Martin Swain on Walsall 1 Posh 3

"Worse than Paul Merson" sang the growing number of disgruntled Walsall fans.

And anyone with even a passing knowledge of the Saddlers will know there is no stronger insult to be issued around the Banks's Stadium.

In truth, the club's former player-manager would have loved his team to have been this good.

Sadly, so locked in a trough of mishaps are Chris Hutchings's side that an improved performance still resulted in a story all too familiar to the denigrated Merson and the current gaffer so far in this season of misery.

At no stage in the game were Walsall ever two goals worse than Peterborough but a 3-1 defeat was their 10th from the last 13 games and, although November has only just arrived, the five-point gap to safety already looks pretty chilling.

Those same fans are now calling more vociferously for Hutchings's removal which is clearly Plan B in the hierarchy's items for discussion.

Plan A remains to stand firmly by the manager and his lieutenant Martin O'Connor in the belief that owner Jeff Bonser's confidence on their day of appointment - "this is the best management team I have ever appointed" - was not misplaced.

But Hutchings has been around long enough to know that this unusually sympathetic support from a set of football directors cannot go on indefinitely.

The manager's constant optimism in the face of such a withering set of results has grated on the home punters, who numbered less than 3,000 last night, but for once the up-beat tones of his post-match address had merit.

The Saddlers created chances all evening and their effort was undeniable. They lack creativity and craft but that is not to say they do not possess a goal threat either out wide or down the centre.

As a further sign of the board's support, yet another loan player was wheeled onto the battleground last night and Barnsley striker Liam Dickinson enjoyed a lively enough debut even if a couple of opportunities to make a name for himself with some back-post headers went begging.

Dickinson's acquisition, following on from the return of James Walker, is the seventh loan player this season, a legacy most probably of Bonser's preference to beg, borrow and steal rather than commit the club's threadbare coffers to lengthier contracts. It was like that, too, in Merson's day.

But in a weekend in which first Wolves and then Albion reminded us of the huge benefits of a robust and formidable team spirit, Hutchings's critics must accept it is tough to generate the same bond with temporary employees whose futures are uncertain.

That's one problem. More obviously, Hutchings will not survive without his players shutting down the elementary mistakes that have sent them tumbling down the League One rockface like rope-less mountaineers.

Two weakly defended set-pieces and a soft-as-you-like counter attack were the sources of Posh's goals exposing in the process Walsall's fatal naivety.

Significantly with such an inexperienced back four, Peterborough scored when the Saddlers' concentration was at its most vulnerable.

It was bad enough that the home side pulled the rug from under their feet when a cheap 14th minute free-kick conceded by Clayton McDonald just inside his own half resulted in Peterborough's Arron Davies dropping a routine centre into the Saddlers area which Ryan Bennett met with an unchallenged header.

It was bad enough that this wrecked an entirely promising opening from Hutchings's men, which had seen Dickinson denied by a last-ditch block and young full backs Darryl Westlake and Ryan McGivern pound menacing shots towards goalkeeper Joe Lewis.

Westlake's brought arguably the save of the game as Lewis's fingertips were enough to touch the ball on to the bar.

But having conceded such a soft opener, Walsall compounded their error by rushing off in search of an immediate equaliser - leaving the back door swinging on its hinges for Aaron McLean to trigger a counter-attack which finished with Davies beating Walker with some ease.

Two goals spread over 90 seconds - it was proving some homecoming for the popular old boy.

Shrugging off the mood of insurgency running through their supporters, still Walsall threatened and of all the players you would want on the end of your team's best chance before the break, Jonathan Macken would be an overwhelming choice.

Yet Macken, finding daylight after a smart exchange of passes with McGivern, appeared to lose his head at the moment of execution when he tried to smash a close-range chance through Lewis's body when subtlety would have prevailed. The effort was blocked.

Undeterred, Walsall came out with even greater vigour when the match resumed and by the 53rd minute were back in the game for real.

Growing pressure eventually forced Peterborough to concede space to Julian Gray, who marked an otherwise low-key performance with a header from a cross by the excellent Martin Devaney.

Crazily, but maybe unsurprisingly, Walsall instantly surrendered their platform for recovery within a minute.

A corner immediately conceded in panic and excitement brought three successful touches by Boro' players - two headers setting up Kelvin Langmead for an easy point-blank finish.

The voices of dissent grew as the match played out to a pattern of game but fruitless effort by a Walsall team desperately seeking a moment, a player, a twist of fortune perhaps, to turn their season.

You can only hope they find it - and you can only hope they find it very soon.

By Martin Swain