Fleetwood 2 Walsall 0 - George Bennett analysis
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00:00Hi Sadler's fans. I'm just on my way home from Fleetwood where Walsall have suffered a 2-0 defeat at the Highbury Stadium.
00:11So that's now back-to-back defeats for Walsall in League Two for the first time this season.
00:19And Matt Sadler made two changes from the 3-0 defeat at Bradford City on Saturday.
00:26Jamie Jellis returned after missing the previous outing due to illness.
00:33Charlie Lakin dropped to the bench.
00:36And Ethan Wheatley was handed his full debut.
00:40The Manchester United loney who arrived on Saturday morning had a cameo from the bench at Bradford.
00:47But he was handed his first start for the club tonight.
00:52With Jamil Matt out injured.
00:55And Matt Sadler spoke about the injury after the game.
00:57Still says he doesn't expect it to be serious.
01:01He picked up a hamstring problem which was what forced him off at Bradford.
01:06And the 35-year-old will be monitored ahead of the weekend.
01:11So still unclear whether he will be available for the visit of Salford on Saturday.
01:17But on to the game. Walsall actually started on the front foot for the first 10 minutes.
01:22But it was defending from set-pieces which proved their undoing.
01:27And Mackenzie Hunt's delightful free-kick delivery from the left-hand side.
01:37Was headed in by Sean Rooney.
01:40In off the post to beat Tommy Simpkin.
01:43That was after 12 minutes.
01:45Five minutes later Fleetwood had doubled their advantage once again.
01:49Mackenzie Hunt with the delivery drove a corner into the box.
01:53And James Bolton was there to come in and sweep his finish beyond the reach of Tommy Simpkin.
02:00And Fleetwood continued to threaten from set-pieces.
02:04And had other chances to extend their advantage in that first half.
02:08Walsall had a couple of themselves.
02:11Liam Gordon was probably the brightest performer for Walsall on an evening where there were very few stand-out performers.
02:19And the ball really struggled to stick for them.
02:23They lacked an outlet up front.
02:26It was a difficult evening actually for Ethan Wheatley.
02:30But they did improve after the break.
02:33Liam Gordon had an effort at the back post which he headed over.
02:37Couldn't keep his header quite down.
02:40Josh Gordon came on.
02:42He was a bright spark.
02:44Pressed from the front.
02:46A nice run in behind as he kind of latched on to Ryan Stokes.
02:50Threw ball down the inside left channel and forced a save from the goalkeeper.
02:55Wheatley also stunned the palms of Lynch between the sticks for Fleetwood.
03:00But really there was very little sign of a fight back.
03:04And ultimately Walsall succumbed to a second defeat on the spin.
03:09It's important now that this is purely a blip rather than anything more serious than that.
03:15Walsall do still boast an 11 point lead at the top.
03:19So that 12 point lead that they boasted at the start of the evening has only been cut down by just a single point.