Walsall slumped to their fourth League Two defeat of the season and extended their winless run to nine games on Saturday with a disappointing home defeat by Bradford City.
The game seemed to be drifting to a drab 0-0 draw until Walsall midfielder Liam Kinsella headed into his own net under pressure from Bantams forward James Vaughan with seven minutes remaining.
Lavery and Gaffney both went close for the Saddlers but the blank means they have now scored just three goals in eight League Two games so far this campaign.
Indeed, James Vaughan could even afford to miss a penalty for Bradford before the long-throw which induced panic in the Walsall defence and led to the goal.
Early season optimism has already evaporated at the Bescot with pressure already starting to mount on Boss Darrell Clarke who told the Express and Star everyone at the club was currently coming up short but urged the fans to stay behind the team as he looks to change a losing culture. He said: ‘At the minute we’re failing miserably, I’m failing miserably, I lead the troops and we have to do a lot, lot, lot better than we have been.’
‘I know it’s boring, and fans will be sick of hearing it, but you have to keep working with it and working with the players and changing the mindset of the players in that final third, you keep doing that and eventually, it’ll turn.’
He went on to add that there is a massive rebuilding job still to be done at the club and hinted at his target for the season. ‘We’re in a disappointing position at the minute, but let’s see where we go, you can comfortably lose 15 games in this league and still finish in the top half of the table.’
‘So we’ll be working away, chipping away, and building a football club that I think needs building, that’s why I came in and took the job.’
However, judging by the reaction to the result on social media, some fans are already losing patience with the former Bristol Rovers boss. Although Clarke only took the job in May, many fans are already furious and fail to see an improvement in the side from the days of previous managers Jon Whitney and Dean Keates. It is clear Clarke quickly needs a result, starting with their game at Morecambe tomorrow night, to ease the pressure coming from sections of the fanbase.
Here is a selection of responses by some angry and frustrated Walsall fans to the result on Twitter.
https://twitter.com/eddieatkins84/status/1172901830575251456?s=20
Get Keates back… At least we scored some goals! 😉😭
— Liz Allton (@LizSaddler) September 14, 2019
https://twitter.com/Shaune3017/status/1172944060392312832?s=20
https://twitter.com/adriano_gennaro/status/1172908998145781761?s=20
Unless you invest you are looking at the vanarama trap door,all the hype you spouted pre season has accumulated into this https://t.co/A93M4bO0se asked fans to commit which we have now you have to do the same this needs to turn around before Xmas.
— Mark (@mark240868) September 14, 2019
It's been heartache for nine months. The footballing gods need to give us a break.
— Andrew Allen (@andy90wfc) September 14, 2019
https://twitter.com/Shaune3017/status/1172919917903060994?s=20
https://twitter.com/OtisSZN/status/1172952227826294787?s=20
