Walsall too good for us says boss

11:38am Wednesday 16th July 2008

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WORCESTER City manager Richard Dryden admitted his side were given a ‘lesson in football’ by Walsall.

City were beaten 4-0 in a one-sided pre-season friendly at St George’s Lane with the Saddlers’ goals coming from Patrick Suffo (two), Dwayne Mattis and George Ba.

It was Worcester’s second defeat to League One opposition in three days following their 2-0 loss to Cheltenham on Saturday.

However, Dryden felt Walsall were superior to the Robins and made it difficult for City to produce any of the promising football shown at the weekend.

He said: “It was a lesson in football. When you look at all the positives from Saturday when we got the ball and played and looked a decent outfit, these were just totally different from us.

“I can’t knock our lads, we tried to do as best we could and get the ball down and play but they didn’t let us play. They closed us down quickly and when they got the ball it was so hard to get it back.

“It was a good work-out defensively. We didn’t create too much going forward because we couldn’t get the ball. We started quite brightly with a few snap shots but sometimes you have got to hold your hands up and you can see why they did so well last year.

“The lads are disappointed because they wanted to come and have a right go but sometimes you play against a side who are immense on the night and a lot, lot better than us. That’s why they are in the third league of the country and I can see them doing really well this year.”

Dryden, though, was pleased to see goalkeeper Danny McDonnell make his first appearance since November and was happy with the efforts of the trialists.

He said: “There’s one or two who haven’t done themselves any harm. Jemiah Richards is a big unit who can play anywhere along the back. He’s got a big heart and he wants to come and try and improve himself as a player.

“Danny McDonnell is probably the biggest plus of the lot because he hasn’t done literally any goalkeeping work since I saw him against Stalybridge when he went off.”