Football: Furious Lee on warpath

RAGING Walsall boss Colin Lee vowed to go Christmas shopping for new players after seeing his side crash to a shocking defeat at relegation-haunted Rotherham.

Lee labelled his side's display at Millmoor as the worst of the season and pledged to strengthen his outfit to avoid being sucked down into the bottom three.

Paul Merson was the best of a bad bunch, but even the former England star's dominant first-half display failed to inspire those around him as goals by Chris Swailes and former Bescot striker Martin Butler gave the home side a deserved win.

Lee struggled to contain his anger afterwards.

He blasted: "We need to bring in one or two because that performance just isn't acceptable.

"We didn't even have a corner - let alone a shot on target. It was embarrassing to be caught offside so many times.

"We didn't hurt Rotherham enough and our energy levels were poor.

"We've got to do much better than that. Finances are tight but we need players to do a good job and I'll be looking."

Butler had the last laugh with a late strike to sentence his old club to their first defeat in four outings.

The Rotherham striker had been forced to endure a torrent of abuse from the Walsall boo-boys who had made his life hell at the Bescot.

But Butler, who launched his career with the Saddlers, silenced his critics after firing John Mullin's low centre past Jimmy Walker from inside the six-yard area.

It sealed a thoroughly deserved win for the relegation-threatened Millers after Swailes had opened the scoring in the 66th minute.

Delighted Rotherham boss Ronnie Moore said: "We're still in the bottom three, but we've shown we're better than our position in the table.

"It's up to us to turn draws into wins. We've done just that against Walsall because this match was all-square with 25 minutes to go.

"I'm delighted for Martin because he was getting an awful lot of stick. He certainly answered his critics."

Up until Swailes' goal, the Saddlers had looked like escaping with a point despite failing to test rookie keeper Gary Montgomery once.

It might have been even worse for the sorry Saddlers but Rotherham's Chris Sedgwick hit the woodwork in the dying seconds.

MAN OF THE MATCH JIMMY WALKER

Brilliant one-handed save to deny Butler.

ROTHERHAM: Montgomery 6, Shaun Barker 7, Hurst 6, Swailes 6, McIntosh 7, Sedgwick 6, Robinson 6, Mullin 6, Warne 7, Byfield 6, Butler 6.

WALSALL: WALKER 7, Hay 6, Dinning 6, Roper 6, Vincent 6, Corica 6, Emblen 6, Samways 6, Wrack 6, Birch 6, Merson 6.

MANAGER RATINGS: Moore 6, Lee 7.

REFEREE: E Ilderton 7.

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