Walsall 3 Shrewsbury 0

My piece from Monday's paper

Craig Westcarr's brace dumped local rivals Shrewsbury out of the cup and left Dean Smith purring.

Delighted Walsall boss Smith gushed:

"It was a really good performance from Craig and an unselfish one. In fact all of the players played really well and they were still trying to score more at the end. For a complete ninety minutes at home, that's the best we've played. The players worked really hard."

Striker Westcarr scored grabbed his first in the 29th minute.

Full back Andy Taylor raced down the right flank and Westcarr buried his low cross from six yards.

Craig Westcarr's opener

Westcarr netted his ninth of the season in the 59th minute.

Keeper Chris Weale did well to get down and save a low strike from on loan Chelsea midfielder Milan Lalkovic, but Westcarr returned the rebound with interest from twelve yards.

Westcarr's second

St. Kitts international Romaine Sawyers killed off the Tie in the 73rd minute

Westcarr teed up his co-striker 25 yards out and Sawyers belted in his third of the season.

Weale kept the score down with a string of great saves including three from Westcarr.

Westcarr was vintage class, but then saw pal Sawyers pick up the bubbly for his corker. He then joked:

"I think his dad must've been the sponsor! I'm happy enough though. I'm scoring goals and I like playing with Rom. He's a quality player."

Chelsea loanee Lalkovic, 20, felt his U-21 duties were stopping him getting a run with the Saddlers and said:

"I need momentum. I was going away for international fixtures and it was then taking me three games to get back into the Walsall team, but football here is more important to me at the moment."

Furious Shrews boss Graham Turner said:


"That was probably the most inept performance from a team I have put out for some time. I'll take my responsibility, but any criticism of the players will be confined to the dressing room."

My clipping from yesterday's paper