Play-offs in the balance as Walsall lose to Crawley Town - match analysis and pictures

Three games, two demoralising home defeats and just one point is all the Saddlers have to show for a month which has left those riding their play-off bandwagon urgently checking its roadworthiness.

It was capped off on Saturday with a 2-1 home defeat to Crawley, which bore the hallmarks of familiar setbacks this season.

The visitors, in their first action for four weeks after a weather-enforced lay-off, took advantage of the harshest of penalty awards to snatch an early lead through Mark Tubbs who then doubled the advantage early in the second period.

Walsall showed typical grit and pulled one back through Sam Mantom but ultimately fell short – a fate which might soon befall their play-off hopes.

With 14 games to go, it is far too soon to write them off but with big games on the horizon, an upward swing in momentum is needed lest the fat lady begin clearing her throat.

Peterborough's win over Stevenage left the Saddlers five points outside the top six as they enter the eight-game March which has been heralded as make or break. The opening week is about as brutal as League One gets, with trips to Preston and Northampton to face Coventry preceding a derby date with a Wolves side starting to look like champions-elect.

Falter in those three games and the Saddlers might find themselves all but out of contention.

That would be an immense shame in a season which deserves to be considered a success whatever happens in the next two months. When Smith lost three players who had contributed 40 goals last season in the summer, few gave the Saddlers a chance of contending in the top half but they have not been outside it all term.

Perversely, it is those now raised expectations which would lead to intense disappointment should they fall away now. On the plus side, they are unlikely to suffer from the same bizarre officiating which saw referee Jeremy Simpson penalise Andy Butler for deliberate handball and hand Crawley a goal head start. But to blame Simpson, as erratic as he was, for the defeat rather misses the point.

John Gregory's claim it was "one million per cent" a penalty might have been mischievous but the Crawley manager hit the nail on the head when he observed that for all Walsall's pressure in the final half hour, they failed to test visiting keeper Paul Jones.

And there lies the crux of the matter. The Saddlers play excellent football but simply don't score enough goals. Smith's side have hit the net just 37 times in 32 games and ultimately haven't got the firepower to bail out the usually excellent defence when things go wrong.

Last month's 5-1 win at Notts County looked like being the moment they'd cracked it but the next four games have brought just two goals and two points.

Michael Ngoo joined on loan from Liverpool in the hope of adding an extra string to the attacking bow but if anything there is a nagging sense his arrival has had a negative effect on the team's rhythm in the final third. Certainly, they were far more effective on Saturday once Romaine Sawyers had been restored to the fray.

By then they were already two down, courtesy of the controversial penalty and a sublime bit of skill from Billy Clarke which created the visitors second.

Butler thumped the desk during post-match interviews as he fought the will to comment on Simpson's decision to award the spot-kick, after the ball had bounced off his head, into the ground and then into his arm in the fourth minute.

It was a setback which the hosts took time to recover from but having reached the interval just a goal down they appeared to have momentum until Clarke skipped away from Paul Downing and delivered the cross for Tubbs to head the second.

Mike Jones almost added a superb third for the visitors but hit the bar after an excellent run. Mantom scored soon after to spark a frantic final half hour in which Clarke saw red for two silly yellows but a leveller proved elusive.