Walsall came from behind to grab a vital win at Bescot Stadium and climb out
of the First Division relegation zone at the expense of Sheffield United.
It seemed an unlikely result after a first half totally dominated by a much
sharper Sheffield side who were unbeaten in six league games since Neil Warnock
took over as manager.
Robins held the home attack together much better and with eight minutes left
he won the match with a close-range header - his sixth goal of the season.
It came after Pedro Matias and Andy Rammell had linked up to set up a shooting
chance for Kevin Harper, and when the ball was blocked it spun into the air just
right for Robins to dart in and head in over the line.
United could hardly believe it because it had looked easy for them in the
first half.
A series of raids ended with them taking the lead in the 26th minute.
A corner from Bobby Ford was headed on by Lee Sandford, and when home
goalkeeper James Walker missed his punch Paul Devlin accepted the gift from
close range.
Walsall were a different outfit in the second half, though, showing far more
urgency and putting pressure for the first time on the Blades' defence in which
Shaun Murphy was outstanding.
It paid off in the 58th minute, Tom Bennett crossing for Walsall captain and
central defender Adrian Viveash to blast in his first goal of the season and
equalise.
Then it could have gone either way, Darren Wrack having a shot blocked by
Simon Tracey and then the dangerous Michael Brown chipping just over the bar.
But in the end the Blades clearly missed the threat up front of Martin Smith,
who had limped off with a pulled hamstring in the 12th minute.
That will keep the former Sunderland striker out for about a month and delay
his proposed move to Nottingham Forest.
Teams:
Walsall: Walker, Marsh, Roper, Viveash, Padula, Harper, Bukran,
Bennett, Wrack (Matias 66), Ricketts (Rammell 80),Forester (Robins 46).
Subs Not Used: Barras, Larusson.
Booked: Viveash, Padula.
Goals: Viveash 58, Robins 82.
Sheff Utd: Tracey, Kozluk, Murphy, Sandford,
Quinn (Ribeiro 82), Devlin, Derry, Brown, Ford, Bent (Hall 89),
Smith (Katchouro 12).
Subs Not Used: Gybreches, Hamilton.
Booked: Derry, Ford, Brown.
Goals: Devlin 26.
Att: 6,222
Ref: P Durkin (Dorset).
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook