Skip to main content Skip to site footer

Kick off 15:00 (UK)

1-1
07 October 2017 Venue Banks's Stadium Attendance

Kick off 15:00 (UK)

Buy a pass:

Listen live now

Watch live now

Listen or watch live now

Recent results

Standings

English Football League - League One

Advertisement block

Advertisement block

Live commentary of this match has not yet started.

toggle inactive

key moments

Updated at

There are currently no key moments to display.

Advertisement block

Advertisement block

Advertisement block

Advertisement block

Match Previews

Walsall Match Preview

6 October 2017

Marcus Braddock previews the trip to the Ban

This weekend Town travel the short distance to Walsall for their latest instalment of League One Football. It's fair to say that the Saddlers haven't had the sort of start to the season that they may have hoped for but they're undefeated at home so this looks to be another difficult game.

Walsall manager Jon Whitney has mentioned his teams’ tiredness and not being able to rest too many players but is that a bit of kidology? Acting like the wounded animal maybe in the hope of wrong-footing us on Saturday? I don't think we can afford to be drawn into any sympathy for a team that most of our supporters consider local rivals, we have inertia but we still need to maintain our standard to keep rolling. After all, Walsall have beaten us almost twice as many times as we have them and shouldn't be under-estimated just because their season hasn't started as well as ours.

Whitney has also mentioned that they've conceded a fair few penalties. What could that many penalties tell us about Walsall? It could say that the defence has been overstretched, causing defenders to stretch for tackles they can’t properly get to. It could be simple inexperience but I wonder if it's just players getting used to playing together. All but one of the defenders I researched arrived in or since the summer so could it just be that they aren't adapting well to each other’s ways of playing. Their home record is an unbeaten one, which is impressive although the teams they’ve beaten in the league this season are Plymouth and Oldham. In addition they've drawn at home with Charlton, Peterborough, Bradford all handy teams that currently occupy third, fourth and fifth in League One. However, clean sheets have not been seen this season at Bescott

Top Scorer

Tyler Roberts but he's on international duty, which is a shame as I really rated him when he played for us last season, a loss as big as us losing Dean Henderson? We'll have to see. Fortunately for Walsall they have another striker on three league goals and he's also got one in the FLT. Greenwich born Erhun Oztumer is a midfielder who started his career with Charlton but then went to Turkey to play for a few teams there. In 2012 he returned to England and started playing for Dulwich Hamlets where he scored dozens of goals, enough to alert Peterborough who signed him in 2014. Fifty games and a couple of years later and Oztumer moved to his current club Walsall where he has scored nearly twenty goals in over fifty appearances.

Goals

On average Walsall have conceded 1.6 goals at home and scored 2 so the question is can we score two or more on Saturday and keep them down to just the one or less? Well Bradford scored three in their draw at Bescot and Peterborough are the only league team to keep Walsall to just the one goal scored at home so it's not an impossible task.

Forty per cent of Walsall's goals at home have come in the last fifteen minutes, does that mean they have a physically strong team that keeps going till the end? It might do but the same pattern isn't replicated in away games so maybe it's something else. It could suggest that they're often chasing the game into the dying minutes so maybe we need to finish any chances early in the game although Bradford scored three goals at Bescott earlier this season and still ended up with just a point after an impressive Saddlers rear-guard action!

Clean Sheets

0 at home and 0 away.

Assists

Luke Leahy 4

Referee - Graham Salisbury from Lancashire. Games this season 13. Average Yellow cards: 4.5. Average Red cards: 0.3.

Assistants: Alan Clayton and Steven Plane
Fourth Official: Geoffrey Russell

Squad News

Walsall's loanee striker Tyler Roberts will be on international duty. Jon Whitney has no fresh injury concerns.

Town will be without Dean Henderson who is on international duty.

