Roberts stars in Saddlers comeback
SCORING one goal, setting up another to cap a comeback from 3-0 down – if a certain brand of beer did debuts, they would be like Tyler Roberts’s for Walsall.
The 18-year-old West Bromwich Albion striker only joined the Saddlers on loan on Friday but his 53rdminute introduction turned this game on its head.
After Luke Leahy’s bullet header got Walsall back in it at 3-1, Roberts matched it with a header of his own and then crossed for Amadou Bakayoko to rescue a point late on.
Walsall boss Jon Whitney beamed: “Tyler has got some quality. I’ve been waiting so long to get the kid.
“He lightens up places and for somebody of such a young age, he has just got incredible ability.
“But I don’t want to single out a player, I want to single out our fans. They were fantastic today. And the appreciation they showed at half-time helped my players to keep their heads up high.
“They had their chests out. We looked like a team who were 2-0 up when I came in to speak to them, not 2-0 down.
“It became an incredible atmosphere. We all knew we didn’t deserve to be losing and we kept believing in what we do.”
Walsall were unlucky to be two down at half-time, although Bradford’s opener was full of quality.
Alex Gilliead’s lung-busting run was followed by Charlie Wyke’s teasing cross for Shay McCartan to slide home at the far post.
Either side of the interval, Bradford made it 3-0 with two scruffier goals, Dominic Poleon’s scuffed finish finding the bottom corner before Leahy turned a Tony McMahon freekick into his own net. Leahy atoned for that by scoring Walsall’s first on 55 minutes, from a Nicky Devlin cross, and then turning provider for a similar header from Roberts six minutes later.
And it was Roberts’ turn to go from scorer to creator three minutes from time, his inviting cross bundled home by Bakayoko.
Fuming Bantams boss Stuart McCall said: “It feels like a defeat, we’ve thrown points away. You can’t print the words how I’m feeling at the moment.
“Three-nil probably did flatter us at the time but once you get into that position, you’ve got to make sure you don’t surrender it.
“We were just weak in certain areas – weak to stop crosses, weak to go and meet the ball when it came in. Physically and mentally, we were weak.”