Post match thoughts.

[Billy bodger]

Mmm a win is a win, sneaking a late win is always welcome. Defence and midfield looked good, sat back a bit too much in second half and was lucky enough for the ball to end up in the keepers hands after they hit the post. We hit the bar after a great header but managed to bungle the ball over the line, football eh!! Let’s see how we do in the rest of August, four more games so it will give us a good idea of how we are set in this league. Subs put on a little too late, young lads tiring and I’m a bit worried about only having one up front, so hard by yourself as we have seen before, let’s see a bit of adventure now and again against teams who are in and around us or below us. If we had that last year??? Sorry but it’s how I feel about losing to many points by not having a go against certain teams. Back to this year, Another proper striker for choice at least before transfer dead line. Great first goal by the team shifting the ball quickly and a sure finish. Thanks

[Phoenix Shrimp 2017]

The Ref seemed to have a trigger finger when it came to his interpretation of the 'new rules'. WTF was that booking of Love for??? So he's waiting to take a throw in but there's another ball nearby on the field of play. If he takes the throw the ref should stop the play to get the second ball removed. So Love hangs back slightly so the second ball can presumably be removed. Cue the referee running to him brandishing a card. It's 0-0 at the time so time wasting is irrelevant, so why doesn't the referee use some common sense instead.

AM I THE ONLY ONE TOTALLY BAFFLED BY THIS?

[Phil Anderer]

The Ref seemed to have a trigger finger when it came to his interpretation of the 'new rules'. WTF was that booking of Love for??? So he's waiting to take a throw in but there's another ball nearby on the field of play. If he takes the throw the ref should stop the play to get the second ball removed. So Love hangs back slightly so the second ball can presumably be removed. Cue the referee running to him brandishing a card. It's 0-0 at the time so time wasting is irrelevant, so why doesn't the referee use some common sense instead.

AM I THE ONLY ONE TOTALLY BAFFLED BY THIS?

Way I saw it Love grabbed the ball off the side while the other was still on the field. Might be wrong but maybe that was the problem.

[Joe Oh]

We were all over them in the first half but just couldn't get that final ball through other than the goal. King looked sharp and Mayor was awesome. Their goal just came from a good ball through that we seemed to misjudge and Moore was just caught in no man's land.

The moment of the first half wasn't actually the goal for me, there was a ball through to one of their strikers who seemed to burst out of nowhere with nobody near him but then Rawson burst across the box, got his body between their striker and the ball and just managed to hold himself up to shield the ball out for a goal kick. One of the best pieces of defending you'll ever see at our level, I reckon.

2nd half was mostly absolutely shite from both teams but especially Morecambe. Maybe I'm forgetting just how dire League Two can be but we just seemed to be spooning everything up into the air where it just pinged off someone's head randomly. Walsall managed to get a grip on that though and built a lot of good attacks. Sometimes they just seemed to wander up the pitch with no challenge at all. Seemed like there were 100s of throw ins where the ball was just thrown into a wrestling match where someone would get their head on it while the defender pulled them over. Just no control at all from either team.

We just about managed to get back in the game later in the half when Love was moved to CB and managed to distribute well instead of just chipping the ball onto someone's head. Mayor was awesome throughout and did well to win and deliver that freekick. I thought Slew looked better up front in the 10 minutes he was on for.

All in all, a great win and you can't read too much into the first match with this new team. Attendance was really encouraging and King, Rawson, Senior and particularly Mayor all did really well. Mayor is a mega talent for us and I think we just need to cling onto him for as long as we can.

[P/T Indie]

have you ever seen a player that can score goals, take a good corner, track back and make great tackles. Talk about a complete player I think Mayor will go in Jan after scoring quite a few goals but for me it's the rest of his game that impresses me.

[Wild Bill]

All things considered, a good performance and a great result. Hopefully it will give us confidence as this young team develops and fingers crossed some extra quality is incoming too.

[glagys]

Great result but I think saddlers will be miffed at the lateness of the goal

JJ’s legs had gone and should’ve come off earlier

New rules
Are they really to give the supporters more game time
Looks more like an EFL cash cow as I believe six bookings or more can impose a club fine of £25k which I imagine will go to the EFL as well is individual booking fines but I could be wrong and just cynical

[Gone_Shrimping]

I thought Bedeau should have done better with their goal. He was the right side when the ball was played through and allowed his man to get past him and score.

I was very impressed by the lad on loan from Cardiff , even after his head injury he really played well. Everyone played well though overall and real competition for places , it was a very strong bench.

I just wonder if Derek thinks new ownership is imminent and is holding off his final 3 signings in case he can shop in Waitrose rather than Aldi ?

[sandgrown]

best thing for me was crosses put in with PACE on them instead of the dolly drops we seem to offer up to the keeper !

[shrimp riddle]

Lateness of substitutes was baffling, given the intensity of the game. Fresh legs 10 min earlier might have stemmed some of the pressure, as we were second best for most if the second half.

[redrobo]

For a season opener the game was very good.

Without doubt we controlled the first 35 minutes but in the second 45 we tired and they looked a lot fitter than us but that is something we can sort out in training over time.

