Walsall boss Jon Whitney: Draw was a fair result
Boss Jon Whitney felt a point apiece was fair after Walsall and Shrewsbury played out a fiery, but entertaining 1-1 draw.
In front of 5,971 fans at the Banks’s Stadium, the Saddlers took the lead when Dan Agyei unleashed a stunning strike from 25-yards that sailed over Craig MacGillivray and into the net.
Shrewsbury hit back from the penalty spot with Stefan Payne converting from 12-yards after Jon Guthrie had prevented the striker’s initial header from going in with his hand.
But from that point, the two sides largely cancelled each other out.
And Whitney felt a draw was the right result.
“I think that’s what you want a derby to be - you want it to be a little bit like an FA Cup tie,” he said.
“It was two teams who were organised, fit, aggressive when they needed to be.
“I thought we competed really well and there were some really good, solid performances. I think, all in all, a point apiece was a fair result.”
The game’s biggest talking arrived in the 18th minute when Guthrie kept out Payne’s goal-bound header with his hand.
But after a long conversation with his linesman, referee Graham Sailsbury awarded a penalty but decided against booking the former Crewe man – with Shrewsbury adamant the defender should have seen red.
Whitney though felt his player was fouled in the build-up to Payne’s header.
“They got a penalty for it - it’s up to other people to have an opinion on whether it’s a red card,” Whitney continued.
“I haven’t seen it back yet and I don’t like to make judgments until I’ve actually watched the game back.
“I will let the officials deal with that one. I thought Guthrie was pushed, I thought he got a bit of a push for his hand to come into that unnatural position.
“But that’s me, I am always going to be a little bit biased because he’s my player.
“Paul Hurst is going to feel a little bit unjust. But that’s football. Things happen, we’ve had it go for us and against us in the past.
“It’s part and parcel of the game. I think it would have ruined it – if we’re all honest, we don’t want anybody going down to ten men that early in the game. Let’s see who can outwit each other 11 v 11.”
