Darrell Clarke: I was bored watching Walsall draw

In a truly uneventful clash in Essex, the hosts proved the brighter of the teams with Ryan Jackson, Ryan Clampin and Luke Norris all seeing efforts from distance well saved by Liam Roberts.

For the Saddlers, Gary Liddle saw a fierce drive from 20-yards parried by Dean Gerken.

But those moments aside, there was little else for the the 3,265 fans inside the stadium to get excited about - with even Clarke admitting he was bored.

“It was a boring game let’s not beat around the bush,” the boss said.

“I thought it was a boring game, two teams cancelling each other out with not enough good forward play on show.

“I was bored a little bit to be honest with you.

“If we had had a better start, you’d look at it as a positive point.

“But the points total hasn’t been great. The performances in some of the previous games have been better than the points tally. But it was a dull 0-0.”

While Walsall have, overall, looked defensively solid this season - they continue to struggle to create chances.

And Clarke admits the team’s decision making in the final hasn’t been good enough.

“Creativity was an issue but it was for both teams,” the boss continued.

“We don’t take care of the final pass, we didn’t break the lines well enough.

“The lads effort, commitment and desire are there to be seen - I think we have seen that in all the games so far.

“But it’s in those areas where you need quality, where you have to make the right decision where we have fallen short.

“We went backwards too many times and it’s disappointing because they are showing me a lot more in training than they are in games with their forward thinking play.

“It’s very frustrating for a manager when things are like that.

“Being honest, I didn’t really enjoy the game.”