Albion in Europe – but knocked out by Port Vale
Baggies ousted from Anglo-italian Cup after two-legged tie with Midlands rivals
Season 1995-96 Part Two
Wolves had three players red-carded early in the season
WALSALL won 19 and drew 12 of their 46 matches, scoring 60 goals while conceding only 45 for a total of 59 points.
The Saddlers had good and bad spells during the season, but never rose above 11th in the table, and, in fact, they slipped down to 20th at one point before finishing well with only four defeats in the last 15 matches.
A 4-1 home victory over Swansea City was their best of the campaign, while their heaviest loss of 3-0 came at Wrexham.
Kyle Lightbourne and Kevin Wilson finished up as joint top scorers with 15 League goals apiece; Martyn O’connor netted nine including three penalties.
In the FA Cup competition Wolves dropped out in round 4, beaten 2-0 at home in a replay by Tottenham (after Birmingham City had been ousted in the previous round).
Albion were involved in a 3rd round thriller before going down 4-3 at Crewe while Walsall beat Burnley, Torquay United and Wigan Athletic before falling to Ipswich Town in round 4. The tie with Torquay produced no less than 12 goals – the Saddlers winning 8-4 after extratime.
In the League Cup, Wolves went through to round five where they suffered defeat in the Midlands derby against Aston Villa, losing 1-0 away before almost 40,000 fans.
Albion battled past Northampton in round one before losing 4-2 in a replay against Reading, while Walsall were knocked out in the first round by Brentford.
The Baggies also took part in the Anglo-italian tournament – and reached the area final after beating Reggiana (2-1) and Brescia (1-0) in group games and Birmingham City 4-1 on penalties (after a 2-2 draw) in the semi-final, but then, after a 0-0 home draw with Port Vale, Albion lost the return leg in the Potteries 2-1. The Saddlers also took part in the Auto-windscreen Shield, but after beating Fulham 5-2 at Craven Cottage in their first game in the Southern Section, and Wycombe Wanderers 5-0 in their second, they succumbed 2-1 against Brighton. Elsewhere around the clubs … Wolves had three players redcarded early in the season: Geoff Thomas (versus Sunderland), Steve Bull (versus Norwich) and Mark Rankine (versus Port Vale). And the Wolvesspurs FA Cup-tie produced record gate receipts for a game at Molineux (up to that time) of £276,168. Dutchman Richard Sneekes was one of manager Alan Buckley’s top signings for Albion. He also recruited Dave Gilbert and Micky Holmes while transferring goalkeeper Stuart Naylor to Bristol City after the shot-stopper had made 468 appearances (390 at senior level) for the Baggies. No less than 14 players and personnel who all had previous connections with Grimsby, were registered with Albion during this season. And finally, top striker Kyle Lightbourne also scored five goals in AWS wins over Fulham and Wycombe, as well as three in the FA Cup clashes with Torquay, to end the season with a total of 23.