Former Arsenal youth team forward Kuffour came on as a half time sub and showed the experience Rovers will need if they are to beat the drop.
My clipping from this morning's copy of The Sun
In the 53rd minute Kuffour picked the box up on the right side of the area and then hit a low hard cross across the face of goal for co-striker Will Hoskins to tap in his 14th of the season from about six yards.Seventy-nine seconds later (according to the guy sitting next to me from the Walsall website) Hoskins picked out Kuffour on the left side of the area and he buried a volley from 14 yards for his seventh of the campaign.
Kuffour had been left warming the bench while caretaker Darren Patterson ran the side for a couple of games and seemingly had also fallen out of favour with former manager Paul Trollope, but showed he is still up for the fight.
I left the ground with Jo after the game and while I told him that whatever we said was off the record, I can reassure Gasheads that he is keen to prove himself to new boss Penney and is up for the fight that Rovers are facing.
The game couldn't have had a worse start for Penney's boys when Northern Ireland U-21 international striker Will Grigg, 19, converted a cross by winger Alex Nicholls from six yards for his first senior goal in only his third start.
And the match didn't finish too positively from Rovers point of view either.
In the 83rd minute Aaron Lescott was fed the ball by wily striker Jon Macken on the edge of the box and the former Rovers defender drilled home a low shot through a crowded area for his first Walsall goal since leaving the Memorial Ground in the summer.
Lescott doesn't get many goals and seemed as surprised as anyone after he had scored. He started to celebrate and then realised he was standing in front of the Rovers fans and stopped, but was promptly mobbed by his team mates.
Penney is keen to add experienced faces to his squad. He intimated that there was no point in bringing anyone in for this game as they wouldn't have had time to get to know their team mates and "... clubs don't like to release a player just before a game. They like to give them a couple of days to bed in ..." which suggests a loan deal or two and he and said afterwards:
"I saw from the second-half performance against Plymouth last week that we need to strengthen and what I saw tonight hasn't changed my mind. We only have two experienced strikers at the moment in Will and Jo. Eliot Richards can play up there and will be a good player, but he is only young. For where we are at the moment, we need some experience in there and I'm certainly going to add if I can. I'd like to think we could get somebody in for the weekend – Thursday or Friday morning at the latest."
And Gasheads may have to wait a little longer for things to turn around as Penney revealed:
"It's going to take 3 or 4 games to get the players up to the tempo I want. I would like to pick points up quickly but it's important I get my message across on how I want us to play the game. I want to squeeze from the front and force the other side to make mistakes. Three points would have been nice and I wanted us to push on and get the third goal to kill them off rather than sitting back, but it wasn't to be. I want the players to be fit, mobile and committed and that seemed to be a bit lacking."
Walsall looked like a side that is on the up. True they threw away the lead, but they didn't let their heads drop and fought back to steal a point that could ultimately be very valuable.
Caretaker manager Dean Smith has now overseen two draws since taking over and also hopes to bring in players to boost his team's own survival chances and revealed:
"We're trying to bring in new players. I've the best interests of the football club at heart and will do what I can to win games.
I felt this was a game we could've won. The first half was as well as we've played in a while and we need to treat every game with the same work as we have in the last two. The lads are showing they have the bit between their teeth though.
I'm not happy with a point as we need to win football games to stay in this league. I'd earmarked three points from the last two games, but still believe we can stay up."
A final word about the home fans (see my post yesterday). Once again the Bristol City Supporters Club (Undercover Division) were in attendance and booed the team when they were one down at half time. When you looked at the squad on show it included kids such as Richards, Pell, Clough and Reece and I couldn't help but wonder how much they will be adversely affected by the jeers. Penney is right to want to bring in experienced players ..,. and they better come along with Kevlar for skin if this is the support they are going to get.
Song artist: M.I.K.E
ReplyDelete