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

George Bennett gives his analysis of Walsall's draw against Crewe.

Transcript

00:00Good evening, Sadler's fans. Walsall have just drawn 1-1 against local rivals Crewe

00:06Alexandra at Bescott in what descended into a very feisty battle. Matt Sadler made three

00:13changes from the 2-1 win over Bolton Wanderers in the FA Cup last weekend. Donovan Daniels

00:19came in for his first competitive start as Harry Williams missed out due to concussion.

00:24He will also miss the game against Shrewsbury Town on Tuesday at the very least. Jack Heeran

00:29and Albert Odoma also dropped to the bench as Charlie Lakin and Jamil Matt came back

00:33in. It was a first half of very few chances and it was quite an even contest. Shiloh Tracey

00:41was played for on goal and screwed one just wide in the 7th minute. Jamil Matt nodded

00:46one wide and Conor Barrett slammed a half-volley into the side netting. Crewe had a great chance

00:51just before the break when Omar Bogle headed wide after an inviting cross to the back post

00:56from Conway. Although there was a suspected push on Donovan Daniels. Walsall grew frustrated

01:02with some of the refereeing decisions and tensions constantly threatened to overboil.

01:08More on that later. Crewe took the lead midway into the second half in the 66th minute. Holacek

01:15slotted the ball into the path of Omar Bogle. He escaped the Walsall defence and slotted

01:20the ball past Tommy Simpkin and in off the post. Walsall eventually responded well. Matt

01:25Sadler made a quadruple change with the introductions of Brandon Conley, Danny Johnson, George Hall

01:32and Albert Adoma. George Hall made an instant impact. He threaded a beautiful pass into

01:39the path of Nathan Lowe and he slammed a powerful finish in off the bar to equalise and salvage

01:45a point for Walsall. As I said, tensions overboiled at the end. There was an instance where Liam

01:51Gordon, Jack Earing were involved and then once again on the touchline, more incidents

01:59with another touchline melee and Dave Joyce, the Walsall kitman was shown a red card, Lee

02:05Bowe was booked, Liam Gordon was booked but in the end it ended all square. Walsall remained

02:10second spot and closed the gap behind Port Vale, the leaders, to three points though.