Walsall 0 MK Dons 0 - Report

Freddie Draper did have the ball in the back of the net for the hosts, although his celebrations were cut short after Ross Tierney was flagged offside in the build-up.

The Saddlers improved significantly after the break with chances for Isaac Hutchinson and Tom Knowles.

MK Dons had a chance to steal all three points at the death when Matthew Dennis glanced a golden opportunity wide of the target.

Mat Sadler's men have collected four points from their last two games, while the Dons extended their winless run in League Two to six.

Walsall sprung an attack inside the opening 90 seconds when Aramide Oteh combined with Ross Tierney to draw a comfortable save from Craig MacGillivray.

MK Dons eventually got into their groove and dominated large portions of possession in an eventful start. They posed a significant threat down the right with Daniel Harvie advancing forward from left centre-back to support Joe Tomlinson.

Harvie was a constant menace for Joe Riley in the opening exchanges. His cross presented Ellis Harrison with a prime opportunity at the back post, although Evans was able to gather, after the MK Dons forward had two bites of the cherry.

Walsall struggled to contain Harvie as he engineered another chance for the visitors. This time he threaded a pass into the feet of Eisa, who had his back to two defenders.

Eisa was able to shake off his marker and get a shot away, which was blocked into the path of Harrison. Evans was alert to the danger and quickly emerged to foil Harrison on the follow-up with a superb reactive stop.

Warren O'Hora took aim from range and saw his effort whistle wide of the far bottom corner, and Evans was once again kept on his toes as the Dons created perhaps the best opportunity of the first half.

Harrison headed Harvie's floated cross towards the far corner and Evans sprawled to his left to produce a fantastic save.

Walsall had a goal ruled out for offside on the cusp of half-time. It came from some nice play down the right by the Saddlers to feed the ball into Tierney down the right.

The Irishman had just mistimed his run, and was flagged offside, before he squared the ball for Draper to tuck his finish into the bottom corner.

Hutchinson struggled to impose himself on the game in the first period, and immediately looked to influence the contest more by getting on the ball more after the break.

The midfielder drifted centrally to collect on a handful of occasions, while Liam Gordon bombed forward on the overlap.

Walsall started the second half the stronger of the two sides, and bypassed the MK Dons with a raking long ball from Donervon Daniels.

Tierney plucked the ball from out of the air but was just unable to cast the ball under his spell. Draper followed up by pressing the Dons defender into a mistake, although the loose ball rolled invitingly into the grasp of MacGillivray.

After the hour-mark, McEntee stole the ball in the centre of the park and Tierney collected between the lines. He helped it down the right for the offside Draper, who flashed a low ball across the face of goal, which just evaded Hutchinson on the slide at the back post.

Hutchinson almost produced a repeat of his Colchester blockbuster when he took aim from distance. Tierney controlled another high ball and helped the ball onto Hutchinson to surge inside and fire one narrowly wide of the target from distance.

At the other end, Eisa attempted an audacious overhead kick, which was denied impressively by Evans.

Knowles came on for the final 20 minutes and made an immediate impact when he sprinted at the MK Dons defence and forced a diving save from MacGillivray.

Gordon also tested the MK Dons goalkeeper, while Knowles forced him into action once again late into stoppage time.

However, the best chance for a winner fell to MK Dons in the dying stages. Second half substitute Jonathan Leko darted to the by-line and squared for Matthew Dennis, who slotted his finish wide from point blank range.

Teams

Walsall Starting XI (4-4-1-1): O Evans; J Riley, H Williams, D Daniels, L Gordon; A Oteh (T Knowles 72), O McEntee, R Stirk, I Hutchinson; R Tierney (J Matt 88); F Draper.

Subs: J Smith, J Foulkes, H Griffiths, D James-Taylor, D Johnson.

MK Dons: C McGillivray, W O'Hora, A Stewart, D Harvie; C Norman, J Payne (M Dennis 68), MJ Williams, A Gilbey, J Tomlinson; E Harrison (J Leko 70), M Eisa.

Subs: M Kelly, J Tucker, E Robson, M Dean, B Ilunga.

Referee: Christopher Pollard

Attendance: 4,515 (245)