Dean Keates calls for Walsall to be more ruthless following draw with Shrewsbury - 7M sport

Dean Keates calls for Walsall to be more ruthless following draw with Shrewsbury



Posted Wednesday, October 03, 2018 by PA

Dean Keates calls for Walsall to be more ruthless following draw with Shrewsbury

Walsall boss Dean Keates criticised his side’s lack of cutting edge after the Saddlers were held to a 0-0 derby draw by struggling Shrewsbury.

After a free-scoring start to the season, Walsall have netted just four goals in their last six league games, although they remain on the fringes of the play-off places.

Walsall enjoyed the best chances but Josh Ginnelly and George Dobson saw efforts cleared off the line, while Morgan Ferrier missed a free header and was later denied by Town keeper Joel Coleman.

Coleman also thwarted Zeli Ismail, twice, to leave Keates grumbling.

He said: “I have no idea how it stayed goalless. We’ve created chances but we need to be more ruthless.

“It’s fine margins and we are just falling short at the minute but it needs addressing. We should have put them to the sword if I’m honest.

“It’s frustrating. We will take the clean sheet out of it but, for us, it’s two points dropped. We had opportunities to get decent balls into the box and we’ve made the wrong decisions.

“We kept trying to probe, we kept trying to play and on another night we could have had a couple.

“If we take one chance it will help the whole place relax and get rid of a little bit of anxiety.

“I think the first 20 minutes, it was a bit edgy, a typical derby but eventually we settled into our stride and in parts of the game we played really well.”

Shrewsbury remain outside the bottom four on goal difference after a sixth draw – and just one win – in 11 games.

Their best chances fell to Shaun Whalley and Ollie Norburn who were both foiled from distance by Walsall keeper Liam Roberts and the pair also had goal-bound shots blocked.

Shrews boss John Askey said: “It was very open, too open from my point of view but I was pleased with the amount of chances we created.

“Why they are not going in, I don’t know. I tried to start as many forward-thinking players as possible but we still weren’t able to finish it off.

“We are disappointed we’ve not scored but it’s still a good point at Walsall. They are a strong outfit, obviously have been doing well.

“I’d be more concerned if we weren’t creating chances. If ever they do start going in, we could end up winning a game by four or five goals.

“It was good to keep a clean sheet. I thought we had to show a bit more steel and resilience and we battled hard tonight and showed that.

“There is still room for improvement but we did show a little bit more endeavour, especially when the ball was in our box.”

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