Report

Griff turned to the young players again as their disastrous end to the season continued, and they did well against one of the ‘form’ teams, but individual mistakes and some debatable offside decisions saw them go down again. The game was fairly even but Wood had a better cutting edge to their attacks.

Skipper Ryan Millerchip was unavailable, several were working, one suspended and a couple injured. With the wind behind them Griff started briskly but on three minutes found themselves behind, Ashley Wilks gave the ball away and it was swept forward to Andre Gonzales who finished with aplomb.

Six minutes later it was goal number two for the home side as the ball bisected the Griff defence and with two players well offside it was Andrew Aiton who took control and fired past the exposed Slater, the Assistant’s flag fluttered briefly on high but soon came down again!

In return Hennell set up Moore who flashed a shot over but as the game flowed from end to end Slater saved well from Aiton.

The game was even now with both ends being visited regularly but on forty one minutes the Heartlanders were undone by a route one ball as they pushed up, Slater hesitated waiting for the offside whistle and Andre Gonzales skipped round him to tap home.

On the stroke of half time Griff were undone again, there looked no danger as Ash Wilks was in possession but he tried to play his way out of the area, was robbed, and as the ball was played across, former Chasetown man Andrew Aiton was clear to finish with ease.

Alex Coultas was left in the changing room with a pulled back muscle at the start of the second half and Paul Winn came into the left back position. Griff seemed happier against the wind and kept the ball down to play some good passing movements while Wood hit long balls into the corners. Barnett did well to set up Moore who was deemed offside when pulling the trigger.

Walsall sent on Williams-Minto to use his pace on the end of the long balls and he was soon bursting through only to be stopped by a flying tackle from the back-tracking Dave Barnett, it was good entertainment for the fans. Griff were soon shouting for a penalty as Reardon was left in a heap in the penalty area and had to leave the pitch but it was not their day for the decisions.

Griff were enjoying a good spell as the game wore on with their Man of the Match Jordon Scobbie prominent but were caught out by another long ball down the left and when the low cross came in Kyle Williams-Minto bundled it in at the near post. Slater then made a fine save before Griff at last earned a reward when Hindhaugh sent Aden Moore in on goal only for him to be brought down from behind and the leading goalscorer took the spot kick himself to arrow it into the corner for a deserved consolation and bring the curtain down on a long and fragmented season.

Nuneaton Griff:

Sam Slater, Adam Sullivan, Alex Coultas (Paul Winn 45), Callum Peake, Ashley Wilks, Danny Pritchard (Jordon Hindhaugh 64), Dave Barnett, Jordon Scobbie, Aden Moore, Scott Hennell (Luke Purkiss 64), Charlie Reardon.

Walsall Wood:

Dale Foultless, Tom Howard, Daniel Rock, Scott Cooper, Lee Stretton, Michael Murray (Torgut Bilgimer 52) , Nathan Jones, Danny Owen, Lewis Taylor-Boyce (Corey Corrithers 52), Andrew Aiton (Kyle Williams-Minto 56), Andre Gonzales.

Referee:

P. Wainman (Tamworth)