Swindon 0 Walsall 4: Saddlers run riot on the road

Josh Gordon opened the scoring in the 33rd minute when he capitalised on Grant Hall's error to end his 13-match goal drought before being forced off with a suspected hamstring injury shortly after.

Jamille Matt doubled Walsall's advantage with a deft header from Taylor Allen's cross seven minutes later, before Allen turned goal scorer with a cracking free-kick after the break.

Albert Adomah rounded off the rout midway into the second half to score his first Walsall goal with a deflected finish.

Mat Sadler fielded the same team that conquered Morecambe 1-0 on opening day while Ronan Maher replaced Dylan Thomas on the bench after returning from suspension.

Opponents Swindon made the single change with former Liverpool forward Paul Glatzel preferred to Aaron Drinan in attack.

Walsall started in a solid shape and almost opened the scoring inside the opening six minutes when Josh Gordon was denied from close-range. Matt pressured Miguel Freckleton into conceding possession inside his own box and squared for Josh Gordon, who was denied by a strong right-hand save from Swindon goalkeeper Jack Bycroft.

Swindon failed to trouble Walsall during the opening exchanges but momentarily grew into the contest after the quarter-hour mark. Harry Smith escaped his marker to send a stooping header wide of the target. The 6ft 5in frontman then took aim from distance and slammed his effort against the post before Walsall shot-stopper Tommy Simkin retrieved.

Walsall began to show more guile beyond the half-hour mark as Bycroft thwarted Josh Gordon once again. Connor Barrett spotted Ryan Stirk in space with a clever quick throw-in and Walsall worked the ball out to the left with Liam Gordon. He then picked out his namesake Josh but Bycroft was level to his header with another impressive stop.

Josh Gordon made it third time lucky two minutes later when he capitalised on a Swindon error to score his first goal in 14 matches. Grant Hall fluffed his lines after McEntee launched a hopeful long ball forward down the right and Josh Gordon kept his composure as he broke away one-on-one to tuck a tidy finish underneath the onrushing Bycroft.

The forward went down clutching his hamstring in the aftermath of his opener and would be replaced but not before Matt had doubled Walsall's advantage. Walsall worked the ball out to the left where Liam Gordon teed up Allen to swing a pinpoint cross into the box for Matt to climb above his marker and cushion his header into the far corner.

Mark Kennedy responded by adding a third striker with the introduction of Aaron Drinan at the break but any attempts of a rescue mission were completely obliterated when Allen added a third just after the restart

Jamie Jellis was upended outside the box by Ollie Clarke and Allen unleashed a thunderbolt into the far top corner from the resulting free-kick to score in back-to-back league games for Walsall for the first time.

Walsall wouldn't stop there and they would inflict further damage when Adomah got in on the act with his first goal for the club. Barrett broke free down the right and delivered a low cross into the box which was slightly behind Adomah.

The former Ghana international took the ball on the turn and his finish on the swivel took a heavy deflection to wrong foot Bycroft and nestle into the bottom corner.

Bycroft prevented Walsall from extended their advantage further when he produced an eye-catching finger tip stop to thwart his deflected shot from distance late on.

Walsall will next be in action with a trip to Prenton Park to face Tranmere Rovers in an early kick-off next Saturday.

Swindon (3-1-4-2): Bycroft; Wright, Hall, Freckleton; King, Clarke (Mitchell 85), Cotterill, Ofoborh (Drinan 46), Longelo (Sobowale 60); Glatzel (Cain 69), Smith.

Not used: Evans, Minturn, Kirkman.

Walsall (3-1-4-2): Simkin; McEntee, Farquharson, Allen; Stirk; Barrett, Jellis (Earing 66), Lakin, L Gordon; Matt (Maher 74), J Gordon (Adomah 41).

Not used: Hornby, Weir, Okagbue, Williams.

Referee: Lee Swabey

Attendance: 7,786 (607)