Prediction

Paul Hurst goes into this game as the September manager of the month after picking up the award this morning. We really should be winning games like this against opposition who have struggled a little this season but will the “Derby” nature of the game level the playing field. I really hope not, if we play as we have done this season, Walsall are in for a difficult day but I would be happy enough with a draw from this one as it's away from home.

Shrewsbury Town 2-2 Walsall F.C.

COYB!!!

Marcus

Advertisement block

Match Reports

Walsall 1 Town 1

7 October 2017

Town draw 1-1 in the local derby

Shrewsbury Town: Craig MacGillivray, Ben Godfrey, Mat Sadler, Abu Ogogo ©, Louis Dodds (Carlton Morris 75), Junior Brown, James Bolton, Jon Nolan, Aristote Nsiala, Alex Rodman (Shaun Whalley 75), Stefan Payne (Arthur Gnahoua 88)
Subs: Cameron Gregory, Joe Riley, Omar Beckles, Shaun Whalley, Carlton Morris, Arthur Gnahoua, Ebou Adams

Walsall: Mark Gillespie, Joe Edwards ©, Luke Leahy, Jon Guthrie, Nicky Devlin, Erhun Oztumer, Kieron Morris, James Wilson, Amadou Bakayogo, Kory Roberts, Dan Agyei (Tyler Roberts 68)
Subs: Liam Roberts, Reece Flanagan, Tyler Roberts, Zeli Ismail, Maz Kouhyar, Will Shorrock, Mitch Candlin

Referee: Graham Salisbury
Assistants: Alan Clayton and Steven Plane
Fourth Official: Geoffrey Russell

Attendance: 5971 (1643)

Shrewsbury Town extended their unbeaten run to a dozen games in a feisty and controversial game at the Banks’ Stadium. Walsall took the lead on 13 minutes through Dan Agyei’s wonder strike, but Town hit back from the spot five minutes later when Stefan Payne sent Mark Gillespie the wrong way. However, Walsall should arguably have been down to 10-men for a deliberate handball, which saw Shrewsbury given the penalty. The second-half was a quieter affair, but Town had Craig MacGillivray to thank as he pulled off a fine save to deny Tyler Roberts in the last couple of minutes.

Team News:
After making 10 changes for Tuesday night, Paul Hurst resorts to a similar team which faced Scunthorpe United in their last league game. There’s one enforced change with Craig MacGillivray coming in for Dean Henderson, who is on England Under-21 duty. The other change to the side sees Louis Dodds come in for Shaun Whalley.

First Half:
After a relatively quiet opening 10 minutes, where both sides seemed to be feeling each other out, it was Walsall who took the lead on 13 minutes. Town gave the ball away in the middle of the park and Walsall broke through Luke Leahy on the left. Leahy played the ball to Dan Agyei whose attempted through ball was blocked off but the ball came back to Agyei and he curled in a stunning shot from 25 yards into the top corner of Craig MacGillivray’s net – giving the ‘keeper no chance.

Shrewsbury didn’t have to wait long to be presented with an opportunity to equalise, as five minutes after the Walsall goal they were awarded a penalty. Town built well down the left and Junior Brown’s through ball found Louis Dodds in space in the box. Dodds attempted to chip the ‘keeper, but the effort didn’t have enough power, so Stefan Payne headed towards goal and header was clearly handled by a Walsall player on the line and Graham Salisbury pointed to the spot. With it being a deliberate handball, the Walsall man should surely have been sent off, but after much deliberation with the linesman, Salisbury decided not to even book the Walsall player. However, Stefan Payne stepped up to send Mark Gillespie the wrong way and get Town back into it.

After a slow start to the game from a Town perspective, the team in blue and amber were beginning to dominate and they went close to a second when Louis Dodds’ corner went through a mass of bodies before hitting Toto Nsiala. The Congolese defender didn’t seem to be expecting the ball to reach him and it was a comfortable save for Gillespie.

