Both sides pay the penalty as Walsall hold Stevenage to a draw

Referee Marc Edwards was a busy man last night at the Bescot Stadium, awarding two penalties that would ultimately go on to make up the scoreline.

Aramide Oteh put Stevengae ahead from the spot in the 50th minute, they held onto the lead until the dying embers of the game when Walsall’s Josh Gordon smashed home his penalty attempt emphatically.

A player that didn’t get into the game as much as he would’ve perhaps hoped was Walsall’s top scorer Elijah Adebayo. The 22-year-old has been the Saddlers’ go-to man this season but struggled to showcase his talent against a resilient Stevenage side.

It was the 20th minute when the former Stevenage loanee had his first real chance of the game, left-back Zak Jules did exceptionally well to create space down the left flank before fizzing a pass into the area, Adebayo was there to meet it but, off balance, he saw his attempt fly over the bar.

The remainder of the half was fairly quiet for the 6 ft 4 in striker, although he did still offer his side a great deal of help going forward.

He displayed his ability to hold up play, and do it well, consistently. The ‘target man’ role really suited him as he was the often found plucking the ball out of thin air, taking it down on his chest before looking to set up an attack for his teammates.

Adebayo also presented himself as a real battler. Due to his structure alone, whoever had the job of marking him naturally clambered all over his frame anyway, but the forward wasn’t seen throwing himself to the floor on any occasion.

At one point a Stevenage defender made enough contact with the Walsall man to send an echo around the empty stadium yet he still stayed on his feet and bombed towards goal, unfortunately to no avail.

He wasn’t afraid to drop deep either as on numerous occasions he was found in the middle of the park playing tidy, short passes to help the Saddlers retain possession.

His last real involvement of the game came just ten minutes into the second half. Jules again providing Adebayo with the opportunity after fantastically controlling the ball and flicking it over the head of an onrushing Stevenage player. The striker took a stride to his right before firing a shot just wide of Jamie Cumming’s near post from distance.

Shortly after, a quadruple substitution was made my Saddlers’ boss Darrell Clarke which signalled the end of the evening for Adebayo.