Millwall 3 Walsall 1 - analysis

Their ovation for stricken Walsall defender Manny Smith was as heartfelt as it was surprising and showed there is still decency in football among all the spitting and simulation.

The Saddlers' centre-back was poleaxed by keeper David Forde's hip and needed immediate assistance midway through the second half.

As a bruising League One defender, it is almost a rite of passage to be knocked out but this was as serious as it got.

As Smith fell to the ground, almost every player called for help. Eight minutes of treatment and a trip to hospital followed.

Even post-match, his team-mates were visibly shaken. Troy Deeney carried his friend's kit bag to the coach with his mind focused on Smith's well-being.

They made nervous jokes to hide their evident concern and highlight the togetherness which is so often spoken about.

The incident compounded a defeat which underlined their shortcomings this season.

There is promise in this Walsall side but not enough to compete at the top just yet.

While the Saddlers felt aggrieved to be 2-1 down at the break, there was only a 15-minute spell after Jabo Ibehre's 29th-minute leveller where they could have claimed to be on top.

The hosts ran out deserved winners and that they never really had to work for the goals was a concern. Jason Price's opener was simplistic, ditto Gary Alexander's quick-fire double either side of the break.

Boss Chris Hutchings stated prior to the game it would be a marker as to where the Saddlers were in relation to the top six.

The answer? Getting there but work needed. Some of the causes of the Saddlers' difficulties are obvious and unavoidable.

Suspension and injuries have bitten deep. With one of the smallest squads in the division, the team have run on empty for the majority of the season.

That is something Hutchings would love to rectify during the summer. The party line from the Banks's Stadium is there are still five games remaining of the 2008/09 campaign, but it would be churlish not to suggest more than an eye is being cast on the summer.

Deeney pledged to keep the supporters entertained during the final stage of the season but they will be longingly looking at pre-season. The end-of-season lull has begun even if the battling Saddlers gave Millwall a game.

There wasn't much aesthetic appeal from either side, but the Lions played the more expansive football and found the gaps in the visiting defence early on.

Marc Laird's through-ball dissected Anthony Gerrard and Smith but goalkeeper Rene Gilmartin – in for the absent Clayton Ince because of a family bereavement – came to the rescue to save from Price.

The Lions were prowling, smelling blood and edged ahead after 19 minutes.

Gerrard scythed down Laird on the right and, while Martin's initial delivery was blocked, his second was met by Zak Whitbread who knocked down for Price to steal in behind Gerrard and prod beyond Gilmartin.

The Walsall remit to keep it tight and frustrate suddenly went out the window.

But, to their credit, they fought back and levelled 10 minutes later. Alex Nicholls was felled by Martin and Stephen Hughes' delivery, which had been poor, was again a disappointment but this time the luck was with the Saddlers.

A quick game of penalty box ping-pong saw Ibehre eventually swing his right boot and bury a low shot into the corner. It may not have been an unerring effort which rocketed past the keeper but they all count.

The striker's relief was palpable as he ended his barren nine-game spell and the confidence began to exude from his side.

They were now ready to force home a territorial advantage, which Millwall failed to do during their early lead.

Ibehre dinked the ball over Tony Craig, marauded forward and unleashed a stinging half volley which flew inches over.

Deeney decided to try his luck from distance, but his looping effort drifted wide.

But, as so often this season, the Saddlers' soft underbelly was punctured a minute before the break. Lewis Grabban stole a march on Chris Palmer, who did well to block, but the Lions winger retained possession to find Laird arriving on the edge of the box.

His strike was parried by Gilmartin but only to Alexander, who reacted quicker than Rhys Weston to regain Millwall's lead.

Again the Saddlers were forced into a rethink after the break, before they were dealt the killer blow on 54 minutes.

Martin, a silent assassin, tossed in a free kick, Gerrard won the first header but, when the second was knocked down to Alexander, he hooked in from 10 yards.

From then it was a struggle to haul themselves back. Deeney glanced a header wide and Ibehre should have done better when he bulldozed his way through before slicing wide.

Then came the worrying blow to Smith on 69 minutes. Forde came to claim Hughes' corner and clattered the defender with his hip. The severity of the situation was immediately evident as both sides called for assistance.

Smith lay prone on the ground, unconscious, as the Millwall and Walsall medical teams tended to him. After eight minutes of tentative treatment, with spinal injuries a concern, the defender was carried off.

The game was over and Walsall would have been forgiven at being preoccupied.

Gilmartin saved from point-blank range after Grabban was granted space, before the Millwall faithful rose to applaud at the end and, as far as the Saddlers were concerned, it was for the wrong reasons again.

By Nick Mashiter