George Bennett on Walsall's draw with Crawley

George Bennett gives his take on Walsall's draw with Crawley

Transcript

00:00 Hi Sadler's fans, I'm at the Broadfield Stadium at Walsall, have just drawn 1-1 against Crawley Town.

00:07 Walsall needed a response from the 3-0 defeat against Newport County last time out,

00:12 and despite the fact they didn't pick up the three points, they did produce a much improved performance, especially in the first half.

00:19 Matt Sadler made three changes. Jackson Smith came in for the suspended Owen Evans, who was sent off in the late stages against the Exiles.

00:27 Jack Earing came into midfield for Ryan Sturck, and Jamil Matt was preferred to lead the line over Mo Fowle.

00:35 It was a slow start to the first half, neither side really managed to impose themselves on the game in the opening 10-15 minutes,

00:43 and then kind of settled into a pass, and where Crawley were playing lateral passes across the defence,

00:49 and that invited Walsall on, and they grew in confidence, and Isaac Hutchinson was the catalyst to that,

00:54 who produced a really impressive first half performance, forced a couple of good saves from the Crawley Town goalkeeper,

01:00 before opening the score and from the spot after Jack Earing was fouled inside the penalty area.

01:06 That's now 3-3 from 12 yards for Hutchinson, who extended his season tally to 13 goals for the season,

01:13 and hit double figures in the league, and Walsall struggled to keep up that intensity in the second half,

01:19 and Crawley grew in confidence, and Liam Kelly equalised just past the hour mark.

01:24 Jack Rowles came on just on the hour mark, and made a really good impact for them from the bench,

01:31 and it could have went really either way in that second half, Crawley had a couple of good chances towards the end,

01:36 but the point was probably a fair result. However, Walsall remain 16th, Crawley remain 15th,

01:42 and that's now 5 games without a win for the Saddlers in League 2.