FEISTY
Friendly Yeltz 1 Walsall 1
28 July 2004
The mighty Yeltz continued our promising pre-season build up with a 1-1 draw against Walsall. We took the lead in the first half through Alex Cowley, although the break came early when Walsall walked off in a huff after some tough tackling from Lewis Baker. They equalised after the teams came back out, but all in all it sounds like another excellent performance.
Only two weeks to go before the start of the season proper, and we continue our preparations against Bromsgrove on Saturday at The Grove.
Match Report from DJ
Halesowen Town: Sheils; Cooper, Forsdick, Charlton, Pope, Jones, Cowley, Moore, Haarhoff, Baker, Steane. Used Subs: Preston, Haywood, Skidmore, Colwell, Burgess, R. Williams(GK)
Walsall: Coleman; Platt, L. Bradley, Wheeler, Harkness, M. Bradley, Hughes, Jameson, Atiendo, L. Williams, Penny. Subs: Lake, McDermott, Deakin, Leaver, Tilt
Referee: A. Marriner (Coventry)
A keenly contested friendly was cut short by five minutes at the end of the first-half when Mick Halsall led his team into the dressing room after a confrontation between Lewis Baker and Leroy Williams in front of the Walsall dug-out.
Halesowen continued to look lively in their pre-season preparations and in the 12th minute Alex Cowley's corner was flicked on by Asa Charlton for Lewis Baker to head over the bar. Walsall's Leroy Williams beat Dan Jones and cut in from the left in the 19th minute but Mark Sheils saved low down. Cowley then cleverly side-stepped his defender in the 21st minute and beat goalkeeper Dean Coleman but his shot hit the roof of the net from a tight angle. Cowley's 26th minute cross was then met by a firm header from Baker but Coleman made a superb reflex save. A minute late Halesowen goalkeeper Mark Sheils made a fine save from Leroy Williams on a Walsall breakaway.
Exciting Cowley started and finished Halesowen's 33rd minute goal when he ran at the Walsall defence and put live-wire Jimmy Haarhoff free on the right and he crossed for COWLEY to side-foot home from 10 yards out. The crowd was then left bemused on 40 minutes after a tough tackle by Baker on Leroy Williams led to a minor skirmish and the Walsall players were led back to the dressing room en masse.
Walsall levelled the scores four minutes into the second half when substitute David McDERMOTT swept home a right-wing cross from close range after Mark Bradley beat Dave Haywood down the right wing.
Cowley hit wide from the edge of the area on 50 minutes and the alert Haarhoff won the first of two 57th minute corners when he beat the Walsall defence to the ball. Substitute Nicky Preston then turned in the area in the 72nd minute and hit just wide from 8 yards from Haywood's right-wing free-kick. On 78 minutes Richard Burgess set up Jason Moore to hit at the goalkeeper and three minutes later Moore set up Stuart Skidmore to drive wide of the mark.