STAT PACK: WALSALL

1 November 2019

Swindon’s fixture against Walsall on Saturday is the 99th between the two clubs - the Robins last win against them being back in November 2015 in a 2-1 victory at the County Ground with Louis Thompson snatching a 90th minute winner.

However, since then, Walsall have inflicted a draw and two defeats leaving the Robins looking to pursue a first win in four years against The Saddlers.

A win against Walsall on Saturday would see Richie Wellens’ side complete a hat-trick of positive results in League Two, having beaten Stevenage and Crawley, comfortably, in their previous two games.

Opposition:

This weekend’s opposition visit the County Ground in poor form having not picked up a single point in October.

Their last points coming in at the back end of September in a 3-2 win away to Crawley Town, leaving them hovering just one point above the relegation zone.

Darrell Clarke’s side will look to bounce-back from a run of five consecutive defeats and turn their backs on a disastrous month of October.

Head-to-head:

The record between Swindon and Walsall sees an extremely close contest with the Robins just edging it, having come away 35 wins, 29 draws and 34 losses.

The game is sure to promise goals with the last six meetings having provided a total of 19 goals between the two sides, averaging 3.1 goals per game.

26 Dec 2014	Walsall v Swindon Town	W	1-4	League One
21 Apr 2015	Swindon Town v Walsall	D	3-3	League One
24 Nov 2015	Swindon Town v Walsall	W	2-1	League One
19 Apr 2016	Walsall v Swindon Town	D	1-1	League One
22 Oct 2016	Swindon Town v Walsall	L	0-2	League One
17 Apr 2017	Walsall v Swindon Town	L	1-0	League One

The Gaffer:

Walsall manager, Darrell Clarke, took charge of the team following Walsall’s relegation from League One into League Two last May.

Saturday’s match is Clarke’s 20^th match in charge of The Saddlers and he will look to improve his start to life at Walsall having only won five of his first 19 in charge, leaving him with just a 26.3%-win rate.

The ex-midfielder started his career in 1995 with Mansfield Town, where he made 159 appearances scoring 24 goals for The Stags. In 2001, he transferred across to Hartlepool where he spent another six years scoring 19 times in the 127 appearances he made.

During his time at Hartlepool, Clarke spent periods on loan at Stockport County, Port Vale and Rochdale; however, he only made 14 appearances in total for all three clubs with 12 of those being made for Rochdale, where he scored one goal for the club.

In 2007, he signed for Salisbury City and eventually became their player-manager in 2010 after becoming one of the senior players in the team and handed the captain’s armband.

His managerial career at Bristol Rovers lasted four years, from 2014 – 2018. He suffered a poor, yet unlucky first season with Rovers as they were relegated out of the EFL, by goal difference, on the final day.

The 2014/15 season saw Clarke rapidly turn things around as he brought Bristol Rovers straight back-up into League Two, winning three manager of the month awards during the course of the season.

His time at Rovers came to end in December 2018 following a string of poor performances resulting in seven defeats in 10 matches.

Since then he has taken over at Walsall and the club are yet to see a positive impact as they lie just one point above the League Two relegation spots.

Match Reports

REPORT: SWINDON TOWN 2-1 WALSALL

2 November 2019

Swindon Town recorded their third consecutive victory, in spite of a flurry of Walsall attacks and some horrific weather conditions as they held on to win 2-1 at the County Ground.

Powerful winds and driving rain caused havoc for both teams; however, Eoin Doyle and Diallang Jaiyesimi both found the net four minutes into the first and second half respectively.

Rory Gaffney halved the deficit with a free header soon after the second goal, to keep the whole of the County Ground on the edge of their seats.

Steven Benda maintained his good run of performances, and was called upon to deny the visitors an equaliser several times in the second-half, but Richie Wellens’ men held firm.

First-half:

The Robins flew out of the traps and had the lead after five minutes.

Eoin Doyle tapped in his 14^th goal in 14 games, after Keshi Anderson swooped behind the Walsall defence and found the striker known as ‘The Ginger Pele’ with a low cross.

Ten minutes later, the Robins came under attack. Elijah Adebayo fizzing a first-time effort from Shay Facey’s low cross required a flying save from Steven Benda.

Doyle nearly scored his and Town’s second on 30 minutes, but his header from Michael Doughty’s low, gliding corner was cleared of the line.

Just before half-time the same pair came tantalisingly close to scoring again.

Doughty whipped in a beautiful cross, but Doyle did not quite have the flight to meet it.

Second-half:

It only took three minutes for Town to double their advantage after the break.

Diallang Jaiyesimi found space on the edge of the box, and put the ball past Jack Rose with the help of a deflection.

Four minutes later and the Robins wings were cut, Rory Gaffney capitalised on the Town defence falling asleep to head home easily past Benda.

Chances were hard to come by for both teams after the Walsall goal, and Rob Hunt skimming shot was the only chance of the game for about 20 minutes.

Lyden had an excellent opportunity to recover the two-goal cushion, but his volley from Doyle’s lofted ball just sailed over the bar.

Gaffney thought he saw Benda all at sea and tried his luck with an audacious chip from 50-yards, but the keeper sensed the danger and recovered to catch the ball.

In the dying minutes, Benda needed all of his wing span to deny Walsall, not one but two saves.

Walsall threw everything at Town, but the defence were resolute and ensured the three points stayed at the County Ground.

Standings