By 4two
October 5 2002

Four goals, a sending off and a last minute penalty equalizer will insure that this game will long be remembered by all that were there. The game finished 2-2, both sides could have have had three or four goals each, but it was Walsall that finished the stronger of the two sides.

Derby County 2 -2 Walsall

Goals: Christie 20' 53 (Derby County) Corica 63'  (Walsall) Aranalde 94' (Walsall) 

 Man of the Match:    Roper (Walsall) 

Walsall Ratings	Walker 8, Bazeley 7, Aranalde 6, Hay 8, Roper 9, Wrack 7, O'Connor 7 Simpson, 7, Corica 8, Leitao 8, Junior 7, Subs: Birch 7, Barras 7.
Walsall Form	Outstanding
Derby County	Poom, Hunt, Riggott, Carbonari, Higginbotham, Boertien, Bolder, Lee, Murray, Christie, McLeod. Subs: Grant, Morris, Kinkladze, Evatt, Twigg
Derby County Form	Good.

---

Colin Lee stuck with the same side that took Nottingham Forest apart on Tuesday.  Given the fact that Derby have struggled to find consistency, this was a great time to visiting Pride Park. Derby fielded a number of players with Premiership credentials. Poom, Carbonari, Riggott, Higginbotham, Lee, Christie and Kinkladze were all well known names from Premiership football.

After the first 10 minutes it seemed that Walsall were well out there depth.  Derby were keeping the ball well with  McLeod and Christie seeing a lot of the ball in our half of the pitch. Walsall seemed unable to win the ball and keep it, anytime we did win possession we quickly lost it again due the pressure Derby were putting Walsall players under.

Derby were looking more and more like scoring with both McLeod and Murray having golden opportunities early on, it wasn't until  20 minutes in when a cross field ball played Rob Lee found its way to Christie who then advanced with the ball, attacking the Walsall defence who consequently backed off and let him inside to curl a right footed shot past Jimmy Walker from 25 yards. Poor defending from Walsall as Jimmy Walker was unable to get his hand to the Christie effort.

Walsall were still finding it hard to put any kind of moves together, McLeod's pace was a threat to Walsall, but fortunately his finishing wasn't.  Simpson and O'Connor were left trying to chase the game while Corica and Wrack had little chance of making an impact on the game. 

Just after the half hour mark Walsall started showing glimpses of the play we had seen in the previous weeks, this good interchangeable play on the fringe of the Derby area involved Corica, Junior and Leitao, resulting in a number of corner kicks for the Saddlers.  Junior did have a good chance to equalize just before half time with his shot from he left hand edge of the penalty box failing to trouble Mart Poom.  

Half Time: Rams 1-0 Walsall.

Both Corica and Higginbotham had chances early on in the second half from outside the area. Derby were still dominating play somewhat, But Colin Lee had shifted the influential Corica inside to try are help create more chances and unlock the Derby defence, and it seemed to be working as Walsall were able to keep possession a bit more and release Aranalde and Bazeley down the flanks.

Walsall looked dead and buried on 50 minutes when Christie again picked up the ball out wide and advanced in to the Walsall area with Walsall defenders backing off and allowing him to fire his effort in to the Walsall goal via Jim Walker parry at the near post. Ian Roper was fuming with Aranalde who should have been in the vicinity of Christie when Murray played him in, which was uncharacteristic for the usually placid Ian Roper.  Roper shared some heated words with Aranalde right in front of the Walsall fans, and who could blame Roper, Aranalde was having a poor game. Minutes later captain Martin O'Connor had to take Fitzroy Simpson out of Aranalde's way when Fitz also was giving Zigore a piece of his mind.

Just when Walsall looked like they were out of it, they picked there game up.  Walsall were throwing men forward, trying to get a goal, and on the hour mark the ball fell to Junior in the penalty box after a scramble inside the penalty area which had left him with more or less and open goal, but his effort floated over the cross bar, and Walsall were still two goals down. We had a flurry of corners during this spell and all of a sudden Derby were looking vulnerable. 

During this period of Walsall possession and pressure Steve Corica was becoming increasingly influential and as he collected the ball inside the Derby half was able jink past the Derby players before pull a goal back for Saddlers thanks to 20 yard effort which nestled in the bottom right hand corner of the Derby goal.

Walsall were back in the game, and Derby were looking very unstable at the back. The atmosphere on the pitch and in the stands was hotting up, with some tasty challenges flying about on the pitch. The referee seemed to be losing control of the match, and needed to get a grip and install some discipline and coolness in to the game, but him booking Darren Bazeley for a 50-50 challenge that he won with McLeod made matters worse and also resulted in Danny Hay getting booked for dissent, and the Walsall fans up in arms.

Five minutes later Junior saw his third chance of the game go begging after he volleyed a Fitzroy Simpson ball just over the bar. Junior then had a chance to make up for his missed chances with a free kick on the edge of the box which he only managed to fire in to the wall.  Things looked worse for Walsall when again the pacy Izzy McLeod found some space but was beaten their by Danny Hay who made little if at all any contact with him before he fell to floor resulting in a highly contentious second caution for Hay, and consequent Red Card.

Any talk of a Walsall fight back look well and truly scupperd, But yet again Walsall defied everyone's expectations by throwing more and more at Derby. Walsall made some changes with Birch on for Junior, and Barras on for Simpson. 

With five minutes left on the clock Christie found himself in a similar position he was in for his second goal but was thwarted by Jimmy Walker, despite Hay having gone off Walsall still pushed forward with Leitao having a half chance, and Walsall having a few corners that Poom plucked out of the air. Finally with 94 minutes on the clock,  Jorge Leitao again broke in to the box and attempted to go around Poom, who bought him down for a Penalty.

Zigore Aranalde, Walsall's poorest player on the day, stepped up to take the penalty. Aranalde certainly showed some courage to step up for the penalty, especially when you consider he could have been setting himself up for an even bigger  fall. But as cool as could be Zigore fired the penalty in to the bottom right hand corner to secure a draw for the Saddlers.

Full Time: Rams 2-2 Walsall.

REACTION : After this game, the atmosphere was like we had just won. Some may argue it was the best atmosphere away from Bescot since Cardiff. We allowed a quality Premiership striker (Christie) three golden chances, and he stuck two of them away. If McLeod would have been Ravanelli, Strupar or Burton, we may not have been so fortunate today. But then again, if it wasn't for Christie where would the goals have come from? The two Derby goals were a combination of poor defensive decisions, and quality finishing. I didn't know weather to feel sorry for Zigor or join in with the grief he was getting. It is becoming obvious he struggles against quality, and is not good enough for this level, so why do we expect better things of him? To see Ropes having a go at him is for me the final straw, the most placid player we have losing his rag with one of his own team mates, come on. The Second half performance was good, Danny Hay's dismissal the only blotch.  Im with Graydon when it comes to dissent, it shouldn't happen. But the challenge on McLeod should be looked at again. For Aranalde to step up and take that penalty has showed he has that something about him not every player does. Lets hope Zigor can improve. That's 4 games without losing. Their is no doubt we finished the game the stronger side. If Junior can find his feet and start taking more of his he could be one heck of a player. Despite their being loads of man of the match candidates, today it goes to Ropes. He showed the others how to deal with Christie and McLeod, hit them early, and hit them hard. Roper epitomized the Walsall attitude of spirit, passion, determination and perseverance.