Our work rate we incredible and to a man we were full of running until as i say we tired.

Mellon up front never stopped running and his effort was excellent for such a young guy.

As expected Mayor was outstanding and deserved his curtain raiser goal for the season.

I am a wee bit concerned about our goalkeeper as once gain he was slow to come off his line to block their goal as he did v Wigan but given that Connor let in 7 for Port Vale everybody can have an off day.

So as a curtain raiser for the season we got the 3 points to kick off our campaign but still a lot more work to do and we still need for me a big brute up front and another full back. One thing for me was how Love looked far better in the centre of a defensive midfield and maybe that is something that DA has in mind going forward.

Rotherham on Tuesday and that will be a real test and will give an opportunity to others in the current squad to have a chance to show what they can do. Missing once gain was Taylor who could be out once gain for some time.

As for the new rules that the refs have to follow, I expect a lot of yellows then red for minor infringements and players will have to learn not to question decisions and to not kick the ball away. Wonder if the rule makers are trying to make our game like that of Rugby Union where players don't question the refs authority...just an observation...

[Little Shrimp]

Thought it was quite a typically 'first game of the season' style match from both sides. Some decent spells, but also a bit attritional and cagey at times with not too many chances. That said, on second watching I actually think we showed a bit more quality in attack than Walsall - some of the quick passing moves we put together (including the one for our goal) going into the attacking third were really nice. Hopefully they'll become more frequent as the team continue to gel.

Thought Walsall carried the momentum from their equaliser very well into the second half. Had us pinned for a fair amount of time, although struggled to really show the quality to create proper chances. The tactical switch from Derek was a blinder I thought - Love coming into the middle of the back three gave us more control in the game after Walsall had been on top the whole half. Continues to fascinate me how much calmer on the ball Love is in the centre. I generally see it as a trickier area of the pitch to withstand opposition pressure, although maybe he appreciates having a few more angles/passing options?

Also think the triple substitution right on the free-kick was a smart move. It was a great ball from Mayor (who was superb and my MOTM) but Walsall's marking completely went out of the window. I wonder if the change in personnel at that moment threw them a bit as both Rawson and Songo'o were pretty much unmarked.

There was enough in that game to give me confidence that we'll be a solid enough side this year and not in too much danger, although I'm unsure where exactly the ceiling might be. A bit more depth going forward (striker and a winger please) as well as a left back with these final three signings would be hugely welcome.

Very much hope that the number of yellow cards was due to the ref being heavy handed with the change in approach rather than an overall feature of it. It was stupid of him to give the early yellow to Love over a bit of confusion with the multi-ball system, and it then set a precedent to continue giving really cheap yellows. There was an apologetic one for Walsall's Riley a couple of minutes later, and they continued throughout the afternoon. Major main character syndrome going on - his continuous long conversations with players/managers slowed the game down massively, and he pulled Walsall back on a couple of set-pieces when they were trying to get the ball moving quickly (incidentally, that worked in our favour but was poor refereeing). Fingers crossed it was a one off shocker from a heavy handed ref.

[black morse]

I thought Bedeau should have done better with their goal. He was the right side when the ball was played through and allowed his man to get past him and score.

I was very impressed by the lad on loan from Cardiff , even after his head injury he really played well. Everyone played well though overall and real competition for places , it was a very strong bench.

I just wonder if Derek thinks new ownership is imminent and is holding off his final 3 signings in case he can shop in Waitrose rather than Aldi ?

Mmmm! Nice thought though.

[Little Shrimp]

I am a wee bit concerned about our goalkeeper as once gain he was slow to come off his line to block their goal as he did v Wigan but given that Connor let in 7 for Port Vale everybody can have an off day.

Nope - if he runs out then his feet aren't set to make a save, can't react as quickly and becomes easier to beat. And if he goes down and tries to spread himself then it gives Johnson an easy opportunity to dink it over him. Not much he could have done in the situation positionally wise. If anything he could have done with being a bit closer to his line - would hve given himself more reaction time to get down to the ball as the shot squeezed under him a little.

[CityShrimp]

I thought Bedeau should have done better with their goal. He was the right side when the ball was played through and allowed his man to get past him and score.

I thought this at the time, he seemed to be fixated on the ball and didn’t spot the man busting a gut to run past him and in on goal. I’m sure Jacob could have matched him for pace and at least attempted to get a toe to the ball.

I don’t think Moore can be blamed for the goal conceded. I was more concerned about his lack of dominance in the box when dealing with crosses/set pieces - it’s like he’s nowhere to be seen.

[Phoenix Shrimp 2017]

Totally agree with DA that we need another 3 signings before the window closes. Hope it comes off because after today we’re going to need them if the rate of booking’s doesn’t slow down. Hopefully with the crowds holding up there is scope to bring in a bit of quality too.

[vvm]

I thought we played quite well, especially the opening 30 minutes. Agree that the game could have gone either way in the end but felt we deserved the win.

Hopefully the money brought in from the decent crowd yesterday and what is to be expected from Notts County and Bradford could boost the budget for the remaining few signings. Not sure if that's exactly how it works but surely can't hurt.