Walsall 1 Fulham U21's 0 - George Bennett and Nathan Judah analysis - video Dailymotion

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Walsall 1 Fulham U21's 0 - George Bennett and Nathan Judah analysis

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00:00Hello, I'm Nathan Dewder, I'm here with Warsaw Reporter, it is Mr. George Bennett.

00:03George, another win at home, the run continues, it doesn't matter whether it's league or cup,

00:08hopefully it's a good sign for next Tuesday night in Leicester City.

00:12Warsaw won, Fulham under 21 is nil, just about deserved in the end, wouldn't you say?

00:16Yeah, exactly that, you know, it's never going to be a glamorous game,

00:19it's definitely not going to be one for entertainment value,

00:22but maximum points, some players rested, which would be good going into the league game against Salford,

00:28on top of the group now, so, you know, gives them a real good chance at progression,

00:32but I would say deservedly so, although Fulham did have their chances in that second half.

00:35Yeah, they did, especially towards the end of the game.

00:37Look, we were all discussing a couple of weeks ago on the excellent penalty win against Birmingham,

00:42well, after the draw, but the penalty win in the end, and then you go here now,

00:45and it wasn't a classic, was it, first half, but at the same time, it's important for minutes,

00:50and Danny Johnson, of course, scoring the winner on Saturday, and then comes on here,

00:54you know he's going to get an hour, and gets himself back on the score sheet,

00:572-2 for a striker, that's all you can ask for, isn't it?

00:59Yeah, it felt like that was planned, you know, it's a lot to ask 90 minutes out of a player who,

01:03you know, before a fortnight ago, hadn't played at all, so, with those cameos off the bench,

01:09and now 60 minutes under his belt, it feels like he's now working his way as close to possible,

01:14in terms of, you know, full match fitness, and, you know, what a great way to cap his week,

01:19I mean, the winner, which was a fantastic moment against Bradford,

01:23and then again tonight, with a little toad to the ball, with Charlie Lakin's low drive,

01:27and that's propelled Walsall to the top of the group, so yeah, really good to see him getting back among the goals,

01:33and more importantly, just back in action as well.

01:36Absolutely, and look, the goal gave Walsall confidence, they went forward, they had a couple more chances,

01:39and it's always the same, it doesn't matter whether you're playing, you know, a top-class League 2 side,

01:43or full of under-21s, if you don't get that second goal, you're doing by that pressure,

01:47they didn't get that, then all of a sudden, those last few minutes, it was a little bit hairy,

01:52Fulham had a couple of great chances, and, I mean, we talk about saving two penalties in a couple of weeks ago at Birmingham City,

01:58I mean, hero again.

01:59Yeah, exactly that, I mean, you know, before we get on to Thornby's heroics, which works well on the tongue,

02:06Osmond, with a great chance at the back post, that was one that I really thought he was going to put away,

02:11worked, chucked inside, and just slotted one wide at the target, so Fulham had their moments,

02:17and, yeah, you know, you look at the end there, and you think, right, they're going to get over the line,

02:22and then suddenly we're adjudged to have made a foul inside the box.

02:26Necessary, I mean, whether it was or not, I mean, the way it was, you know, you're right on that ball,

02:30and you don't need to make that challenge, I'm sure Matt Sadler will be installing that afterwards.

02:34Fortunately, they weren't made to pay, but, my goodness, that's a fantastic save.

02:38It was, and, I mean, yeah, like you mentioned there, with his heroics against Birmingham,

02:42they were both there for that one, and the first save was an eye-peek, and then Alfie May,

02:47and he's delivered the goods again tonight, and it was a really good save to his right-hand side.

02:54Strong hand, wasn't it? Because, I mean, it was a well-taken penalty, I mean, it wasn't right in the bottom corner,

02:59but it was hit with plenty of power, and that's a strong wrist.

03:01Exactly that, and, I mean, you know, also seem to have two good goalkeepers when it comes to saving penalties,

03:07because Simkin was the hero against Exeter with a strong right hand to save one of their penalties.

03:13So, yeah, also seem to have two really good goalkeepers there, so, yeah, another great moment for Hornby.

03:19And, like you say, top of the group with Shrewsbury coming here as well,

03:22so they're in a great position to qualify to go through, I'm sure there's permutations where they can't,

03:27but they're in the driving seat now.

03:29Just a couple of other things I wanted to talk about.

03:32First of all, the injury, and that's probably, oh, man, you've got to speak to Matt Sadler a little bit,

03:36but that was concerning, I guess.

