Saddlers face striker who ‘bullied’ Chelsea out of FA Cup

Oct 23 2009 by Brian Halford, Birmingham Mail

FEW strikers have given John Terry the runaround in recent years but at Colchester tomorrow Walsall will face one who last year “bullied” the England captain to distraction and out of the FA Cup.

When Chelsea were drawn away to Barnsley in the cup quarter-finals in March 2008, up front for the south Yorkshire club was Kayode Odejayi.

And the Nigerian international, currently on loan to Colchester and ready to face the Saddlers, gave his illustrious marker an afternoon to forget.

Dwayne Mattis, now with Walsall, was a team-mate of Odejayi’s at Barnsley at the time.

Eighteen months on, Mattis will be briefing the Saddlers defenders on just what to expect: an opponent of similar size, stature and inconvenience value to Jabo Ibehre, who hounded opposing defenders so effectively on Walsall’s behalf last term.

“I was at Barnsley with Odejayi and I think he is the strongest man I have ever seen in my life,” said Mattis.

“I will be telling our defenders about him because on his day he is unplayable.

“When Barnsley played Chelsea in the FA Cup he absolutely tore John Terry apart. Terry couldn’t live with him. He bullied him so much he didn’t know what to do.

“He is very similar to Jabo. He is very strong and quick, puts himself about and will always chase lost causes.

“He is a handful but I’ll be giving the lads some tips on how to deal with him.”

Odejayi is far from Colchester’s only sizeable threat, with former Saddlers striker Clive Platt also up front for them and support coming from Ipswich loanee Kevin Lisbie.

All over the pitch the Essex club have big men pursuing the direct tactics familiar to teams managed by Aidy Boothroyd. The match promises to be one of Walsall’s most difficult away games of the season but Mattis reckons they will go in confidently, having performed creditably most of the time away from home this season.

“We have performed quite well on our travels,” he said. “Apart from at Hartlepool we have played some of our best football away from home, which was the case last season too.

“These away games are tough but we don’t fear anybody. We have been to Norwich and MK Dons and performed well. Colchester are a big, strong team but we have to go there and compete and then play our football when we can.”