Analysis: Walsall end their travels in all too predictable fashion

And that summed up Walsall’s season, with the last of three away league wins coming at Swindon in December

It is a poor return for the travelling fans overall, , 281 gave up part of their Bank Holiday weekend to follow them on the long trip to West Sussex where the focus for them was whether Walsall could get only their second win in 22 games.

For Crawley it was getting the point they needed to secure another season in League Two under their Walsall born manager Scott Lindsey.

With Hartlepool winning, if Walsall had managed to get the goal to break the deadlock, Crawley would have been biting their nails on the final day of the season.

As it is, they will go to Lindsey’s old club Swindon a week today knowing they are safe, whilst Walsall will host Doncaster at the Bescot Stadium in what will be the proverbial dead rubber, a scenario all too familiar to Saddler’s fans in recent months.

Again on Saturday it was clear that Walsall were crying out for someone to put the ball in the net and have been since September. Two good first half chances went begging and there was some good approach play in the second but nobody to take the game by the scruff of the neck and win it for them.

In Mat Sadler they have a young, likeable and capable interim head coach who knows how he wants the game played and is clear on that to the players.

Whether he will be the answer long term to the managerial vacancy is unclear as he refuses to be drawn on whether he has applied or to give anything away surrounding the role.

That is understandable but the Walsall fans’ focus will now be on that issue and not whether they can get the three points against Doncaster which will finish off an ultimately disappointing league season.

It could have been worse at Crawley, where the home side could have claimed all three points had Ashley Nadesan’s ‘goal’ been given on 57 minutes.

He chested Ben Gladwin’s inswinging cross towards goal, with substitute goalkeeper Jackson Smith just managing to keep the ball out. It did look as though the ball had just crossed the line before Smith parried it away but then who would deny Walsall a bit of luck with a refereeing decision after the Rochdale game?

And who would deny Smith a clean sheet, the Wolves Academy loanee making his debut as a professional after waiting for his chance and getting it when Owen Evans went off injured at half time.

Smith didn’t really put a foot wrong in front of the raucous home fans and looked assured,winning praise from Sadler after the game.

Evans again proved a rock for Walsall in the first half, saving from Tom Fellows early on in the first minute of the game when the striker brought the ball down in the box, turned and shot.

Almost immediately at the other end, Tom Knowles got a shot in which was parried by Corey Addai and Isaac Hutchinson’s follow up header was easily saved.

But Evans was soon called into action again, Jack Powell seeing a curling free kick tipped round the post on 25 minutes before he turned a stooping header from James Tilley over two minutes later.

Shortly after Knowles produced a trademark cut inside and a shot which was well saved by Addai

Sadler was forced into two changes at half time with Evans suffering a calf injury and Hayden White a strain, Smith and Joe Riley respectively taking their places

White was returning after a three game ban for a straight red card and Sadler was also missing Douglas James-Taylor through injury and Jamille Matt who was ill;

But the two substitutes fitted in well and the game ebbed and flowed in the second half though it could have turned on the incident when Nadesan thought the ball was over the line and he had scored.

He looked to the linesman for confirmation and none was given. The ball did look over the line from an elevated vantage point but in truth the incident happened so quick and it would have been difficult for the official to judge from a level angle.

Smith showed he wasn’t fazed on his debut and the party atmosphere behind him when shortly after he produced a good save from Tilley.

Amazingly there was another debate over whether the ball had crossed the line on 62 minutes when an ins winging corner from Liam Gordon at the other end also nearly found its way in, Addai just managed to grab it before it went over, though the Walsall fans, as had the Crawley contingent just before, started to celebrated

The game went quite scrappy after this, Crawley becoming increasingly desperate to get the goal which would secure there League Two place, though they still only needed a point.

At the end, their fans were in party mood, whilst Walsall were contemplating another draw which made it just one win in 22 games.