Saddlers back into winning ways...
THE FINAL month of the year started in disappointing fashion as we went down to a heavy defeat at the hands of neighbours, Coventry City.We actually started the game - our first-ever at the Ricoh Arena - brightly and took the lead with an own goal.
However, the Sky Blues eventually took control and ended up running out 5-1 winners.
We returned to home side with the visit of Yeovil Town and as we chased our first win since the end of September, things looked good when Jamie Paterson fired us into a deserved lead in the 13th minute and then Will Grigg doubled the advantage with under 20 minutes left on the clock.
Former Saddlers' loanee, Reuben Reid reduced the arrears before The Glovers snatched a point from the claws of defeat in the dying seconds.
Seven days later we were back at Banks's Stadium for a pre-Christmas clash with Colchester United.
Again we were the better side for long periods of the game and finally got a deserved victory courtesy of a goal from the lively Febian Brandy on the hour-mark.
There was plenty of festive cheer in our next game as we headed to MK Dons on Boxing Day.
The home side took an early lead but we refused to let our heads drop and by the 25th minute we had turned the scoreline on it head to get in front thanks to goals from Febian Brandy and Will Grigg.
The Dons levelled only for Grigg to send us in at the break 3-2 to the good with his second goal of the afternoon.
Against one of the fancied sides in League One, who had previously only conceded five goals at home all season, we played some impressive football and the icing on the cake came with a late goal from Jamie Paterson to secure an excellent 4-2 success.
The year ended at a soggy Leyton Orient whose pitch passed a morning pitch inspection on the day of the game.
We started off with real purpose and created a number of chances during the opening 35 minutes. With the home 'keeper in good form, we were unable to take what opportunities came our way and were made to pay just before the break when The O's opened the scoring.
The second period saw us continue to look lively and we levelled matters with a wonder-strike from Sam Mantom that flew into the net from distance.
At that stage it looked as though we would get at least a point from the encounter, that was until the home side snatched a winner three minutes from time to bring the curtain down on 2012 on a disappointing note.