City finale is top draw

The City Gent worked up a Mexican wave and the men in white coats had come for Stuart McCall, although maybe not take him away.

Yep, it was the traditionally irreverent end of term.

It was a game with absolutely nothing at stake for either side. So the fans created their own entertainment as the travelling Bantams had done at Coventry in their Premiership finale a year before.

And fittingly a slapstick goal ensured that both teams could take their post-match bow on the pitch with honours even.

The injured Ashley Ward would have been proud of the deft header Walsall defender Gus Uhlenbeek planted into the top corner of his own net to round off City's surprisingly spirited two-goal comeback in the last 20 minutes.

Uhlenbeek's loan from Sheffield United ran out after the game and he won't have done his chances much good with the inch-perfect finish from Tom Kearney's curling free-kick.

The youngster was credited with his first senior goal by the announcer but was quickly brought down to earth in the dressing room.

Kearney admitted: "I was looking to claim that but obviously it's the defender's goal. I guess I won't be getting it but the result was the main thing - it was nice to put a bit of a smile on the faces of our fans."

The City followers had bobbed down to the Bescot in an assortment of fancy dress. As well as the gang all in white, who were not apparently a Gareth Gates tribute band but Clockwork Orange druids, the numbers were swelled by several Elvises (or should that be Elvi?), mutant turtles, elephants, crocodiles etc.

But the party grins must have been strained to the limit during a first half which threatened to become every bit as horrific as that FA Cup tie we don't mention at Walsall in January.

Two down and it could have been more - as Nicky Law forcefully reminded the players at half-time.

"We never competed or passed it well enough, we were abysmal," was his summing up of the first 45 minutes - a verdict that sounded remarkably similar to the last non-performance on the same ground.

Alan Combe even looked human for the first time as the uncertainty of his future perhaps started to catch up with the normally flawless goalkeeper.

He was beaten after 14 minutes when City never cleared the danger from one of Walsall's eight first-half corners. Fitzroy Simpson, who had just had a shot charged down, swung a cross back into the box where Jorge Leitao rose unchallenged to flick on for Steve Corica to loop a header just under the bar.

The same pair combined soon after to double the home lead. Again City were slow to close down Leitao who laid off a pass for Corica to swivel and drive low past Combe's right hand.

At that stage, Walsall looked like scoring every time they crossed halfway. Even McCall, making his absolutely final league appearance, was guilty of coughing up possession on the edge of his own penalty area.

Scandalously booked just before by ever-fussy referee Paul Danson, it looked as if he would be an unwilling accessory in a third Walsall strike. But Combe showed his usual, exceptional class to pull off a blinding close-range block from Pedro Matias.

But still the butterflies were there for the keeper, who returns "up the road" today to Dundee United, and he uncharacteristically spilled a corner and even flapped one cross towards his own goal.

Wayne Jacobs and the anonymous Juanjo were sacrificed for the re-start as Law shuffled his limited pack.

Lewis Emanuel, who had been passed by in midfield, slipped to left back where he looked happier and Kearney shuffled across as Gary Locke made a welcome but brief return before he goes in for a hernia operation on Wednesday.

Newly-crowned trophy winner Andy Myers bolstered the backline and slowly the tide started to shift.

Don Goodman arrived for Walsall to a loud reception from his former club's fans who good-naturedly taunted the wild-haired striker about a certain coffee advert. He could have had the last laugh after latching on to a superb through ball from Simpson but Combe had seen the danger just as quickly and was out like a shot to meet him.

The action on the field was by now taking a back-seat compared with the dramas being relayed by the electronic scoreboard. It was questionable who the home fans wanted to win most - their own team or West Brom against Crystal Palace so that their local enemy Wolves would miss out on instant promotion.

Every score from those games was greeted with a roar or a groan. And as wave upon Mexican wave swept round Walsall's second biggest crowd of the season, the players in front of them must have wondered if anyone was actually watching.

Walsall boss Colin Lee accused his team of switching off because of all the fun going on elswhere.

Certainly few seemed to realise what had happened when Danny Cadamarteri suddenly threw City a lifeline in the 74th minute.

Since his debut goal at Gillingham and the hype that followed, Cadamarteri has not found it a bed of roses with his hometown club. But he showed top-draw pace and finishing ability to jerk everyone's eyes back on to the game itself. Cadamarteri looked second favourite when Locke launched a long ball down the right but he lured James Walker from his goal (and only the dressed-up dames had managed that two hours earlier) and coolly slid the ball across his lunge and into the corner of the net.

City now had the bit between their teeth and went hunting an equaliser. None more so than McCall who had taken up permanent residence in attack and was quite within his rights to goal-hang as his City clock ticked away.

Claus Jorgensen fizzed a shot over Walker's bar, City threatened from a corner and then found a second goal from a source they hadn't counted on. Cadamarteri won a free-kick to the left of the box and the Kearney/Uhlenbeek partnership did the rest. As the City players embraced their young midfielder, the away fans started an impromptu conga led by an elephant.

The Bantams sensed the mood and pressed for a third goal. They had a good shout for a penalty when debut-making Andy Lee, a sub for the off-colour Eoin Jess, was pushed in the box but Danson was not going to give McCall the satisfaction of a Stuart Pearce-style spot-kick finale.

Law said: "In the first half we looked as if we were on our holidays already; it wasn't good enough. There was still one game left. The season wasn't over.

"Fortunately we ended up with a point and at least we finished on a positive note with another away game unbeaten and given the fans something to cheer."