Match Report Courtesy of Ben1142.
Cry’ God for Boothy, England and Saint George! Huddersfield 3 Walsall 2
Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more;
Or close the wall up with our Huddersfield dead.
After a shocking first 40 minutes where limbs and bodies were put on the goal line to prevent the score become a massacre. Somehow St. Boothy managed to conjure two goals out of the air to set up a good second half performance, enabling Town to turn defeat into victory!
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Walsall: Gilmartin, Weston (Taundry 87), Smith, Gerrard, Palmer, Bradley (Mattis 88), Hughes, Zaaboub, Ibehre, Ricketts (Nicholls 77), Deeney.
Subs Not Used: Ince, Boertien
Booked: Deeney, Weston
Goals: Ibehre 14, 28
Huddersfield: Smithies, Kelly, Butler, Nathan Clarke, Williams, Cadamarteri, Tom Clarke, Collins (Flynn 28), Goodwin, Roberts, Booth.
Subs Not Used: Eastwood, Holdsworth, Craney, Berrett
Booked: Cadamarteri, Roberts, Goodwin
Goals: Booth 43, 45, Kelly 62
Att: 3,951
Ref: Trevor Kettle (Rutland)
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First half
Huddersfield lined up in a 4-3-3 (4-2-3-1 you decide! There were 3 central midfields though) Smithies was in goal behind a back 4 of Williams, N. Clarke, Butler and Kelly. In front of this was a central 3 of T. Clarke, Goodwin and Collins in and advanced role. The wide players were Roberts and Cadamateri and Boothy was the focal point upfront.
The game kicked of and for the first 5 minutes Town performed well; good and strong. Kelly, striding up the right received a pass from Goodwin; He then embarked on a mazzey run through the Walsall defence, into the box where his shot was saved by their keeper. The problems came after that, when Huddersfield stopped playing. Whether this was to do with the formation or players slack attitude and lack of application is not sure. One thing that was clear, for the next 40 minutes the midfield three of T.Clarke, Goodwin and Collins (replaced by Flynn) were ghastly, resulting in Huddersfield defence being exposed time and time again.
Sure enough as the chances started to reign in from Walsall, someone was going to put into the back of the next. In the 14th minute Ibehre made a run collect the pass and was through on goal. N.Clarke and Smithies were unlucky in the fact that the shot took a deflection off Clarke that outfoxed Smithies and resulted in Walsall’s first goal.10 minutes later or so Ibehre made it 2 nil with a nifty bit of skill to beat the Town defence. He bore down on goal, shot powerfully and scored.
And so the one way traffic of the first half continued with Huddersfield players having to get in block s and goal-line clearances to prevent certain goals being scored up until the 43rd minute. I think it was Goodwin who put his body literally on the line to prevent one powerful shot (N.B. could be wrong on the person).
Half time approached and Town were fortunate not to be about 4-0 down when out of the blue Boothy produced some of his old magic. Somehow out of the carnage of a long ball into the box, the ball managed to get to Boothy. I’m not sure what he hit it with but it wasn’t a particularly strong shot. The Walsall keeper decided to commit a howler and fumbled the ball between his legs, with the ball squirming through to trickle into the back of the net. 2 minutes later and lighting struck twice. Roberts won a corner. Goodwin delivered a good ball to the back post, Boothy jumped and powered in a header.
Half time came and remarkably Huddersfield had managed to get out of jail. I just didn’t know what to make of it but one thing was for sure, Town had better buck their ideas up in the second half. During the half time interval I thought it was a good chance to inspect the quality of the toilet roll holders. Suffice to say they weren’t a patch on the Glapharms’ and would cost considerably less than £5.99; something to make a note of I think!
Second half
The lads came out for the second half and it was noticeable that the midfield had been reshaped somewhat (Roberts was in narrower and Flynn was more right side; it had shifted to a diamond 4 in the middle). They also came out with renewed vigour. From the start, Town were much more competitive and went on to dominate the first 25 minutes or so of the second period.
Town was passing and moving well, sure enough shots were soon being fired at the Walsall goalie. You could sense a goal was come and when it did it was a great move.
Goodwin played a clever pass to Kelly, who was in an advanced position on the left-hand side near the top of the box. Kelly turned neatly outfoxing the defender and struck a strong curling shot into the bottom right-hand corner. The crowd erupted, Huddersfield were 3-2 to the good.
Walsall upped their game and came back strongly. Ricketts nearly equalised quickly after, drawing out a top quality flying save from Smithies. However Huddersfield more than matched their opponents.
For the final 20 minutes of the game, Huddersfield defended the lead well and looked to hit Walsall on the break through the pace of a very effective Cadamarteri and the skill and trickery of Roberts. The lads gave away a few dangerous free kicks around the edge of the box but, didn’t really look like conceding. The difference compared to the first half was an effective midfield doing the defensive work well.
And so alls well that ends well. Town are on the up, lets get those strikers we need in the summer, consistency over 90 minutes and well be there or there abouts’ next season. Thank God for Boothy’s Head.
Thanks Ben!
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