Walsall 0 Leyton Orient 2

Sep 8 2008 By Mat Kendrick

HALF-soaked Saddlers overcame the wet Walsall weather – but will be wishing they hadn’t bothered after being left all washed out by Martin Ling’s Leyton Orient.

Paul Terry’s strike and an Adam Boyd penalty in the last 20 minutes settled a miserable match to leave a slight storm cloud hanging over Jimmy Mullen’s men.

Walsall were under the weather after disruptive calf injuries to skipper Stephen Hughes and central defender Stephen Roberts early in the second-half.

But Mullen, who was disappointed by his side’s defending, refused to blame the conditions or the casualties for Saddlers’ first home league defeat of the season.

“This is my problem at the moment, I’m bringing players off the field because of soft tissue injuries and I don’t like doing it but I have to,” said Mullen.

“It might weaken us but you expect the players that take the place of those coming off to do an equally good job, but that wasn’t to be the case today.

“I’m disappointed with the result. I’m disappointed for the supporters. I’m disappointed that the game panned out the way it did.

Downpours

“I think the game should at least have finished 0-0. If we weren’t going to score I’m sure we shouldn’t have conceded.”

While it rained goals during Walsall’s last home match, the Banks’s Stadium ground-staff had torrential downpours to contend with to get the game on.

It took two pitch inspections for referee Dean Whitestone to declare the saturated pitch playable and considering the state of the surface at 2pm it held up well.

Ishmel Demontagnac kept his place in Walsall’s unchanged starting line-up after his hat-trick inspired Saddlers to a 5-2 victory over Southend last weekend.

This fixture coincided with Walsall’s family fun-day with a host of pre-match attractions to entice parents and kids and resulted in the biggest home gate of the season.

But unfortunately fun was in short supply, it was a far cry from the five-star show of seven days earlier and the entertainment for the 4,838 crowd virtually ended at kick-off.

Walsall were relieved to retain Anthony Gerrard after the wantaway defender’s wish for a transfer came to nothing when nobody met the club’s asking price before the deadline.

And the ambitious Scouser showed that despite his frustrations his head, if not his heart, is still with the Saddlers during a commanding display at the heart of defence.

Stevie G’s cousin should have capped his performance with a goal but his glancing header from Chris Palmer’s corner proved to be a glaring and costly miss.

And it was the relative of another England star, Three Lions captain John Terry’s elder brother Paul who provided the pivotal moment of the match midway through the second period.

Terry smashed in from 10 yards out after Adam Boyd all too easily tricked his way past Palmer and substitute defender Manny Smith to cross from the byline on 73 minutes.

The goal, Terry’s first for 14 months, opened his Leyton Orient account and, for once, put him ahead of his superstar sibling in their annual bet over which brother will score more.

It also ensured that the O’s, on the back of two goalless draws, avoided another scoreless stalemate to leapfrog Walsall into ninth with the Saddlers dropping to 10th in League One.

Orient made sure of the three points when former Wolves and Kidderminster winger JJ Melligan tricked his way past Paul Boertien for a stonewall penalty on 80 minutes.

Although Melligan was clearly playing for the spot-kick Boertien should have known better than to stupidly oblige, bringing the Orient wideman down with his trailing leg.

Boyd gave Saddlers keeper Clayton Ince no chance from 12 yard, blasting his kick straight down the middle of the goal.

Other than Gerrard’s missed header all Walsall could muster before the opening goal were firm free-kicks from Marco Reich and Palmer which were collected comfortably by Orient goalkeeper Glenn Morris, who also tipped over the German winger’s cross-shot.

It was not until they fell behind that Saddlers genuinely put pressure on the visitors’ goal with Demontagnac skying a half-cleared Reich cross into the stand, Jabo Ibehre heading wide a decent chance and substitute Michael Ricketts slicing a one-on-one in the closing stages.

Orient, meanwhile, served notice of their threat all game with Boyd going close early on with a run and chip and Ryan Jarvis drawing a save out of Ince, who also tipped over a Melligan effort.

Walsall (4-4-2): Ince; Palmer, Roberts (Smith 68), Gerrard, Boertien; Deeney (Ricketts 56), Taundry, Hughes (Bradley 47), Reich; Ibehre, Demontagnac. Subs not used: Gilmartin, Nicholls.

Leyton Orient (4-4-2): Morris, Purches, Thelwell, Saah, A Palmer; Melligan, Chambers, Terry, Demetriou; Jarvis, Boyd. Subs not used: Jones, Cave-Brown, Pires, Gray, Ashworth.

Star man: Anthony Gerrard.