Following their Play Off Semi Final success against Notts County, Walsall faced Bristol City in the Final. The away leg was at Ashton Gate on May 25th. The Saddlers produced a tremendous team effort to record a fully-deserved 3-1 win on the night to give themselves an excellent chance of gaining promotion to the Second Division. Continue reading →

The all-important month of April had a funny look to it on the fixture list. There were games on the 2nd, 5th and 9th of the month – but not another one until the 30th due to fixture changes and the Football League’s centenary celebrations which gave an unbalanced feel about April. To help fill the gap a bit, Saddlers did arrange a friendly against Manchester United on the 22nd at Fellows Park as part of the club’s own centenary celebrations. Continue reading →

Walsall kicked off the month of March with a hard-fought 2-1 Tuesday night home win against Bury in which The Saddlers had to comeback from being a goal down early in the game. David Lee had fired The Shakers into the lead with a stunning 25 yard strike which gave home keeper Fred Barber no chance. This was Bury’s first shot of the game and with David Kelly out injured, manager Tommy Coakley pushed Richard O’Kelly into his striking role. Walsall didn’t let the early goal unsettle them and were back in the game on 29 minutes when when, following a tremendous run and cross from Willie Naughton, midfielder Paul Jones struck home his 12th goal of the season. O’Kelly worked tirelessly throughout and provided the winner with a sweet flick for Craig Shakespeare to latch on to for his 9th goal of the season to complete a good comeback. Continue reading →

Walsall kicked of February with a mouth watering game at Roker Park to face Sunderland for this top of the table clash. With Saddlers fans not visiting this ground for 25 years plus their lofty position in the table, there was plenty of interest to see the team in action and it was believed that as many as 1000 Walsall fans made the trip to Wearside. Indeed there were 13 coaches booked and had a police escort to and from the ground as the coaches had to park some distance away. Walsall were simply magnificent all afternoon and had the ball in the net as early as the second minute. Winger Willie Naughton zoomed down the left, sent over an inviting cross which was met beautifully by Mark Goodwin but an eagle-eyed linesman had noticed a push by Trevor Christie in the build up. Walsall’s brisk start continued in the next minute when David Kelly fired just wide from 20 yards. However Walsall’s good start was rewarded in the 24th minute when Goodwin again hit a pearler, this time his 25 yarder was allowed to stand. Sunderland, who rarely threatened in the first half, were much more determined and positive about their play after the break and got back into the game on 66 minutes through defender Gary Bennett. In the latter stages Willie Naughton hit a post and Sunderland’s Eric Gates had a goal disallowed for handball. A 1-1 draw was just about right on ballance but it was a case really of what might have been. Continue reading →

Walsall kicked off the year of 1988 with two games in the opening two days of January with a draw and a win and were still giving away daft goals along the way, something which had been a re-occuring nightmare for manager Tommy Coakley for most of the season. On New Year’s Day Walsall made the short trip to Northampton Town who in those days played at the County Ground, an odd place to play as the one side of the pitch was just roped off as the area was used for county cricket games in the summer. Saddlers started off well enough and took an eighth- minute lead through midfielder Paul Jones who netted with a fine overhead kick from Nicky Cross’s centre. Walsall were in sparkling form with the home defence ripped apart time and time again, despite playing the offside trap at will just like they did at Fellows Park on the opening day of the season. Within seven minutes of their first goal, Walsall found themselves 2-0 up with Jones the provider this time as his corner was flicked on by Graeme Forbes for Nicky Cross to do the rest. It was, at this point, a question of just how many Saddlers would score, such was their stranglehold on the game. The second half was, however, a different matter as The Cobblers made use of the strong wind which was now in their favour and got back into the game with goals from Phil Chard and Glenville Donegal to square the game at 2-2. Continue reading →

November 1987 threw up seven games for The Saddlers, but only four were Third Division games. Manager Tommy Coakley had called for a bit of pride and passion ahead of the opening month’s game, a Tuesday nighter against Aldershot and he wasn’t disappointed as has men turned in one of the most satisfying performances in weeks as they defeated The Shots 2-0 with some super football served up which took them up to second in the table, just a point behind leaders Sunderland. Continue reading →

Walsall kicked off October with a narrow 1-0 home win over Preston North End which was most welcome as it left Saddlers in joint top spot with Northampton Town. However it was another indifferent home performance with the winner coming from Trevor Christie on 38 minutes. Manager Tommy Coakley summed the situation to the press after the game, “I don’t know what it is. I feel disappointed because I know we have played better against against the likes of Wigan and got nothing. We have beaten Preston, which is the sort of thing you have to do if you want to be up there. We have not conceded a goal, scored one and just gone top of the league. This time last year at this time we were joint bottom. If we have the same the same run-in it might be champagne we aer drinking instead of lager and lime.” Second from bottom Preston were not interested in playing any football and had ‘Big Sam’ Allardyce booked for a foul has his team were hell-bent on stopping Walsall playing. Saddlers had Graeme Forbes carried off after a collision with keeper Fred Barber. Continue reading →

Following the success of our 20 Years at Bescot series, the forthcoming season is the 25th anniversary of Walsall’s dramatic promotion to the Second Division via the play offs. Walsall Web-Fans recalls the events of 1987-88. Continue reading →