FA Cup: Wycombe 0 Walsall 2 - Report

And he partly had Jacob Maddox to thank after he scored a great first half goal and set up the second for Isaac Hutchinson with an excellent jinking run and pass.

These were stand out moments,but the whole of the Saddlers team deserve praise for a great performance against a lively if disjointed Wycombe side.

No matter that The Chairboys are stalling at the moment and The Saddlers are in fine form, this was always going to be a tough ask for Flynn's men

Saddlers started without the on-loan Liam Bennett, the one change from the team which started against Rochdale. Brandon Comley replacing him.

After some early pressure from Wycombe, with former Wolves striker Sam Vokes seeing a shot brilliantly tipped over by Owen Evans, Walsall settled into the game.

They should have been one up in a three minute spell around the 25 minute mark.

Tom Knowles got the ball in midfield and put a curling shot just over, and Hutchinson saw his shot blocked by goalkeeper Max Stryjek.

The under pressure Stryjek then turned a shot from Donervon Daniels wide as the Saddlers ramped up the pressure.

But the deserved goal came on 41 minutes when good work by Hayden White on the right forced a corner. Liam Gordon took it and the ball came out to Maddox whose fierce low shot could only be parried into the net.

Inevitably at the start of the second half, Walsall had to soak up some home pressure and it resulted in Tom Knowles tripping Jordan Obita just inside the area for a penalty.

But Owen Evans - now Walsall's only senior goalkeeper - showed why his boss has so much faith in him by producing a great diving save to his right to deny Brandon Hanlan.

Evans was looking rock solid and saved a well struck shot by Vokes on 56 minutes

But Walsall were looking dangerous every time they entered the Wanderers' half and went further ahead on 61 minutes when Maddox went on an angled run from the left at the defence and laid it off for Hutchinson who crashed it home from close range.

The inevitable pressure from the home side came, but Walsall stood firm comfortably and had a couple of half chances themselves to make it three.

Flynn once pitted his wits as manager of Newport against Pep Guardiola in an FA cup tie with Manchester City but his thoughts will extend no further than the second round draw on Monday and how his side fully deserve to be in the draw.

Saddlers: Evans; White (McEntee 95); Gordon; Daniels (c); Monthe; Kinsella; Knowles (Clarke 89); Comley; Maddox (Allen 66); Hutchinson; Johnson (Williams 89)

Subs (not used) James-Taylor; Cashman; Maher

Attendance: 2,319 (450 away)