Saturday 24th July.
Walsall v Coventry City; from the Banks (Bescott) Stadium. Kick off 3:00pm.
Referee; C. Sarginson
It is a dry, but cloudy day at the Banks (Bescott) Stadium, Walsall and it is another good turnout of Coventry City fans.
Teams: Walsall: Bevan, Lescott, Lancashire, Smith, Richards, Byfield, Deeney, Nicholls, Marshall, Taundry, Stokes. Subs: Brain, Westlake, McDonald, Jones, Paterson, Hickman, Bowerman, Gray, Geddes.
Coventry City: Westwood, Keogh, Hussey, McPake, Turner, Clingan, Gunnarsson, Baker, McSheffrey, Eastwood, O'Donovan. Subs: Quirke, Doyle, Clarke, Cranie, L Thomas, Grandison, Jeffers, Cameron, C Thomas, McIndoe.
Lee Carsley is not the team sheet as Coventry City take to the field wearing their new sky blue kit. Former Coventry City player Julian Gray is on the Walsall bench
Sarah Garrett, the female assistant referee is attracting the attention of the City support.
City are attacking the far end in the first half in the ground where, once again the away support far exceed the the home support in the other three stands.
3 minutes. City have the ball in the Walsall net, but O'Donovan is offside after touching the Eastwood shot into the net,he goal would have stood if the ball had not touched O'Donovan.
Both McSheffrey and Clingan have tried their luck on goal, but without success.
6 minutes. Carl Baker has a shot saved by the Walsall 'keeper, who pumps the ball up the other end where Westwood and McPake hesitate, but Turner doesn't and clears the ball to safety.
Attacking the stand you can see from the M6, City keep up the pressure with Keogh sending over some good crosses.
13 minutes. The lively Eastwood sets up Gunnarsson for a shot 20 yards out, but it flies wide.
It is now raining at The Bescott Stadium.
16 minutes. A good tackle to deny Deeley, but concedes a corner.
The 16 year old Conor Thomas has been out warming up, but Boothroyd who is pacing up and down in his technical area, looks unlikely to be making any changes just yet.
21 minutes. Westwood easily saves a Richards free kick.
23 minutes gone and the score is still 0-0.
25 minutes. Ben Turner makes a great block as Deeley lines up to shoot. Taudry then fires wide from the loose ball.
The rain has now stopped and the sun is trying to put in an appearance.
28 minutes. Deeley has another shot, this time from 20 yards, but it goes wide.
31 minutes. Walsall win a corner. The ball falls to Chris Stokes who lets fly from 20 yards, only to see it go wide.
From the goal kick the ball arrives at the other end and City win a free kick which Hussey takes, but puts his shot wide.
37 minutes. Walsall win another corner which results in another good block by Turner.
38 minutes. Eastwood has a shot which is fumbled by the 'keeper, but O'Donovan cannot get to the rebound quickly enough.
44 minutes. Darren Byfield fires a shot wide. One minute of added time is announced.
45 minutes. City win a corner, but come to nothing and the referee blows the whistle for half time.
Half time score: Walsall 0 Coventry City 0
The second half gets underway and Walsall go on the attack. A good tackle by McPakes stops Deeley.
Westwood makes a good save for a corner and the Walsall fans are now singing as well as the City support.
48 minutes. McSheffrey sends a 20 yard shot wide. City go straight back ontot he attack again, tis time through Baker, who sends Keogh on his way. Unforunately his cross goes past the City attack. O'Donovan wins the bball and sends in a cross, but is put behind for a corner.
Baker thumps the ball he receives from the corner wide.
54 minutes. City are in the ascendency and have a lot of the ball. Tere is plenty of noise coming from the City support as Eastwood wins a corner.
Gunnarsson's shot from the corner is deflected wide for another City corner.
Julian Gray is warming up for Walsall.
57 minutes. City win another corner.
The City fans are urging the players to shoot at every opportunity.
GOAL. 60 minutes. Eastwood makes some space for himself on the left and creates enough room to tuck a low shot into the bottom corner of the net.
Walsall 0 Coventry City 1 (Eastwood 60)
Substitution. 65 mnutes. O'Donovan is taken off and replaced by Cranie.
Julian Gray comes on for Walsall and promptly receives some abuse from the City fans.
67 minutes. Gray has a tame shot at Westwood, Eastwood, at the other end, fires a shot over the bar.
68 minutes. A low, hard cross from Hussey wins a corner for City. He wins a second corner a minute later which Clingan hits over the bar.
David Bevan in the Walsall goal is having a good bit of banter during a lull in proceedings. Apart from picking the ball out of the net, he has had little to do.
Substitution: McSheffrey and Baker are both taken off and are replaced by Jeffers and Clarke respectively.
With ten minutes of the scheduled 90 left, the score is Walsall 0 Coventry City 1
Substitution: 83 minutes. Eastwood and McPake are replaced by Doyle and Cameron respectively.
Substitution: 85 minutes. Clingan is replaced by the 16 year old Conor Thomas.
Thomas' first touch is not a good one and sees him give the ball away. Walsall go on tha attack, but a weak shot is easily dealt with by Westwood.
88 minutes. City corner won by Doyle ends up in a Walsall free kick.
The fourth official announces that there will be three minutes added time.
GOAL: 90 +2 minutes. Jordan Clarke heads the ball into the Walsall net, helped in by Shaun Jeffers
Final Score Walsall 0 Coventry City 2 (Eastwood 60, Clarke 92 )