Walsall and Crewe Alexandra would share the spoils at the Bescot Stadium last night following an impressive display from debutant James Beadle in the Alex goal.
Manager Lee Bell made three changes from Saturday’s 2-2 draw at Harrogate Town with Beadle, defender Sean Robertson and midfielder Tariq Uwakwe coming in for Dave Richards, Callum Ainley and Conor Thomas, who all dropped down to the bench. Former Alex defender Donervon Daniels captained the hosts.
The opening chance fell to the hosts in the 8th minute with Isaac Hutchinson having an effort saved by the debutant before the Brighton loanee would keep out an effort from Jamille Matt on the half-hour mark. The Alex would have the ball in the net in first-half stoppage time but Dan Agyei would be denied by the assistant’s flag.
Joel Tabiner, back in his more favoured position as an advanced midfielder, would put in a free-kick that would evade everyone a couple of minutes after the break before a few more saves by Beadle. The best chances for the visitors came right at the death, firstly Agyei would cross for Callum Ainley who had his shot blocked by Manny Monthe before Connor O’Riordan would have his effort from the resulting corner well saved by Owen Evans in the hosts’ goal.
The next games for the Alex see them host Rochdale on Saturday before we travel to Sutton United the following Saturday.
What can we take out of this game?
Well it certainly was an impressive debut for the youngster with the gloves – I can understand not putting him into the team in front of 2,000 plus Stockport fans and important games against those below us in the table (this game would be seen as less of a pressured situation) – but performances like that will see the confidence of the team improve defensively compared to when Okonkwo was in goal earlier in the season rather than under Richards in the past 6 weeks.
Bescot Stadium
League 2
21/02/2023 8:45 pm
Attendance: 5017
Referee: David Rock
| Walsall | Crewe Alexandra | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Evans | Beadle | ||||||
| White | O'Riordan | ||||||
| Daniels | McDonald | ||||||
| Monthe | Offord | ||||||
| Knowles | Robertson | ||||||
| Comley | Finnigan | ||||||
| Willmott | Uwakwe | ||||||
| Allen | 78 | Adebisi | 71 | ||||
| Hutchinson | Tabiner | 66 | |||||
| Matt | 46 | Agyei | |||||
| Stevens | 71 | Nevitt | 86 | ||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| Gordon | 78 | Richards | |||||
| Riley | Thomas | 71 | |||||
| Williams | 46 | Ainley | 66 | ||||
| James-Taylor | 71 | Griffiths | |||||
| McEntee | Brook | ||||||
| Low | Sambou | 86 | |||||
| Songo'o | Sass-Davies | ||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 0 | Goal attempts | 0 |
| 0 | On Target | 0 |
| 0 | Corners | 0 |
| 0 | Fouls | 0 |
| 0 | Yellow Cards | 0 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 0 | % | 0 |