Scotia Smith's match report...
Walsall welcomed struggling Oldham to the Bescot on Saturday. The Saddlers were looking to win three points and keep their promotion hopes alive. A crowd of 6,003 was at the game, including lots of local school kids and 616 noisy away fans.The game started slowly, but burst into life after 15 minutes when Oldham’s Croft was shown a straight red card for a high and dangerous tackle on McCarthy. Ouch!
Walsall then applied pressure and both Morris and Osbourne had shots blocked as half-time approached.
The highlight of the half though, was definitely the beautiful rainbow that appeared for ten minutes above the stands!
The second half started with the away team looking as dangerous as the home team. The visitors hit the post from a free-kick and their fans sensed an upset.
GOAL! In the 78th minute, Jackson was sent tumbling in the box and Oztumer sent his left-footed penalty wide of the keeper. You could feel the relief all around the stadium!
The manager then swapped Edwards and Jackson for Bakayoko and Makris in a move to finish the game off.
The big man had a real impact. Firstly, he was involved in a scuffle in the 80th minute with Oldham’s Wilson, who was given his marching orders.
GOAL! In injury time (92 minutes), Baka broke away on the right to smash in a fantastic shot from the edge of the box to seal the victory.
A great win but we need quite a few more of these to get in those play-offs! UTS!!
In the press conference, JW was happy and relieved. He said it was a really tough win and praised the team’s patience. He also drew me a picture of a shark, which was nice.