Albert Adomah Joins 800-Game Club with Walsall Victory

Albert Adomah did what very few professionals ever manage. He slipped quietly into the 800-club.

No fanfare. No big speech. Just another shift off the bench, another win, and another reminder of why managers keep turning back to him.

On Saturday, at the Bescot, the 38-year-old reached 800 senior games as Walsall beat Port Vale 2-0 to move second in League Two, tucked in behind leaders Barnet. Fitting, really. That is where the story started for him, all the way back in January 2008.

Ask Adomah about it and he immediately swerves the milestone. He would rather talk about Andy Dallas and that ruthless second goal which killed the game.

"It was just a nice combination-play down the right between Chas (Crew) and myself - and a wonderful finish by Dallo," he told BBC Radio WM. "He took it really well. Once it left his foot you could see it flying in.

"But really it's just amazing to win. And in front of our supporters too. Just like I did in that first game for Barnet."

That first game is still crystal clear in his mind. Hereford United v Barnet. League Two. Edgar Street. Debut. Goal.

It was the first of 99 league goals in a career total of 109. Another quiet target, perhaps, sitting there in the background while he insists the only number that matters is the next appearance.

"What is my next target? 801 games," he said. "That is the next landmark.

"I really just take it one game by game. It's about the team first - and me staying fit enough to get as many minutes as possible.

"My job is just to stay available - and hopefully long may this journey continue."

That attitude has carried him through almost 19 years of professional football and a remarkable tour of English dugouts. Paul Fairclough gave him his Barnet debut. Ian Hendon and Mark Stimson followed at Underhill before Bristol City came calling.

At Ashton Gate he barely had time to get used to one voice before another arrived. Steve Coppell signed off after two games in August 2010. Keith Millen stepped up. Then came Derek McInnes, now at Rangers, and Sean O'Driscoll.

From there, the road ran north to Middlesbrough. Tony Mowbray brought him in. Aitor Karanka took over and it was at Boro that Adomah finally touched the Premier League, making two appearances in the top flight.

Just two. Then back down again, back to the grind he knows best.

Aston Villa was next, another heavyweight on the CV. Roberto Di Matteo signed him, Steve Bruce and Dean Smith also used him, but he never kicked a ball in the Premier League for Villa. When the club went up, his path led elsewhere.

Nottingham Forest offered more Championship football under Sabri Lamouchi, with a nine-game loan spell at Cardiff City under Neil Harris thrown in. When Forest and Lamouchi parted company on the same day in October 2020, during the Covid pandemic, Adomah’s journey simply turned another corner.

QPR took him on, and he settled into four more years of second-tier graft. Mark Warburton first, then Michael Beale, Neil Critchley, Gareth Ainsworth and Marti Cifuentes. Five different Rs managers, the same old reliability on the wing.

Only then, deep into his thirties, did he finally drop back to League Two. Walsall, under Mat Sadler, offered the next chapter. Darren Byfield came in, then Lee Grant. New voices, same professional.

Across 800 games he has never played in League One or the National League. Just the Championship and League Two, with that brief Premier League cameo at Middlesbrough. Tiers two and four, nothing in between. No detours into non-league.

And still, after all of it, he lights up when he talks about a move down the right and a team-mate’s finish. Still chasing minutes. Still happy to be the one making the “pre-assist”, as he did for Dallas’ clincher on Saturday, when all three Walsall substitutes combined to wrap up the points.

"I'm just grateful that the manager made it possible by still having me on the bench and is still using me," he said. Saturday’s outing was only his fifth of the season, four of them from the bench, but there is no hint of frustration in his voice. Just that familiar, unshakeable team-first mantra.

Walsall have fallen short in their last two promotion pushes. This year, they are back in the pack again, pushing, chasing, believing. And somewhere in the middle of it all is a 38-year-old winger who refuses to make it about himself.

He has already outlasted 20 managers. He has already hit 800 games. The question now is not how long he has left, but how many more nights like Port Vale at home he can still shape from the touchline and the right flank.

For Albert Adomah, the landmark is already behind him. The next one, as he says, is simply 801.