Stefan Payne was then presented with the perfect chance to take the lead when Ben Godfrey flicked the ball on and Payne brought the ball down brilliantly before rounding the ‘keeper. Payne took a touch to steady himself before aiming towards an open goal, but Kory Roberts managed to get back and clear it off the line.

Less than a minute later, Payne did have the ball in the net, but this time the goal was ruled out for offside. Louis Dodds’ initial corner was only half-cleared and Rodman scooped the ball back into the box. Payne volleyed home first time, but the linesman had already raised his flag.

It was Walsall who ended the half on top and Town had to make a couple of last ditch blocks to keep the score at 1-1 heading into the interval. Amadou Bakayoko held the ball up well and brought Joe Edwards into play. Edwards’ shot was blocked Mat Sadler, but it fell for Leahy who shot first time and a combination of Toto Nsiala and James Bolton had to put their bodies on the line to prevent it heading into the bottom corner.

Half-Time: 1-1

Second Half:

The second half started much like the first, with both sides struggling to keep the ball long enough to really make an impression. It wasn’t until 17 minutes into the half that either side had a notable attempt at goal. It fell to Stefan Payne who ran onto Louis Dodds’ through ball nicely, but his shot from just outside the box was blocked by the covering defender Roberts and it trickled into the hands of Gillespie.

Both sides were throwing men forward, but often the best opportunities saw the linesman’s flag go up at the same time, with Payne judged to have strayed offside when he put a chance wide form 6 yards.

Walsall hadn’t made much of an impression in the second half, so with just until 25 minutes to go they brought on former Town loanee Tyler Roberts. Hurst followed that up with a couple of chances of his own 10 minutes later as Shaun Whalley came on for Alex Rodman and Louis Dodds was replaced by Carlton Morris.

With both Morris and Payne now on the pitch, Town had plenty to aim at in the box, but on a couple of occasions Shaun Whalley’s crosses towards Morris were dealt with by the Walsall back-three.

At the other end, Tyler Roberts looked Walsall’s biggest threat and Craig MacGillivray had to be alert to get down well to his left and save Roberts’ 25 yard shot, which zipped along the greasy surface.

With less than a minute of normal time remaining Craig MacGillivray pulled off a world class save to deny Roberts. Walsall managed to get in down the Town right and Bakayoko delivered a pinpoint cross onto head of Roberts, who headed the ball into the ground, but MacGillivray tipped it over the bar at full stretch.

Full Time: 1-1

Advertisement block

Ticket News

Walsall Ticket Details

6 October 2017

Ticket details for the league trip to Walsall

Walsall v Shrewsbury Town

Saturday 7th October 2017 – kick-off 3pm

Banks's Stadium

SKY Bet League One

Ticket prices have been confirmed for our Sky Bet League One trip to the Banks's Stadium to take on Walsall.



Tickets will be priced at -



Adults - £23.50

Over 60s - £17.50

Under 18s - £15.50

Family Ticket - £25.50 (One adult, One junior under 18) - these can only be purchased through Walsall - Extra Junior to Family Ticket - £12.50.

Ambulant/Wheelchair disabled prices are relevant to price catagories above with a carer free of charge.

We have sold out the initial allocation of 1,510 tickets.

Walsall have opened part of the St Francis Group Community Stand for Town supporters.

Town fans can order tickets until 4:30pm on Friday (6th) direct from Walsall Ticket Office on 01922 651416 for collection on the day.

Town fans will be able to purchase on the day, there will be a £2 increase and it will be CASH SALES.

Any tickets that have been purchased but not picked up from the MWM will be available for collection at the Walsall ticket office from Window 5.

There is an Away Fans Bar which opens at 1:30pm on the afternoon of the game.

Car parking is £4 per car, mini buses £6 and coaches £12.

Tickets can be purchased in the following ways:

From the Walsall ticket office on 01922 651416 until 4:30pm on Friday 6th.

Advertisement block

Advertisement block

iFollow Next Match Tickets Account