OnLine: 00:00

The opening moments of the game were tidy but uninspiring. Forests central midfield pairing looked extremely mobile as did their pacey forwards. Birch was working tirelessly up front while Roper and Ritchie looked in control of things at the back.  

Steve Corica was the first player to try his luck with a long range effort that had Ward worried. The two Walsall goals of the half came around about the half hour mark when Wrack converted an Osborn knock down, before Osborn got his own goal minutes later by capitalising on Gavin Wards mazy dribble gone wrong. 

When Andy Reid snatched a goal back for Forest with five minutes of the half to play we all thought back to the Norwich game a few days earlier. Reid saw his shot make its way through a mellay of Walsall and Forest players before creeping around Jim Walker and in to the bottom right hand corner of Walkers goal. 

The Saddlers were not put off by the Forest fight back and Birch almost made it three before half time when his shot from just in side the area swerved away from the Forest goal.

The second half was dominated by the Saddlers. The Forest midfield lost its grip on the game and our boys ran riot. It could have been 5 or 6 had Wrack or Birch converted easy chances. Merson broke in to the box twice only to be denied by Ward or a last gasp tackle from a forest defender. 

Wrack got the second just after the hour mark after riddling around the Forest defenders so he had space to shoot, he did, and he scored. The Sadddlers were now firing on all cylinders creating chances left right on center, then with 5 minutes left to play Merson broke in to the area again and squared the ball to Gary Birch who slotted the ball in to the back of the net.

It was nothing more than the Saddlers and Gary Birch deserved. A whole host of contenders for the MOTM award. A good, solid team performance.