Darrell Clarke: Walsall draw a fair result

Although neither side created a plethora of chances in the first 45 minutes, Stevenage edged the performance and had most of the possession.

But after introducing James Hardy and Danny Guthrie at half time, the Saddlers were far more effective in the second half, going close on several occasions.

Guthrie had a free-kick that rattled off the bar in injury time but the teams shared the points.

And Clarke felt the result was fair in the end.

“I thought we were very poor first half,” he said.

“I made a couple changes to freshen things up a little bit because I don’t think we ever got going first half.

“They slightly edged the first half.

“Second half, barring a goalmouth scramble they had, they didn’t really cause us any problems.

“We’ve had plenty of opportunities to score a goal.

“In reflection of the game, it’s probably a fair result.

“They’re the fine lines of the game.

“I’ve watched four or five Stevenage games and they’ve been in every game, their form of late has picked right up.

“I think they’ll soon clear themselves away from the danger zone.

“With ourselves, I thought we needed a little bit more life in the second half and we got that.

“A bit of quality in the final third but it was good defending from both teams to be honest.

“Our back four and goalkeeper defended very well and some of their lads had a good game defensively.

“A game where defenders were on top.”

Experienced midfielder Guthrie, who put in a superb 45 minute showing, expressed his frustration after the final whistle as the Saddlers failed to score a winning goal.

“We are frustrated,” he said.

“We want to win every game at home.

“Another clean sheet which is a positive, they had chances to be fair to them.

“We had chances to win the game but we take a point and we’re five unbeaten.”