Only one stand was open for this one so it
was out with a tenner on top of the £2.00 parking charge. This is North Glasgow and I was strongly
advised to pay up and not risk street parking as the natives apparently have a
taste for burning anything with wheels.
The Saddlers lined up in green for this one and
included four more triallists. A centre half, a midfielder, a winger and a
striker. Andy Walker was the striker and
he lined first with Rammell and later Watson. It has to be a worry when your
potential strikeforce has an average age rivalling that of the Saddlers Club
Committee. The fact that they also showed
the cutting edge of a rusty pre war lawnmower was also a concern. Not good. The other triallists, clueless
to a man, proved yet again that Mr Taylor hasn’t lost his touch.
Essentially, it appears that the idea of a pre
season friendly in Scotland appears to be that they get to kick lumps out of
you and you simply have to accept it. This was the case for much of the Ayr game and again tonight, however
this one ended up being much more interesting. Three bookings and a sending off may be tame for the World Cup Finals
but you don’t often get it in a pre-season kick about. Saidi (real name) and
Kiester(obviously) were booked for
Walsall whilst Roper was dismissed for a particularly late, surprisingly nasty and
all round beast of a tackle.
The natives were rather unimpressed to say
the least and it got a little spicy in the stand. The Walsall support was loud and
patient, whilst the Jocks sang about Argentina
ousting England in France 98. Costa
Rica, Peru and Morocco sprang to mind but so did getting out of Northern
Glasgow alive at full time. For a time
it looked as if it was going to kick off outside but nothing came of it.
The match itself was utterly forgetful with
Thistle taking the lead after Matt Gadsby was unluckily adjudged to have felled
an opponent in the box and the spot kick was converted. Gary Porter please note. Walsall levelled in the last minute as Jeff
Peron crossed for Watson to finish from about ten yards, a pretty good goal in
fact. Overall, this was the most
disappointing performance so far and I’ll leave to last word on this one to Mr Frank
Stubbs - “Different country, same old
shit”. Nuff said.
Bad News........Roper's impending suspension.
Good News......Peron looked interested. Getting out alive
Annual Triallist Count..10