03:38Yeah, well, I mean, George wore a lot with his home debut, he had 45 minutes against MK Dons,

03:43and was hooked at half-time, but it was 45 minutes where he's hopefully building towards, you know...

03:51Match fitness.

03:52Yeah, match fitness, I mean, he had a really difficult time with injury,

03:54because he had the breakthrough in the championship the season before last,

03:58and he was unable to kick on, I think it was a hamstring injury,

04:01which really restricted him to nine appearances,

04:03and you were just hoping that now he could start to build those minutes,

04:06and unfortunately he pulled up around the 38-minute mark,

04:10received some attention, he went back down the tunnel, but he came back out,

04:14only lasted another two or three minutes, and then he was forced off.

04:17Whether that's a precaution or not, or whether it is something serious, remains to be seen.

04:21I'll speak to Matt Sadler about it after, but hopefully it's nothing serious,

04:25and they can try and continue to build the minutes into it.

04:28Any surprising emissions for you tonight?

04:30No, I expected rotation.

04:32I felt Matt Sadler would still want to go strong enough to win the game, which he's done,

04:37but I expected rotation, and Ronan Mayer was trialled at left-wing back.

04:41These are the sort of games where you can have those opportunities to do that,

04:45because it's difficult to do that in the league.

04:46Maybe you may be able to have an opportunity to deal with it,

04:49for example, in the Leffen game, the Swindon game, the Leffen example,

04:52but ultimately those chances are few and far between, so it was a good opportunity to...

04:58It's just that they've got no idea of that.

05:00I mean, literally, they don't care.

05:01Honestly, it's unbelievable.

05:02It's almost like some people are filming.

05:04So, yeah, it was a good opportunity to trial Mayer at left-wing back,

05:09and I mean, one person that we need to get on to, actually, who we've not yet,

05:13is Albert Odoman.

05:15Yeah, my goodness me.

05:16I've been talking about versus him.

05:17What a joy.

05:18Fantastic.

05:19I mean, even just a little bit of skills just to get the crowd on their feet

05:23is exactly what Wolves will need.

05:25You talk about the experience.

05:26You talk about the quality and the calibre of player he is,

05:29but the versatility.

05:30I mean, he started at right-wing back.

05:32He went into the number eight slot when Paul got injured,

05:36and when Sadler made the substitutions with Johnson and Cleary coming off,

05:40he then played as a centre-forward, so absolutely fantastic.

05:43And he's good in any position as well.

05:44You know what I mean?

05:45He just knows.

05:46He's so smart.

05:47You can just see his two or three passes ahead into him all the time,

05:50and that's what you get from a quality player.

05:52Yeah, and the fans love him.

05:53I mean, the loudest cheer of the night, even more than the goal,

05:56was when Adoma came off chanting his name,

05:58so he's made a real strong impression in the early stages of his spell at Warsaw.

06:02And sometimes, I think I spoke about after the Birmingham game possibly,

06:06one of the recent games, these moves can either go one of two ways.

06:11You've got a player coming towards the end of their career in their twilight years.

06:17Going through the motions and some people want to play.

06:20He loves the game, doesn't he?

06:21That's what you want.

06:22Brilliant.

06:23He's an infectious personality, and I spoke to Jimmy and Matt about that,

06:25and he said they're having to actually pull him back because of his enthusiasm,

06:29which for someone at the age of 36 who's had the career he's had,

06:32he's really got the licence to put his feet up if he wants to.

06:37But he's fully come here and embraced it, and it's great to see,

06:40and it's a great asset for Warsaw.

06:42And of course, the most important thing is momentum

06:43and carrying that on to Salford on Saturday,

06:45which is, I mean, this is obviously a good competition,

06:48and it's great to have a bit of a run in there,

06:50but the most important thing, bread and butter, is getting out of this division,

06:53and that means that they need to improve their away form

06:55and hopefully get some points or a point on the board at least.

06:58Yeah, because home form's been absolutely fantastic for Warsaw,

07:01but away form is something that needs to improve.

07:03That's clear to see. It's as simple as that, really.

07:05But good to see that someone like Ryan Sturt got rested tonight, Taylor Allen.

07:10So it's given Max Adler an opportunity to rest some players

07:13that have maybe played a lot of minutes in the opening stages of the season,

07:16and that means they'll be fresh for Saturday.

07:18But away form needs to improve, and hopefully that starts on Saturday.

Walsall 1 Fulham U21's 0 - George Bennett and Nathan Judah analysis

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