EFL Trophy: Walsall 3 Shrewsbury 0 - George Bennett and Nathan Judah analysis
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Hello, I'm Nathan Judah. I'm here with Walsall Report. It is Mr. George Bennett George, EFL trophy action.
00:04Some would say a dead rupper, some may say not, and you'll tell us why in a minute. Walsall 3, Shrewsbury Town 0, against
00:11some rivals, you can say some, some rivals I would have said, and look that was pretty comprehensive, wasn't it?
00:16Yeah, exactly that, you know, 10 changes.
00:19Good chance to see the fringe players and get minutes into players that we've not seen a great deal of.
00:25And yeah, there was an incentive, you know.
00:27Walsall had already progressed, so it was an opportunity to make those changes and rest players obviously
00:34didn't want to gamble on the players who were going to be heading up on international duty as well.
00:40But yeah, they really grew into that game as a team that's not played together
00:43and it shows a depth across the squad for the way they performed and yeah, that incentive was there to go and get top spot.
00:48And after the first half, they really built on it in the second half and yeah, in the end it was a comprehensive victory.
00:54Yeah, look, I mean, you would say, I guess on paper for the neutral who hasn't really paid too much attention this season
01:00that, well, that's an upset, League 2 beating League 1, but it wasn't really an upset.
01:04Shrewsbury bottom of League 1, Walsall flying high second, so really in the scheme of things, in the pyramid,
01:09I guess you can say there's two spots between the sides at this moment in time.
01:13But it's Walsall who are on the way up and you can tell that through the second half and just the goals that they scored
01:18and just the, like I say, the continuity they had and the pressure that was just off them.
01:22And they're playing with freedom at this moment in time.
01:24Exactly, and you know, the confidence is going to be streaming through these players with the results they're picking up against higher opposition.
01:30I know you say there, the gap between Shrewsbury and Walsall compared to some of the teams they've beaten in the divisions of this season.
01:36I mean, you know, Bolton in the FA Cup, got the draw against Leicester before going out in agonising fashion on penalties,
01:42the wins against Huddersfield and Exeter, the draw which me and you were at for the Birmingham game earlier in the competition,
01:47who they've now leapfrogged tonight to take top spot.
01:50So lots of confidence there against teams in the division above and it's only going to add to what has been a really strong season in the league so far.
01:58And yeah, it was a good performance in the second half.
02:01I thought the first 45 was a little bit loose at times, causing air for a lot of it.
02:06It wasn't a great spectacle, but in the second half they were really clinical and it was a good performance.
02:11Yeah, it was, good goals and also a clean sheet as well.
02:13Exactly, and you know, I think I was just saying to someone outside that Sam Hornby's as good a back-up goalkeeper as you can ask for really.
02:20I mean, in terms of his shot-stopping ability, three or four really good saves there.
02:25And in this competition, he's really made it his own, not had the opportunities because he's obviously second choice to Tommy Simpkin,
02:31but there was a penalty save late on that got them the win against Fulham, his shoot-out heroics against Birmingham to gain that extra point.
02:40So, yeah, a good performance from him again tonight and, you know, his reliability as a back-up that you can get really.
02:46But like you say, just keep this momentum going because you keep on winning games and even when they're not playing particularly well,
02:51they're still drawing games. In terms of no game this weekend, is that a shame or do you feel it was a good opportunity for them to get a bit of rest
02:59some of this squad going into Wimbledon in a couple of weeks' time?
03:02I think probably it would be a good opportunity to kind of reset.
03:07I know you want to try and continue that momentum and the form has been so good at the moment.
03:14But, yeah, I mean, it would be good to reset because it's going to be a congested fixture schedule over the Christmas period
03:20and, you know, an opportunity to give some of those players minutes today.
03:23Matt Sadler has said time and time again that, you know, the whole squad is going to be called upon.
03:28And it was good to see players that, you know, George Hall played really well tonight, especially in the second half.
03:34Riyaz clearly grew in confidence quite in the first half, but took his goal well.
03:38And you could see how much confidence that gave him.
03:41So that was really good to see, not seeing a great deal of him.
03:43Danny Johnson with only a second start this season, I thought Rico Brown had a really good debut.
03:49And I've seen Evan Weir was given a match over to Tannock at the end of the game, a good performance from him too.
03:54So good to see those sort of players get minutes in their legs and give Matt Sadler some possible options if he does look to change things.
04:01But clearly in the league, he's not going to want to be changing too much with the female edge.
04:04No, but like you say, it's great. It's a squad game. It's very important.
04:07Also, these guys are going to get the opportunity to play again, or some of them as well.
04:10They're going to have some more games to come.
04:11They've got the FA Cup and they're going to be in the next round of this competition as well.
04:14And like you say, topping the group and that's a guaranteed home game now.
04:18Yeah, exactly. And I mean, you know, what's gone on in the Cup?
04:21You look at the momentum that they gathered from that earlier run in the EFL Cup, the Paralympic Cup, with, you know, the draw against Leicester.
04:29I mentioned the results just earlier against the higher opposition.
04:32And that really helped create the momentum that's already been gathered with the results and performances that we've seen in the league.
04:38The FA Cup victory only galvanised them further.
04:42And of course, you know, progressing in this competition, it's one of those, if you can negotiate your way through the group stage,
04:46you know it's not necessarily the most attractive of competitions anymore.
04:49The under-21s has definitely taken away maybe some of the integrity of the competition.
04:54But it's one of those that later you get into the competition, it's really worth giving it a go.
04:57We mentioned that, you know, dangling carrot at the end of it with a trip to Wembley.
05:02Still too early to be talking about that, nonetheless.
05:05That's clearly going to be an incentive because a day like that in Walsall's history would be incredible.
05:10But, you know, it's one of those that now they're in the last stages of competitions, it's worth taking seriously.
05:15George, I said after the Birmingham City game, the first game of the group, get your Wembley hotels booked.
05:21Get refundable, get refundable.
05:23Those prices are going up.
05:24Let's start thinking about it, let's start thinking about it.
05:27Walsall 3, Shrewsbury Neil, for the post-match reaction, make sure you log on to expressthestar.com.