Sorry... but this was 'snow joke'

A MISERABLE midweek night and a miserable performance – to borrow the worst weather-related pun, this really was 'snow joke'.

Indeed it was snow good, snow use, snow fun and, ultimately, there was snow point – a week after the laudable triumph at Leeds, the Saddlers produced a display as flaky as the white stuff falling from the skies.

Creativity, incision and desire all seemed lacking as Yeovil won every first, second and third ball to give them breathing space from the drop zone.

True, the conditions were poor and playing football on the icy surface was difficult – but the visitors managed it.

So did the Saddlers for the first half hour but when no rewards were found, they resorted to the long ball.... every time.

It was hoofed so high and so often that it was a surprise it didn't come down with, er, snow on it.

Now, this would be fine if it worked but even when powerhouse Clayton McDonald was pushed up front for the last 15 minutes, he won few headers – so what chance had the smaller strikers got beforehand?

In such conditions, a mistake is always likely to decide a game and so it proved – Clayton Ince the culprit and his mistakes seem to be piling up this season.

Manny Smith must take a share of the blame for Yeovil's bizarre winning goal too as the Walsall pair both left a cross for each other around the penalty spot mark.

But ex-Walsall loan man Sam Williams got his toe to the cross and after it bounced off the unaware Ince, the Yeovil striker reacted first to poke it home while still on the ground.

Ince had already denied Dean Bowditch with his chest by this point after the Yeovil striker broke the offside trap, while Josh O'Keefe almost produced an equaliser, firing just wide from the edge of the Glovers' area.

Perhaps the game's most crucial moment when, with Walsall still trying to play football, Byfield was sent racing down the middle to chase a through ball.

He was tugged back by Terrell Forbes 40 yards out and though possibly through on goal, a yellow card for the centre back was the correct decision by ref Gary Sutton as full-back Craig Alcock was covering.

The free kick, like all of Walsall's set-pieces on the night, came to nothing.

Efforts on goal were as rare as a break in the snow and the shots that did come in were from Yeovil – Ince saving smartly from Jean-Paul Kalala and Shaun Macdonald before the break and a Bowditch curler early in the second half.

Bowditch was denied by a fine recovery tackle from McDonald and had another great chance after beating Ince to a long ball but was forced wide and could not find the target from a tight angle.

Yeovil keeper Alex McCarthy enjoyed a night off as the only real chance Walsall created saw Deeney hit a late acrobatic effort just over from six yards but a share of the spoils would have Yeovil screaming 'snow way'...

Coca Cola League One

Walsall 0

Yeovil Town 1

WALSALL: Ince, Richards, Vincent, McDonald, Smith, Gray (Adkins 83), Taundry, O'Keefe, Nicholls, Deeney, Byfield. Subs (not used): Gilmartin, Sansara, Hughes, Bradley, Davies, Grigg. ATTENDANCE: 2,929. ADVERTISER STAR MAN: Richard Taundry – worked tirelessly.