Walsall (H) 16th Dec

[RowN]

Wonder if a few of the players are thinking with Jan Transfers around the corner, if they should start playing, else they could be walking??

Hopefully JFH has made this point to them, as they seemed to attach the opposition more than, I have seen for a while...

[guest2995]

I thought we showed a lot of spirit today and battled quite hard .
It wasn’t a complete performance but we did well .
JJOT makes so much difference as a focal point .
I just wish we didn’t give the ball away so much .
The ref was appalling today .

[guest3103]

I found that performance shrouded in confusion. I thought Walsall were close to the poorest team we've played this season. Was that because we bossed it and were superior?  I bloody hope so.

After watching the shipped Oldham goals my two culpable players for failing to close down were Poole & Waters.

Today we battled hard, pressed and won tackles and did really well. JJOT rightly MOM, but Moloney, Foley and Grimes were superb. Long was ok but Crooks is still nicking a living.

[everbrite]

I thought we showed a lot of spirit today and battled quite hard .
It wasn’t a complete performance but we did well .
JJOT makes so much difference as a focal point .
I just wish we didn’t give the ball away so much .
The ref was appalling today .

The crowd did ok too!

[guest2487]

Ruddy well done Cobblers. Imperative to turn this into a bout of good form.

Great to win.

[Irchy cob]

Ruddy well done Cobblers. Imperative to turn this into a bout of good form.

Great to win.

I agree that hopefully that is the start of a better run of form but there’s going to be far tougher challenges on the way - I’d snatch your hand off for a point next week and after that it’s 2 tough looking away games (perhaps Pompey more than Doncaster) and then Wigan. If we could get 4/5 points from that run of games I’d be ecstatic.

[super-si]

I'm not blaming Pierre for that at all. Cornell had no business coming out of his area, Pierre had the situation totally under control. Once Cornell comes out, Pierre's got 2 choices now the back-pass is out of the equation - either let Cornell have it or put it out for a throw-in. He chose the former and there's no way he would expect his keeper to simply stop. Having said that, I think Cornell did OK after that - one dodgy moment in the second half aside.

Spot on. Pierrre would have made things worse if he had touched the ball.

[Irchy cob]

I do feel a bit for Cornell as that mistake knocked his confidence and he was shaky for the rest of the game - also got to factor in the conditions which weren’t great for a keeper.  I still feel that Cornell isn’t good enough or consistent enough to be first choice - you can tell the defence aren’t fully confident with him behind them. He is a good kicker though!

[The Rauldinho]

I'm not blaming Pierre for that at all. Cornell had no business coming out of his area, Pierre had the situation totally under control. Once Cornell comes out, Pierre's got 2 choices now the back-pass is out of the equation - either let Cornell have it or put it out for a throw-in. He chose the former and there's no way he would expect his keeper to simply stop. Having said that, I think Cornell did OK after that - one dodgy moment in the second half aside.

I thought he should have taken the option to put it in the stands, ignore Cornell charging out like an idiot.

We were much better today, showed a bit of fight after conceding in the first two minutes and made an attempt to play some football. Great to see Long hitting the back of the net, the second one was an awesome finish.

If we play like today, then I think we'll be okay. Walsall didn't look good at all, were we that good or did the weather put them off? Who knows, hopefully the former. Officials were useless today, couldn't even get the added on time right and allowed Walsall to bully JJ all over the park, fair play to him for not reacting in his usual manner.

Nasty, nasty tackle foe their sending off. Amazed that Crooks was the only other player booked despite both teams having pretty much everyone involved?

Shame some of the other results (Gillingham for instance) did not go our way, hopefully we can nick a point or two in the next two games...

[Moultoncobb]

Lots of fight shown on and off the pitch at 0-1 today.

[Irchy cob]

As bad as the officials clearly were I think it's fair to say that crooks was on borrowed time - it was his agricultural challenge in the first 20 minutes that led to cuvelier going off and he was incredibly lucky to avoid a yellow. To keep on and on at the ref at the when he was already on a yellow and it was obvious that bakayoko was going off was stupid. I didn't think he was massively influential today so it's not the end of the world that he's going to miss the next couple - we've got McWilliams, Poole or maybe even Powell (?) who can step in and give us a bit of steel that we're likely to need.

