Fleetwood Town 2-0 Walsall: Saddlers succumb to back-to-back defeats

Fleetwood stormed into a two-goal lead inside the opening 17 minutes when Shaun Rooney and James Bolton added the finishing touches to a pair of Mackenzie Hunt's set piece deliveries.

Walsall's lead at the League Two summit has only been cut by a single point, with Mat Sadler's men still boasting an 11-point cushion at the top.

Sadler made two changes from Walsall's 3-0 defeat at Bradford City on Saturday. Manchester United loanee Ethan Wheatley was handed his full debut at the expense of Jamille Matt who missed out with a knock while Jamie Jellis returned from illness to replace Charlie Lakin.

Walsall made the brighter start in the opening exchanges but fell behind inside 12 minutes after failing to deal with Hunt's delicious free-kick delivery. Rooney emerged among a crowd of bodies inside the box and guided his header beyond the reach of Tommy Simkin and in off the post. 

Fleetwood doubled their advantage from another set piece as things went from bad to worse for Walsall. Hunt drove a low corner into the heart of the penalty area and Bolton snuck in unmarked to tuck his finish past Simkin. 

The hosts continued to threaten from set pieces with Ryan Graydon sending his downward header looping on to the roof of the net before Bolton headed inches wide from Hunt's corner delivery.

Despite struggling to get a foothold in the contest, Walsall squandered a pair of chances before the break when Jellis stabbed a tame finish wide and Wheatley was unable to guide Liam Gordon's delightful cross on target.

Liam Gordon came even closer after the restart from David Okagbue's floated delivery but was unable to keep his close-range header down.

Walsall showed signs of improvement in the second half and started to test Fleetwood goalkeeper Jay Lynch for the first time in the contest on the hour-mark. 

Substitute Josh Gordon raced on to Ryan Stirk's sumptuous through ball into the inside left-channel channel but could only force a comfortable save from Lynch at his near post. 

Wheatley then stung the palms of Lynch with another shot from close-range but was replaced by Danny Johnson for the final 22 minutes as Charlie Lakin was also introduced.

The changes were unable to help Walsall turn the tide and Fleetwood managed the game well to keep any threat of a revival at bay. 

Next, Walsall welcome Salford City to Bescot on Saturday before travelling to Colchester United the following weekend.

Teams 

Fleetwood (3-5-2): Lynch; Wiredu, Bolton, Potter; Rooney, Neal (Virtue 61), Bonds, Helm (Mayor 70), Hunt; Graydon (Devenport 70), Harratt. 

Unused: Hewitson, Hughes, Cirino, Patterson. 

Walsall (3-1-4-2): Simkin; Okagbue, Williams, Allen; Stirk; Barrett, McEntee, Jellis (Lakin 68), L Gordon; Adomah (J Gordon 57), Wheatley (Johnson 68). 

Unused: Hornby, Asiimwe, Weir, Comley.

Referee: Martin Woods