Walsall v Exeter City matchday thread

[John William]

Sparkes took a while to get in the team and although a superb crosser of the ball wasn't best at defending. Dare I say it, Woodman has been our biggest loss in defence.

This from Matt Taylor a week or so ago:

'We don’t want to die wondering' - Exeter City manager Matt Taylor

The highlights from the manager's press conference

www.devonlive.com

"WHAT DOES CRAIG WOODMAN BRING?
I have spoken in the past about what Craig Woodman brings. He is a good player first and foremost, he’s vastly experienced, but he sees the game and is so calm and composed. He never gets flustered, probably down to the number of games he has played but also his personality.

He uses the ball better than anyone on a football pitch and he manages the game from a left-sided position. He is a really aggressive defender, in terms of his one-v-one play as well, so there’s lots to like about Woody. But he’s still getting up to speed, so we need to be patient, to a certain extent.

Just to have him affecting the group is really important and we have already seen that on the training pitch. Hopefully, he will get more game time in the next couple of weeks, be it a reserve game, Under-23s game or even a first team game.

I have said all along you want all your players available and fit to choose from. Woody is certainly someone we rely on."