Kick it off's Walsall report

[kick it off 1,948]

I apologise for the lateness of this, but I have been at home, therefore enjoying time with my family, but have returned to uni now, so thought i would post my thoughts about last night, for what they''re worth.Firstly, as many of you know, I am not currently going as much as I would like, as am not living in the city and finances and uni workload dictate that I cant make it often, so am instead left to forlornly listen to canariesworld every match day.Pre-game last night, I had a sneaky suspicion we would get beat, as I have always been a victim of sod''s law and I knew it would be a tight game with Walsall being negative and not trying to break us down. I think I was vindicated in my pre-game assessment of Walsall''s tactics as that is exactly what they did, put 10 behind the ball and kept it tight, holding on for a draw right from the outset, and then even more so once they had scored.The game was not a classic by any stretch of the imagination, and it was a poor pitch and negative tactics from the home team that seemed to have conspired to bring the Lambert victory wagon to a screeching halt with a shock defeat. The first half was poor fare with both teams struggling to break the other down, or create anything incisive at all in the final third. Oli had a delightful lob cleared off the line but that''s as close as I remember us going. An arbitrary affair with neither team really creating, and very few chances at either end, the Oli lob and Walsall goal aside.Their goal was a defensive mix-up and I honestly couldnt tell you with any certainty, who was at fault without seeing the replay; but my initial reaction was Forster was to blame and I thought he should have stayed on his line. Apart from the goal, Walsall rarely threatened to score, but when they did, Forster was superb.Second half was much improved from City and we huffed and puffed without creating anything gilt edged, an industrious performance and we went close a couple of times but nothing clear cut. A shot from Russell from the edge of the area forced Clayton Ince into a fine save, Korey possibly should have done better with a header from around 8 or 9 yards out, a passage of play with several yellow shirts failing to shoot when given the opportunity ended in Hughes blazing an awful shot over just after HT. The introduction of Cody and Macnamee was the catalyst for our victory, with both turning in fine performances, Cody was especially good, and the goal was a sublime sidefoot volley. Martin''s goal was an error from their keeper who fumbled the corner and Martin finished with aplomb, the boy needs no second chances from that range.With regards to player ratings:Forster - 8 - Possibly at fault for goal but made several fine saves to keep Walsall out.R. Martin - 6 - Probably a little harsh but I felt he was a bit of a liability and let Walsall in down the right several times. Good covering on a few occasions though kept them at bay when they threatened to break through.Doc - 7 - Solid enough performance, nothing notable either wayNelson - 8 - I''m not his biggest fan generally, but he was very good and solid as a rock.Drury - N/A - Did not look comfortable when he went off at all.Lappin - 7 - Decent enough, did well at LB and was tidy when he had possessionRusty - 5 - Probably our worst player on the night, was absent in midfield and was out of position constantly.Korey - 6.5 - Didn''t do too much and struggled against their LBHooly - 1st half - 5 - absolutely anonymous, and when he did get it, lost it.Hooly - 2nd half - 8 - Oozed quality, and terrorised the Walsall defence. A marked improvement on first half. Was very, very good.Oli - 7 - Industrious, and tenacious, but very raw and was bullied by their CBs. Was not helped by their godawful pitch, a couple of times tried clever touches which bobbled off their cabbage patch pitch.Super Chrissy - 8 - Very assured in possession and confidence was pouring out of him. Got the goal by being right place, right time, worked hard, decent shift, glad we have signed him up.SUBS:Hughes - 5 - Was probably as bad as Rusty, absolutely anonymous, and struggled to impact the game at all.Cody - 9 - Wasnt on for long but was brilliant, gave us an outlet, and took pressure off our defence, worked hard, and fully deserved his goal which was lovely (wonderful assist from Hooly to pick him out to be fair). Looked alot more polished and complete than Oli. Very impressive - should be starting on Sat on that performance.Macnamee - 8 - Took some time to settle in, don''t think he touched the ball for about 8mins! When he did he was a joy to watch, stepovers, running at defenders, quality crosses, very exciting player. Almost reminded me of a previous City number 6 (Dare I say it!)THE REF - 1 - Worst I have seen for a long time. Had an absolute shocker, no control of game and gave nothing for either team (prob a few more for them to be fair), constantly let blatant fouls slide, let bookings go unbooked and players got no admonishment for timewasting (as several walsall players did constantly). Appalling, I hope he never refs another NCFC game.THE FANS - 9 - Top class following, singing all the while, chants at the stadium announcer were hilarious, and many more, havent been part of an atmosphere like that since we went up to Prem. Was brilliant. When we scored the 2nd the chant of "we are top of the league" sent shivers down my spine, especially knowing Leeds were losing (courtesy of the "The leeds are losing 3-0" chant!)Stadium announcer - 2 - Thats being generous, got Leeds score wrong, then argued with the fans who chanted "you dont know what you''re doing" then blamed the computer and proceeded to stutter every other score out. Very poor showing, should be dropped for next game in my opinion.OVERALL:A draw probably would have been a fair result, but if either team should have taken the 3 points it was us. We had to work and grind it out, but we had the edge in quality and it showed in the end. The players went as mental as the fans when our second went in, was a pleasure to see how much it means to them.

[kick it off 1,948]

Slight rethink on that after seeing highlights, Doc''s great header off the line ups his rating, and oli''s lob was off the 6 yard box, not the line.

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Excellent Summary, kickitoff [:)]

[K Lo 221]

It was hard to see Oli''s lob as it was right at the other end of teh pitch. The ref. was bad in that he didn''t seem to signal that teh first Norwich goal was a goal. Those around me, including me, didn''t celebrate straight away as we weren''t sure if the goal stood. Similar thing with Norwich''s second and full time.