd picked it up and the atmosphere was tremendous.  In fact, Walsall’s only chant in the first half was the awful “oo are ya”.  Shouldn’t it be “oo am ya” in these parts?

Nolan came on for Bolton midway through the half and put Bolton ahead soon after, tapping in at the far post.  I thought that might take the stuffing out of Walsall but far from it; they came roaring back.  Dobson put a free kick onto the far post and Butler dived to head in the rebound.  Walsall looked the likely winners after this, until Allardyce put on the obnoxious Diouf to win some free kicks.  Unfortunately, the otherwise excellent Mr D’Urso kept falling for it.

With three minutes to go, Diouf collapsed like a drugged up daddy-long-legs.  Over came the free kick and Campo nodded in unchallenged at the far post.  Now there was no justice here.  Campo had strolled lazily through the game, continually spraying careless passes straight to Walsall players.  He stood out like a sore thumb as the one player not really up for it. 

Walsall were done for, and Anelka had time to drive in after a goalmouth melee.

A credit to both teams, this was fine entertainment.  Long live the Carling (League) Cup!