Deeney double seals fightback for Walsall
Dec 21 2009 by Brian Halford, Birmingham Mail
A FORMER Blues trainee and a lifelong Bluenose joined forces to dig Walsall out of deep trouble and avert their third successive defeat.
The Saddlers trailed 2-0 at half-time and had not landed a blow on a Leyton Orient side which could hardly believe it’s good fortune.
Without an away win since October 3, the O’s found themselves two up courtesy of goals donated by slack defending in the first half-hour.
Their goalkeeper Jamie Jones, meanwhile, could have warmed his freezing hands on a cigar as home strikers Darren Byfield and Troy Deeney were starved of service.
It was a shocking first half from the Saddlers but if their shivering supporters were not happy, neither were the players.
Frank opinions were exchanged during the interval and the effect was immediate – led by that Blues connection.
Straight from the kick-off Peter Till, a product of Wast Hills, raced down the right and centred for Blues diehard Deeney to bury a header.
On 57 minutes Till supplied another precise cross for Byfield to feed Deeney to fire home again.
Both sides then squandered chances to claim victory and had to settle for a point.
But that was all either deserved; Walsall for switching on far too late and Orient for switching off after half-time.
It must worry the O’s that they can fail to win after receiving such huge early leg-ups.
In only the second minute retreating defenders allowed Scott McGleish to get in a shot which Clayton Ince pushed into the path of Ryan Jarvis for a tap-in.
That might have jolted the Saddlers into life but they have showed several times this season that when they are having a rubbish first half they don’t go for half-measures.
Orient added a second when Stephen Purches walked past insipid defending to cross for Tamika Mkandawire to net at the back stick.
Had Andros Townsend’s 25-yarder then been a foot lower, Walsall would have been dead and buried.
It wasn’t though and the Saddlers improved to create more than enough chances to win.
Deeney scored his seventh and eight goals of the season, Matt Richards and Mark Bradley fired just wide and the latter scuffed from close range after Till and Rhys Weston combined neatly.
The best opportunity to complete the comeback went to Byfield but, one on one with Jones, just like at Millwall seven days earlier, he hit the ‘keeper.
Orient had chances to win it too, notably when Ince’s poor kick set up McGleish for a run at goal.
The goalkeeper redeemed himself with a save but the incident summed up an afternoon which Walsall’s spent getting themselves in and out of holes.
WALSALL (4-4-2): Ince 5; Weston 6, Smith 6, Vincent 6, Sansara 6; TILL 7, Mattis 5, Bradley 6, Richards 6; Deeney 7, Byfield 7. Subs: Gilmartin, Westlake, O’Keefe, Taundry, Adkins, Nicholls, Parkin.
LEYTON ORIENT (4-4-2): Jones; Cave-Brown, Chorley, Mkandawire, Purches; Summerfield, Thornton, Melligan, Townsend; Jarvis (Pires 84), McGleish. Subs: Ashworth, Chambers, Demetriou, Smith, Patulea, Morris.
Referee: Scott Mathieson (Cheshire).
