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WALSALL
- TUESDAY 11/03/08 |
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IMAGES |
| After
a run of 5 home games propelled the Albion into
play off contention, they made an important trip
to fellow promotion contenders Walsall. McCarthy
handed a Crocs debut to his fellow university
student Alex Retter, as the Albion went looking
for a result that could be the catalyst to an
end of season day out at Wembley |
| Mode
of Transport: |
Tom
Witham was in charge of piloting the Witham
Mobile to Walsall, while McCarthy made the short
journey up the M5
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| Team: |
Mr
Wilkins chose to name a 4-4-2 line up consisting
of: Kuipers,
Whing, Lynch, Elphick, Richards; Cox,
Thomson, El Abd, Westlake; Murray, Forster
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| Kit: |
Walsall
went for their home uniforms of white shirts
with a single red hoop, red shorts and red
socks. Brighton appeared in their away colours
of all yellow. Michel Kuipers wore his aqua and
gold shirt coupled with navy blue shorts and
socks
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| Dean
Wilkins Attire: |
Mr
Wilkins was wearing his traditional suit coupled
with his famous trench coat
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| Weather: |
A
hefty wind was blowing in off the M6, and fine
drizzle also bathed the Midlands
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| Stadium
Rating: |
The
Banks Stadium is rather new, and stands in the shadow
of both the RAC Control Centre and the M6. Three
small stands are complimented by one larger, two
tiered stand behind the goal which is extremely
intimidating. 8/10
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| Food
Rating: |
No
food was taken in by the Crocs, however Adrie
Van Der Meer enjoyed a cheese burger that looked
like it was made from some sort of dog meat,
possibly poodle
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| Entertainment: |
Nothing
was on offer bar one young chap, bizarrely
wearing shorts, taking part in a cross bar
challenge. 2/10
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| Friendliness
of Locals: |
We
didn't get the chance to speak to many locals,
but the few we saw in McDonalds prior to the
game seemed a little chav like
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| Standard
of Local Females: |
A
few fair females were around the ground, some of
which were fine, while others were considered
possible asbos. 6/10
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| Steward
Rating: |
Decent
enough, except for the one fat supervisor who
seemed to be something of a Hitler. 7/10
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| Flag
Attention: |
A
lack of possible positions in which the flag
could be hung denoted it remained in the bag
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| Match
Report: |
Albion
came from behind to win away from home for the
first time since facing Wrexham in 2001 as they
defeated Walsall 2-1. Walsall opened the scoring
with a superb header as the visitors failed to
deal with a free kick, but Nicky Forster soon
equalised with a powerful shot that Clayton Ince
possibly should have done better with. Glen
Murray got the winner in the second half, as the
linesman adjudged his looping header to have
crossed the line to give the Albion a vital 3
points in the battle for the play-offs
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| Thought
of the Day: |
McCarthy
and Retter's experiment on the M6 proved that
the black country is correctly named, as there
was a 2:1 ratio between two white members of the
McCarthy Mobile and four non-white members of a
passing car
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