[Tabasco Kid]

also got to factor in the conditions which weren’t great for a keeper. 

Its a Saturday in December. What would he expect?

[Irchy cob]

Its a Saturday in December. What would he expect?

True - don't get me wrong I'm not providing excuses for him but their keeper was much the same.

[GrangeParkCobbler]

50/50 fault for the first goal......Pierre for trying to shield the ball 30 yards from his own goal, and Cornell for charging out.....if Pierre had booted the ball into the stand or Cornell had stayed back and Pierre able to play it to him then the goal wouldn't have happened. Bakayoko managed to be stronger than them both in the challenge too.

Good response though.....and we got the win...again it wasn't pretty but at least there was a bit of fight, a higher tempo and a better workrate today.

Strange game from the ref.....let everything go in the first half.....Crooks very lucky not to be booked as was one of theirs just before half time. Second half the ref booked everything that moved.

Good noise from the West Standers after going behind, and pretty good throughout considering Walsall's dismal following. The old boys who caused the trouble last season were there again.....got to laugh at 60 year old wannabe hooligans!!

So three points in the bag, and out of the bottom 4...JJOT back on the pitch........all is good!!!!

[Tabasco Kid]

True - don't get me wrong I'm not providing excuses for him but their keeper was much the same.

Conditions are no excuse. This is Buffalo Bills NFL game last week. Google it.

[606 Parklands_Cobbler]

.got to laugh at 60 year old wannabe hooligans!!

Surely they were the original hooligans? you know, before it was cool. Just full of burberry fashionista's now.

[everbrite]

An interesting game which many on Walsalls web site expected to win. I thought the crowd did well which JFH recognized as did the commentators with their after game summaries. JFH selected a side which was certainly capable of winning, if he can stick with this side we might enjoy some better results.For me McCugan was MOM although he did appear to fade a little in the second half. With Powell and Hoskins who might at last make an appearance fairly soon we might possibly do better in the second half of the season. ....hopefully .
In spite of the early goal fiasco the defence generally played well and i include Cornell. Pierre rightly restored to the team recovered from the early give away goal and emerged with credit as did Taylor. Moloney too got better as the game progressed with Buch having a decent supporting game. Long in patches was good and willed him to get a third goal! JJOT thankfully was not booked or sent off given his role; no wonder he is our talisman. Foley did ok but feel his appearances might be limited come 2018. Good management by JFH today, right team selection and man management from the touch line. It was a performance that gave a glimmer of hope to most supporters there today. I just wonder what the detractors thought of it; with the doomsday merchants it must be a bitter pill to swallow.Well done JFH for striking a positive psychological blow in getting NTFC out of the bottom 4.

[everbrite]

Lots of fight shown on and off the pitch at 0-1 today.

'On' I can get - but off the pitch , where was that?

[Irchy cob]

We all get that you are a Cornell fan Evers but on what basis did he have a good game other than the first couple of minutes? He didn’t really have a shot to save but still looked shaky, nearly threw it away at the end before the incident resulting in the sendings off and was generally sliding around like bambi.

[everbrite]

We all get that you are a Cornell fan Evers but on what basis did he have a good game other than the first couple of minutes? He didn’t really have a shot to save but still looked shaky, nearly threw it away at the end before the incident resulting in the sendings off and was generally sliding around like bambi.

Actually I am not; would have Ingham in goal without a moments hesitation. I just don't believe in the criticism you and a few others dish out on Cornell. He didn't deserve all the criticism he got today. You do pick on meaningless game incidents and create a drama out of them. I also liked his brave punch late second half today he was confident enough to do it. Did well to reach it as well and the ball was eventually cleared. For better and for worse he is our goal keeper and I wont join a tuppenny bunch of supporters who delight in posting negative comments on one of our players at any given opportunity. You use the Royal 'We'; I would be surprised if you represent the majority of posters on here.