Saddlers share the spoils on day Joe returns
MAZ Kouhyar’s goal in time added on handed Walsall a deserved share of the spoils on a difficult surface at the Crown Oil Arena.
Keith Hill admitted that, had his side held onto the lead handed to them courtesy of Calvin Andrew’s 62nd minute strike, it would have been a case of Dale ‘pinching’ the win.
The Saddlers had looked the stronger side for the first hour of the contest but, once Dale edged ahead against the run of play, they appeared to be spent.
However, set-pieces have been Dale’s undoing so often this season and so it proved once again, Kouhyar benefitting this time as he converted Erhun Oztumer’s delivery.
Hill made one change to the team which had drawn against Oxford United a week previous, Jordan Williams coming into the starting line up as Steven Davies dropped out of the squad altogether.
But it was news from the substitutes bench which had the Crown Oil Arena abuzz ahead of kick off as Joe Thompson made a most welcome return to the first-team picture having beaten off cancer for the second time. The 28-year-old last featured for Dale in an away game at MK Dons in March. In June he revealed he was once again in complete remission from the nodular sclerosis Hodgkin lymphoma, which he was originally diagnosed with in 2013 and his inclusion in Saturday’s squad was greeted with well wishes from far and wide.
Walsall tested Dale’s defending from set-pieces with a succession of corners in the opening minutes of the game, the home side dealing comfortably with them all and eventually working Saddlers stopper Mark Gillespie when Ian Henderson played in Joe Bunney on the left and his delivery into the six-yard area demanded the keeper’s attention.
After a scrappy 15-minute period, a poor pass from Bunney allowed Zeli Ismail to break up the right flank and while his cross was cut out, the loose ball ran invitingly for Adam Chambers – fortunately for Dale, he scuffed his shot wide. Daniel Agyei also had a decent chance to test Josh Lillis but curled a leftfooted effort too high.
Walsall carried more threat going forward than Dale in the opening half hour and it took two brave blocks in quick succession from Joe Raferty to prevent Keiron Morris and then Agyei testing Lillis.
The home side eventually put the Saddlers goal under threat via a Callum Camps free kick. Though his set-piece was struck into the wall, he managed to recycle the rebound to Williams on the edge of the area and he squeezed a pass through a crowd of players to Calvin Andrew, whose shot was charged down. It may only have been a half chance, but it at least registered Dale’s threat.
Camps was behind Dale’s best effort of a poor first half when his cross towards the back post flew over Gillespie and struck the crossbar.
The second half started with Oztumer being denied a clear shot at target from eight yards by a horrible bobble on the increasingly problematic surface and while the same player had the ball in the net soon after, he was flagged offside.
Morris went close when he headed Joe Edwards’ cross towards goal, Lillis getting a strong hand to the effort to push it over the bar.
The opening goal arrived in the 62nd minute somewhat against the run of play. Camps played a delicious lofted pass to Andrew on the right and the big striker cut into the area, seeing his initial shot blocked but firing the rebound through the legs of Kory Roberts and into the bottom corner of the net.
After the goal Walsall’s heads collectively dropped and Dale’s confidence blossomed.
Thompson was introduced to the action in the 72nd minute and was on for the field for Dale’s best move of the day, involving Rafferty, Henderson and Andrew down the right, the sequence culminating in Andrew’s centre almost being turned into his own net by Roberts.
Thompson and Andrew both had efforts cleared off the line as Dale looked to press home their advantage, but when it seemed certain a second goal would go the way of the home side, up popped Kouhyar, sweeping home Oztumer’s cut back after a free kick into the area was only partially cleared.
“It was disappointing to concede so late on, but I do believe the opposition deserved something from the game,” he said. “You could say we’d pinched it if we’d have hung on, but we didn’t and that’s the way it’s going for us at the minute.
Lillis, Rafferty, McGahey, Daniels, Bunney, Camps, Rathbone, Henderson, Williams (Thompson, 72), Done (Inman, 46), Andrew. Subs not used: McNulty, Keane, Moore, Kitching, Gillam Gillespie, Edwards (Flanagan, 86), Leahy, Guthrie, Devlin, Chambers, Oztumer, Morris (Jackson, 69), Ismail (Kouhyar, 79), Roberts, Agyei. Subs not used: Kinsella, Donnellan, Candlin, Ganley A Haines 2702